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Is anyone regretting the purchase of the M4 Pro mini instead of waiting for the Studio?

VitoBotta

VitoBotta

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 2, 2020
924
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Espoo, Finland
I really like my M4 Pro mini. It has 14 CPU cores, 20 GPU cores, 64 GB of memory, and 2 TB of storage. But now I'm thinking maybe I should have waited for the Studio Ultra. The price difference might not be that big if the new Studio Ultra is going to cost about the same as the current M2 generation. Do you think the Studio Ultra will be more expensive? Have you ever regretted buying the M4 Pro mini instead of waiting for the Studio?
 
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I'll wait for the Studio to see the price difference from a 64GB mini to a Studio with an M4 Max (Pro would be enough, but doesn't exist) and 64GB. But only because I am not in a hurry for anything new. At the moment my M3 iMac and M2 Pro 16" MBP is enough. But RAM could be a problem soon... They have only 24 and 16.
 
VitoBotta said:
I really like my M4 Pro mini. It has 14 CPU cores, 20 GPU cores, 64 GB of memory, and 2 TB of storage. But now I'm thinking maybe I should have waited for the Studio Ultra. The price difference might not be that big if the new Studio Ultra is going to cost about the same as the current M2 generation. Do you think the Studio Ultra will be more expensive? Have you ever regretted buying the M4 Pro mini instead of waiting for the Studio?
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I spec'ed my Mac mini the same as you did, plus 10GbE. No regrets so far.

If you look at the M4 Max MacBook Pros, the only RAM option for the base M4 Max is 36GB. If you want more, you MUST upgrade to 16cpu/40gpu. Adding the 2TB upgrade brings the price of the 14" model to $4300.

Even if you stick with the base 14cpu/32gpu, the price is $3600 with 2TB.

The Mac mini with 64GB and 2TB is $2600 (or $2700 with 10GbE).

Assuming that an M4 Mac Studio will be approximately $600 less than an equivalently spec'ed MacBook Pro, I think there will be a larger delta between Mac mini prices and Mac Studio prices than most people are expecting. Apple is not run by a bunch of fools. They know what they are doing. They've never sold higher spec'ed systems for less than lower spec'ed systems.
 
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I just need RAM, storage and a reasonably powerful processor - so have decided to go for a Mini now. I specced an M4 Pro with 64GB RAM and 2TB of storage and am going to sell my Studio which is a base M2 Ultra with the same upgrades.

I know the price premium on the upgrades, but love having a desktop Mac and its nice having an even smaller one than the Ultra.
 
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The Venn diagram of Mac mini users and Mac Studio users does have a small overlap. But especially with the new smaller size, I think that makes it pretty clear if you're going to be okay with the mini or if you need the Studio. It's certainly not going to be LESS expensive to set up a base Studio with equivalent performance to the mini, and of course the Studio will consume more desk real estate.

Most Studio users I know, have a specific reason for going with Studio - there's something Studio offers that mini does not. Usually (a) processing power, (b) RAM, (c) display support.

The only difference right now, is if you can shoe-horn your work into M4 Pro 64GB RAM with two displays - mini offers a configuration right now that Studio does not.
 
ascender said:
I just need RAM, storage and a reasonably powerful processor - so have decided to go for a Mini now. I specced an M4 Pro with 64GB RAM and 2TB of storage and am going to sell my Studio which is a base M2 Ultra with the same upgrades.

I know the price premium on the upgrades, but love having a desktop Mac and its nice having an even smaller one than the Ultra.
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With the M2 Ultra you have much higher memory bandwidth, more cores etc than the M4 Pro mini, right?
 
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I had a M1 Max MacBook Pro provided by my company for work. I retired this year in May and they let me keep it as a parting gift. I was planning to get a M4 Max Mac Studio, but since it's not coming out until next year I decided to get the M4 Pro Mini instead. As I no longer work I don't require the computing power I needed before. The M4 Pro Mini is more than adequate and Apple gave a me a $1055 trade allowance on my old work MacBook Pro – hard to say what I would have gotten later next year for it. My net cost for the new M4 pro Mini 24/GB/1TB was $544.

No regrets. The M4 Pro Mini is working out great and still drives my two LG 32" 4K monitors.
 
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If you need a Studio you should know you need a studio.
I mean the Mini is a lower base model Mac, even with the pro is still in the lower spectrum of Macs, if you feel you need a Mac Studio you shouldn’t even consider a Mac mini.

On the other hand, if your Mac mini is doing everything you need, why regretting it?

At the end of the day, i wouldn’t ever buy a model with all the updates anyway you are def paying more than you need to, heck i already felt the 512 upgrade pricing from the base model (would never be able to get on with 256).

I do graphic work, and the base mini is more than enough for the next 2-3 years, in the next 2-3 years i will be buying the M6 - 7 model wich will be again good for another 2-3 years and saved money by doing so.

If i needed a Studio things would be different, but maxing any model is a bit too much for me.
 
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VitoBotta said:
I really like my M4 Pro mini. It has 14 CPU cores, 20 GPU cores, 64 GB of memory, and 2 TB of storage. But now I'm thinking maybe I should have waited for the Studio Ultra. The price difference might not be that big if the new Studio Ultra is going to cost about the same as the current M2 generation. Do you think the Studio Ultra will be more expensive? Have you ever regretted buying the M4 Pro mini instead of waiting for the Studio?
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Mate it's a classic thinking mistake. I do it all the time.

You don't even know if the M4 Mac Studio going to come out in the spring. It might be delayed till summer. In the meantime, you'll have your machine for 6 months or more - that's worth something for sure.

It provides you with enough power for all your tasks. This is what's most important. It's small, it's quiet, it has the latest Apple chip. This of the desk space saved :)

Enjoy your glorious Mac and don't ever look back. You'll never know how it could have been different. My guess - you wouldn't even have noticed the performance difference.

You made the right choice.
 
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I was considering this but I have a feeling the pricing isn't going to be quite as close as some are suggesting and fundamentally I don't need the Max/Ultra processors and the associated price increases.

I'm coming from an M1 Pro so the M4 pro will be a massive improvement and its going to be nice having it all in a tiny little device.
 
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VitoBotta said:
I really like my M4 Pro mini. It has 14 CPU cores, 20 GPU cores, 64 GB of memory, and 2 TB of storage. But now I'm thinking maybe I should have waited for the Studio Ultra.
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Genuine question.. why buy it in the first place?

I see a lot of that on here. People buying stuff then moaning about it a few days later and returning it. What a waste.
 
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"I see a lot of that on here. People buying stuff then moaning about it a few days later and returning it. What a waste."

Not "a waste" for those of us who wait for Apple refurbished units to be released.
A good value, especially when "piggybacked" with a veterans or educational discount.
 
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FreakinEurekan said:
Depending on what you're getting in terms of selling the Studio - this sounds to me like either a waste of time, or a waste of time AND money ;)
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100% 😆

I have certain constraints around when I can refresh my main machines so I can do it now with certain benefits which mean its far less expensive to me personally, or do it later and its far less beneficial!

Either way, its an adorable little machine so well worth the cash for that alone 😉
 
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