M4 Mac Mini for home server. Good choice?

[premierpark]

Hi everyone!


I’m thinking about buying an M4 Mac mini to use as a home server.
The main tasks it would handle are:

• 24/7 operation
• Running a Plex Server continuously
• Syncing photos from my phone to it
• Running a torrent client

What do you think, could this be a good choice?
Basically, I’ll also need some external storage for it, but I’ll look for that in another topic.


Thank you very much!

 

[moongravy]

That's what my 2012 Mac Mini's been doing for the last 6 years, so an M4 will be more than fine. You could consider a used older machine and still be absolutely fine.

 

[Starfia]

That was my initial thought too: even a great Mac Mini with an SSD from the later 2010s is probably more than adequate, and it's the best time ever to buy one for not much money. I suppose you could go for the M4 Mini if you just really wanted the form and better odds of even more years of use.

 

[richmlow]

Hi everyone!


I’m thinking about buying an M4 Mac mini to use as a home server.
The main tasks it would handle are:

• 24/7 operation
• Running a Plex Server continuously
• Syncing photos from my phone to it
• Running a torrent client

What do you think, could this be a good choice?
Basically, I’ll also need some external storage for it, but I’ll look for that in another topic.


Thank you very much!

I think that it would be better to use an older Mac for this. Using a "state-of-the art" M4 Mac as a server seems like a waste.

richmlow

 

[turbineseaplane]

I think an M1/M2 Mac Mini would be a smarter use of money here, particularly a preowned one scored for a song.

An M4 MM is wildly overpowered for this role.

 

[cjsuk]

You'll probably get better value for money with a Lenovo tiny or something. Doesn't have to be new and probably shouldn't run macOS if it's a server.

M920Q is a good bet. About same as a 2018 Intel mac Mini but with upgradeable storage and RAM.

A friend has one with 32Gb of RAM in it, 4TB hard disk for media, 2TB SSD. Sips a respectable 11 watts while running.

Shove linux on it!

 

[wyliej]

It would be an odd choice. It lacks ECC RAM, IPMI, internal storage capacity, and redundant storage, while offering 10Gb networking as an option (and only one interface). Even if you hate money and are willing to give up the foregoing, there are better options.

 

[jackerin]

I'm gonna go against the grain here, as I have a 2018 mini as my daily driver and using a new M4 mini as support/server.

I initially did run Plex off the old Mac mini, but got a bit annoyed at how much it hit the processor, so when I found a good deal on an M4 I decided to offload Plex onto that, while keeping them running side-by-side during the transition period. Being so at home on Mojave the transition period drags out while finding more and more "infrastructural" uses for the M4, the most recent being Immich via Docker.

 

[bzgnyc2]

You'll probably get better value for money with a Lenovo tiny or something. Doesn't have to be new and probably shouldn't run macOS if it's a server.

M920Q is a good bet. About same as a 2018 Intel mac Mini but with upgradeable storage and RAM.

A friend has one with 32Gb of RAM in it, 4TB hard disk for media, 2TB SSD. Sips a respectable 11 watts while running.

Shove linux on it!

This looks like a nice little box and one I will look into when the time comes that I finally give up on Apple (we're in a detente).

However, one of the OP's needs was, "Syncing photos from my phone to it". I am assuming use of Apple Photos here with an iPhone. If OP is open to Linux and migrating away from Photos, what are the good solutions for this under Linux?

 

[bzgnyc2]

I'm gonna go against the grain here, as I have a 2018 mini as my daily driver and using a new M4 mini as support/server.

I initially did run Plex off the old Mac mini, but got a bit annoyed at how much it hit the processor, so when I found a good deal on an M4 I decided to offload Plex onto that, while keeping them running side-by-side during the transition period. Being so at home on Mojave the transition period drags out while finding more and more "infrastructural" uses for the M4, the most recent being Immich via Docker.

I know the feeling...nothing feels more natural than my little Mac Mini 2018 running Mojave. Even with only 8GB of RAM and the i3 processors, it runs like a sewing machine even when I ask it to juggle Docker/SQL, Tableau, Excel, Mail, iTunes, etc all at the same time. Eventually I'll have to update to access the new versions of software but I'll miss it.

It's fine under Monterey too and eventually will try Sonoma/Sequoia on it but so far those feel like the new car that's not better than the old car...

 

[Boyd01]

Have been playing with linux on intel Mini's for the past couple weeks here, with the goal of creating a machine with similar characteristics of the server I lease. Now, I'm only interested in web app development, so no idea how well these machines would fit your needs, but I'm impressed. Almalinux runs really well on my 2012 2.6ghz quad i7 Mini with 16gb RAM and 256gb internal SSD (my own content - over 140 million files - is on an external 4tb Samsung T7). Am still tweaking things, but have yet to see it use more than 2gb of memory and it feels very fast, in spite of the old processor and slow USB ports.

Am also playing with linux on a 2018 3.2ghz hex i7 Mini with 64gb RAM and 2tb internal SSD (twin to my primary 2018 Mini running MacOS). The 2018 is clearly much faster, not sure there's much if any advantage for my own needs though. Internal SSD is around 2700 MB/sec vs about 500 on the 2012, USB SSD is around 900 MB/sec on the 2018 Mini, only about 400 on the 2012. 2018 geekbench rating is about twice the 2012.

The downside is the T2 chip on the 2018 Mini, which makes things more complicated. Have not gotten almalinux working on the 2018 yet (not giving up!) but there are versions of Ubuntu, Fedora and others that have been specially tweaked for T2 Macs. I installed Unbuntu which was easy and it works well. The Apple Silicon Mini's seem like an even bigger challenge, but no personal experience.

Of course, the downside to the Intel Macs is that they aren't getting any younger and don't have a warranty like a new Mac. But the prices are getting really attactive IMO. I got the 2012 Mini at MacSales (OWC) in 2016, it was like new and has been perfect. Just got the 2018 from them too, would have thought it was brand new.

I'm sure there are bargains elsewhere too, I had a quick look at MacofAllTrades and they had a couple good deals, but nowhere near the options at OWC. These are just datapoints - caveat emptor - do your own research! But OWC has a 2012 2.3ghz quad i7/16gb/256gb Mini for $129. A 2018 3.2ghz hex i7/16gb/512gb Mini is $219. Private sellers could probably beat these prices, but OWC has a limited warranty/return policy.

Anyway, just some food for thought. You could buy a couple of these and keep one as a backup for less than one Apple Silicon Mini.