M4 Pro Mac mini - form over function?

[Confused-User]

I've yet to own an Apple silicone machine, so I first thought there were only two modes. But if running on "automatic" mode works well with little fan noise, that would be fine.

Still, I'm curious about the full 14/20 M4 Pro chip, and how well it does with temps and fan noise.

It may be helpful to think about it this way: Aside from when it's perfectly idle (because the Pro has a tiny bit more overhead), the Pro will never run hotter than the M4, and usually run cooler, because it can distribute the load across more cores, therefore running those cores at a better point on the performance/power curve.

There are in fact imaginable cases where that won't be true: when there are six runnable threads, all of which could execute on the E cores on the M4, but two of which would require P cores on the Pro. However that's a *very* specific and unlikely situation.

This was why I was apprehensive about the smaller case for the M4 Pro. A larger case would have allowed a larger heatsink and a larger fan, which would allow for moving the same amount of cooling with less noise.

The fan appears to be at least as large as the older case's fan. Neither has much of a heat sink.

SSD expansion to maximal specs for transfer rates and also I believe the native SSD is also much faster on the m4Pro when I was looking at the side-by-side comparison of read/write performance. I plan to do a fair amount of file transfer dumps / downloads coming on a 10gig fiber isp that I plan to update with a wifi7+10GBE lan.

External TB4 SSDs will be more than fast enough for what you're doing.

 

[IvyKing]

Honestly, all they needed to do was to put the PSU outside like the iMac or MBP. The form is great, it's just the PSU is taking a lot of space. It's disappointing, I was excited about the M4 and thought how fantastic it is but my workflow just needs more power and the Pro is not silent. Will test Unreal Engine etc. and see how it performs there.

I strongly disagree about the external PSU for the Mac Mini as a Desktop computer, would be better making the case larger. A larger case would have allowed for a larger diameter fan which would have been quieter than the fan in the new Mini's.

I do think there is a market for a bit smaller externally powered Mx computer to attach on the back of a monitor to make upgrade enabled iMacs. Another option is an enlarged Mini/Studio series with beefier PD on the thunderbolt ports where the monitor would get the power from the Mini/Studio.

 

[Tago]

There`s no way I´d consider a Mac Mini if they had external power supply. As far as noise is concerned, doubt it will be an issue as I`m going for the base iteration, and when a half decent bracket arrives, I`ll drop it under my workdesk. Hopefully, they make some made to mount it top up bottom down. Which would make the power button perfectly positioned. They made that for yours truly

By the way; I expected the impeller to be of a larger diameter, assumed it was sufficient space for that. Hopefully they redesign the impeller/housing for a later iteration IF noise actually is a problem for more than a few at normal high loads. I don`t put too much weight on reports from stresstests at peak, as I don`t believe that will be how these will be operated in the wild.

Time will tell.

 

[ravenofdoom]

Anybody able to do a more objective temp, fan speed, and db measurement on the m4 (non pro). Especially extended. Last I recall hearing was it never got beyond 2700rpm but would be worth confirming temp and dB.

 

[Guenter]

There is just one thing speaking for an external powersupply, when it breaks it can be replaced very easy.