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M4 vs M1 Pro GPU - Do benchmarks tell the whole story?

Apple Knowledge Navigator

Apple Knowledge Navigator

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Original poster
Mar 28, 2010
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I’ve been comparing the GPU benchmarks of the M4 and M1 Pro, and have been surprised to see that, in terms of Metal, the M1 Pro still scores around 10% better than the M4.

But does this tell the whole story? M4 is a newer architecture after all.

I ask because I’m looking to switch from an M1 Pro MBP to an M4 Mac mini, but I’m not sure how I feel about losing performance in an upgrade.

My needs are Lightroom CC (working with hi res images) and Logic Pro.
 
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I don’t have much of an answer to contribute because I’m wondering the same thing. I have an M1 Pro MacBook Pro and have been wanting to switch to an air for my next computer without taking too much of a hit. My gut says this would still be a slight downgrade but m5 might cross the threshold?
 
I am also wondering that. The only reason I want to upgrade to the M4 MacBook Pro is because of the nano-texture display.
I'm content with the performance of my current Mac.
 
Seriously the M4s single core score is insane compared to the M1 Pro honestly even the base M4 is insanely fast you will not see a performance decrease but really a huge performance increase…

10% less GPU power but 65% faster single core and 30 some perfect multi core… 😂
 
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Apple Knowledge Navigator said:
I’ve been comparing the GPU benchmarks of the M4 and M1 Pro, and have been surprised to see that, in terms of Metal, the M1 Pro still scores around 10% better than the M4.

But does this tell the whole story? M4 is a newer architecture after all.

I ask because I’m looking to switch from an M1 Pro MBP to an M4 Mac mini, but I’m not sure how I feel about losing performance in an upgrade.

My needs are Lightroom CC (working with hi res images) and Logic Pro.
Click to expand...
The firat step to answer your question is to look at Apple's Activity Meter while you are running Logic and LR. If the GPU is maxed-out to 100% utilization then a slower GPU will slow you down. But if the usage is less then 100, it means the GPU is not a bottleneck

Of course the use changes as you do different things. So with the meter up, grab a slider and make an adjustment in PL and see it it uses even half of the GPU or if it is at 100%
 
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I have been watching the videos on the new amazing Mac mini 4 .What i would like to know, is can i put the OS on a external drive like i can on my I MAC? As 256 is not enough for me.I don,t want to spend £200 extra for the 512 version.I have three Thunderbolt 4 drives.
 
Roxy.music said:
I have been watching the videos on the new amazing Mac mini 4 .What i would like to know, is can i put the OS on a external drive like i can on my I MAC? As 256 is not enough for me.I don,t want to spend £200 extra for the 512 version.I have three Thunderbolt 4 drives.
Click to expand...
Why would you put the OS on an external drive? Yes, certainly place the data on the external but not the OS.

But good luck finding a fast Thunderbolt-based external SSD for enough under £200 to make it worth putting up with the added desktop clutter.
 
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He would get considerably more than 256 GB additional for that £200.

That said, apparently Apple Intelligence doesn't work when booting off an external drive.
 
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