Mac Mini M4

[Pakorn]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and long time user of pc and thinking of moving to mac Mini 4.
I have a few questions, apologize in advance if that sounds like silly questions.

- I use my pc to transcode and edit videos + photos. Videos using h265.
Would Apple Mini able to do that correctly as well compared to pc world ?
- I see SSD is quite limited with the entry level Mini M4. Is there a way to use a NAS as storage pool ? In case answer is yes, do I need to edit my photos locally on my SSD drive and transfer or can I edit directly on my NAS.
- Do I need an antivirus ?

Thanks

 

[bogdanw]

- I use my pc to transcode and edit videos + photos. Videos using h265.
Would Apple Mini able to do that correctly as well compared to pc world ?

Yes.
Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices https://support.apple.com/en-us/116944
What software are you using?
HandBrake is available for macOS https://handbrake.fr

- I see SSD is quite limited with the entry level Mini M4. Is there a way to use a NAS as storage pool ? In case answer is yes, do I need to edit my photos locally on my SSD drive and transfer or can I edit directly on my NAS.

macOS can only read NTFS. It can read-write FAT & ExFAT
I use Acasis TBU405 Air & Lexar NM790 1TB https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/thunderbolt-3-m-2-nvme-ssd-enclosures.2027925/post-33837377

- Do I need an antivirus ?

No.
Protecting against malware in macOS
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/security/sec469d47bd8/web

 

[Pakorn]

Yes.
Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices https://support.apple.com/en-us/116944
What software are you using?
HandBrake is available for macOS https://handbrake.fr


macOS can only read NTFS. It can read-write FAT & ExFAT
I use Acasis TBU405 Air & Lexar NM790 1TB https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/thunderbolt-3-m-2-nvme-ssd-enclosures.2027925/post-33837377

No.
Protecting against malware in macOS
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/security/sec469d47bd8/web

I use Handbrake on pc but I read that it is not doing very well with a mac. Just wondering if transcoding with CPU h265 will be fast enough or would it take much more time ?

Well, my idea is to make a NAS with TrueNAS, that I find much better than an external enclosure that will take some space on my desk. This way I would like to do the following for example for a movie to compress (I take the more resource burining process but can be also photo edit).

Option 1 :
- Move movie from NAS to local ssd
- Edit
- Move movie from local ssd to NAS

Option 2:
- connect to NAS and transcode directly the file located in the NAS drive.

Hope I am clear on this, not so easy to explain.

 

[Fishrrman]

For video intensive work, DO NOT settle for a "base level" Mini.

I'd suggest at least 32gb of RAM, and a 1tb SSD.

 

[theluggage]

macOS can only read NTFS. It can read-write FAT & ExFAT

That's not going to affect files stored on a NAS accessed via SMB file sharing. Anyhow, most NASs are Linux-based and will be using ext4 or ZFS filesystems.

- connect to NAS and transcode directly the file located in the NAS drive.

The network is always going to be slower at data transfer than the internal SSD - whether it will be quicker to copy the file, transcode it and then copy back the result us, I suspect, a case of try it and see with your files & settings: too many variables to guess.

However, it's not transcoding that will be the issue, because you want your editor to work smoothly - transcoding is coffee break time.

If you're going to be copying a lot of files over the network - or trying to edit - then it might be worth getting the $100 10Gbps Ethernet option on your Mac. Your NAS, network switch and cabling will all need to be 10Gb-capable to get the advantage (or even 2.5G will be faster than regular 1Gb)

 

[bogdanw]

I use Handbrake on pc but I read that it is not doing very well with a mac. Just wondering if transcoding with CPU h265 will be fast enough or would it take much more time ?

I have the cheapest Mac mini M4 (16GB RAM 256GB SSD) let me know what encoding test do you want performed with Handbrake.
Example jellyfish-160-mbps-4k-uhd-h264.mkv from https://repo.jellyfin.org/archive/jellyfish/ takes about 9 seconds to convert to h265.

 

[Pakorn]

9 secs for 500 MB is really fast, but did you use slow encoding quality 18 or what else ?

 

[Pakorn]

For video intensive work, DO NOT settle for a "base level" Mini.

I'd suggest at least 32gb of RAM, and a 1tb SSD.

Oh ok but that's a break dealer because price will be much higher than expected...