Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mac Mini M1 as a Plex server

beanbaguk

beanbaguk

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 19, 2014
1,411
2,441
Europe
I currently have a Windows Intel i5 Kaby Lake Mini ITX machine running as my Plex server at home. It also serves as a file and music server for all my old ripped obscure CDs. It works absolutely fine to be honest. 4K HW transcodes without any problems, but my biggest issue is simply the amount of power it uses. Simply idle, it draws about 60-70w, and it's not idle very often, regularly over 100w and when streaming, over 250w!

I've read the M1 Mini draws about 20w even at load, so to me, it's a no-brainer from a power efficiency POV, and at just 450eur (refurbished 256GB/8GB M1 Mini), it seems like a nice replacement.

The question is if Plex and file serving work well on MacOS, and how well it works left on all day long.

I'd love your feedback and recommendations....
 
  • Like
Reactions: ElectronGuru
I was thinking along the same lines for my home server; a refurbed base M1 Mini (8GB/256GB) with a 2TB SSD SATA hanging off the USB 4 ports in an enclosure.

All in about $900 ($589 + $200 for the SSD + tax).

My 2012 is getting a little long in the tooth and I'm going to want to upgrade some time. An M1 for a home media server is a tad overkill though.

The appeal of the M1 is definitely in the power draw.
 
  • Like
Reactions: zoltm and ElectronGuru
beanbaguk said:
I currently have a Windows Intel i5 Kaby Lake Mini ITX machine running as my Plex server at home. It also serves as a file and music server for all my old ripped obscure CDs. It works absolutely fine to be honest. 4K HW transcodes without any problems, but my biggest issue is simply the amount of power it uses. Simply idle, it draws about 60-70w, and it's not idle very often, regularly over 100w and when streaming, over 250w!

I've read the M1 Mini draws about 20w even at load, so to me, it's a no-brainer from a power efficiency POV, and at just 450eur (refurbished 256GB/8GB M1 Mini), it seems like a nice replacement.

The question is if Plex and file serving work well on MacOS, and how well it works left on all day long.

I'd love your feedback and recommendations....
Click to expand...
I've used XBMC/Kodi for years on Minis and more. I think it is a bit overkill to devote a Mac M1 at this time for that kind of service. I have an M1 Mini (512/16) and it does very well with my Amazon Prime music when USB to speakers is set up so I can play higher bit-rate files. However, I also have for movies with both Plex and Kodi (and other apps) a better streamer player if one wants to play their own files and possibly vudu, Amazon, google etc (all but Apple's rent/buy). Consider Nvidia Shield TV (Pro). An interesting facet is that 1080p media files play back (with setting) quite impressively on 4k screens with Nvidia's own up-scaling/filtering.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: gp313
It might be overkill power-wise, but the price is identical (or in many cases cheaper), than an x86 system!
 
  • Like
Reactions: steve217
It would work for Plex and file server duties without breaking a sweat, you can upgrade with the 10GB Ethernet too.
 
Why does the new Mac mini use so much less power? Is it because it does not have a built in monitor like the iMac? I use a 2012 27 iMac for my Plex server and it works well, but have considered getting a Mac Mini or 2021 iMac for similar use. Does the new Mac Mini use a lot less power than a 2021 iMac? Guessing it would use a lot less than my 2012 iMac.

Also - seeing if Apple releases an upgraded Mac Mini later this year.

OP: on your older MacMini, what do the power consumption you stated equate to in annually or monthly dollars in electricity?
 
  • Like
Reactions: ElectronGuru
GDF said:
Why does the new Mac mini use so much less power? Is it because it does not have a built in monitor like the iMac? I use a 2012 27 iMac for my Plex server and it works well, but have considered getting a Mac Mini or 2021 iMac for similar use. Does the new Mac Mini use a lot less power than a 2021 iMac? Guessing it would use a lot less than my 2012 iMac.

Also - seeing if Apple releases an upgraded Mac Mini later this year.

OP: on your older MacMini, what do the power consumption you stated equate to in annually or monthly dollars in electricity?
Click to expand...
I don't have a Mac Mini at all right now. I've got a custom-built PC with 16TB of storage using a variety of external drives.

This is hooked up to a 450w PSU and the CPU uses about 65w power, plus all the components in the system. I measured the usage using an Eve smart power socket and I was shocked at quite how much power it was using. The moment anything happened, it would shoot up in power consumption which was about 70-80% of the time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: turbineseaplane
GDF said:
Why does the new Mac mini use so much less power? Is it because it does not have a built in monitor like the iMac? I use a 2012 27 iMac for my Plex server and it works well, but have considered getting a Mac Mini or 2021 iMac for similar use. Does the new Mac Mini use a lot less power than a 2021 iMac? Guessing it would use a lot less than my 2012 iMac.

Also - seeing if Apple releases an upgraded Mac Mini later this year.

OP: on your older MacMini, what do the power consumption you stated equate to in annually or monthly dollars in electricity?
Click to expand...
The power consumption he stated is for the M1 Mini only (under full CPU load) if CPU and GPU goes full tilt the M1 draws around 35 W from the wall. At idle the M1 sits at 6-7 W

The older mini will draw more, for example the 2018 Mini sits at around 20 W at idle and around 120 W at full tilt.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ElectronGuru
Keep in mind the mini is also mini. So it can go in more places than the current monster. Like the tv in the living room. Connected with hdmi it’s now doing two jobs, increasing its value.
 
I use a base model Mac mini m1 with a couple external hard drives as a file server and media center hooked up to the TV. On sale it’s only $600, which is cheaper than almost any PC. Works really well for this purpose. I don’t use plex or anything that fancy, just the built-in file sharing for OSX on the local network and wireless keyboard/trackpad combo for the couch as a media center. The things that drew me to this solution are:
1. Unlike PC, Mac doesn’t automatically reboot for patching so 100% uptime if I wanted and tight control over downtime
2. OSX built in file sharing and VNC for easy management
3. Low power usage, the same chip works in an iPad passively
4. Comes with hdmi 2.0 port for 4K TV
 
  • Like
Reactions: Poleri, beanbaguk and zoltm
I have been a long time windows users and after seeing these new M1X announcements, it got me thinking to maybe switch from windows to a future iMac. I dont game as much on pc. All i do is all regular pc stuff ie facebook, browsing, music and i have plex server also running in the background. Any of you currently use your iMac as your primary machine and also your plex server.? I literally just need an external drive and also another cable to hook up my secondary 32" monitor that i mainly just use for watching movies/youtube. Would be nice to have facetime/imessage natively as i also have an ipad/iphone/watch/apple tv.
 
beanbaguk said:
I currently have a Windows Intel i5 Kaby Lake Mini ITX machine running as my Plex server at home. It also serves as a file and music server for all my old ripped obscure CDs. It works absolutely fine to be honest. 4K HW transcodes without any problems, but my biggest issue is simply the amount of power it uses. Simply idle, it draws about 60-70w, and it's not idle very often, regularly over 100w and when streaming, over 250w!

I've read the M1 Mini draws about 20w even at load, so to me, it's a no-brainer from a power efficiency POV, and at just 450eur (refurbished 256GB/8GB M1 Mini), it seems like a nice replacement.

The question is if Plex and file serving work well on MacOS, and how well it works left on all day long.

I'd love your feedback and recommendations....
Click to expand...
I am interested to know if you upgraded to an M1 Mini yet?
I too have a PC running as my server and think the energy savings alone would make it worth the upgrade
 
thegreatnorth said:
I am interested to know if you upgraded to an M1 Mini yet?
I too have a PC running as my server and think the energy savings alone would make it worth the upgrade
Click to expand...
I upgraded to an M1 base refurb. With a 2TB SSD external and enclosure, my machine came in under $850 total.

Very fast at Handbrake rips. With Office, MakeMKV, Handbrake, Teams and VLC installed, I've got about 180GB left on the main drive. No complaints about 8GB of RAM either. The machine is extremely responsive.

Terrific value for a desktop/home media server.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mudflap and zoltm
If the Mini is JUST running Plex that should rock. I used to run it on mine (2018 i7 w/16GB), but this is also my Logic Pro/Ableton Mac that I do everything on. Plex was fine but had a lot of hiccups. We put Plex on every night when we go to bed, every couple of days something weird would happen, we'd have to clear the cache from the app on the TV, about once a month I would have to rejoin it to the server, a lot of times would wake up with a movie hung on screen since like 1am, etc.

Bought a QNAP NAS at the beginning of the year and moved Plex to that, now it runs just as well as Netflix/AppleTV/Prime/etc. The Mac worked fine, but probably would be best as a dedicated Plex machine. For the $400 or so I got the QNAP plus two 4TB WD Reds (one for media, the other one is the backup), Ill probably never run it on my Mac again, it just works that much smoother.
 
I moved Plex to an old Mac Mini when I repurposed it to run my 32-bit Adobe Creative Suites. Plex on this new Mini balks at serving smoothly. It is not user-upgradable or I would have boosted the memory and probably solved my problem.
I came to THIS thread thinking I'd find responses from people running Plex on M1 Mac Minis. How disappointing that there is not ONE answer to the OP's question.
 
linrey said:
I moved Plex to an old Mac Mini when I repurposed it to run my 32-bit Adobe Creative Suites. Plex on this new Mini balks at serving smoothly. It is not user-upgradable or I would have boosted the memory and probably solved my problem.
I came to THIS thread thinking I'd find responses from people running Plex on M1 Mac Minis. How disappointing that there is not ONE answer to the OP's question.
Click to expand...

Well there is this entry in the thread. Clearly states an M1 mini as a server. So there most definitely is ONE answer provided.

Remember people generally come to forums when having problems, not when everything running fine.

teksurv said:
I use a M1 mini (16/512) as my Plex and music server. The machine is on 24 hours a day. For my movies, I rip directly to mp4/mkv, no transcoding. Works great. I stream my local music through the Apple Music (formerly iTunes) app fine.
Click to expand...

However if I was setting up a Plex Server then would use a NAS box.
 
linrey said:
I moved Plex to an old Mac Mini when I repurposed it to run my 32-bit Adobe Creative Suites. Plex on this new Mini balks at serving smoothly. It is not user-upgradable or I would have boosted the memory and probably solved my problem.
I came to THIS thread thinking I'd find responses from people running Plex on M1 Mac Minis. How disappointing that there is not ONE answer to the OP's question.
Click to expand...
I'd commented earlier that I was waiting for the new mac mini, that advice still stands, so that's my recommendation.

Plex still runs under Rosetta it's not M1 native yet, so whilst it's no doubt better at what it does than my 2012 (& loads of other competing options), I'm holding until either it's native or apple bring out the mini pro (hopefully both come at the same time for a full fresh install & rebuild of my libraries)

I'm not exactly sure what the OP's question is. One look at the Plex forums would give the answer they're seeking & there's loads other posts on here talking about what people use - NAS vs mac (mini's are also mentioned as HTPCs) vs windows vs pi vs nvidia & so on.

I'd always go down the road of using a mac mini as although the initial outlay is expensive for what it is, it's one less thing to go wrong - sure I could get a qnap or synology, but the chips in there aren't as powerful & although the mini has HDMI, I prefer the interface on :apple:TV. If it gets sluggish (which I can't imagine) you just update the mini & if a hard drive dies, I just update the array. For me, a top line QNAP can't compete with the mini & storage, & i certainly have zero experience of anything windows, but as always YMMV.
 
Gonzbull said:
I use a 2009 MacBook Pro for Plex and it runs without any hiccups. An M1 Mini will be a blast.
Click to expand...
I saw an old post on Plex forums yesterday that the guy had 13 720 transcodes running at he same time on just a M1, it crapped out at 14 iirc, a Pro or Max in there would be future proofed to the nth or at least until whatever's next 8K holograph VR!??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back