I just bought a refurbished Mini (thinking it was the Pro chip, it’s not, I clicked the wrong one) with the 10/10 core C/GPU, with 24GB RAM and a 2TB SSD - with my military discount, I paid 1200 and change direct from Apple.
I immediately checked my order post checking out, thought I’d done so earlier, because I thought it was the ‘Pro’ chip, as TB5 is what I was looking forward to.
This was an obvious mistake on my end, but the unit when new is priced at 1599, so almost 400 bucks less, 50% more RAM and 10x the storage seemed brilliant. Until I realized my mistake, as in the refurb area, I clicked the one above the one I wanted - which also had 24GB RAM and a 1TB SSD but was a Pro Chip with 10Gb/s Ethernet port. The one I ordered has the 1Gb/s standard Ethernet port, as well as TB4, not 5, half the performance cores of the pro chip, BUT plenty of storage, and decent RAM for my needs.
I immediately reached out to Apple, literally minutes post order and it was already prepping for shipping and out of process. Which meant the lady in support was able to set up my return on the phone, my refund and allow me to drop at the local Apple Store. It arrives Wednesday.
I’m primarily an audio editor (Logic, Audition, and Serrato/dJay) maybe 70% of the time, the other 30% is mainly video editing (FCP and Premier) as well as still editing (Lightroom both CC and Classic, PS, Affinity, Polar, and a few others).
I’m not folding DNA, running a local LLM or building new rocket technology, designing with Blender, etc.
I have both the entire Adobe CC suite and Microsoft suite, Affinity Photo and Design, FCP and Logic, and a dozen or two plugins we all use that are small footprints and light on power; Alfred, iStat, and a few others.
Should, in your opinion, and considering what I paid, stick with the entry 10/10 core C/GPUs or am I better off with the Pro chip, half the storage (external’s cheap and I’ve got 8TB in Samsung T7s and a T9), and keep the RAM? Or am I bumping into the Studio now, with it being the better option long term?
Ideally, I’d like 32GB RAM, 48 would ROCK! I definitely need 1TB inside, as Adobe and other large apps insist using internal drive vs mounting to external, and moving the whole Home folder to the drive - mandating the drive is there and working anytime I use the machine. Being a desktop though, it will be, and wont be a hassle as would be the case with a laptop.
I’m considering the M4 Max studio as well - likely the 16/40 due to the ability to increase RAM vs the entry level that’s tied into 36GB.
I can get a 16/40 with 64GB RAM and 2TB for about double what I paid (2600 with mil discount) or the 14/32 Studio base for 1799 (500 bucks more, ½ the storage, more RAM - another 200 or so to get 1TB leaving me around 2k)
Apologize for the length but I’ve now purchased the 16/40 Max 16” and returned before opening after researching more and finding the mil discount (I paid 3999 and returned), picked up the 599 Mini and was left with about 30GB of storage after installing the CC and MS suites, etc. Returned it, and I’ve also returned the 16” MBP Pro chip w/48GB RAM and 512GB SSD, unlike the 14” which is available in significantly more BTO options in store (Apple or Best Buy) including the RAM increased to 48 and 1 or 2TB available in stores. The 16” also offers a 1TB model with 24GB RAM - where I can get a 14” with 48GB RAM and 1TB or 2TB in shop with the pro chip??? Makes absolutely NO sense, as you’re relegated to a MAX version on the 16” if you want any flexibility in components.
I don’t think I’ve ever returned a Mac in my life, but four in four months has definitely been frustrating to say the least and #5 is now otw and I screwed that up (possibly) too!
TL/DR
Penny for your thoughts, whether I should keep the 10/10 mini with 24GB/2TB ($1223 I paid) or step up to the Pro chip and/or Max in studio, with less storage (Mini) and same RAM. I have an M4 iPad and have for 14 months. Love it, and it’s a 2TB model so it’s essentially equivalent to the base Mini with 10/10 cores, 16GB of RAM outside the storage arena. However I’m running iPadOS not macOS - so there’s limitations on what I’m able to do with Logic and FCP for plugins, cooling/thermals, etc.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so frustrated with Apple’s SKUs - I have a 2015, ten year old 15” spec’d out MBP. It’s got 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD, Thunderbolt 2 (maybe 1 but I think it’s the v2, because my 2012 15” also has TB, which is v1 for sure), and all the I/O on board I needed, minus M series silicon, + Intel’s hour and a half wind machine and the AMD 370 with it’s 2GB of vRAM - UGH. But simple times, as you had only a couple choices.
And, look back at the price of increasing your storage or RAM in 2012 or 2015. It’s EXACTLY the same, doesn’t’ matter SSD tech has taken a nose dive in price since, it’s as if the person in charge of upgrade pricing on the Apple Store online forgot to change the numbers they’re charging for RAM and SSDs. While I understand the RAM is special, unified baked in with the SoC, the SSDs are not proprietary, and can be upgraded with extensive soldering experience and canon balls for confidence. BTW, my 2012 - also top spec with core i7 16GB RAM and 786GB SSD (first retina) - 10 and 13 year old machines sporting the same amount of RAM and storage (albeit significantly slower storage, as NVME has gotten very fast, it was still light years faster than the HDDs or whatever they called their hybrid drives with SSD cache and HDD as true storage) as today’s entry level machines. DDR3 v DDR5 etc makes a difference, TLC and SLC etc but point being 16GB of RAM seems to have been and still is a useful amount, without warnings of not enough or over burdening the SSD with cached RAM pressure… kinda wild.
I wish though - Apple had a standard, pro and max - from there do what you want - not 3 standards, 3 pros, and 2 max models - all with limitations unless you buy the highest price version. They STILL make plenty of money, but increasing storage on an iPhone or iPad’s less than the prices charged for a Mac.
I immediately checked my order post checking out, thought I’d done so earlier, because I thought it was the ‘Pro’ chip, as TB5 is what I was looking forward to.
This was an obvious mistake on my end, but the unit when new is priced at 1599, so almost 400 bucks less, 50% more RAM and 10x the storage seemed brilliant. Until I realized my mistake, as in the refurb area, I clicked the one above the one I wanted - which also had 24GB RAM and a 1TB SSD but was a Pro Chip with 10Gb/s Ethernet port. The one I ordered has the 1Gb/s standard Ethernet port, as well as TB4, not 5, half the performance cores of the pro chip, BUT plenty of storage, and decent RAM for my needs.
I immediately reached out to Apple, literally minutes post order and it was already prepping for shipping and out of process. Which meant the lady in support was able to set up my return on the phone, my refund and allow me to drop at the local Apple Store. It arrives Wednesday.
I’m primarily an audio editor (Logic, Audition, and Serrato/dJay) maybe 70% of the time, the other 30% is mainly video editing (FCP and Premier) as well as still editing (Lightroom both CC and Classic, PS, Affinity, Polar, and a few others).
I’m not folding DNA, running a local LLM or building new rocket technology, designing with Blender, etc.
I have both the entire Adobe CC suite and Microsoft suite, Affinity Photo and Design, FCP and Logic, and a dozen or two plugins we all use that are small footprints and light on power; Alfred, iStat, and a few others.
Should, in your opinion, and considering what I paid, stick with the entry 10/10 core C/GPUs or am I better off with the Pro chip, half the storage (external’s cheap and I’ve got 8TB in Samsung T7s and a T9), and keep the RAM? Or am I bumping into the Studio now, with it being the better option long term?
Ideally, I’d like 32GB RAM, 48 would ROCK! I definitely need 1TB inside, as Adobe and other large apps insist using internal drive vs mounting to external, and moving the whole Home folder to the drive - mandating the drive is there and working anytime I use the machine. Being a desktop though, it will be, and wont be a hassle as would be the case with a laptop.
I’m considering the M4 Max studio as well - likely the 16/40 due to the ability to increase RAM vs the entry level that’s tied into 36GB.
I can get a 16/40 with 64GB RAM and 2TB for about double what I paid (2600 with mil discount) or the 14/32 Studio base for 1799 (500 bucks more, ½ the storage, more RAM - another 200 or so to get 1TB leaving me around 2k)
Apologize for the length but I’ve now purchased the 16/40 Max 16” and returned before opening after researching more and finding the mil discount (I paid 3999 and returned), picked up the 599 Mini and was left with about 30GB of storage after installing the CC and MS suites, etc. Returned it, and I’ve also returned the 16” MBP Pro chip w/48GB RAM and 512GB SSD, unlike the 14” which is available in significantly more BTO options in store (Apple or Best Buy) including the RAM increased to 48 and 1 or 2TB available in stores. The 16” also offers a 1TB model with 24GB RAM - where I can get a 14” with 48GB RAM and 1TB or 2TB in shop with the pro chip??? Makes absolutely NO sense, as you’re relegated to a MAX version on the 16” if you want any flexibility in components.
I don’t think I’ve ever returned a Mac in my life, but four in four months has definitely been frustrating to say the least and #5 is now otw and I screwed that up (possibly) too!
TL/DR
Penny for your thoughts, whether I should keep the 10/10 mini with 24GB/2TB ($1223 I paid) or step up to the Pro chip and/or Max in studio, with less storage (Mini) and same RAM. I have an M4 iPad and have for 14 months. Love it, and it’s a 2TB model so it’s essentially equivalent to the base Mini with 10/10 cores, 16GB of RAM outside the storage arena. However I’m running iPadOS not macOS - so there’s limitations on what I’m able to do with Logic and FCP for plugins, cooling/thermals, etc.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so frustrated with Apple’s SKUs - I have a 2015, ten year old 15” spec’d out MBP. It’s got 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD, Thunderbolt 2 (maybe 1 but I think it’s the v2, because my 2012 15” also has TB, which is v1 for sure), and all the I/O on board I needed, minus M series silicon, + Intel’s hour and a half wind machine and the AMD 370 with it’s 2GB of vRAM - UGH. But simple times, as you had only a couple choices.
And, look back at the price of increasing your storage or RAM in 2012 or 2015. It’s EXACTLY the same, doesn’t’ matter SSD tech has taken a nose dive in price since, it’s as if the person in charge of upgrade pricing on the Apple Store online forgot to change the numbers they’re charging for RAM and SSDs. While I understand the RAM is special, unified baked in with the SoC, the SSDs are not proprietary, and can be upgraded with extensive soldering experience and canon balls for confidence. BTW, my 2012 - also top spec with core i7 16GB RAM and 786GB SSD (first retina) - 10 and 13 year old machines sporting the same amount of RAM and storage (albeit significantly slower storage, as NVME has gotten very fast, it was still light years faster than the HDDs or whatever they called their hybrid drives with SSD cache and HDD as true storage) as today’s entry level machines. DDR3 v DDR5 etc makes a difference, TLC and SLC etc but point being 16GB of RAM seems to have been and still is a useful amount, without warnings of not enough or over burdening the SSD with cached RAM pressure… kinda wild.
I wish though - Apple had a standard, pro and max - from there do what you want - not 3 standards, 3 pros, and 2 max models - all with limitations unless you buy the highest price version. They STILL make plenty of money, but increasing storage on an iPhone or iPad’s less than the prices charged for a Mac.
