Mini M4 Pro vs Studio M2 Max?

[Black Diesel]

Hey all, a max'd out Mini M4 Pro is $2499 and an M2 Max Studio with similar RAM and HD is $2599. Which is the better buy for video editing in Resolve for someone who's going to learn? I'm a photographer who edits still in Lightroom but I want to learn how to edit all my 4k footage Iv'e been racking up. Do we know which machine will be faster or do we have to wait for benchmarks? I'm not too worried about TB5 as long as I can drive two studio displays with the M2 Max Studio.

Your feedback is appreciated.

 

[Super Xander]

Uhh interesting. I know that the M2 Max has 30 GPU cores where M4 Pro only has 20, but the advantage in M3 and M4 in graphic might make the M4 Pro perform better. Everything else is better on Mac Mini.
I would go with the Mac Mini. Also for furthereproofing and better Neural Engine.

 

[torana355]

At very least I would wait to see if a M4 Studio gets announced this week.

 

[SpitUK]

I would go Mac Mini, the M4 is quite a leap over the M2.

 

[SpitUK]

At very least I would wait to see if a M4 Studio gets announced this week.

That’s next year unfortunately.

 

[rukind2]

I would go Mac Mini, the M4 is quite a leap over the M2.

What ends up being better depends on your use case. If you need GPU, the M2 Max will likely be ahead of the M4 Pro with 30 or 38 cores. Going heavy on Ram is another benefit that some users may require. YMMV.

 

[clv101]

When are we going to see benchmarks from the M4 Pro? My hunch is that a 64GB M4 Pro will better a 32GB M2 Max is most use cases. The M4 Pro memory bandwidth is not too shabby 273GB/s.

 

[Black Diesel]

When are we going to see benchmarks from the M4 Pro? My hunch is that a 64GB M4 Pro will better a 32GB M2 Max is most use cases. The M4 Pro memory bandwidth is not too shabby 273GB/s.

Both machines I spec'd above have 64gb of RAM. The studio would get the nod for more ports and probably better cooling. Would apple dare throttle an "M4 Pro" if the mini is susceptible to overheating?

 

[clv101]

Surely even the small Mini can accommodate at least as good, probably better cooling that the MacBook Pro. I'd be surprised if thermal throttling was a problem.

 

[G46&Fbnth5]

Mini seems significantly better except for the GPU, but I am afraid thermals and noise will be much worse compared to the Studio

 

[Mizouse]

I would wait for benchmarks.

Not sure how much of a difference it would make but the M2 Max has 2 Video Encode engines and 2 ProRes encode and decode engines.

The M4 Pro only has 1.

 

[nick9191]

2500 dollars is a fair bit of money for learning to edit in Resolve.

Speccing out a Mini that high is never going to be a great deal, and buying a Mac Studio on 2-generation old silicon doesn’t seem like the best move.

I would personally just go for the standard M4 Pro with minimal upgrades, you can always trade it in next summer for the new Mac Studio if you need to.

 

[tim34567]

It’s going to be very interesting to revisit this

2500 dollars is a fair bit of money for learning to edit in Resolve.

Speccing out a Mini that high is never going to be a great deal, and buying a Mac Studio on 2-generation old silicon doesn’t seem like the best move.

I would personally just go for the standard M4 Pro with minimal upgrades, you can always trade it in next summer for the new Mac Studio if you need to.

Curious about the trade in value. Let’s say I get a standard M4 Pro Mini now - $1400. How much am I getting back from Apple if I trade it in next June?

 

[nick9191]

It’s going to be very interesting to revisit this

Curious about the trade in value. Let’s say I get a standard M4 Pro Mini now - $1400. How much am I getting back from Apple if I trade it in next June?

Not sure. Not even sure they’d let you actually, don’t quote me on this but if I recall you can usually only trade in the prior generation and below. This M4 Mini will still be the newest Mini by June.

But I’d imagine you could sell it on eBay for around $1000.

 

[Spidder]

Why does a photographer need that much performance for video editing?

 

[Black Diesel]

2500 dollars is a fair bit of money for learning to edit in Resolve.

Speccing out a Mini that high is never going to be a great deal, and buying a Mac Studio on 2-generation old silicon doesn’t seem like the best move.

I would personally just go for the standard M4 Pro with minimal upgrades, you can always trade it in next summer for the new Mac Studio if you need to.

I buy a new computer every 4-5 years and I want something that will last. Right now my highly spec'd 2020 27" iMac is struggling with my 600K photo library and while doing batch processing tasks on large RAW files like Denoise, etc. I have been shooting a ton of 4K footage (and 4K 120) with my full frame mirrorless cameras, and now it's time for me to start learning the editing process. I know the basics of video editing like cutting clips and putting basic timelines together but I don't want a machine that's going to struggle with any tasks I'm doing over the next few years of learning/editing.

 

[Black Diesel]

Why does a photographer need that much performance for video editing?

My cameras shoot 8K RAW and I want something that can handle it without bogging down. Most of my archived footage is 4K but I'll be shooting more 8K in the future.

 

[JamesMay82]

I don’t think you’ll go wrong with either for your use case, a MacBook Air can handle 4k footage so the studio and mini will easily best them!

I have a Mac Studio M2 and love it but I’m a bit of a poser and don’t use it like i intended.

I’d be tempted with the M4 pro though and new thunderbolt for faster speeds. Having said that, I’d be keeping an eye out for a m2 studio deal as well.. maybe on refurbished store….

What external storage do you use?

 

[CalMin]

I buy a new computer every 4-5 years and I want something that will last. Right now my highly spec'd 2020 27" iMac is struggling with my 600K photo library and while doing batch processing tasks on large RAW files like Denoise, etc. I have been shooting a ton of 4K footage (and 4K 120) with my full frame mirrorless cameras, and now it's time for me to start learning the editing process. I know the basics of video editing like cutting clips and putting basic timelines together but I don't want a machine that's going to struggle with any tasks I'm doing over the next few years of learning/editing.

If you're still on Intel, then a base spec. M1 MacBook would be an upgrade in performance. The M4 / M4 Pro will melt your brain.

My wife has an 8GB M1 MacBook Air and it's quite stunningly capable. I use an M1Pro for my work, so I bought an M2 Air 8GB/256GB as a couch/kitchen/den computer. The base spec. Air was so fast it made me question what more computer I needed. In fact, when we get M4 MacBook Airs next year, I think I'll switch over to that because it will crush my daily work and even the 30-60 minute FCP 4 x 4k Multicam video editing I do for fun. How do I know that for sure? It's because the M2 Air did!

In fact, I recently sold the M2 Air with a view to getting an M3 because I like two external displays, but now I'm holding out for an M4 MacBook Air. I'll probably spec. it up too, because I'm confident it will be more computer than I need for years!

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I would go Mac Mini, the M4 is quite a leap over the M2.

I strongly doubt if the M4 Pro is quite a leap over the M2 Max. Assuming limiting the Studio to the 64 GB RAM maximum of the M4 Pro mini the M2 Max will probably still outperform on most usages. Appropriately equip an M2 Max Studio with 96 GB RAM and any Mac mini will be less good in an all-day workflow.

The exceptions will be with things that benefit from hardware support of ray tracing and the like.

That said the new Mac minis are sweet. Choosing between an M2 Studio and an M4 mini will be very user-specific. The M-series Max chips have been much, much stronger than the Pro chips; but the M4 is two generations newer. I will be curious to see how real-world testing plays out. Unfortunately most testing is pure click-baiting with YouTubers creating sensationalistic results just to get clicks, not data. <sigh>

 

[fromgophonetoiphone]

That’s next year unfortunately.

That's what I believe too, but why not wait til the end of this week? The Mini is a pre-order right now and I can't see it being THAT popular that it sells out and pushes orders out by weeks like iPhones do.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I buy a new computer every 4-5 years and I want something that will last. Right now my highly spec'd 2020 27" iMac is struggling with my 600K photo library and while doing batch processing tasks on large RAW files like Denoise, etc. I have been shooting a ton of 4K footage (and 4K 120) with my full frame mirrorless cameras, and now it's time for me to start learning the editing process. I know the basics of video editing like cutting clips and putting basic timelines together but I don't want a machine that's going to struggle with any tasks I'm doing over the next few years of learning/editing.

1) Apps handling imagery like RAM. Forget the MBA, it is not for your usages for multiple reasons, starting with inadequate RAM.
2) IMO you should literally plan around the RAM, because it affects your other choices. IMO 64 GB minimum, which today puts you in a] a Mac mini, Pro chip or b] an M2 Studio with Max chip or c] an M3/M4 MBP with Max chip.
3) Wait and see the M4 MBPs later this week.
4) It is fine to save money by limiting internal SSD capacity because external SSDs are so easy and cheap.
5) It is not OK to save money on RAM, because RAM is not upgradeable and RAM needs are always increasing. Of course the Mac OS will force lesser RAM amounts to work, but sub-optimally. Why buy a pricey new Mac and force it to compute sub-optimally? We buy these things to compute with.

I went through a similar upgrade analysis two years ago (before the M2 Studios were released) and ended up with an M2 MBP, 96 GB RAM. A basic 2024 images workflow fits fine in 64 GB RAM; I bought 96 GB for future proofing, because I have rammed-out on every computer I have ever owned, staring with the 128k Mac. I keep my Macs 5-7 years.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

When are we going to see benchmarks from the M4 Pro? My hunch is that a 64GB M4 Pro will better a 32GB M2 Max is most use cases. The M4 Pro memory bandwidth is not too shabby 273GB/s.

Why would you compare a 64GB M4 Pro against a 32GB M2 Max? Certainly the comparison should be against a 64 GB or 96 GB M2 Max, not arbitrarily reducing the M2 Max RAM to 32.

I too will be curious to see testing. Just no click-baiting YouTubers. Note that in the past the Max chip from a generation back usually won, but this time we are looking at two generations back.

 

[inequals]

Gotta say, this is the first product with M4 that has given me the desire twinge. But honestly, my darling M1 Max/64GB/4TB MacBook Pro is STILL more computer than I need, which after 30 years of being a nerd is the first time I was ever able to say that. It waits for me more than I wait for it lol.

Anyway this M4 mini is compelling, that memory bandwidth and Thunderbolt 5… and finally 10GigE at a - well, not reasonable upgrade price but not as offensively gouge-y as the storage, as ever (but as has been pointed out, on a desktop machine with these specs there’s almost no tradeoff using external) I know it’s apples to spanners but I am curious how the GPU on, say, a maxed out M4 Pro compares to - or if it can compare to - discrete cards on the PC side. I suppose benchmarks?

I think it’s a bit confusing if they’re going to keep the M2 Studio around until sometime next year? I mean most people looking at these hi end machines probably won’t be confused, but definitely the rich people who buy the top spec for writing emails on will just be lost!

 

[Black Diesel]

If you're still on Intel, then a base spec. M1 MacBook would be an upgrade in performance. The M4 / M4 Pro will melt your brain.

My wife has an 8GB M1 MacBook Air and it's quite stunningly capable. I use an M1Pro for my work, so I bought an M2 Air 8GB/256GB as a couch/kitchen/den computer. The base spec. Air was so fast it made me question what more computer I needed. In fact, when we get M4 MacBook Airs next year, I think I'll switch over to that because it will crush my daily work and even the 30-60 minute FCP 4 x 4k Multicam video editing I do for fun. How do I know that for sure? It's because the M2 Air did!

In fact, I recently sold the M2 Air with a view to getting an M3 because I like two external displays, but now I'm holding out for an M4 MacBook Air. I'll probably spec. it up too, because I'm confident it will be more computer than I need for years!

I have a couple 16gb M1 Airs I travel with and yes there's a huge difference between them and the old intel 27" iMac. My M1 Air's are strictly for travel so I don't want to use them at my main creative workstation. I guess I'll wait to see what the 14" MBP M4 delivers this week, and then wait for benchmarks to compare the Mini M4, new M4 MPB's, and the Studio M2 Max variants. I believe there will be some great sales on the studio M2 Max soon so if the benchmarks are close maybe the M2 Max will be the best bang for the buck.