Short Man Syndrome, or the joy of 256Gb…..

[Snow4maen]

Hi all

On a whim, while I was in PC land playing games. The M4 Mac mini came out, and owing to it’s tiny compact size I instantly fell in love. But I don’t want a Mac I said, I want a PC so I can play games, flip flopping is my nature. I had to have it.

I said to myself at the time DON’T get the 256, pay a bit more and get the 512. Then I convinced myself not to spend more as I was only going to use it for ‘writing’. In the fairly short space of time I have owned my beloved M4 Mac mini I have subsequently learned that I can put just about ANYTHING on an external SSD. I knew I would need one, but had no idea what I could actually do with one.

Examples…..

My Steam library is on the external SSD


My sample libraries are all on the external SSD


I will put a Parallels VM on the external SSD


And

In Sequoia there is an option in the App Store to default to downloading ‘large’ apps to the external SSD.

In my personal usage, which has now extended way beyond just ‘writing’, I can have my cake and eat it too.

£600 for this simply divine little computer. So quiet, runs cool.

I found a good video on you tube about additional feature of Sequoia that made me just fall back in love with Mac OS.

Have I finally banished PC’s forever?

Well, to tell you the truth I am NOT an avid gamer, just a very casual one. I mostly play retro games now.

 

[John Frahm]

I added ram not storage to my M4, Apple made upgrading storage possible again on the M4's, I upgraded to 1tb internal and 1tb in my dock and after 6 months don't even have 200gb on my internal, only apps on my internal are core apple app all others are on my external, to use you would never know, I have seen it stated that a good external connected through the thunderbolt 4 ports are actually faster than the internal. one day I will check this but for me it doesn't matter either are lighting fast. and yes I created aliases to my apps on the external in the app library on my internal.

 

[Snow4maen]

I added ram not storage to my M4, Apple made upgrading storage possible again on the M4's, I upgraded to 1tb internal and 1tb in my dock and after 6 months don't even have 200gb on my internal, only apps on my internal are core apple app all others are on my external, to use you would never know, I have seen it stated that a good external connected through the thunderbolt 4 ports are actually faster than the internal. one day I will check this but for me it doesn't matter either are lighting fast. and yes I created aliases to my apps on the external in the app library on my internal.

Hi John, I'm afraid I'm not good at the technical stuff so opening up the computer and adding things is not for me. It just goes to show you, different people have such different uses and needs. Really I was just happy that what I thought was going to be very limiting, turned out not to be. I have general use, music making, and writing as my ways I use the Mac mini. I have put Ableton live on the main SSD but it's not big. All the libraries for it are on the external. What can I say, I am in love with this little computer.

 

[Snow4maen]

When I posted this thread, I was a bit giddy with love for my little Mac mini. A bit like a dizzy teenager. And I did think afterwards, what the heck was the point?? Now however, I am curious as to those who have trusted the 256gb SSD as to how they are managing. With the variety of workflows, data needs, and uses. Is it limited? Or is the way you can utilise external storage ultimately perfectly fine. How, if you opted for the base model, are you getting on? Any regrets?

 

[maflynn]

I added ram not storage to my M4

Can you expound a bit more on that. Apple Silicon has ram that is not upgradeable.

Upgrading the storage is technically feasible on the Mini and Studio, but again, not the ram. Please provide details, I'm curious

 

[bradman83]

Can you expound a bit more on that. Apple Silicon has ram that is not upgradeable.

Upgrading the storage is technically feasible on the Mini and Studio, but again, not the ram. Please provide details, I'm curious

I think the OP meant that they paid for more RAM as part of the configuration when they bought it, not that they upgraded after the fact.

 

[maflynn]

I think the OP meant that they paid for more RAM as part of the configuration when they bought it, not that they upgraded after the fact.

Perhaps, but @John Frahm (not the OP) stated he added ram, and without further mention of it being at the time of purchase, its a little confusing, hence my request for clarification.

 

[John Frahm]

Can you expound a bit more on that. Apple Silicon has ram that is not upgradeable.

Upgrading the storage is technically feasible on the Mini and Studio, but again, not the ram. Please provide details, I'm curious

I upgraded my ram when I purchased not my storage, but in all truthfulness I don't fell I needed to, I have a MacBook Pro with 32gb of ram and 1tb of storage and have not used much storage at all, bought new in 2020 (the 2019 16") I am a retired Engineer and still run CAD on both my computers but use iCloud and externals for storage, only store apps on internals, not even that on my M4. I only have Apple core apps on internal all others are on external and I have App Store set to download everything to external, I am running MacOs 26 public beta on everything, even my download folder is on the external

 

[maflynn]

I upgraded my ram when I purchased not my storage, but in all truthfulness I don't fell I needed to, I have a MacBook Pro with 32gb of ram and 1tb of storage and have not used much storage at all, bought new in 2020 (the 2019 16")

Thanks for the clarification, I think perhaps I typed in reply before coffee and I was extra dense this morning

 

[John Frahm]

Thanks for the clarification, I think perhaps I typed in reply before coffee and I was extra dense this morning

no, I did not elaborate. but I theory you can upgrade RAM by replacing the board the chip is soldered to with one from the same series, even from the Mac Pro. but the method is kind of complicated but the same as I did when I upgraded my internal SSD. But it will invalidate the warranty so is not recommended at least by me.

 

[Boyd01]

Now however, I am curious as to those who have trusted the 256gb SSD as to how they are managing.

FWIW, lots of discussion of the 256gb disk in this thread.

About 9 months in, I'm still delighted with mine. It is primarily a media server for my two AppleTV's, also connected to my home stereo with speakers in different rooms and I use the Music app directly for that along with streaming Sirius/XM.

So, I don't really need much internal storage - 128gb would have been plenty and I would have gotten that if it were available and saved some money. Media is all on a 4tb USB SSD which is more than fast enough was also a lot easier to move to a new computer than an internal SSD (previously used both a 2012 and 2014 Mini as media servers).

 

[Snow4maen]

FWIW, lots of discussion of the 256gb disk in this thread.

About 9 months in, I'm still delighted with mine. It is primarily a media server for my two AppleTV's, also connected to my home stereo with speakers in different rooms and I use the Music app directly for that along with streaming Sirius/XM.

So, I don't really need much internal storage - 128gb would have been plenty and I would have gotten that if it were available and saved some money. Media is all on a 4tb USB SSD which is more than fast enough was also a lot easier to move to a new computer than an internal SSD (previously used both a 2012 and 2014 Mini as media servers).


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Thanks for this! I'll check the thread out.