Six months later - how does everyone feel about 16GB of RAM on the base M4 Mac Mini?

[Ishimura]

Hello everyone.

I wanted to start a discussion to get a comprehensive overview of how owners feel about the base spec of 16GB RAM on the M4 Mac Mini (and the M4 Air) six months after launch.

Is it enough for you, and what is your use case? How much does it really take to max it out, in terms of getting it to red memory pressure? Do you wish you had gotten more?

The context here is that I am one of the many people still trying to work out what spec M4 Mac Mini to buy, it's something I've been agonising over for months due to the extremely high costs of Apple's upgrades which everybody seems to agree severely damage the value proposition of the base model.

 

[McScooby]

Better off asking folk with 8GB how that stacks up. For the record it's fine in a M2 base model.

 

[Ishimura]

Better off asking folk with 8GB how that stacks up. For the record it's fine in a M2 base model.

I'm looking at the M4 and that comes with 16GB of RAM.

 

[PowerStay]

Hello everyone.

I wanted to start a discussion to get a comprehensive overview of how owners feel about the base spec of 16GB RAM on the M4 Mac Mini (and the M4 Air) six months after launch.

Is it enough for you, and what is your use case? How much does it really take to max it out, in terms of getting it to red memory pressure? Do you wish you had gotten more?

The context here is that I am one of the many people still trying to work out what spec M4 Mac Mini to buy, it's something I've been agonising over for months due to the extremely high costs of Apple's upgrades which everybody seems to agree severely damage the value proposition of the base model.

This might be a little off topic specific to the RAM, but it might aid in your decision on the base model M4 mini. I got the base M4 model (Apple refurbished for $509). I sent off for a 2TB SSD upgrade from expandmacmini.com, which cost $299 at the time (since increased to $320). I installed the upgrade myself in about 20 minutes, and there were no problems whatsoever with the installation. YouTube has several excellent videos.

Overall, the new system is flawless, speedy, and working like a charm. No issues with any memory deficiency with 16GB, although my usage profile isn't very heavy. Apple's SSD upgrades are pretty pricey - this approach was a great route. If I need to replace the Apple SSD for some warranty work, it's literally a 20-minute job. Very pleased.

All the best!

 

[pacmania1982]

I have two of them. I love them!

 

[McScooby]

I'm looking at the M4 and that comes with 16GB of RAM.

Your relevance is lost on me. The only thing that the M4 has over the M2 is AV1 decode, other than that it's basically the same thing, aside from the chip running faster/core count, if 8GB is suffice then by association so is 16GB.

Now if you were to explain what exactly you're asking as in what you actually plan to use it for, then and maybe then, will you get a different answer.

In context, my other mini bought in 2012, the quad i7 had 16GB in the name of future proofing - there isn't any such thing. If you're in the market for a M4 & are asking questions, get the base on edu discount & if another one drops later in the year / you find out for some godly unknown reason that you feel that you need more, then trade it in / sell it near cost and upgrade.

Macs use as much memory as you can sling in its direction & even if it has to go to swap, it's not the end of the world the SSD is fast enough to cope that you probably won't notice any difference unless you're fixated at staring at activity monitor all day & think that anything that isn't green is bad.

You can also add an external ssd if you feel the the boot drive is too small - My M2 thanks me for the extra 4TB SSD I've attached. Does it mean that I should've bought it with 4TB internal? Hell no, when I upgrade to M5 (hopefully for Wii-Fi 7) it comes with me for the ride.

You agonise away whilst the rest of us enjoy the purchase, there's loads of you-tube videos out there if you're stuck.

 

[Corefile]

It's like a 32GB Intel Windows PC.

 

[VaZ]

If you run out of 16GB no worries it'll just use virtual memory off your speedy m.2 drive which is still fast. Not a big issue like the HDD days.

 

[streetfunk]

I wanted to start a discussion to get a comprehensive overview of how owners feel about the base spec of 16GB RAM on the M4 Mac Mini (and the M4 Air) six months after launch.

makes not much sense to ask in this way

Is it enough for you, and what is your use case?

that makes more sense


i had from M1 with 8GB of RAM to M4 with 64GB of RAM.
I still run activly a M1 8GB, a M2/16GB, a M4/24GB, a M4/64GB machine

i do allways the very same thing with all of these machines. (Exept the M1/8GB which is now my daily kitchen PC).
That´s allways music-work related. My RAM usage has not changed much.

What i can tell from my uses is:
the more RAM you have, the more data will macOS place on your RAM.



my personal opinion is:
who can afford it, take 32GB of RAM. Even better 64GB if you want to have options open to all sides.
But most people will be able to do most things they want to do with even just 16GB of RAM installed.
So, looking from there, would i say is 24GB of RAM a good number for folks on a budget.
16GB will work, HAS to, if on a tight budget.


The game is: you, the user, you HAVE to have some idea how much RAM "your uses" are demanding.
Finally: you have the RAM usage to some degree in your own hands.
Just never forget: if you have RAM, macOS will make use out of it.


to notes: based on that, be careful with YT videos showing things coming from having more/much RAM, and doing then from there some reverse take outs. That could be quickly something misleading.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Hello everyone.

I wanted to start a discussion to get a comprehensive overview of how owners feel about the base spec of 16GB RAM on the M4 Mac Mini (and the M4 Air) six months after launch.

Is it enough for you, and what is your use case? How much does it really take to max it out, in terms of getting it to red memory pressure? Do you wish you had gotten more?

The context here is that I am one of the many people still trying to work out what spec M4 Mac Mini to buy, it's something I've been agonising over for months due to the extremely high costs of Apple's upgrades which everybody seems to agree severely damage the value proposition of the base model.

16 GB RAM will be excellent for many users for a 5 year life cycle (5 years selected arbitrarily) and will be paging to SSD on day one for others, suboptimal computing from the start. It totally depends on the planned workflow and what happens with apps/OS/RAM over the life cycle. Note that today is only relevant in terms of how we may forecast OS/apps in the future, which is when any new purchase wil be used: in the future.

Regarding the M4 Mac mini specifically, the base model is a great bargain; highly recommended unless one needs more. If one needs more than a base Mac mini with RAM maxxed out IMO a Studio is the appropriate next step up. IMO the Mac mini Pro chip is a poor value.

Just my $0.02.

 

[drrich2]

The only thing that the M4 has over the M2 is AV1 decode, other than that it's basically the same thing, aside from the chip running faster/core count, if 8GB is suffice then by association so is 16GB.

Apple, notoriously stingy with base RAM allotments, changed the base to 16 after years of widespread derision. It's my understanding this is to prepare for upcoming Apple Intelligence features that I presume will put more demands on the system. Apple's practices have left me suspicious of minimums.

Odds of security updates and new OS version compatibility being officially supported differ - the M4 may well get a couple of years extra compatibility.

The context here is that I am one of the many people still trying to work out what spec M4 Mac Mini to buy, it's something I've been agonising over for months due to the extremely high costs of Apple's upgrades which everybody seems to agree severely damage the value proposition of the base model.

How long do you think you're likely to use this before replacing it? Are you one of those people who will use a computer 10 years, using unofficial workarounds to keep updating the OS or sticking with an older version, till the speed is so slow or compatibility headaches force your hand to upgrade?

Or after 5 years or so do you get the itch for a shiny new toy?

Do you have access to the Apple Refurb. store, or an education discount?

Judging from Apple's site just now, no sales or such I know of, looks like an extra $400 would give you 24 gig RAM and 512 gig internal SSD, which provides some breathing room. Yes, I know that looks big when the base config. lists for roughly $600, but put that aside. $200 Would get you just the 24 gig RAM.

Peace of mind has value. Sounds like money's tight for you, so I suspect these are the upper limits you'll go for. Is $200, and for that matter $400, too much to pay for that peace of mind, and maybe modestly better performance in 7 or 8 years or what-have-you, if you keep it that long?

You can get an external Thunderbolt SSD. You can't get external RAM for your Mac.

 

[McScooby]

Apple, notoriously stingy with base RAM allotments, changed the base to 16 after years of widespread derision. It's my understanding this is to prepare for upcoming Apple Intelligence features that I presume will put more demands on the system. Apple's practice have left me suspicious of minimums.

Odds of security updates and new OS version compatibility being officially supported differ - the M4 may well get a couple of years extra compatibility.


How long do you think you're likely to use this before replacing it? Are you one of those people who will use a computer 10 years, using unofficial workarounds to keep updating the OS or sticking with an older version, till the speed is so slow or compatibility headaches force your hand to upgrade?

Or after 5 years or so do you get the itch for a shiny new toy?

Do you have access to the Apple Refurb. store, or an education discount?

Judging from Apple's site just now, no sales or such I know of, looks like an extra $400 would give you 24 gig RAM and 512 gig internal SSD, which provides some breathing room. Yes, I know that looks big when the base config. lists for roughly $600, but put that aside. $200 Would get you just the 24 gig RAM.

Peace of mind has value. Sounds like money's tight for you, so I suspect these are the upper limits you'll go for. Is $200, and for that matter $400, too much to pay for that peace of mind, and maybe modestly better performance in 7 or 8 years or what-have-you, if you keep it that long?

You can get an external Thunderbolt SSD. You can't get external RAM for your Mac.

Pretty obvious the M4 will get a few more years updates, it's a newer computer.

I wasn't saying to OP to buy a M2, they asked about 16GB & I responded that 8GB is fine, of course RAM was upped for Apple Intelligence, doesn't mean that the M2 will stop working as has been shown thus far.

You can be suspicious all you like of buying a base machine, but evidence over the years has shown that the base models hold their values the best.

Apple's always held back on the RAM, bad for you but great for folk that don't need the extra, this is nothing new that should catch you unaware.

In a nutshell, 8GB works and has worked fine for the last few years & for my use it isn't just browsing or word docs, it's a whole mannerism of things that time and time again demonstrates how capable a machine it is.

Ponder this thought - from the base mini all the way up the range single core speeds are almost identical.

This in itself should demonstrate that there's nothing to fear from going for the entry product, as I've said if you buy it & find it doesn't suit your needs then sell it & upgrade - the money lost doing this is likely to be less than buying a higher spec that you may never need, such is the low price to entry that the base M4 offers.

 

[ignatius345]

How much does it really take to max it out, in terms of getting it to red memory pressure?

oh no not memory pressure

 

[McScooby]

 

[racerhomie]

It’s great. For those who have it will get better OS longevity and more memory to hold Applications

 

[drrich2]

You can be suspicious all you like of buying a base machine, but evidence over the years has shown that the base models hold their values the best.

A useful thing for people who tend to sell their old machines, especially if they do so every few years. Some users will and some won't.

Apple's always held back on the RAM, bad for you but great for folk that don't need the extra, this is nothing new that should catch you unaware.

I would agree if the move from 8 to 16 gig had led to, oh, say, an evident $200 jump in base pricing. But...it didn't, which suggests to me sticking to 8 was great for no one but Apple, whose profit margins likely didn't benefit all that much.

What's more, I've noticed sales on Macs often focus on base or near base models, so prior to the jump, the 'great deals' were often for Macs with only 8 gig RAM, and sometimes no option to benefit from that sale with higher RAM options.

I've seen the 'keeping the base RAM low hurts no one, just buy what you need/want/can afford' argument before, but under closer scrutiny I don't think it holds well. Raising the base was beneficial in pricing for higher amounts, too.

This in itself should demonstrate that there's nothing to fear from going for the entry product, as I've said if you buy it & find it doesn't suit your needs then sell it & upgrade - the money lost doing this is likely to be less than buying a higher spec that you may never need, such is the low price to entry that the base M4 offers.

It's an interesting thing...some people for whatever personal psychological reasons simply won't go through the rigamarole of wiping a computer and selling it through eBay, for example, and some people will. I like FaceBook Marketplace for unloading old stuff. Some people won't sell the old when they trade up, and/or keep using what they buy until its value is very low, or they'll keep a 'bad choice' computer because it's what they bought.

My point is, when people are weighing their options, don't forget to consider one's personal psychology. So if you have a very low threshold to sell and trade up in a few years, you don't keep a system many years and don't do intensive work, I can see where a base config. (with an external SSD) could be a good deal. If you 'marry' your purchases, sticking with them for better or for worse, for the long haul...then 24 gig RAM starts to look real good.

 

[Newton1701]

Drives me crazy how people pay more attention to Activity Monitor than how fast/responsive the Mac is when they’re actually using it. Real-world performance during daily use is what really matters. I guarantee most worry-worts are just browsing the web and checking their email 99% of the time. You’d know already if you truly need more than base memory. If you regret the purchase, sell it when the M5 comes out and bump up the specs. Simple enough.

 

[Polkajunior]

Hello everyone.

I wanted to start a discussion to get a comprehensive overview of how owners feel about the base spec of 16GB RAM on the M4 Mac Mini (and the M4 Air) six months after launch.

Is it enough for you, and what is your use case? How much does it really take to max it out, in terms of getting it to red memory pressure? Do you wish you had gotten more?

The context here is that I am one of the many people still trying to work out what spec M4 Mac Mini to buy, it's something I've been agonising over for months due to the extremely high costs of Apple's upgrades which everybody seems to agree severely damage the value proposition of the base model.

I have a Mac mini M4 base, Im loving it so far, I think it's a tremendous value! I have very light usage, though. nothing too taxing.

 

[boethius]

For me it’s pretty simple. I have the Mac mini m4 base, the MacBook Air m4 512GB and an M1 Pro MacBook Pro with 32GB.

If your workflow includes any of Apple’s pro tools, adobe or any other large software package you will need more RAM.

If you measure your usage on how many chrome tabs you can keep open and have zoom running at the same time then 16GB is way more than enough.

 

[cjsuk]

Apologies for the gushing review here.

So I bought mine back in November. My workload for computers is a little unusual compared to the usual office/creative flows although those do feature. I use them for mathematical modelling (R, Julia, Maxima) as well as typesetting etc. This tends to involve chucking a few gigabytes of crap data around in RAM and onto disks etc and running lots of floating point stuff for hours at a time. Other than that, normal Mac desktop stuff, Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, light video editing with Resolve and transcodes. Oh and Unixy bits on the terminal.

Prior to getting the M4 I had a bottom end M1 Pro macbook and a PC desktop. The desktop was a pretty hefty top end 14th Gen Intel (yeah one of those dodgy ones) with 64Gb of RAM and an RTC 4060 (for Lightroom denoise). The M1 Pro was "ok" but not exactly a speed demon compared to a desktop machine. I also dislike laptops generally so it was just plugged into a Studio Display all day. When it came to the end of the AppleCare I decided I'd just get a desktop Mac again. As I already had the Studio Display and used my laptop as a laptop exactly once, I looked at the Mac Studio thinking I could replace both.

So I'm in the Apple Store and I found my arms are shorter than my pockets are deep. Walked out with a base 16Gb M4 Mini with 512Gb storage and the thought that "if I need it, I'll just plug an external disk into it".

So 6 months on now and I don't own the PC. I sold it and spend a couple of weekends in Italy with the money 🤣. It replaced the PC workload as well quite happily and is slightly faster in real world "get this job done" terms than the 14900k was. It has handled everything that I've thrown at it and I haven't noticed any performance issues or anything. Even the larger than RAM datasets I have poked at it are not noticeably slower to chunk through than the ones that fit. I'm sure it's gone into the memory pressure red zone but I haven't noticed and hasn't materially affected what I'm doing. Lightroom "AI" denoise is not noticeably slower than it was on my RTX4060. Compared to the old PC it is entirely silent. Nothing has gone wrong on it.

The only limitation so far is that if I need some more storage, which I do occasionally for some large datasets, then I plug a 2TB Samsung T7 shield in and job done. It was not worth buying a custom config or larger disk. The rest of my data fits in <300Gb including macOS.

It is simply the most boring computer I've ever owned. It just works and eats up everything I throw at it. It's perfect.

 

[Ishimura]

Your relevance is lost on me.

You agonise away whilst the rest of us enjoy the purchase, there's loads of you-tube videos out there if you're stuck.

The relevance is that the M4 Mini comes with 16GB. I’m specifically asking about 16GB of RAM in 2025 and also in the years ahead.

I can’t choose to spec the M4 with 8GB, so that’s an irrelevant amount of RAM. I’m trying to determine if I should stick with 16 or upgrade to 24.

Are you telling me that I shouldn’t have asked this question on a Mac-specific forum, of all places?

 

[Ishimura]

makes not much sense to ask in this way


that makes more sense


i had from M1 with 8GB of RAM to M4 with 64GB of RAM.
I still run activly a M1 8GB, a M2/16GB, a M4/24GB, a M4/64GB machine

i do allways the very same thing with all of these machines. (Exept the M1/8GB which is now my daily kitchen PC).
That´s allways music-work related. My RAM usage has not changed much.

What i can tell from my uses is:
the more RAM you have, the more data will macOS place on your RAM.



my personal opinion is:
who can afford it, take 32GB of RAM. Even better 64GB if you want to have options open to all sides.
But most people will be able to do most things they want to do with even just 16GB of RAM installed.
So, looking from there, would i say is 24GB of RAM a good number for folks on a budget.
16GB will work, HAS to, if on a tight budget.


The game is: you, the user, you HAVE to have some idea how much RAM "your uses" are demanding.
Finally: you have the RAM usage to some degree in your own hands.
Just never forget: if you have RAM, macOS will make use out of it.


to notes: based on that, be careful with YT videos showing things coming from having more/much RAM, and doing then from there some reverse take outs. That could be quickly something misleading.

I know how MAC OS handles RAM usage, which is why I specifically asked about memory pressure.

I suppose I could have added ‘at what point will there be noticeable performance hitches because of maxed-out RAM usage’.

 

[Ishimura]

16 GB RAM will be excellent for many users for a 5 year life cycle (5 years selected arbitrarily) and will be paging to SSD on day one for others, suboptimal computing from the start. It totally depends on the planned workflow and what happens with apps/OS/RAM over the life cycle. Note that today is only relevant in terms of how we may forecast OS/apps in the future, which is when any new purchase wil be used: in the future.

Regarding the M4 Mac mini specifically, the base model is a great bargain; highly recommended unless one needs more. If one needs more than a base Mac mini with RAM maxxed out IMO a Studio is the appropriate next step up. IMO the Mac mini Pro chip is a poor value.

Just my $0.02.

I definitely don’t need maxed out RAM. I am just trying to work out if 16 will be more than sufficient for 5+ years or if I should upgrade to 24.

 

[Ishimura]

Apple, notoriously stingy with base RAM allotments, changed the base to 16 after years of widespread derision. It's my understanding this is to prepare for upcoming Apple Intelligence features that I presume will put more demands on the system. Apple's practices have left me suspicious of minimums.

Odds of security updates and new OS version compatibility being officially supported differ - the M4 may well get a couple of years extra compatibility.


How long do you think you're likely to use this before replacing it? Are you one of those people who will use a computer 10 years, using unofficial workarounds to keep updating the OS or sticking with an older version, till the speed is so slow or compatibility headaches force your hand to upgrade?

Or after 5 years or so do you get the itch for a shiny new toy?

Do you have access to the Apple Refurb. store, or an education discount?

Judging from Apple's site just now, no sales or such I know of, looks like an extra $400 would give you 24 gig RAM and 512 gig internal SSD, which provides some breathing room. Yes, I know that looks big when the base config. lists for roughly $600, but put that aside. $200 Would get you just the 24 gig RAM.

Peace of mind has value. Sounds like money's tight for you, so I suspect these are the upper limits you'll go for. Is $200, and for that matter $400, too much to pay for that peace of mind, and maybe modestly better performance in 7 or 8 years or what-have-you, if you keep it that long?

You can get an external Thunderbolt SSD. You can't get external RAM for your Mac.

I’d like to use the computer for 5+ years. Let’s say 7.

I definitely won’t be buying a Mini for full price from Apple. I’ll be buying it significantly discounted from somewhere else.

 

[Ishimura]

Drives me crazy how people pay more attention to Activity Monitor than how fast/responsive the Mac is when they’re actually using it. Real-world performance during daily use is what really matters. I guarantee most worry-worts are just browsing the web and checking their email 99% of the time. You’d know already if you truly need more than base memory. If you regret the purchase, sell it when the M5 comes out and bump up the specs. Simple enough.

What you’re missing with this response is that many people are trying to spec their machine appropriately so as to avoid ever running into any wobbles in real-world performance.

If somebody is asking about this, they’re asking how they avoid getting into a situation where their Mac becomes slower and less responsive.