Upgrade from m2 to m4 base?

[Subliminal87]

So I have FOMO and am worried the price will go up after tariffs in January lol.

I have a base m2 mini. I use it part time. For web, mail, YouTube.

That’s literally it. I use it the days I don’t want to deal with windows and don’t plan on gaming. If I want to play games I use the windows rig.

I have a m3 MacBook Air that’s 16/512. I bought that version because with the 8/256 mini, I have hit swap usage while browsing and have outlook and music on.

The m4 has my interest because it’s newer and has more ram.


Is it going to be that much of an upgrade for my use case? Best Buy will give $250 for my mini.

I no longer live near an Apple Store, if I did, I’d honestly take my m2 and trade it in because it would only be $20 a month with installments.

*I won’t mail it in for trade in because I did that with my Apple watch and they screwed me over*. So it’s either keep my m2. Ooooor if it’s an actual upgrade I’d notice, I’ll goto Best Buy.

 

[frou]

Such consumerism is a trap man. It's hollow!

 

[FreakinEurekan]

The upgrade from M2 to M4 isn't worth the cost. But if you want it anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ who are we to stand in your way?

 

[russell_314]

So I have FOMO and am worried the price will go up after tariffs in January lol.

I have a base m2 mini. I use it part time. For web, mail, YouTube.

To me it sounds like you have money to burn and want to burn it on something. I’m totally for that, but you’re not going to get any satisfaction upgrading from an M2 to an M4 Mac mini with what you’re doing. You could be using a base model M1 and you would be fine.

If you have money to burn look at some of the really nice Apple displays.

 

[Subliminal87]

To me it sounds like you have money to burn and want to burn it on something. I’m totally for that, but you’re not going to get any satisfaction upgrading from an M2 to an M4 Mac mini with what you’re doing. You could be using a base model M1 and you would be fine.

If you have money to burn look at some of the really nice Apple displays.

Very fair. Studio display is on my list next year for sure.

 

[EdwardC]

I have a M1 Mini 16/256 as well as a M2 Pro and for everyday office use I can’t tell any difference. I suspect you would not notice it either.

 

[ericwn]

It will be a long time before an existing m2 is incapable of delivering a good end user experience for these very basic tasks.

But as a shareholder I can only support your consumerism. Best to buy a second one just in case.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

FWIW, I did just upgrade my M1 mini to a M4 Pro mini.

The M1 was doing everything I needed... but my brother-in-law needed a new computer so he got the M1 and I got the M4 Pro just because I wanted it and could afford it.

Sometimes that's all the justification you need - "You want it!"

 

[Subliminal87]

So it’s been several months about this and I still think about it.

I also think about the upcoming tariffs.

Does anyone still think the upgrade from the base m2 to the base m4 isn’t worth it? If the tariffs start the base would be around $750 I think?

I have noticed that when I have Firefox up on YouTube playing, discord open and mail, I sometimes go yellow in memory pressure. If I turn off Apple intelligence, it goes down.

If I had an Apple Store close, I’d trade in my m2 instantly. But since I can’t do a trade in person, my option is to keep it and buy an m4 at full price so I could do the Apple Card installments. Trade in would make it $20 a month vs $41. So not terrible.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

This seems to worry you... so if you have the money, upgrade. Who cares what strangers you'll probably never meet think?

If me, I'd ride the M2 until the wheels fall off. Your "that's literally it" uses are so basic, you don't need a new one. So what if you bump into some SWAP as long as it keeps working? Yes, eventually too much SWAP may eventually wear out the SSD (from too many writes) but you could then by the M7 or M8 version then. OR now it appears that one can buy replacement storage from Apple and replace a dead SSD.

But again, if this worries you enough, spend the money for the peace of mind. It's not worrying about such things over 4 months now.

If money is a big factor, those "it" things will work just fine on a PC too, which you could much more thoroughly load up with RAM and SSD for less cost... and/or expand on either or both if you need more on down the road. Use your MBair for Mac stuff and a PC for other stuff. You say you don't want to deal with Windows but those basic uses don't require any big "dealing."

 

[Subliminal87]

This seems to worry you... so if you have the money, upgrade. Who cares what strangers you'll probably never meet think?

If me, I'd ride the M2 until the wheels fall off. Your "that's literally it" uses are so basic, you don't need a new one. So what if you bump into some SWAP as long as it keeps working? Yes, eventually too much SWAP may eventually wear out the SSD (from too many writes) but you could then by the M7 or M8 version then. OR now it appears that one can buy replacement storage from Apple and replace a dead SSD.

But again, if this worries you enough, spend the money for the peace of mind. It's not worrying about such things over 4 months now.

If money is a big factor, those "it" things will work just fine on a PC too, which you could much more thoroughly load up with RAM and SSD for less cost... and/or expand on either or both if you need more on down the road. Use your MBair for Mac stuff and a PC for other stuff. You say you don't want to deal with Windows but those basic uses don't require any big "dealing."

That’s a good point. I might put that money towards something else. I’ve been holding off of the studio display for refresh. My dual 1080p monitors on this mini are not the best lol. Would love a studio display.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

There's also plenty of fish in the monitor sea. ASD is a good monitor but it's but ONE choice among a huge sea full of monitors. This crowd will frame ASD as the one and only monitor to consider but many others are significant upgrades from dual 1080p monitors. You might want to take that MBair to a monitor retailer, hook it up to a few demo units and see how good others can look with your own eyes.

If you are in the 5K-or-bust camp, the ASUS one recently released is about half the price of ASD. If you are a 2 monitor guy, you could get TWIN 5K monitors from ASUS for the price of 1 ASD.

Or consider an ultra-wide like I did. I chose the Dell 5K2K 40" ultra wide... which basically looks like 2 of my former iMac 27" monitors jammed into a single frame. If you shop around a bit and/or regularly watch for a discount, you can get it for ASD's MSRP... and it comes with desirable "stand options" plus a thoroughly loaded hub with both "the future" and "the present" ports... including more than one video input so you could connect the Mini AND your MBair without having to swap cables.

 

[museic]

There's also plenty of fish in the monitor sea. ASD is a good monitor but it's but ONE choice among a huge sea full of monitors. This crowd will frame ASD as the one and only monitor to consider but many others are significant upgrades from dual 1080p monitors. You might want to take that MBair to a monitor retailer, hook it up to a few demo units and see how good others can look with your own eyes.

If you are in the 5K-or-bust camp, the ASUS one recently released is about half the price of ASD. If you are a 2 monitor guy, you could get TWIN 5K monitors from ASUS for the price of 1 ASD.

Or consider an ultra-wide like I did. I chose the Dell 5K2K 40" ultra wide... which basically looks like 2 of my former iMac 27" monitors jammed into a single frame. If you shop around a bit and/or regularly watch for a discount, you can get it for ASD's MSRP... and it comes with desirable "stand options" plus a thoroughly loaded hub with both "the future" and "the present" ports... including more than one video input so you could connect the Mini AND your MBair without having to swap cables.

Since we're spoiled for choices these days, I'd also throw an OLED 4K TV into the mix. I'm pleased as punch with my 48" C3 OLED. Worth noting that this setup requires a bit more distance and isn't a good fit if your desk is smallish.

 

[apostolosdt]

My only Silicon Mac at the moment is a Studio M1 Max; I also used to have a base Mini M1 but I sold it and replaced it with a Mini 2018, same money. Why? Because I'm a "RAM maniac" and the 2018 is upgradable, up to 64GB.

I also happen to now and then think about an M4. However, if I find an M2 Pro with maxed RAM, I'll get that instead. Unless, of course, the M4 Studio catches me up!

You see, I've come to believe that a 64GB is the "base" RAM for my tasks--VMs, math software, and now LLM and AI. For other everyday runs, the 16GB is more than adequate, but no less, IMHO.