Upgrading from M1 to M4, can't decide if I should go for M4 or M4 Pro

[Gnosis]

I'm currently using the Mac Mini M1 16GB ram and I feel that it's time to upgrade.

What I use my Mac for as an amateur photographer is Lightroom Classic and Photoshop, not that often. Maybe 5-7 times in a month. Other then that I play Football Manager a lot. Then the usual stuff, listen to apple music and browsing the web.

I've been looking at the activity monitor a lot lately to get a idea of how much ram I use in general. And I would say that I average 12gb.

So the question is, should I go for the M4 with 32gb ram or M4 Pro with 24 gb ram? My main concern is that "only" 24gb ram will be an issue in 2-3 years when apps are more demanding.

Help?

 

[russell_314]

What a do you feel the need to upgrade? What task you’re doing now is going too slow? It’s your money but don’t get caught up in the hype and upgrade for no reason.


The Pro has more graphics capability but I’m not sure how much that will help editing photos. Maybe someone here could answer this. Is Football Manager a video game? If so and it has decent graphics then the Pro is the way to go.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

For Lightroom the beefier graphics of the pro will certainly help.
I don't know about Football Manager..

 

[seggy]

If you're considering maxing out the 24Gb RAM in use then you're buying into the wrong product category.

I'm buying my 24Gb Pros for the kind of use I used to put my i5 iMacs to - light duty.
(And the base M4's for a category I've never really used Macs for before - appliance)

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

For casual photo editing is absolutely enough, bumping it up does not give him major advantages only apple grade expenses.

 

[StuAff]

FM2024 runs very nicely on my MBP (M1 Pro, 10/16 core)- sure I can run higher graphical settings but it's hardly going to make much of a difference. You might want to upgrade for other reasons, but not to play FM.

 

[Alameda]

I'm currently using the Mac Mini M1 16GB ram and I feel that it's time to upgrade.

What I use my Mac for as an amateur photographer is Lightroom Classic and Photoshop, not that often. Maybe 5-7 times in a month. Other then that I play Football Manager a lot. Then the usual stuff, listen to apple music and browsing the web.

I've been looking at the activity monitor a lot lately to get a idea of how much ram I use in general. And I would say that I average 12gb.

So the question is, should I go for the M4 with 32gb ram or M4 Pro with 24 gb ram? My main concern is that "only" 24gb ram will be an issue in 2-3 years when apps are more demanding.

Help?

It sounds like you don’t need an upgrade. To gauge your memory use, use Activity Monitor and look at Memory Pressure. If it stays green, you have no problems.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

M1 to M4 upgrade is for people with too much money. The juice isn't worth the squeeze.

If you NEEDED more RAM, sure. But if M4 will suit your needs otherwise... very very very likely M1 would too.

 

[Gnosis]

I see that I forgot to mention that Football Manager is the main reason for the upgrade. It’s really obvious when I play now that me M1 is too slow for it.

Not sure if anyone here plays it but I get 1,5 out of 5 stars playing it what my database settings now…and it really is slow a couple of years into the game.

So I need more CPU and Ram.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I see that I forgot to mention that Football Manager is the main reason for the upgrade. It’s really obvious when I play now that me M1 is too slow for it.

Not sure if anyone here plays it but I get 1,5 out of 5 stars playing it what my database settings now…and it really is slow a couple of years into the game.

So I need more CPU and Ram.

If you need to upgrade regardless - your call. Activity Monitor will indicate if it’s RAM, CPU, or both. Memory pressure in yellow/red and high swap (GBs, not MBs) says you need more memory… low Idle CPU (below, say, 20%) means you need more processing power. Ignore how much memory is “used;” macOS will “use” all it can. Memory pressure and swap are what you want to concentrate on.

If memory pressure is bad but Idle% is high, get M4 with more RAM. If memory pressure is good but you’re CPU-bound go base M4 Pro (which is 24GB RAM anyway). If both are a problem, I’d go M4 Pro just so you’re not back in another need-to-upgrade situation in another year or two.

You might want to work with the developer or any user community for more specific advice about Football Manager requirements & recommendations.