Why I Bought an M4 Pro Mac Mini [u]

[ Updated Nov. 24, 2024, with a note on CPUs & GPUs. ]

Over the weekend, I bought the newly-announced M4 Pro Mac Mini. I want to tell you what I bought and why.

Clearly, there are less expensive systems, but I had four specific goals in mind:

1. Upgrade a 2018 Intel i7 Mac mini, with 8 GB of RAM, used as a web server.
2. Get a system supporting Thunderbolt 5. None of my other computers provide that option.
3. Get a high-performance unit for testing and comparison to other M-series Macs.
4. Get a unit that would serve as a high-performance web server for an Axle AI media asset management system. (I’ll cover how I used this in a future article.)

RELEVANT ARTICLES

• My recommendations on how to configure each of the M4 Macs for video editing.
• Performance tests of Apple Final Cut Pro 11 running on four different Macs.
• Performance tests of Adobe Premiere Pro 25 running on four different Macs.
• Performance tests of DaVinci Resolve 19.1 running on four different Macs.
• Performance comparison between Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro and Resolve.

Click to see larger image.

This is the system I bought. Here’s why.

NOTE:  Here’s an earlier review of the 2022 M2 Pro Mac mini so you can see what that older unit can already do. The new system will do more – faster.

RAM

RAM cannot be upgraded later. So, deciding how much RAM to buy is always a crap-shoot. If all you are doing is media editing, 24 GB is fine. If you are editing significant numbers of large frame size multicam clips, more RAM is better, but not required.

As an example, a 24 GB M2 Pro Mac mini was able to stream 25+ angles of ProRes 422 4K media. So, really, 24 GB on the M4 would be sufficient even for major multicam projects. Actually, the speed of your storage is a greater factor in determining multicam editing performance than the amount of RAM.

I bought 48 GB of RAM because, um, I didn’t need it, but I wanted it. Your budget may say differently.

CPUs vs. GPUs

Based on my recent testing of different NLEs running on the M4 Pro, I’ve discovered that increasing the number of GPUs has a greater impact on performance than increasing the number of CPUs.

I’ve also discovered that no NLE uses all the CPUs, while all three NLEs maximize use of available GPUs.

Based on these tests, if I were to buy this system again and I wanted to maximize performance without totally breaking the bank, I’d get the M4 Pro chip with 14 CPU cores and 20 GPUs for $200 more.

NOTE: You can see all my tests in the Performance Tests linked at the top of this article.

STORAGE

Any internal storage above 2 TB is an indulgence. All my media and projects are stored externally, on an 8 TB NVMe SSD RAID. As I write this, my internal drive – with over 135 applications and the latest macOS, is using less than 500 GB of internal storage.

So, while 512 GB is too small for media work, either 1 or 2 TB of internal storage is just ducky. If you are pressed for cash, 1 TB is fine. Truly.

THUNDEBOLT 5

Thunderbolt 5 requires a computer with an M4 Pro or M4 Max chip.

This is the main reason I got this unit. I can’t review or test Thunderbolt 5 devices if I don’t have a computer capable of supporting Thunderbolt 5. Not that I have any Thunderbolt 5 gear… yet. Let not reality interfere with your storage plans.

ETHERNET

My office network is optimized for 10G – mainly because I wanted to learn how to create a network with bandwidth that fast. I regularly get 600 – 700 MB/second data transfers between my local system and the server. (A 1G Ethernet network transfers data about 100 MB/second.)

However, while those speeds are great for file transfers and backups, I’ve not been able to successfully edit media directly from my Synology server. I’ve been told the Synology operating system is not optimized for media playback and editing. Every time I attempt to edit directly from the server, I get playback stutters and dropped frames.

If I need to edit, I transfer files from the server to my local SSD RAID. I use the server for long-term storage. So, my initial thoughts of using the server for editing didn’t work out. BUT, I have a really fast backup system.

SUMMARY

Now you know what I bought and why. The unit arrives the end of November. I’ll provide in-depth performance details when I can test it in person.