Apple Mac mini 2024 (M4) review

01 December 2024
It has always been the most accessible computer the company has offered and the bare bones nature was designed primarily to make people using Windows PCs switch over.

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  • Saeed
  • 42J
  • 26 Dec 2024

Mac’s are good tools if you are a Programmer or Graphic designer but if you are a doctor or engineer then Mac’s are not for you.

    prasad-gsma, 01 Dec 2024No, the other guy got it right. I can see your entire comme... moreOh my God they deleted all their posts?

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • 70d
      • 05 Dec 2024

      Anonymous, 05 Dec 2024We techie people have such a weird perception of 'aver... moreI'm not trying to side with anyone. I have my own opinion. If my opinion aligns with or differs from that of someone, it's just how it is. Anyway, some big games are over 100 GB. Also, I don't think that you understand the true meaning of 7-Zip compression performance. 7-Zip compression tests are real-world tests for multi-core performance, which is a good indicator of general performance as your PC runs many processes and threads.

        Anonymous, 04 Dec 2024Still, it's not reassuring that the CPU temperature is... more100C is not uncommon for Macs other than the Mac Pro and has been the case since the days of Intel chips. As I mentioned before, the fan has plenty of headroom as even at full load it's only spinning at half its maximum speed. If the chip starts running warmer due to dust or thermal compound degradation then the fan can always ramp up higher to compensate.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • YT8
          • 05 Dec 2024

          apple should start a monthly plan for all their device and accesssories, just like they did for iphone in past.

          only that way there'll be less concern about device longevity for those who are less concern about money and more worried about not getting "the apple" devices they want.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • YT8
            • 05 Dec 2024

            Anonymous, 04 Dec 2024Still, it's not reassuring that the CPU temperature is... moremay be they want you to buy next soc soon as its arrives, as you tied to the performance it gives you, if you ignore technicality.

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              • Anonymous
              • YT8
              • 05 Dec 2024

              if apple used mac pro (cylindrical) for this m4 mac mini with half the height of mac pro then you can get better air flow, easy to upgrade and clean the device from inside much easier.

              also, it can fit a e-gpu inside the case or space for external ssd to put inside the case.

              ps: it also solves power button issue. keep note it can be done to give a external power for e-gpu even adding inside the case. only there'll be two power cord at back.

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                • Anonymous
                • 2It
                • 05 Dec 2024

                Anonymous, 04 Dec 2024You don't seem to realize that you're in a niche ... moreWe techie people have such a weird perception of 'average' consumers. Most people are fine with 12th gen i3 paired with 8GB of RAM, and don't need more than 128GB of storage unless they have hundreds of thousands of photos and somehow hate subscribing to a cloud storage service. For those users both base Mac Mini and Minisforum PC would be more than sufficient regarding the specs.

                The key difference between the two is general availability. I live in Japan and there's no way for me to buy UM580 with a solid warranty because it would have to be imported, so one hardware failure and it would be done, and don't underestimate how deal-breaking this could be for 'average' people. Apple Stores are everywhere in my area, so I wouldn't have to worry about not being able to receive a servive in case I need it.

                Another thing is Apple products are catered heavily to creative industry. You were calling the other guy 'niche' but photographers are Apple's one of main target audiences. The base Mac Mini happens to be so affordable and well-balanced in terms of specs to the point that normal people wouldn't feel ripped off getting one, but it's a very capable machine for the price in case you need more than average performance out of it. Double the GPU performance and having a Neural Engine are a big deal when you use apps that can utilize them. You know who's 'niche' here? That one user who claims to be interested in 7z archiving performance in this comment section, the person who you're exactly trying to side with. What a great irony dude.

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                  • Anonymous
                  • 70d
                  • 04 Dec 2024

                  Anonymous, 04 Dec 2024Some of these apps that I use daily leverage Neural Engine ... moreYou don't seem to realize that you're in a niche audience. More than 99% of people aren't professional photographers, and the vast majority of people don't use 1 TB external SSD and 32 TB RAID 4 NAS for storage. The base model of the M4 Mac mini fits your workflow perfectly, and that's good for you. For most people, however, 256 GB of storage will be very limiting. Yes, you can buy an external SSD, but then the total cost will be about $700 to $800 or more depending on which external SSD you buy, and it kind of defeats the purpose of using a mini PC. Most people who are interested in mini PCs probably want very small devices for whatever reason. Even though external SSDs are very small, it may not feel right to have to always connect an external SSD to your mini PC on your probably small desk.

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                    • Anonymous
                    • vxx
                    • 04 Dec 2024

                    AnonF-1006353, 03 Dec 2024The difference is, the UM580 slim barebone can be bought fo... moreSome of these apps that I use daily leverage Neural Engine instead of GPU on MacOS, such as DXO Pureraw, so the processing time would be even shorter for them. It's **at least** twice as fast. Being able to denoise all the selected photos in 3 hours would be quite a different experience from doing the same in 7-9 hours... Mac Mini would be most likely the quieter one out of the two, too. Having 3 TB4 ports and a dedicated SD card slot is also a big plus in convenience.

                    My apartment is very compact and I have a strict budget limit for periphery equipments because lenses are extremely expensive and their prices are only climbing higher. I don't have an unlimited amount money or space so RTX 4080 machine with a huge case and a watercooler wouldn't be an option, and let's not even talk about those loud gaming laptops that isn't as good of a value compared to a desktop.

                    I'm against a lot of sales strategies Apple employs (expensive upgrades, proprietary SSD, MBA being overpriced compared to Pro and so on) but the base Mac Mini M4 is a product that I can openly recommend to a wide range of people. It's genuinely a good vapue for money and delivers what its target audiences want.

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                      • Anonymous
                      • 70d
                      • 04 Dec 2024

                      prasad-gsma, 04 Dec 2024Again, there is no known risk of running the chip at 100C f... moreStill, it's not reassuring that the CPU temperature is over 100 C on day one as thermal paste degrade over time, and as I understand it, it's not an easy task to reapply thermal paste on a M4 SoC. If the CPU temperature is 104 C in the first week, what about 3 to 5 years later? It's a valid concern. Even if the CPU doesn't degrade, it's possible that it will throttle.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • 70d
                        • 04 Dec 2024

                        Anonymous, 03 Dec 2024I fail to see how any Intel/AMD pc comes close to deliverin... moreA Minisforum AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS with 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage is $555. It provides much better value than the base model of the M4 Mac mini. Anyway, you're mistaken. Multi-core performance is more important for general performance as your PC runs many processes and threads. Higher single-core performance is useful for applications that are highly CPU-intensive. However, if such applications use multithreading, they will also benefit from higher multi-score performance. Also, the M4 Mac mini doesn't have USB Type-A ports, which is extremely stupid. Most wired keyboards and mouses cannot connect to it without adapters because most of them use USB Type-A connectors.

                          xPandamon, 04 Dec 2024Yeah, around 100°C max, not constantly. In a higher end lap... moreAgain, there is no known risk of running the chip at 100C for extended durations. It's just a perception people have that there's something wrong with running at high temperatures when at worst you lose some performance if the chip throttles, which is also not the case with the Mac mini as it can maintain peak performance even at 100C. The fan has plenty of headroom to get it down further but Apple chooses not to as it doesn't seem necessary. Besides, it's trivially easy for the user to download an app and set a custom fan curve if they are paranoid about high temperatures.

                          There's also no correlation between efficiency and temperatures. The temperature is purely a factor of the energy transfer in and out of the chip and ultimately depends on what cooling system you have. The chip is efficient and the only reason it runs warm because Apple prioritizes quiet operation.

                          I spend a lot of time in the PC building communities online so I'm fully aware of the paranoia that novice as well as experienced builders have around high temperatures even though most of it is unfounded. This was put to display when AMD came out and said their chips are designed to run at 95C and people still lost their mind because supposedly they know more about CPUs than the company making them. At some point, people have to accept that if their chip is not throttling then the temperature it's running at is irrelevant. You can't apply human perception of temperature to metal and silicon and think they are somehow under duress when they are forged at much higher temperatures than that.

                          And again, the temperature readings are taken at the hottest point inside the chip. Even the area immediately around it is cooler and things outside the chip are even cooler. If you have ever looked at thermal junction and edge temperature of a GPU die, you'll know there is almost 20C difference despite being on the same chip. So the CPU hotspot temperature has no bearing on the things around it.

                            prasad-gsma, 04 Dec 2024All of this is baseless hysteria considering all major chip... moreYeah, around 100°C max, not constantly. In a higher end laptop with a power hungry chip, temperatures of up to 100°C can be seen, but that's my point, Apple Silicon claims to be really efficient, it should not reach such temperatures. As you too said, worst case scenario, your system straight up underperforms because of the non-existent thermal headroom. In the PC building community triple digit temperatures have been known to be unappealing for decades, outside of GPU hotspot temperatures. No clue why Apple gets a freebie when the cooling should be much better based on what it is cooling.

                              xPandamon, 03 Dec 2024Also, dust and other factors like thermal solutions perform... moreAll of this is baseless hysteria considering all major chip makers target a temperature of around 100C under peak load, a number which the chip can safely run at and maintain for extended duration. The temperatures are taken at the hottest point at the chip and the only reason for them to exist is to guide the clock behavior of the processor. All of these chips can safely throttle if it starts to exceed the temperature limit. Almost all laptops on the market can easily hit 100C under a full load, so none of this is unique to the M4 on the Mac mini anyway. No normal user should concern themselves with the temperature of their CPU. The machine is clever enough to manage it and there are enough safeguards to protect it. Worst case scenario, it will slow down until it cools off. Any claims of damage being done are unfounded.

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                                • Anonymous
                                • 0Vi
                                • 03 Dec 2024

                                I fail to see how any Intel/AMD pc comes close to delivering such a package at this price (the base model).
                                Other mini PCs get destroyed in single core score which is the most important metric of a computer's general responsiveness. Sure in multi score they may come close but at what TDP/fan noise/thermals?
                                Only Minisforum has some interesting options, but as a person who has used Windows/Linux all their life, I made the switch thanks to this Mac Mini. The fact that the software just works, the non-existent fan noise, how fast everything is (I code a lot - this M4 core is extremely fast at compilation and execution). And I no longer have to bother with WSL2 and some of its quirks.
                                The M4 Pro option is much more expensive but also much beefier - the GPU got really stronger compared to the M3 family. And its multicore performance is also nothing short of amazing.
                                Overall, if anyone is in the market for a computer for daily usage and also some tougher stuff (it can edit photos/videos/audio, run servers, code etc. more than fine for most people) I highly recommend it. The base model that is - do not upgrade anything unless you are absolutely certain you need to! As for the peripheral situation, a 24-27 inch 2k monitor with BetterDisplay will do just fine. Most wireless/wired keyboards/mice also have no trouble connecting to the Mini. For storage, a simple 1GB/s external USB-C SSD (around 120$ for 2 TBs), or a TB4 enclosure + NVMe SSD (around 200$ tops for the enclosure+2TB SSD) if you need higher speeds will do.

                                  xPandamon, 03 Dec 2024Yeah yeah, Apple claimed that, because they achieved temper... moreAlso, dust and other factors like thermal solutions performing worse over time are not factured in. Apple has efficient chips yet fails at providing good temps which to me is absolutely absurd. These machines will ultimately die of a heat death or lose a lot of performance due to heavy throttling, but that is probably accounted for so people upgrade to a newer machine. Apple does not care about their consumers, or they would give people a switch to prefer cooling over noise, yet they do not. This is anti-consumer, nothing more, nothing less. Why do their chips run at these temps when cooling should be a non-issue? Even my laptop runs cooler while still being barely noticeable. I'm sick and tired about all of those lazy excuses being made for Apple, when AM5 came out people were so mad at AMD because of those temps, but Apple has even worse temps and that is okay, because there is no damage done in the short run? I understand why Macbook Air are overheating, because they are passively cooled. I mean they should have more than the poor cooling system Apple uses, but they want it to be light and sleek, so they cheap out on it. Not good, but that's the sacrifice you make. I do NOT understand it for their actively cooled machines. It is called a COOLING system, why use one if you refuse to let it do it's job?

                                    prasad-gsma, 02 Dec 2024There is no real danger of running modern chips at or aroun... moreYeah yeah, Apple claimed that, because they achieved temperatures of 115°C in a Macbook Air, if I remember correctly, it may even have been more. It can absolutely cause issues in the long run, we just have no proper results yet since nobody but Apple lets their chips get quite as hot. It affects other parts too, since the heat isn't completely isolated, not just the chip, especially in such a small system.

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                                      • AnonF-1006353
                                      • JBi
                                      • 03 Dec 2024

                                      Anonymous, 03 Dec 2024Perfect analogy. But for most people, a car is fine, which ... moreMore like a car which is bound to one particular power outlet or gas station

                                        • F
                                        • AnonF-1006353
                                        • JBi
                                        • 03 Dec 2024

                                        Anonymous, 03 Dec 2024I'm a full time photographer and shoot for tens of spo... moreThe difference is, the UM580 slim barebone can be bought for less than half the price compared to an M4 mini, at least in my country. RAM and SSD can then be added by individual requirements, and it still will be $250 to $50 cheaper. For most people who want something small for everyday use, this would be all they need. For office and web usage, most would be even just fine off with a passively cooled N100 in a small MeLe Quieter 4C at around $170.

                                        If I was a fulltime photographer and deblur/sharpen/upscaling tasks would be critical, I'd probably invest in something with a dedicated GPU anyway, which will be much faster than an M4 mini or M4 Pro and still cheaper than a set of lenses. This all can be made completely silent by watercooling too. The 10 core M4 mini can't be that much of a blast when the half as fast 790M GPU in the 8745H is described as "slooooooow". Just double the speed of "slooooow" won't feel particularly snappy. E.g. when a task takes 10 seconds, 5 will still be a wait.

                                        If it needs to be portable, at around $900 there are notebooks available with RTX4060 mobile, they might not be as small but offer more performance for money, even if the price point is a little higher. It's still nothing compared to the price of a new camera body for example. But each their own.

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