The mini is incredibly portable. At work, I can have a monitor, HDMI cable, keyboard, mouse, and a mini power cord. At home, I can set up a separate identical system. There are also affordable cases available for transporting the mini.
The Mac mini is portsble in that you can easily carry it in a bag, but afterall it's still a desktop computer which requires power from the wall and peripherals to be useful. Anyone that is actually planning on moving their computer more than once a week should probably just get a MacBook.
I’m running a Mini base model as a server. I’ve got it sitting next to my NAS with a 14TB external drive. It’s a plex server, it’s backing up the NAS, and it’s also backing up to backblaze. Oh and it handles all my file downloads and Google Takeout storage too. It’s been working hard!
Every time I watch your videos, I feel like time flies by seamlessly. I am truly pleased with your content knowledge and how well you retain your audience. You are my favorite creator on TH-cam. Well done! 🎉
Personally, I think it’s never a question between a laptop and a desktop. If you can only have one, laptop. ALWAYS. So far, happy with my M1 Pro MBP 16”. In future, I’m gonna step up to whatever the Pro or Max laptop is at that time. Portability is a MUST, and it’s plenty of power still. When I have a LOT of money to spend, WAAAY down the road, I’d add an Ultra Studio for the desktop.
I definitely agree, but this is really only true for macs, and apple silicon macs, to be specific. In x86 land, the choice between the two is much harder. With laptops you basically have to choose between performance, battery life and reasonable pricing, and most of the time you can't have all three. Desktops, though, I just built a 5800x3d 3080ti machine for less than $1200. It's crazy how much more performance you can get with a desktop for the same price.
@ Fair enough. But I’m curious, even then in the case of windows, I’d assume a person would want to be able to take their computer with them everywhere (with a charger ofc), right? As a CS student, and soon to be software engineer, I can’t imagine having ONLY a desktop machine. And as you said, if one’s comfortable with both, I think an Arm based laptop and a PC desktop would give someone the most bang for their buck. Even then I believe for someone like me, a Mac Studio Ultra at home (and I always buy used/refurbed) would fare better because of some of the software applications and also the fact that even with 4090 you can have only 24gb of vRAM while an Apple machine (even the laptops) can go much higher. For me, a Pro chip laptop and an Ultra desktop would be a dream. But honestly, just the Pro laptop alone would suffice too.
You are perhaps the first TH-camr who is reviewing Apple products using a self-made 3D plot! Loved the visualisations! Hoping to see these plots again if/when the M4 Macbook Airs come out in 2025.
Great vid, first I’ve seen that really covers the mini’s portability. Sure if you’re setting up in a dozen different places throughout the week a laptop is best, but if you’re traveling every once in a while the mini is a no brainer. Not like I can get anything done using just a single laptop screen anyway, so I’m always bringing extra monitors and peripherals. At home, I can just bring my iPad around and it’s basically the same as having a laptop.
Note that Ollama limits models to a tiny 2K context window unless you specify a larger one, either when invoking the model, or by using `ollama create` using a custom model parameters file. Increasing the context window will potentially slow the model, but some models do much better with the extra history.
Cool video! Pro users must consider many things. I expect most of them to know their needs: portable vs. static, more cores, extra RAM, a mini or a MacBook, 16-inch versus 14-inch, and Studio vs. mini. I choose portable over static as my workflow is light, so I can work wherever I lay my hat. Then I decide whether to buy the extra luxuries of the Pro over the Air. The base M4 is overkill for me but is slick and fast for my stuff.
More cores helps when you’re doing more than one thing at a time. I RDP into a VM, have OneNote, Teams up. Run R Studio and Azure Data Studio, a run a local LLM. The extra 2 performance cores help. Real world, extra cores are helpful for me.
I’d be interested in your thoughts on a set up with an M4 Pro Mac Mini as a desktop/developer box and an 11in M4 iPad Pro for portability. Wondering what the experience would be there with a combination of remote access tools to get the portability and tablet functionality of an iPad with being able to connect to a machine that can actually compile code.
That's more expensive than a MacBook Pro, would definitely go with a MacBook Pro, both for environmental purposes (1 machine is less waste of resources) as for your own convenience :).
But iPadOS is vendorlocked OS (compared to MacOS) without ability to install anything you want... and as for the convenience of portable mode - usual laptop looks more sturdy than construction of iPad+magic_keyboard (especially when it is on your laps)) As for remote access tools for development, which are usefull on iPad - CodeServer comes to mind; it is a headless VSCode service which you start on your Mac Mini/Home server/Office workstation, and just access it using web browser (with public IP on server side or using VPN, it is not something like Anydesk or Teamviewer which use some cloud relay)
Curious, how is it going to work on new 64 gb mac mini via sharing screen from old mac book pro? so, you just buy macMini and work on it using you old mac book as terminal. I just curious, how handy is it
Any time I start to kvetch about ANY of my Mac speeds, I take a step back and remember 1987 and SCO XENIX running on my 10.2MHz 80286/80287 with an RLL Seagate 20MB disk drive over a 7.4MHz ISA bus. Perspective makes a big difference.
For the Mac Minis, did you have the power mode set to "High" or "Automatic". Prior videos with your laptops you made a point that you normally do not use them in power-saver modes. Other testers I've seen have noted on the Minis that there is a small difference if you have them set to save energy.
Idea… MBP in shell mode with external monitor or iPad & kb to avoid reclining chair in front of you and no need for external power. This could help avoid losing my temper when some reclines aggressively 😅
Did all these units have the same SSD specification? I ask because we know that the larger SSDs are a good bit faster than the smaller ones, so maybe in the builds this is significant?
Honestly, I’d consider the Mac mini running at home and connecting to it with screen sharing on a secure VPN connection. It sips little power while being highly performant.
Its clear, the Macbooks costs more so the firmware told the software to speed it up or the stocks so go down lol or the cache/ swap in the ssd is the underlying factor because the macbooks may have slightly faster storage modules or larger modules where as the mini may not. I could be wrong. Or is another voltage change from the firmwares
For me it will always be a laptop. I like switching places, working on the couch, bed, or on screen. I also work on customer site etc. But otherwise Mac mini is now a really solid device.
The mac mini does thermal throttle under certain loads. There have been a few other youtubers who manually crank the fan speed up to max and was able to get a little more performance. I don't think it's just Apple denying the max variants just for sales (though I do think that does play a part).
I got Mac Mini M4 Pro for my main home personal development, photo, video, and music editing and left my Windows 11 for gaming and got my work to get me MacBook Pro 16 M4 Max to replace my MacBook 16 Pro Intel (2019) laptop for development.
This is so timeley! I’be been sphaving a hard time deciding if I should return my macboom pro m4pro 14c/20c 24gb ram 1Tb, and get the mac mini version with the same spec. Then just buy a macbook Air m4 once released for on the go and remote screen.
@ I actually really really loved the awesome screen. The problem is I tried coding with a 14 inch and it’s very much the same experience with my previous M2 Air - it’s hard. But, I cant imagine having a 16 inch laptop. I dont watch on laptops too cause I use my TV and iPad Mini for media consumption. I dont work with images and videos too. Im pretty contended with my IPS monitors with 240Hz refresh rate.
@@kianb4990 my advice would be that you may want to drop the specs of the mac mini a bit to save money. And buy a really expensive monitor, because it’ll be worth it for coding. MacOS does not scale well at all with non native resolutions. You have to buy a 4k monitor to use it as a 1440p monitor. That’s how it works. Either that, or you have to buy the apple studio display which is expensive. If I was in your situation, I would buy a mac mini pro and lower the specs. Then buy a refurbished studio display (vesa mount one) and finally, buy a m1 macbook air second hand from ebay for £350 from a reputable person. Making sure that the laptop can be returned in 30 days and the battery health is above 90%. Also wanted to add that monitors in general suck. If you’re doing anything other than gaming or watching videos, monitors are truly an awful experience. It doesn’t matter how expensive or well reviewed they are. They have extremely limited contrast, brightness or ppi. Also as soon as that matt coating goes on the display, forget it. The macbook display will make any monitor one look disabled. That’s just the reality of the situation that the loud majority on TH-cam don’t express. This is a lot of money. If its not worth it, I would recommend buying a second hand m1 pro macbook pro and a refurbished studio display (vesa) instead. And plugging the macbook into the display, when at home, via the thunderbolt 4 cable. You will be looking at around £2200 this way.
Great video! Last week, I brought my Mac Mini (plus keyboard, mouse, etc.) on a road trip and hooked it up to the hotel room's 4K 56" HDTV-it worked great! What 3D software did you use to create that excellent interactive graph?
Thanks for your great content! I’m new to Mac and LLMs. I bought a Mac Mini with 64 GB of RAM to use as my home server (for virtual machines via UTM, Docker, etc.) and also for running LLMs that I want to access via API. Is there a significant performance difference between running LLMs directly with Open Web UI, or under Docker, or with LLM Studio?
I returned my MacBook Pro M4 Max 16" and got the Asus Zephyrus G16 again with RTX4090 and 16TB of NVMe two 8TB WD Black drives all for the same price with a superior 240hz OLED screen. Maybe not as good on battery and not as quiet but it is better for my use case.
Hi Alex, I am thinking about to buy Base Mac mini with 32g. can you help to check how the llm performance on that machine and compare it with 4090? I do own 4090 but thinking to sell it before 5090 comes out.
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Well, you _can_ get a new mouse and a new keyboard for your MBP - and I guess most people just do so for their stationary setups.
This is why I hope Apple creates a first party Remote Desktop. What if with same tech as airdrop and nearby, your iPad Pro can easily can tell your near the Mac and you get notification on iPad. “Want to control your Mac?” and boom Mac on ipad.
I've heard you can turn ON high power mode and efficiency mode in the M4 Pro mac minis. I think this might be the issue why pro minis are taking longer to export?
pretty interesting! that pink flash was def GPU forgetting what day is it today haha i tried running a 3.3 70B on my 5900x CPU the other day (only place it could fit on my machine), it worked, around 1tok/sec. so your 6t/s+ is absolutely not too shabby macs becoming an affordable place to work with llms and ML in general - who woulda thunk
Thanks for the video. 🙂🙏 Do you reckon it still makes sense to buy a used M1 Max MacBook Pro, 16 inch? I have a budget of about $1500, need something on which I can run local LLMs, and need portability.
I am working on a MacBook Pro (M3 Pro) and yes, I do have an external audio interface at home, so I can use my SM 7 B knockoff and my DT770 Pro with my mac. If I am on the go, I will choose convenience over fidelity, so I use my Marshall Major V via Bluetooth. Also I need to share that audio setup with my Windows gaming PC. My audio interface is connected via USB to my display and this acts as a KVMC switch (Keyboard, Video, Mouse, Camera).
@@AZisk This is exactly what I am saying. I have this kind of overkill home office setup, because we needed to be able to do band practice remotely and I got used to having a good mic and headphones ;-)
I am a software engineer (not a data scientist or machine teacher), and I primarily work on my laptop. In addition to my work, I enjoy watching TH-cam videos and movies on it. I also perform some server-related tasks, mostly using a web browser or terminal. Currently, I am considering purchasing a MacBook Pro. I have a option to buy Base model M4 Pro Macbook Pro (24RAM & 512 SSD) or Upgraded M4 Macbook Pro with 16 RAM, Nanotexture display and 1TB SSD They both are same price. What will you do?
correction to 1:55. If you really know what you need and are doing some AI work… you get an RTX 4090 desktop machine for a lower price and killer performance. AI work, real AI work, is not meant to be mobile
I wouldn’t say not meant to be. It’s not ordained or inherent in nature. I would say not suitable given the current hardware. In fact, if you do real intense ai work, a gaming graphics card isn’t going to be suitable either. You will need expensive dedicated graphics cards (£30000+) or will need to rent expensive servers that have those specs.
Great video as always. I really like it since you brought up the XREAL AR Glasses. They have a new One version of the glasses X1 chip. I am going to try a M4 Pro Mac Mini & use a Virtual Display Only and my existing keyboard & mouse.
It's not mac mini replace Macbook, two different kinds of use scenarios. But a reshuffle of current Mac price structure. Anything before M4 just quickly depreciate in reselling values. Cause even the most basic $499 m4 can beats M1 max - M3 Pro.
Ehh… you need to be clearing a lot of caches including the disk cache in order to do a serious comparison when opening XCode or equivalent. This is definitely not enough to give you a meaningful benchmark.
I think mini can fall behind because of broken cooling system. Fans will not spin up before it gets hot, like real toasty, in the 100th. Maybe apple did it on purpose. But you can fix it with 3rd party apps.
Yes, when you run intensive workloads, use a third-party app to ramp up the fan before you start. In most instances, that should prevent the initial slowdown due to thermal limitations. Apple tends to push the fans harder once you are throttling.
I am impressed by the M4 Mac mini but you don't save $800 because you still have to buy a display, keyboard, mouse, camera, microphone and speakers and advisedly additional storage. Which is then not mobile.
I would consider the monitor to be the most expensive from this list and it’s something you buy regardless of using a Macbook or a mini. You simply don’t do productivity stuff on the laptop screen. The same goes for the mouse. So realistically you only need a keyboard, a webcam and a mic. You can use your iPhone as a camera (free), get the wired apple EarPods for $19 and whatever keyboard you like. That’s a lot of savings. Not mobile, but a lot of savings
@@Bek-A That's a miscount. I have a Macbook Pro M1 Pro, my two external monitors give me *three displays,* one extremely high quality, plus one vertical for text and file viewing, and another landscape showing my work full screen with direct access to all other windows and desktops. I played with continuing with a mouse but just went back to using my trackpad which I would have wanted anyway in addition to the mouse. I do miss having a numeric keypad for styling shortcuts. What I really miss is my 27" iMac. But Apple... 🥺
You have complete control of purchase of all of those components, and they can be bought for less than $200 for the whole package, while you’re stuck with what you got with the laptop
@@JoseDiaz-qw7mg If you haven't tried the new Macbook Pros you may not appreciate what high quality all those components are. Despite I've had mine 2 years now, I am still gobsmacked how amazing the screen and speakers are. "Less than $200" (which I do not believe) will get the worst cheap rubbish which will probably have to be replaced and paid for again fairly quickly. In my experience I will be "stuck with what I've got" for probably a decade, and since it is a league ahead of the competition it will be better than what is available for most of that time.. My 2012 Macbook Pro 16" is still running fine and is still amazing and better (except for the CPU/GPU) than most PCs available today.
Heres what the best ai model said about the Mac mini as compared to the AMD 370 mini pc from minisforum : "The AMD Ryzen 370 Mini PC is better suited for gaming at 1440p and AI model inference due to its powerful integrated GPU and dedicated AI processing capabilities. The Mac Mini M4 excels in efficiency and macOS-specific workflows but falls short in gaming and intensive AI tasks."
@@fuzzycuffs some people also have their own „for-fun“ projects they like to work on in their free time. On my last holiday I spent the evenings sitting in the hotel bar, working on my personal project.
I know this is not quite the suitable video, but I'm watching this right now and thought of it; so I just ask, since you are my favorite Mac-content-person right now: What do you think about the "vignetting-effect" of the mini-led displays on the MacBook Pros? I have a hard time getting used to it because it's so noticeable while coding and writing, especially since I'm absolutely not a dark-mode-person. Since you have so much experience with this mini-led MacBooks I'm very interested in your opinion. Like: Can you notice a difference between different units with the same mini-led-display? Does the shadow appear to you also kind of blue-ish sometimes? And I don't know, would be cool if you could share your thoughts over all on that topic. I wish you a merry Christmas and a lovely time with your loved ones during the holidays.
I have to say I’m a little underwhelmed with my M4 Max running Flux. I thought the 40 core GPU would be pretty zippy but not awesome. I feel like of going back to cloud GPU’s to do any Flux work. Can’t wait to see if Mac Studio comes out with an extreme or ultra chip.
Will be happy to get a reply from you Sir. I bought an M4 Max Macbook pro 16", heavily inspired by you, and I am planning to use it for locally hosting agentic AI and applications like that. I haven't started yet, but what I have noted is the RAM is always 30 Gig out of the 36 Gig even while doing very less intensive things like browsing the web, using the microsoft office apps and things like that.... Is that a normal thing or this is something to worry about? (I remember one software engineer told me Mac's Unix expand to use up all the RAM always, but wanted to confirm from you or any expert who will like to help in the comment section...)
bro you contradict yourself 6:20 on your videos a lot when you don't show numbers on screen, is this something intended? cuz it's not the first time I noticed it
@@DarkP1ah i rewatched it and it does seem that way, but this was a weird editing mistake. the final numbers I reported were pretty much where they all landed with the MacBooks finishing before the minis. the part about mini finishing before was a mistake and shouldn’t have been in the video. i ran the test staggered and didn’t notice the first run. thanks for paying attention 😊
Why do you guys that do this tests. No use MacFan and have a base line fan speed instead of thinking the Mac is going to turn those fans on themselves. Because most of the time they don't turn on until they sitting in the 70 degree C range. Measuring a chassis temperature is very different to the actual temp. Face Palm man. Honestly.
first time mac mini user here after 4 macbooks through 15 years. So far so good
I love that 3d graph at the end as it really gives a great idea of the price and specs etc. like seriously. very cool.
The mini is incredibly portable. At work, I can have a monitor, HDMI cable, keyboard, mouse, and a mini power cord. At home, I can set up a separate identical system. There are also affordable cases available for transporting the mini.
I’ve been waiting since the release of Mac mini m4 for this video. Finally 🎉❤
The Mac mini is portsble in that you can easily carry it in a bag, but afterall it's still a desktop computer which requires power from the wall and peripherals to be useful. Anyone that is actually planning on moving their computer more than once a week should probably just get a MacBook.
The M4 MacMini Studio will be a real beast with its Max and Ultra variants.
I’m running a Mini base model as a server. I’ve got it sitting next to my NAS with a 14TB external drive. It’s a plex server, it’s backing up the NAS, and it’s also backing up to backblaze. Oh and it handles all my file downloads and Google Takeout storage too. It’s been working hard!
Every time I watch your videos, I feel like time flies by seamlessly. I am truly pleased with your content knowledge and how well you retain your audience. You are my favorite creator on TH-cam. Well done! 🎉
that's very kind of you to say. i appreciate the support
Personally, I think it’s never a question between a laptop and a desktop. If you can only have one, laptop. ALWAYS.
So far, happy with my M1 Pro MBP 16”. In future, I’m gonna step up to whatever the Pro or Max laptop is at that time. Portability is a MUST, and it’s plenty of power still. When I have a LOT of money to spend, WAAAY down the road, I’d add an Ultra Studio for the desktop.
I definitely agree, but this is really only true for macs, and apple silicon macs, to be specific. In x86 land, the choice between the two is much harder. With laptops you basically have to choose between performance, battery life and reasonable pricing, and most of the time you can't have all three. Desktops, though, I just built a 5800x3d 3080ti machine for less than $1200. It's crazy how much more performance you can get with a desktop for the same price.
@ Fair enough. But I’m curious, even then in the case of windows, I’d assume a person would want to be able to take their computer with them everywhere (with a charger ofc), right? As a CS student, and soon to be software engineer, I can’t imagine having ONLY a desktop machine.
And as you said, if one’s comfortable with both, I think an Arm based laptop and a PC desktop would give someone the most bang for their buck. Even then I believe for someone like me, a Mac Studio Ultra at home (and I always buy used/refurbed) would fare better because of some of the software applications and also the fact that even with 4090 you can have only 24gb of vRAM while an Apple machine (even the laptops) can go much higher.
For me, a Pro chip laptop and an Ultra desktop would be a dream. But honestly, just the Pro laptop alone would suffice too.
You are perhaps the first TH-camr who is reviewing Apple products using a self-made 3D plot! Loved the visualisations! Hoping to see these plots again if/when the M4 Macbook Airs come out in 2025.
Great vid, first I’ve seen that really covers the mini’s portability. Sure if you’re setting up in a dozen different places throughout the week a laptop is best, but if you’re traveling every once in a while the mini is a no brainer. Not like I can get anything done using just a single laptop screen anyway, so I’m always bringing extra monitors and peripherals. At home, I can just bring my iPad around and it’s basically the same as having a laptop.
Note that Ollama limits models to a tiny 2K context window unless you specify a larger one, either when invoking the model, or by using `ollama create` using a custom model parameters file. Increasing the context window will potentially slow the model, but some models do much better with the extra history.
I have an M4 Macbook Pro with 128GB of RAM so not sure what you're talking about at 0:30
@@IsZomg maybe you have to upgrade the processor too
Will you test new Nvidia Jetson products? Maybe even some combo with Mac mini? Compare pure and mixed clusters?
🤔 maybe
@@AZisk they are pretty cool
exactly the video i was looking for! Thanks
Cool video!
Pro users must consider many things. I expect most of them to know their needs: portable vs. static, more cores, extra RAM, a mini or a MacBook, 16-inch versus 14-inch, and Studio vs. mini.
I choose portable over static as my workflow is light, so I can work wherever I lay my hat. Then I decide whether to buy the extra luxuries of the Pro over the Air. The base M4 is overkill for me but is slick and fast for my stuff.
I’ve been waiting for this com-Alison video. Thank you!
More cores helps when you’re doing more than one thing at a time.
I RDP into a VM, have OneNote, Teams up. Run R Studio and Azure Data Studio, a run a local LLM. The extra 2 performance cores help.
Real world, extra cores are helpful for me.
I’d be interested in your thoughts on a set up with an M4 Pro Mac Mini as a desktop/developer box and an 11in M4 iPad Pro for portability. Wondering what the experience would be there with a combination of remote access tools to get the portability and tablet functionality of an iPad with being able to connect to a machine that can actually compile code.
This is exactly what I am contemplating…
That's more expensive than a MacBook Pro, would definitely go with a MacBook Pro, both for environmental purposes (1 machine is less waste of resources) as for your own convenience :).
@@brennonjacobson6262 A good question and something I was wondering.
But iPadOS is vendorlocked OS (compared to MacOS) without ability to install anything you want... and as for the convenience of portable mode - usual laptop looks more sturdy than construction of iPad+magic_keyboard (especially when it is on your laps))
As for remote access tools for development, which are usefull on iPad - CodeServer comes to mind; it is a headless VSCode service which you start on your Mac Mini/Home server/Office workstation, and just access it using web browser (with public IP on server side or using VPN, it is not something like Anydesk or Teamviewer which use some cloud relay)
A lot of people have tried this, and they all end up selling them and opting for a Macbook because it is so inconvenient.
Base model studio is going to be the sweet spot for pros
Curious, how is it going to work on new 64 gb mac mini via sharing screen from old mac book pro? so, you just buy macMini and work on it using you old mac book as terminal. I just curious, how handy is it
You should make Docker videos with these M4 chips!
So Happy you dropped this video. This was literally my dilemma lol
Yeah I had to get the decked out m4 pro max it’s insane. Dream computer
Any time I start to kvetch about ANY of my Mac speeds, I take a step back and remember 1987 and SCO XENIX running on my 10.2MHz 80286/80287 with an RLL Seagate 20MB disk drive over a 7.4MHz ISA bus. Perspective makes a big difference.
Much needed video !
Can you make a video please, mac mini m4 as a NAS/server (with sdd/hdd enclosure something like that). synology is too expensive imo
Your content is fantastic! However, the floating camera is a bit hard for me to follow. Still, I’m excited to see more of your work.
For the Mac Minis, did you have the power mode set to "High" or "Automatic". Prior videos with your laptops you made a point that you normally do not use them in power-saver modes. Other testers I've seen have noted on the Minis that there is a small difference if you have them set to save energy.
Same here... Going from a Macbook Air to a Mac Mini M4 Pro.
Idea… MBP in shell mode with external monitor or iPad & kb to avoid reclining chair in front of you and no need for external power.
This could help avoid losing my temper when some reclines aggressively 😅
Did all these units have the same SSD specification? I ask because we know that the larger SSDs are a good bit faster than the smaller ones, so maybe in the builds this is significant?
Never seen anyone bring a Mac mini on the airplane 😂😂
Honestly, I’d consider the Mac mini running at home and connecting to it with screen sharing on a secure VPN connection. It sips little power while being highly performant.
Its clear, the Macbooks costs more so the firmware told the software to speed it up or the stocks so go down lol or the cache/ swap in the ssd is the underlying factor because the macbooks may have slightly faster storage modules or larger modules where as the mini may not. I could be wrong. Or is another voltage change from the firmwares
For me it will always be a laptop. I like switching places, working on the couch, bed, or on screen. I also work on customer site etc. But otherwise Mac mini is now a really solid device.
The mac mini does thermal throttle under certain loads. There have been a few other youtubers who manually crank the fan speed up to max and was able to get a little more performance. I don't think it's just Apple denying the max variants just for sales (though I do think that does play a part).
I got Mac Mini M4 Pro for my main home personal development, photo, video, and music editing and left my Windows 11 for gaming and got my work to get me MacBook Pro 16 M4 Max to replace my MacBook 16 Pro Intel (2019) laptop for development.
This is so timeley! I’be been sphaving a hard time deciding if I should return my macboom pro m4pro 14c/20c 24gb ram 1Tb, and get the mac mini version with the same spec. Then just buy a macbook Air m4 once released for on the go and remote screen.
The 120hz screen on the new macbook pros is just sublime. If you are not going to use its screen then just get a mac mini and wait for m4 macair.
@ I actually really really loved the awesome screen. The problem is I tried coding with a 14 inch and it’s very much the same experience with my previous M2 Air - it’s hard. But, I cant imagine having a 16 inch laptop. I dont watch on laptops too cause I use my TV and iPad Mini for media consumption. I dont work with images and videos too. Im pretty contended with my IPS monitors with 240Hz refresh rate.
@@kianb4990 my advice would be that you may want to drop the specs of the mac mini a bit to save money. And buy a really expensive monitor, because it’ll be worth it for coding. MacOS does not scale well at all with non native resolutions. You have to buy a 4k monitor to use it as a 1440p monitor. That’s how it works. Either that, or you have to buy the apple studio display which is expensive. If I was in your situation, I would buy a mac mini pro and lower the specs. Then buy a refurbished studio display (vesa mount one) and finally, buy a m1 macbook air second hand from ebay for £350 from a reputable person. Making sure that the laptop can be returned in 30 days and the battery health is above 90%. Also wanted to add that monitors in general suck. If you’re doing anything other than gaming or watching videos, monitors are truly an awful experience. It doesn’t matter how expensive or well reviewed they are. They have extremely limited contrast, brightness or ppi. Also as soon as that matt coating goes on the display, forget it. The macbook display will make any monitor one look disabled. That’s just the reality of the situation that the loud majority on TH-cam don’t express. This is a lot of money. If its not worth it, I would recommend buying a second hand m1 pro macbook pro and a refurbished studio display (vesa) instead. And plugging the macbook into the display, when at home, via the thunderbolt 4 cable. You will be looking at around £2200 this way.
I am using a base model mac mini right now. It is good enough for that work I use to do
You may laugh but Mac Mini is a perfect PC for grandma. So I bought one for my grandma for this Christmas.
what a nice grandkid
@@AZisk 😀
Hi Alex which is the video you mentioned about the Mac Mini’s form factor? Thank you!
Great video! Last week, I brought my Mac Mini (plus keyboard, mouse, etc.) on a road trip and hooked it up to the hotel room's 4K 56" HDTV-it worked great!
What 3D software did you use to create that excellent interactive graph?
Need separate video on m4 mac mini base model alone
It is not weird at all. Better cooling, better performance. More space, better heat disipation...
Any bluetooth problems with the mini? Thats my only concern right now.
Thanks for your great content! I’m new to Mac and LLMs. I bought a Mac Mini with 64 GB of RAM to use as my home server (for virtual machines via UTM, Docker, etc.) and also for running LLMs that I want to access via API. Is there a significant performance difference between running LLMs directly with Open Web UI, or under Docker, or with LLM Studio?
So if you could only have one host system which way would you go?
I returned my MacBook Pro M4 Max 16" and got the Asus Zephyrus G16 again with RTX4090 and 16TB of NVMe two 8TB WD Black drives all for the same price with a superior 240hz OLED screen. Maybe not as good on battery and not as quiet but it is better for my use case.
Hi Alex, I am thinking about to buy Base Mac mini with 32g. can you help to check how the llm performance on that machine and compare it with 4090? I do own 4090 but thinking to sell it before 5090 comes out.
Well, you _can_ get a new mouse and a new keyboard for your MBP - and I guess most people just do so for their stationary setups.
This is why I hope Apple creates a first party Remote Desktop. What if with same tech as airdrop and nearby, your iPad Pro can easily can tell your near the Mac and you get notification on iPad. “Want to control your Mac?” and boom Mac on ipad.
Macmini m4 - DC mod + portable keyboard and screen/vr glasses
DC mod?
@@C.r.i.m.s.o.n DC so it can be used with a battery
MacBook with extra step
@@ValentinoNicko CYBERDECK. not settling for laptop formfactor or macbook IO or macbook battery or screen size... no not macbook
I've heard you can turn ON high power mode and efficiency mode in the M4 Pro mac minis.
I think this might be the issue why pro minis are taking longer to export?
I'm waiting for the Mac Studio
Alex do you have an M3 pro vs M4 pro Xcode test in the pipeline
pretty interesting! that pink flash was def GPU forgetting what day is it today haha
i tried running a 3.3 70B on my 5900x CPU the other day (only place it could fit on my machine), it worked, around 1tok/sec. so your 6t/s+ is absolutely not too shabby
macs becoming an affordable place to work with llms and ML in general - who woulda thunk
can you explore upgrading the base mac mini with 2tb and 128gb of ram through use of hardware modders/solder shops?
Thanks for the video. 🙂🙏
Do you reckon it still makes sense to buy a used M1 Max MacBook Pro, 16 inch? I have a budget of about $1500, need something on which I can run local LLMs, and need portability.
Nice video! Really well done. Kind of confirmed that my macbook air 15inch is still the ideal development machine lol.
Was that a log plot to make the prices look linear?
I am working on a MacBook Pro (M3 Pro) and yes, I do have an external audio interface at home, so I can use my SM 7 B knockoff and my DT770 Pro with my mac. If I am on the go, I will choose convenience over fidelity, so I use my Marshall Major V via Bluetooth. Also I need to share that audio setup with my Windows gaming PC. My audio interface is connected via USB to my display and this acts as a KVMC switch (Keyboard, Video, Mouse, Camera).
so what you’re saying is that you’re an audio nerd. 😂 i appreciate good audio
@@AZisk This is exactly what I am saying. I have this kind of overkill home office setup, because we needed to be able to do band practice remotely and I got used to having a good mic and headphones ;-)
mac mini and AR Glass for the win
You hit me :) with this video, as also I am looking to get a M4 PRO mac mini.
I’m old school: desktop? Mini. Portable? Book. (I have both but if you can afford only one and really need mobility: book)
I am a software engineer (not a data scientist or machine teacher), and I primarily work on my laptop. In addition to my work, I enjoy watching TH-cam videos and movies on it. I also perform some server-related tasks, mostly using a web browser or terminal. Currently, I am considering purchasing a MacBook Pro. I have a option to buy
Base model M4 Pro Macbook Pro (24RAM & 512 SSD) or
Upgraded M4 Macbook Pro with 16 RAM, Nanotexture display and 1TB SSD
They both are same price. What will you do?
correction to 1:55. If you really know what you need and are doing some AI work… you get an RTX 4090 desktop machine for a lower price and killer performance. AI work, real AI work, is not meant to be mobile
I wouldn’t say not meant to be. It’s not ordained or inherent in nature. I would say not suitable given the current hardware. In fact, if you do real intense ai work, a gaming graphics card isn’t going to be suitable either. You will need expensive dedicated graphics cards (£30000+) or will need to rent expensive servers that have those specs.
IMO given the lack luster performance of thunderbolt 5, the M3 Max is the way to go.
Great video as always. I really like it since you brought up the XREAL AR Glasses. They have a new One version of the glasses X1 chip. I am going to try a M4 Pro Mac Mini & use a Virtual Display Only and my existing keyboard & mouse.
Different OS versions 15/16 can make a difference
Interesting thought - be interesting windows laptop / combined with mac mini m4 as a setup?
Can wait to see a Mac mini setup on tray table 🙄 sit next to me 🙄
I can pick up my MacBook Pro and go anywhere, it's not soo easy with the Mac Mini. I have both.
It's not mac mini replace Macbook, two different kinds of use scenarios. But a reshuffle of current Mac price structure. Anything before M4 just quickly depreciate in reselling values. Cause even the most basic $499 m4 can beats M1 max - M3 Pro.
The Max isn’t in the Mini because thermally it can only handle up to the Pro chip not the Max chip
I am Tester developer, AI enthusiastic, I will be good with M4 base with 16GB or should I try to get more RAM?
Ehh… you need to be clearing a lot of caches including the disk cache in order to do a serious comparison when opening XCode or equivalent. This is definitely not enough to give you a meaningful benchmark.
Agree with another commentor, would love to see the new jetsons on your workbench. At $249, very interesting hardware.
it does open up some new possibilities
Grandma Alex ftw
I think mini can fall behind because of broken cooling system. Fans will not spin up before it gets hot, like real toasty, in the 100th. Maybe apple did it on purpose. But you can fix it with 3rd party apps.
Yes, when you run intensive workloads, use a third-party app to ramp up the fan before you start. In most instances, that should prevent the initial slowdown due to thermal limitations. Apple tends to push the fans harder once you are throttling.
I am impressed by the M4 Mac mini but you don't save $800 because you still have to buy a display, keyboard, mouse, camera, microphone and speakers and advisedly additional storage. Which is then not mobile.
I would consider the monitor to be the most expensive from this list and it’s something you buy regardless of using a Macbook or a mini. You simply don’t do productivity stuff on the laptop screen. The same goes for the mouse.
So realistically you only need a keyboard, a webcam and a mic. You can use your iPhone as a camera (free), get the wired apple EarPods for $19 and whatever keyboard you like. That’s a lot of savings. Not mobile, but a lot of savings
@@Bek-A That's a miscount.
I have a Macbook Pro M1 Pro, my two external monitors give me *three displays,* one extremely high quality, plus one vertical for text and file viewing, and another landscape showing my work full screen with direct access to all other windows and desktops. I played with continuing with a mouse but just went back to using my trackpad which I would have wanted anyway in addition to the mouse.
I do miss having a numeric keypad for styling shortcuts. What I really miss is my 27" iMac. But Apple... 🥺
You have complete control of purchase of all of those components, and they can be bought for less than $200 for the whole package, while you’re stuck with what you got with the laptop
@@JoseDiaz-qw7mg If you haven't tried the new Macbook Pros you may not appreciate what high quality all those components are.
Despite I've had mine 2 years now, I am still gobsmacked how amazing the screen and speakers are.
"Less than $200" (which I do not believe) will get the worst cheap rubbish which will probably have to be replaced and paid for again fairly quickly.
In my experience I will be "stuck with what I've got" for probably a decade, and since it is a league ahead of the competition it will be better than what is available for most of that time.. My 2012 Macbook Pro 16" is still running fine and is still amazing and better (except for the CPU/GPU) than most PCs available today.
Well i think at least we can pass or reuse there monitor, keyboard,... When the mac mini broken so it will be save pretty much.
Heres what the best ai model said about the Mac mini as compared to the AMD 370 mini pc from minisforum : "The AMD Ryzen 370 Mini PC is better suited for gaming at 1440p and AI model inference due to its powerful integrated GPU and dedicated AI processing capabilities. The Mac Mini M4 excels in efficiency and macOS-specific workflows but falls short in gaming and intensive AI tasks."
Better idea for portability: don't bring your work with you when you're traveling
there is a very large group of people that travel for business that you’re forgetting
@@fuzzycuffs some people also have their own „for-fun“ projects they like to work on in their free time.
On my last holiday I spent the evenings sitting in the hotel bar, working on my personal project.
Can't you just use the TV in your hotel room? Hooked up to a mac mini, just curious
I know this is not quite the suitable video, but I'm watching this right now and thought of it; so I just ask, since you are my favorite Mac-content-person right now: What do you think about the "vignetting-effect" of the mini-led displays on the MacBook Pros? I have a hard time getting used to it because it's so noticeable while coding and writing, especially since I'm absolutely not a dark-mode-person. Since you have so much experience with this mini-led MacBooks I'm very interested in your opinion. Like: Can you notice a difference between different units with the same mini-led-display? Does the shadow appear to you also kind of blue-ish sometimes? And I don't know, would be cool if you could share your thoughts over all on that topic. I wish you a merry Christmas and a lovely time with your loved ones during the holidays.
i never noticed vignetting on any of my MacBook screens.
@@AZisk Ok, that's weird. I can even see it in your videos. Perhaps it's in my head though. Thanks for answering anyways.
I have to say I’m a little underwhelmed with my M4 Max running Flux. I thought the 40 core GPU would be pretty zippy but not awesome. I feel like of going back to cloud GPU’s to do any Flux work. Can’t wait to see if Mac Studio comes out with an extreme or ultra chip.
did you try mflux?
The Ultra was cancelled on the M4 due to architectural issues found during testing, maybe with M5.
I par the Mac mini with the Xreal air pro 2 headset. Problem solved. Can’t wait for the xreal one pro
Will be happy to get a reply from you Sir. I bought an M4 Max Macbook pro 16", heavily inspired by you, and I am planning to use it for locally hosting agentic AI and applications like that.
I haven't started yet, but what I have noted is the RAM is always 30 Gig out of the 36 Gig even while doing very less intensive things like browsing the web, using the microsoft office apps and things like that.... Is that a normal thing or this is something to worry about?
(I remember one software engineer told me Mac's Unix expand to use up all the RAM always, but wanted to confirm from you or any expert who will like to help in the comment section...)
it’s fine.
just let macos do macos
Wisdpi do a $35 5GbE USB adapter
I moved to the mini in 2023 due to poor batteries and keyboards. Not regretted it
bro you contradict yourself 6:20 on your videos a lot when you don't show numbers on screen, is this something intended? cuz it's not the first time I noticed it
can you be more specific?
@ you said the macbook finished after the minis, and then you say that the MacBooks are faster than the minis
@@DarkP1ah i rewatched it and it does seem that way, but this was a weird editing mistake. the final numbers I reported were pretty much where they all landed with the MacBooks finishing before the minis. the part about mini finishing before was a mistake and shouldn’t have been in the video. i ran the test staggered and didn’t notice the first run. thanks for paying attention 😊
@@AZisk no problem, I get it's exhausting editing these videos, the majority of the video is great. only that part confused me.
Just toss the mini in your bag with your MacBook, and remote into the mini.
Why do you guys that do this tests. No use MacFan and have a base line fan speed instead of thinking the Mac is going to turn those fans on themselves. Because most of the time they don't turn on until they sitting in the 70 degree C range. Measuring a chassis temperature is very different to the actual temp. Face Palm man. Honestly.
then you cout ceybord,monitor,speakers,mouse,desk,chier, mac laptop is cheaper
If the Macbook Pro with the M4 Pro allowed for 64GB RAM, I would still buy the MBP. What a stupid decision by Apple.
M4 Macbook comes with up to 128GB of RAM
@@IsZomg Did you see how I wrote "M4 Pro" in my comment above? I know the Max allows for 128GB but I'm not looking for a 14" toaster oven.
DTA converter??!! It’s called a DAC dude…*audio nerd scoff* 😆
D to A Converter. aka DAC
00:57 LMAAOOOOO
Oooor buy a Mac mini and use a Mac book air 15” as a monitor.
why you need so many PC?))
iPad as a monitor.
Hello Alex
hi there
@@AZisk It was nice comparison video on mac books and mac mini .loved it
@@bhanuprakashp9616 THx. I appreciate you watching!