I've been seeing your video on my feed for a couple of days, but I thought it was just another one of those "Mac Mini review" videos. Today, out of boredom, I decided to give it a watch, and I’m so glad I did. I enjoyed it far more than any other tech video I’ve watched in a long time. I had to like, subscribe, turn on notifications, and follow you on your socials. It was an excellent and well-put-together video. I enjoyed it so much that I wished it were longer.
Just plug an external ssd on the usb4 port and you can have natively yours home Mac folder mounted on that. This is a hidden option on the user, just press command and user at same time and will give you that option.
@@beardfm Just be aware that you will need to install the applications again, as the new software will be installed natively on the external drive. The default Mac Software and System files will remain the main drive, but those take very little space. Is better you log out from iCloud before you make the change, after you can log in back on and all files will point to the external drive.
Thx Stephen, will be following your journey closely. I want to move my Plex, Sonarr etc. from my old Synology to a M4 Mac mini and use the NAS purely just for storage. Please keep us posted on how it goes 👍🏻
I like that Mac minis work so well as servers. I have one in my house for Time Machine over wifi and some simple file sharing and iCloud caching. I wish Apple still cared about this kinda thing. I would love to see some of the OS X server features come back to the Mac (but not at the original cost) like DNS and DHCP and it would be really nice to have some of these things built in as first party server services instead of requiring so many third party apps
You don't need the HDMI headless dongle. Apple Silicon means you no longer need it. I found it messed with bluetooth when plugged in and not needed for remote accessing. I get native 1920x1080 resolution.
Man you’re hitting on something ive been wanting for myself. Change the location of your photos library off your Mac and onto a larger storage device without having to give up the Apple ecosystem. Would love to see and in-depth follow-up video of you trying to connect this to your Synology. If that’d let you keep the iCloud connectivity, I sure might be in the market for a Mac Mini.. and a Synology lol 😂 keep you the good work
I use a Raspberry Pi4b to run Hoobs which is a opensource / freely available homebridge distro but also they sell a device that does it all in one. Pretty easy to setup and has been quite reliable. I haven't used homebridge straight up so i can't compare, but i have 3 plugin /"bridges" setup. Wyze, Bond (IR blaster), ISY (which is a semi flaky addon for old insteon devices through a 3rd party non-insteon hub. Also can support the super sold school X10 accessories, not that I have any of those. Pretty simple to setup as far as creating bootable images goes. Integrated library of lots of plugs, of which many are "certified" by hoobs to run. I recommend checking it out. I also use that pi with a filesystem mounted from my QNAP to share plex, like you do, except use some command line tools instead of a mac.
Great video! I have always wanted to set up a proper Mac mini server for my home and this video has me chomping at the bit. I would love to see a video/videos detailing the process of properly setting up a Mac mini server. Kind of a dummies version as someone else has mentioned.
Love the video and have So many questions! But will wait on many of those until I read more in the descriptions section. I have done Homebridge only on RP but got to be too much for the few items I wanted to control, I went to Home Assistant, again on RP, but again not fully sure it’s worth it, and why I have slowly replaced most all those devices w Matter devices to further reduce the need there. I’m planning to get the new mini as my old MacBook I can’t be updated anymore but I want something that can act more as a central hub like u are. I used to use plex but again stopped because too much work and streaming remote was too slow, but would Love to do that again if you had a video on that! Thx as always love the channel!
After my last Synology NAS gave up the ghost, I got tired of dealing with proprietary software and created my own NAS with a Raspberry Pi. It's great because you can connect to it with the Files app in iOS right from your iPhone/iPad (and obviously Macs) and set it up so you can access it remotely when not at home. I have them connected to a Thermaltake BlacX Duet and Sabrent HDD Docking Stations for hot swapping hard drives. And, yes, it will stream Plex 😁
so do you think this model is good enough for streaming vis ps5 using something like obs? Im considering this or just possibly getting the m4 pro but honestly would rather not get the pro at the moment.
I see people talking about using Mac Minis as a home server. What do you actually use them for, though? Since a lot of what I used for a server back in the day is now cloud based, I’m always confused what people use them for besides local backups. Maybe I’m just not doing enough to need a server
Re: Your question about Homebridge. I use both Home Assistant (TP Link bulbs, outlets, switches) and Scrypted (Reolink Cameras) to connect my smart home devices to HomeKit. I run them on Docker containers on a Synology NAS (with 32GB of RAM). Works really well, but HomeKit is still flakey…. Weakest link in the chain. Looking forward to seeing how your system photo library runs off your NAS. (Protip, just put it on an external SSD instead as it’s supported)
It looks like he uses it to download video's and push those to his Plex server/NAS. He isn't going into detail on it because it's against TH-cams's TOS.
What is point of buying an M4 macmini to use as a nas or server..the old M2 mac mini is good enough as a HTC or as nas with a 2Tb nvme in an enclosure and install plex client on it backed up to a windows server ..or qnap or synology nas...save your money..
4:56 could... give your files to someone else computer. only bad things happen. delete from cloud. opsy they delete from own computer too bcoz sync. had to one time rescue files. and i never even activate any cloud LOL
I've been seeing your video on my feed for a couple of days, but I thought it was just another one of those "Mac Mini review" videos. Today, out of boredom, I decided to give it a watch, and I’m so glad I did. I enjoyed it far more than any other tech video I’ve watched in a long time. I had to like, subscribe, turn on notifications, and follow you on your socials. It was an excellent and well-put-together video. I enjoyed it so much that I wished it were longer.
Just plug an external ssd on the usb4 port and you can have natively yours home Mac folder mounted on that. This is a hidden option on the user, just press command and user at same time and will give you that option.
Woah...going to do this!
@@beardfm Just be aware that you will need to install the applications again, as the new software will be installed natively on the external drive. The default Mac Software and System files will remain the main drive, but those take very little space. Is better you log out from iCloud before you make the change, after you can log in back on and all files will point to the external drive.
This has been in macOS for quite some time. But for me, the key combo was always Control-/right-click → Advanced Options…
The best video I've found on this! Subscribed right away. Thank you! Please do more home server stuff like this!
Appreciate that! I will!
Thx Stephen, will be following your journey closely. I want to move my Plex, Sonarr etc. from my old Synology to a M4 Mac mini and use the NAS purely just for storage. Please keep us posted on how it goes 👍🏻
I like that Mac minis work so well as servers. I have one in my house for Time Machine over wifi and some simple file sharing and iCloud caching. I wish Apple still cared about this kinda thing. I would love to see some of the OS X server features come back to the Mac (but not at the original cost) like DNS and DHCP and it would be really nice to have some of these things built in as first party server services instead of requiring so many third party apps
I agree! Bring back, "Back to My Mac"
You can have all that running as docker containers. DNS, DHCP, = Pihole! and many more self-hosted services available as containers.
great stuff - been contemplating doing something similarly with the newer mac Minis when I upgrade my current M1 version.... always timely!
Thanks Todd! And now seemed like a good time. That M4 will last forever!
You don't need the HDMI headless dongle. Apple Silicon means you no longer need it. I found it messed with bluetooth when plugged in and not needed for remote accessing. I get native 1920x1080 resolution.
Hm I’ll have to try without it. Didn’t once and the window looked funny
Man you’re hitting on something ive been wanting for myself. Change the location of your photos library off your Mac and onto a larger storage device without having to give up the Apple ecosystem. Would love to see and in-depth follow-up video of you trying to connect this to your Synology. If that’d let you keep the iCloud connectivity, I sure might be in the market for a Mac Mini.. and a Synology lol 😂 keep you the good work
Super interested in your future photo library video. In the same situation and it’s the only reason I’m considering a storage tier up my Mac Mini.
Will be setting it up soon!
You can store them externally too.
I use a Raspberry Pi4b to run Hoobs which is a opensource / freely available homebridge distro but also they sell a device that does it all in one. Pretty easy to setup and has been quite reliable. I haven't used homebridge straight up so i can't compare, but i have 3 plugin /"bridges" setup. Wyze, Bond (IR blaster), ISY (which is a semi flaky addon for old insteon devices through a 3rd party non-insteon hub. Also can support the super sold school X10 accessories, not that I have any of those. Pretty simple to setup as far as creating bootable images goes. Integrated library of lots of plugs, of which many are "certified" by hoobs to run. I recommend checking it out. I also use that pi with a filesystem mounted from my QNAP to share plex, like you do, except use some command line tools instead of a mac.
Great video! I have always wanted to set up a proper Mac mini server for my home and this video has me chomping at the bit. I would love to see a video/videos detailing the process of properly setting up a Mac mini server. Kind of a dummies version as someone else has mentioned.
Will work on it!
Thanks for sharing. Blessings on your day.
Love the video and have So many questions! But will wait on many of those until I read more in the descriptions section. I have done Homebridge only on RP but got to be too much for the few items I wanted to control, I went to Home Assistant, again on RP, but again not fully sure it’s worth it, and why I have slowly replaced most all those devices w Matter devices to further reduce the need there. I’m planning to get the new mini as my old MacBook I can’t be updated anymore but I want something that can act more as a central hub like u are. I used to use plex but again stopped because too much work and streaming remote was too slow, but would Love to do that again if you had a video on that! Thx as always love the channel!
After my last Synology NAS gave up the ghost, I got tired of dealing with proprietary software and created my own NAS with a Raspberry Pi. It's great because you can connect to it with the Files app in iOS right from your iPhone/iPad (and obviously Macs) and set it up so you can access it remotely when not at home. I have them connected to a Thermaltake BlacX Duet and Sabrent HDD Docking Stations for hot swapping hard drives. And, yes, it will stream Plex 😁
👀👀 interesting
I use Homebridge for Ring and Kasa mainly. It works well. I run it in Docker on a NAS but will be moving it to Docker on a Max Mini soon.
Ring is probably the #1 reason to run Homebridge!
What's the benefit of Riverside over something like OBS Studio (just curious and understand if you might not be able to answer)
so do you think this model is good enough for streaming vis ps5 using something like obs? Im considering this or just possibly getting the m4 pro but honestly would rather not get the pro at the moment.
Hi, could you recommend an affordable monitor to go with this machine or its Pro version. Thanks!
I'm not super well versed in monitors outside Apple (I use the Studio Display) but I've heard Samsung is a solid choice: geni.us/5FD5Nh
This video worth subscribing
I wish this Mac would work with proxmox but keep the Home lab videos coming
If Apple supports full screen size connection of Mac Mini, it will be perfect
I see people talking about using Mac Minis as a home server. What do you actually use them for, though? Since a lot of what I used for a server back in the day is now cloud based, I’m always confused what people use them for besides local backups. Maybe I’m just not doing enough to need a server
Literally what this video talks about
Man, you just toasted my brain !
🫠
You didn't feel you needed to upgrade to the 10 gig ethernet config?
I was tempted, but I'm not in a hurry with whatever this Mac is doing, so I saved the $100
Hey, first finally! I didn’t understand any of that. 😢 Hopefully Stephen can make a Mac for Dummies tutorial.
Will make a getting started with Mac soon!
@@beardfm That would be much appreciated.
Re: Your question about Homebridge. I use both Home Assistant (TP Link bulbs, outlets, switches) and Scrypted (Reolink Cameras) to connect my smart home devices to HomeKit. I run them on Docker containers on a Synology NAS (with 32GB of RAM). Works really well, but HomeKit is still flakey…. Weakest link in the chain. Looking forward to seeing how your system photo library runs off your NAS. (Protip, just put it on an external SSD instead as it’s supported)
Ah good call! Gonna grab an external SSD...
Looking forward to you photo storage video.
Will be working on it!
Great video, I pretty much only watch MKBHD and you now!
That’s high praise, thank you! 🙏🏼
Right on time: I was thinking “Can this new Mac mini serve capably as a home server and NAS host?”
I’m missing the use-case here… what’s the purpose of this whole setup?
It looks like he uses it to download video's and push those to his Plex server/NAS. He isn't going into detail on it because it's against TH-cams's TOS.
What is point of buying an M4 macmini to use as a nas or server..the old M2 mac mini is good enough as a HTC or as nas with a 2Tb nvme in an enclosure and install plex client on it backed up to a windows server ..or qnap or synology nas...save your money..
size not matter! mini all ready was this small before lol
06:43 “sneaky link” 😭😭
😏
You can easily upgrade the SSD yourself to 2TB 😂
4:56 could... give your files to someone else computer. only bad things happen. delete from cloud. opsy they delete from own computer too bcoz sync. had to one time rescue files. and i never even activate any cloud LOL
Run Asahi Linux for more wins.