M4 Mac Mini - Is It Worth the Hype After Months of Heavy Use?
There's something undeniably captivating about these little Mac Mini boxes that punch way above their weight. For months now, I've been pushing the M4 and M4 Pro Mac Minis to their limits, and it's time for the full, unfiltered review.
It's true, they haven't replaced my trusty M1 Max MacBook Pro as my daily driver, but these Minis have consistently impressed me. Week after week, they've held their own, tackling everything from 4K video editing to AI model training. Today, I’m not just throwing benchmarks at you; I'm sharing the real-world feel, the day-to-day grind, and yes, what I'd do differently if I were buying them again.
Apple might be fumbling a bit with their AI efforts and some other areas, but when it comes to the Mac Mini's value for money, they absolutely nailed it. I’ve been using these machines for hardcore tasks: video editing, Blender renders, complex Logic Pro sessions, and even dipping my toes into LLM work. And let me tell you, fine-tuning large language models on the M4 Pro with just 24GB of RAM? It's mind-boggling. Compute power these days is just insane, and the Mac Mini is a testament to that.
The M4 Pro has handled everything I’ve thrown at it, from intricate Blender scenes to editing this very video, with its layers of 4K footage and color grading. Sure, export times are a tad slower than on my beefed-up MacBook Pro, but the editing itself? Smooth as butter. And all my third-party plugins work flawlessly.
Logic Pro
Logic Pro, however, has been the most surprising. Thanks to your input, I managed to push the M4 Pro to its limits, handling projects with 250-300 tracks, each loaded with third-party plugins. It’s insane how productive and creative you can be on a machine this compact. Logic Pro's performance core and efficiency core management might be a bit quirky, but the results speak for themselves. This little machine can handle projects that would make many professional setups sweat.
Base Model & Thunderbolt 5
The base model Mac Mini has been so impressive that I bought another one for my wife. It’s the perfect replacement for her old laptop, offering incredible value for the price. One key takeaway from these past few months is the efficiency of using external SSDs via Thunderbolt 5. These are much cheaper and, in some cases, faster than upgrading internal storage. With a 4TB NVMe SSD from Lexar, I have all my production work at my fingertips, easily shareable with my MacBook Pro.
If you’re rocking the base model, Thunderbolt 5 might not be your jam, but there are still excellent external SSD options that don’t require tools for installation. These are lifesavers, especially when storage is tight.
Gaming and the M4 Pro
Surprisingly, gaming on the Mac Mini Pro has been a blast. Cyberpunk 2077 via Crossover and Resident Evil 4, running natively, have been shockingly playable. Macs aren’t gaming rigs, but they’re getting closer. Casual gaming is now genuinely enjoyable.
So is the M4 Pro Worth It?
After months of heavy use, if your workflow involves large projects, intense multitasking (think 50+ tabs and multiple heavy apps), video editing, AI work, or large-scale audio production, the M4 Pro is absolutely worth the extra cost. However, be careful with upgrades. If you start maxing out RAM and storage, you’re entering Mac Studio territory.
In my gut feeling, an M2 Max Studio with 64GB of RAM would be a better investment for heavier workloads. It offers more cores and better cooling. I might even grab an M2 Max Studio to test this theory.
