M4 Mini Announced and Available Now

[James Steele]

Hahaha! That is too cool!!!

[Phil O]

In a world of acronyms for just about everything, I propose JPS (just plain stupid).

Power switch on the bottom is JPS.

[HCMarkus]

In a world of acronyms for just about everything, I propose JPS (just plain stupid).

Power switch on the bottom is JPS.

Phil, you NEED the 3-D printed stand... the red button and sideways orientation eliminates PBS (Power Button Stress).

[Phil O]

And an accessory to make the power switch more accessible takes JPS to a whole new level.

Heck, I thought the switch on the back of the mini was stupid. But the bottom? Really????

[Phil O]

So, I'm currently recording and mixing in two different spaces. My mixing room has an M1 Mac Mini with 16GB memory and 512GB boot drive. My tracking area has an old trash can that I would love to replace.
The M1 handles my work without breaking a sweat. I could get a similarly configured M4 for $799. I need to give this some serious consideration.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[bayswater]

I need to give this some serious consideration.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

Similar thoughts here, but I’m going to wait to see it in the wild for a few weeks, to make sure that aren’t other less obvious weird things.

[HCMarkus]

There has been some fretting about fan noise in the new Minis, but fear-mongering has been driven largely by testing big video/compression tasks. IMO, audio work, especially tracking, is not likely to induce a lot of fan activity.

[James Steele]

In a world of acronyms for just about everything, I propose JPS (just plain stupid).

Power switch on the bottom is JPS.

Phil, you NEED the 3-D printed stand... the red button and sideways orientation eliminates PBS (Power Button Stress).

I was checking out that thread on VI-Control. So far the guy who designed it hasn't said whether he'd be willing to make them and sell them. If not, you'd have to have a 3D printer and print them yourself. I sure hope he has patented it or protected it by some other method, because I would not be surprised if within a week or two someone steals this idea and sells them. Probably be on Temu before the month is over.

[James Steele]

There has been some fretting about fan noise in the new Minis, but fear-mongering has been driven largely by testing big video/compression tasks. IMO, audio work, especially tracking, is not likely to induce a lot of fan activity.

Yep... if I remember correct, in the YouTube video I saw demonstrating the fan noise he was running Cinebench(?) and putting a heavy load on the GPU which is NOT really representative of normal DAW operation.

[mikehalloran]

There has been some fretting about fan noise in the new Minis, but fear-mongering has been driven largely by testing big video/compression tasks. IMO, audio work, especially tracking, is not likely to induce a lot of fan activity.

Yep... if I remember correct, in the YouTube video I saw demonstrating the fan noise he was running Cinebench(?) and putting a heavy load on the GPU which is NOT really representative of normal DAW operation.

Yea... Apple makes the Studio and Mac Pro for that kind of heavy lifting. No doubt, both will go M4 by next year but their 60 or 76 core GPUs still make them the Kings of the Jungle for AV — and the MP has even more powerful GPU cards available.

I've recently taken on some AI side projects for (insert NDA here). Although the M4 Pro Mini would work, sure glad I have a Studio Ultra right now.

[bayswater]

The reports and reviews from those actually using a M4 Mini, rather than speculating, are encouraging. The 256G SSD uses two chips so isn't slower than the 512, unlike the earlier Silicon Mini. And that SSD is actually user replaceable, although it's not easy and probably voids the warranty. The general benchmarks show the obvious performance improvements, but it's good to see that DAW performance in particular is significantly improved, although Logic is not one that gets the better levels of improvement. And as expected, like the i7 Mini, those running the OS it from an external drive are seeing performance the same as running from the internal drive. The only downside I've seen is slightly higher fan noise. There's still the hidden power button, but someone has published a 3D print file that makes a little stand for it.

[monkey man]

And as expected, like the i7 Mini, those running the OS it from an external drive are seeing performance the same as running from the internal drive. The only downside I've seen is slightly higher fan noise.

I thought the units won't allow this but that you can move your Home folder to an external and specify the new location in sys prefs.

[mikehalloran]

And as expected, like the i7 Mini, those running the OS it from an external drive are seeing performance the same as running from the internal drive. The only downside I've seen is slightly higher fan noise.

I thought the units won't allow this but that you can move your Home folder to an external and specify the new location in sys prefs.

It depends. You can boot from an external—I do it often and had to for awhile but there is no way that any app I've used runs the same speed. Some were barely noticeable while others were waaay slower. I had to run TurboTax and file from an external—long story that I will shorten before I tell it. TT runs slowly anyway but it felt like I was in hell.

Some apps will not run on an Apple Silicon Mac booted from an external. MOTU audio interfaces requiring the MOTU Audio Installer will not and there's no workaround unless MOTU rewrites the driver to eliminate those .kxt files that Apple doesn't allow to load. Interestingly, the MOTU MIDI driver runs just fine.

[bayswater]

And as expected, like the i7 Mini, those running the OS it from an external drive are seeing performance the same as running from the internal drive. The only downside I've seen is slightly higher fan noise.

It depends.

It depends on a few things but the reports I’ve seen for the new M4 and the tests on the i7 both found that using the right port with the right drive, the differences were negligible.

[monkey man]

And as expected, like the i7 Mini, those running the OS it from an external drive are seeing performance the same as running from the internal drive. The only downside I've seen is slightly higher fan noise.

I thought the units won't allow this but that you can move your Home folder to an external and specify the new location in sys prefs.

It depends. You can boot from an external—I do it often and had to for awhile but there is no way that any app I've used runs the same speed. Some were barely noticeable while others were waaay slower. I had to run TurboTax and file from an external—long story that I will shorten before I tell it. TT runs slowly anyway but it felt like I was in hell.

Some apps will not run on an Apple Silicon Mac booted from an external. MOTU audio interfaces requiring the MOTU Audio Installer will not and there's no workaround unless MOTU rewrites the driver to eliminate those .kxt files that Apple doesn't allow to load. Interestingly, the MOTU MIDI driver runs just fine.

A-ha!

I knew there must've been a reason the youtubers recommended moving the home folder and not actually booting from an external.

Thanks Mike.