Mac Mini M4 Pro or wait for the Mac Studio

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Here are some data points - people choosing the Mini with at the M4 Pro are making a great decision unless they are doing extensive video and maybe they should wait for the Studio refresh.

What this means is that you can now purchase a Mac mini with a 14-core M4 Pro for $1,599 in the U.S. and get similar to faster peak performance than a Mac Studio with the 24-core M2 Ultra, a configuration that starts at $3,999.
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See this MacRumors article.

Often the question of RAM comes up. I have an M1 MBP with 32GB of RAM which has been plenty for images and iMovie. Here is the take of MacRumors on what RAM configurations are needed with Apple Silicon unified memory.

Here is what they said in terms of 32-96.

  • 32GB, 36GB, or 48GB: Professionals engaging in intensive creative workflows, such as video editing in 4K, music production with multiple tracks, or large-scale coding projects, should opt for 32GB, 36GB, or 48GB. These configurations suit users who frequently use memory-heavy applications like Adobe Creative Cloud apps, Xcode, or virtual machines. It provides sufficient power for consistent performance without frequent reliance on disk swapping, even under substantial workloads.
  • 64GB: Power users and creative professionals who manage high-resolution media and extensive multitasking should choose 64GB. It is ideal for those working on large 3D modeling projects, editing 8K video, or handling complex simulations and data analysis. This memory quantity should support running multiple virtual machines or advanced software development environments without any slowdown.
  • 96GB: High-end creative professionals and developers handling intensive projects involving large datasets or media should consider 96GB. This tier offers significant overhead for those who need more than 64GB, ensuring seamless performance when editing multiple streams of high-resolution video, detailed 3D rendering, or working with substantial datasets that need to be kept in active memory.
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For still photography…the actual time saved performance improvement for even an M4 Pro bs an M1 Pro is going to be pretty small and likely not worth the extra cost. My Studio has the M1 Max amd GB and while it is “faster” than my bride’s low end 8GB M1 Air…importing a hundred photos or running DxO 4 on 3 dozen selected photos is only a few seconds faster…and the Studio was twice the cost. That said…when we see some actual LrC comparisons between the new gear and the M1 Pro gear it becomes a personal decision…but unless I’m willing to upgrade both my laptop and desktop or switch to only doing PP on the laptop with connected monitor thes just no bang for the bucks I think.
 
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If it were me I would wait. I am still running my M1 Ultra with 64GB of ram I am a LRC user and use the DeNoise tool a lot
I saw a YouTube video comparing the new M4 Max 16“ and although some tasks are faster the AI DeNoise is only marg8nslly faster then the M1 Studio
i would be very wary of synthetic benchmarks they are very misleading FYI in how it relates to real world performance
 
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I'm doing most of my post-processing on a 2017 3.4 GHZ Quad-Core i5 Intel powered iMac with 64 GB of DDR4 RAM at 2400MHZ, also with a Radeon PRO 570 "video card" with 4GB of memory.

Recently, I've noticed a big slowdown in post processing, especially when the process is working on more than one image at a time, often invoking the dreaded Apple color wheel. But, even when reviewing images at full size on the screen, single image loads are taking longer than they used to. This seems to have come about during the period where I updated the Mac OS, Adobe products, and started using the Z9 and Z8 for most of my shooting. It may also be that I'm processing images stored on external drives, and my waits would be significantly less if I were to work from the internal drive.

Also, I've experienced more LRC shutdowns in the last two weeks than in several years of using LRC before the most recent software upgrades. It's to the point where I'm thinking about abandoning Adobe processing software and trying alternatives. I already have a version of ON1's processing software that I didn't use because the workflow was different that what I was used to with LRC and Photoshop. I may have to buckle down and learn the ON1 way of doing things to see if it is better.

So my next step is to move, with LRC of course, my files from the hard drive to the internal drive and see if that improves performance. If that isn't sufficient, the follow-on is to get an external 4k (at least) 27- or 32-inch monitor and use my two-year old MBP running on one of the M1 chips to see how the performance compares. If either is good enough, I'll stay with that for a while. However, if it still lags to the level of my impatience, I'll look into the new Mac Mini or a Mac Studio. As far as the Mac Studio goes, I'd be ok waiting for the new models to come out for their performance, or to possibly get an used/preowned high-performance Studio as a refurbished or repurposed "deal."

As the M4 Mini goes, I'm anxiously awaiting what is said about them here!
 
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Kuau said:
If it were me I would wait. I am still running my M1 Ultra with 64GB of ram I am a LRC user and use the DeNoise tool a lot
I saw a YouTube video comparing the new M4 Max 16“ and although some tasks are faster the AI DeNoise is only marg8nslly faster then the M1 Studio
i would be very wary of synthetic benchmarks they are very misleading FYI in how it relates to real world performance
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You are comparing apples and oranges. The M2 Ultra is a $4000 machine. The M4 Mac mini Pro (there is no Max) is a $1400 machine. For the price you can’t beat the mini but if you want a Studio and are willing to put off the purchase until next March , than wait. If you wait for the M4 Max studio, the $2000 price is definitely worth it as you get a much more powerful machine. But you will only see those real advantages if you are processing a lot of video. The M4 will easily handle any photo processing you can throw at it.
See Real world comparison which compares video processing. https://www.google.com/search?q=ria...ate=ive&vld=cid:ca9a426e,vid:TELag49GT-4,st:0
 
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Ralph said:
You are comparing apples and oranges. The M2 Ultra is a $4000 machine. The M4 Mac mini Pro (there is no Max) is a $1400 machine. For the price you can’t beat the mini but if you want a Studio and are willing to put off the purchase until next March , than wait. If you wait for the M4 Max studio, the $2000 price is definitely worth it as you get a much more powerful machine. But you will only see those real advantages if you are processing a lot of video. The M4 will easily handle any photo processing you can throw at it.
See Real world comparison which compares video processing. https://www.google.com/search?q=ria...ate=ive&vld=cid:ca9a426e,vid:TELag49GT-4,st:0
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A well spec'ed Mini with 64gb of memory, a 1TB SSD will cost around $2400. Right now, a similarly spec'ed, refurbished Studio with an M2 Ultra will cost about a $1k more. If I were shooting video, and could afford to wait until early next year, I think I would sit on the sidelines and pick up a used M2 Ultra when the new Studio's come out.
 
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ajrmd said:
A well spec'ed Mini with 64gb of memory, a 1TB SSD will cost around $2400. Right now, a similarly spec'ed, refurbished Studio with an M2 Ultra will cost about a $1k more. If I were shooting video, and could afford to wait until early next year, I think I would sit on the sidelines and pick up a used M2 Ultra when the new Studio's come out.
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Absolutely, but if your not shooting video, Are you willing to wait. Also, if your not shooting video, 64gigs is overkill .
 
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I have a Mac studio M1 Max with 64 gigs of ram. It is a good machine and I need all the ports it offers. I have also read that the studio will have more powerful processors and chipset so I would wait. The other thing is around the end of the year. There will likely blowout sales on M2 Max studios with bigger hard drives and more ram. For me it’s another year or more. I don’t do video but do large files.
 
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@macwalter Would you mind sharing how you use the ports on the Studio? I was thinking that with the new mini, 3 thunderbolt ports is good, one thunderbolt for a drive, one for a display, and one for an expander like for example an OWC dock. Do you have wired keyboard / mouse for which you use the USB -A ports on the Mac studio?

I’m in the same boat as many on this thread, and I was resigned to waiting till next year for the new Studio, but the mini seems it would do fine, compute wise, other than ports. Thanks.
 
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stanvdw said:
I'm planning to replace my Imac 2019 with a Mac Mini M4 pro (out now) or a Mac Studio M4 (out between April and June). Is the Mac mini M4 pro good enough for LRC and PS. Have a Z8 and it takes time to process the files.
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Any M4 mac with enough memory is going to do very well with PS and LrC. I am running a maxed out Intel MacBook Pro 2019 and have waited a long time to jump into Apple Silicon but have an M4 MacBook Pro arriving today! Get plenty of memory and SSD space. Keep your LrC catalog on the internal SSD. Life will be good! I considered an M4 Mac Mini but I really like being able to pack up and go without an external display and keyboard so I stuck with the MacBook. If we didn't snowbird and I stayed in my one office all the time I would have gone with a Studio or Mini and two nice external monitors. I think you don't need to wait for the Studio if you go for the upgrades on the Mini that get you more memory and GPUs. The folks saying you could also get a M1 - M3 mac and save a lot are not wrong. Personally I tend to hang on too long like you then leap all the way to the front of the technology line and linger again. Good luck and have fun!
 
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nhzen said:
@macwalter Would you mind sharing how you use the ports on the Studio? I was thinking that with the new mini, 3 thunderbolt ports is good, one thunderbolt for a drive, one for a display, and one for an expander like for example an OWC dock. Do you have wired keyboard / mouse for which you use the USB -A ports on the Mac studio?

I’m in the same boat as many on this thread, and I was resigned to waiting till next year for the new Studio, but the mini seems it would do fine, compute wise, other than ports. Thanks.
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I use two thunderbolt ports for two ssd external drives. One goes to my monitor. Another goes to a larger HDD drive for backups and another to a drive devoted to Time Machine backup. I still use a mouse keyboard from amd old Mac Pro so that gets a usb-A port,another to a camera for video and finally one isb-c for a large thumb drive. I realize I could disconnect things and I do from time to time. One annoying thing is one of my external SSD drives will only run on a port in the front while it’s mate,identical in size and brand. Runs on the back. Not sure why. I talked to my nephew who works for Apple and he said the minis are not as powerful as the studios and he advised waiting. My wife needs a new cpu. I’m fine with the M1 Max studio. I’ll wait awhile
 
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Art's video is up. Bottom line, no free lunch. The M3 Max seems like a reasonable option for the laptop and the M4 Pro seems ok for LR/PS and marginal for video.

 
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nhzen said:
That does top it! I think I will wait for the Studio as well. Let’s hope it comes out soon 😀
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I had a 2013 mini until a few months back…although it was just used as a laptop backup destination in my entertainment center rather than for anything important…way too slow and RAM limited for anything useful photo wise.
 
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I think the M2 Max studio will work fine any of the m series Mac’s will be better than the intel models. I would wait for the blowout sales later this year. I picked up a 4tb 16 MacBook Pro M1 Max with 64 gigs of ram for less than half of its original cost. It works just fine As well.
 
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My M1 mini with 8gb of RAM is dealing with Ai de noise and DXO de noise no problems. I bought it years ago with some surplus Hilton points.

I wouldn’t fret much if that ones still getting the job done.
 
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stanvdw said:
I'm planning to replace my Imac 2019 with a Mac Mini M4 pro (out now) or a Mac Studio M4 (out between April and June). Is the Mac mini M4 pro good enough for LRC and PS. Have a Z8 and it takes time to process the files.
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You're comparing two systems with dramatically different pricing and performance levels -- well under $1.5K for the M4 Mini vs. at least 2X that for a yet-to-be-priced M4 Apple Studio. Plus, any purchase of an Apple computer now or later will elevate you from an Intel processor to Apple Silicon. I used "Art is Right" on Youtube to decide on a new M3 Max Macbook Pro with 36Gb RAM to replace a 4-year-old Intel-system Macbook Pro. I have found the performance of the new Apple Silicon MBP vs. the old Intel I7 MBP to be remarkable. I've gone from waiting for a few minutes to waiting for few seconds on virtually all tasks with LRC, Topaz and Photoshop. I shoot stills only so I'm no help if you're processing video. Good luck!
 
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