16GB still seems tight in 2024
New Mac Mini with M4
181–190 of 789 posts
Re: New Mac Mini with M4
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
Get rid of Windows on it! Digital Foundry put out a great video on this exact process the other day, weighing the pros and cons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwWRCrGoXV0 Neither MacOS nor Windows are very good console OSes - you're really better off using Linux where anticheat isn't concerned. Even on the Ally.
> Neither MacOS nor Windows are very good console OSes They're great OSes for consumers who don't really work on their computers, and just want something that caters to the lowest common denominator. For professionals who use computers for work, Linux is really the only option that doesn't eventually get in your way. You can set it up and leave it as-is, with only security updates, and everything keeps working the sa…
> For professionals who use computers for work, Linux is really the only option that doesn't eventually get in your way.
I really hope you're not expecting anyone to take you seriously with this. On principle I get what you're saying but in practice no one who works as a professional in any field has the time (or expertise) to be worried about configuring their operating system.
As a Linux evangelist who begrudgingly daily drives a Mac, this kind of attitude is what does us in. It's the cocksure "akshually Linux is best" even when it materially, experientially, just isn't.
Denial is not a design ethos.
Re: New Mac Mini with M4
#183> With M4, Mac mini can support up to two 6K displays and up to one 5K display, and with M4 Pro, it can support up to three 6K displays at 60Hz for a total of over 60 million pixels.
Okay so how many displays can the base model Mac mini m4 support? Is it one 5K over HDMI and then 2 6K over 2 separate Thunderbolt 4 connections, for a total of 3 displays?
Re: New Mac Mini with M4
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unified memory too. It's your GPU and your ram.
This is huge for AI / ML at least for inference. Apple chips are among the most efficient out there for that sort of thing, the only downside is the lack of cuda
> Apple chips are among the most efficient out there for that sort of thing
Not really? Apple is efficient because they ship moderately large GPUs manufactured on TSMC hardware. Their NPU hardware is more or less entirely ignored and their GPUs are using the same shader-based compute that Intel and AMD rely on. It's not efficient because Apple does anything different with their hardware like Nvidia does, it's efficient because they're simply using denser silicon than most opponents.
Apple does make efficient chips, but AI is so much of an afterthought that I wouldn't consider them any more efficient than Intel or AMD.
Re: New Mac Mini with M4
#185It would appear the air intake is on the bottom like the Mac Studio. As someone who lives in a very dusty 150 year old house, My Mac Studio does not appreciate the air input being directly on the desk. It collects all the dust that lands anywhere near it. I have a large levoit air filter running 24/7 in my office and still end up with this[1] regularly. I wish I could at least reasonably take the thing apart to clean…
I'm imagining Apple building a Dusty Old House in the middle of Apple Park ... for testing.
Re: New Mac Mini with M4
#186Having a fully fledged computer this small without an external power brick is pretty impressive.
Honestly, I wish they'd go with an external USB-C power brick. The only reason they might not is that they want to keep everything across the entire line, and the highest end Mac Studio probably needs more power than USB can offer.
Why would you prefer an external power brick?
The internal power supplies in Mac minis have been extremely reliable and the fewer cables the better, in my opinion.
Re: New Mac Mini with M4
#187> Mac mini is Apple’s first carbon neutral Mac Hats off! I didn't expect the Mac to be next in line for the carbon neutral goals. But they did it!
Easy if you just buy meaningless carbon credits.
Re: New Mac Mini with M4
#188Positives: + form factor + ARM/Apple silicon/SoC Negatives: - Apple tax on memory, storage - non-upgradeable - Apple tax on 1GbE to 10 GbE ($100 surcharge lol) - maxes out at 64G of configurable memory w/ m4 pro Got to give it to Apple. The traunches between different configuration levels is “small” enough to convince buyers to enter the next level. It’s like “hey, you are already at $4000 for m4 pro with 64g. Just s…
>I wonder how many consumers fall into this sunk cost fallacy scenario that Apple has designed.
Almost all of them, and the lowest tiers of the entire lineup are essentially ewaste in a box just there to push a few hundred $ on you.
Re: New Mac Mini with M4
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Get rid of Windows on it! Digital Foundry put out a great video on this exact process the other day, weighing the pros and cons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwWRCrGoXV0 Neither MacOS nor Windows are very good console OSes - you're really better off using Linux where anticheat isn't concerned. Even on the Ally.
> Neither MacOS nor Windows are very good console OSes They're great OSes for consumers who don't really work on their computers, and just want something that caters to the lowest common denominator. For professionals who use computers for work, Linux is really the only option that doesn't eventually get in your way. You can set it up and leave it as-is, with only security updates, and everything keeps working the sa…
This isn't really the case anymore, Linux (specifically SteamOS and its kin) serve the console-like market very well. Arguably better than Windows.
Even for non-Gaming use cases this idea is a bit dated. Printing is by far the best experience on Linux. The "tweaking" that you need to do, that every Windows/MacOS user claims, isn't really a thing these days - sans NVIDIA (I'm not sure what the current status is, but it was bjorked somewhat recently). Sure, if you want to go beyond what Windows/MacOS can offer then tweaking my be required, but the current UIs are extremely comprehensive.
I had a 80yr old lady up and running in one day with PopOS. If that's not lowest common denominator, I don't know what is.
Professional work can be hit and miss. Depends on how draconian your workplace software is.
Re: New Mac Mini with M4
#19016GB base RAM across the board, following the iMac. AI is certainly good for pushing up the baseline RAM that manufacturers can get away with shipping if nothing else.
It's not just RAM. It's Unified RAM. So that memory is also used for the GPU & Neural Cores (which is for Apple Intelligence). This is actually why companies moved away from the unified memory arch decades ago. It'll be interesting to see as AI continues to advance, if Apple is forced to depart from their unified memory architecture due to growing GPU memory needs.
Depart? They just got there, didn't they? And on purpose. There's more memory bandwidth, and also no need to copy from main memory to VRAM. Why would they bail on it?