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M4 Mac mini's efficiency

jeffgeerling.com

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Re: M4 Mac mini's efficiency

#311

Post by ksec »

nextos wrote: post #9

I use Linux, but I think the cheapest M4 Mini offers an incredible value and efficiency per €. With education discount, it's around €650, including VAT. It's pretty hard to find such a silent and powerful machine for that little. Any comparable options? A good fanless build with a i3-14100T is more expensive and 40-50% slower on Geekbench. An i5 is a bit closer. Some 2024 Ryzen CPUs can match or exceed its multicore…

>With education discount, it's around €650,

It is €579 including VAT. The Educational discount in US is only $499. €650 sounds wrong. Where in EU is that.

Re: M4 Mac mini's efficiency

#312

Post by freehorse »

pier25 wrote: post #305
freehorse wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The M4 Pro continues to be manufactured using a 3-nm process and on the old M3 Pro (27-28 watts), we measured a lower consumption than on the M2 Pro models (~36 watts), despite its improved performance. In contrast [...] the new M4 Pro can consume up to 46 watts, settling at around 40 watts during the further course—so at its peak, it consumes 60% more. Assuming they refer to the full chips rather than the binned o…

You're only considering the CPU though.

The numbers in the article cited by the above commenter are about the CPU.

Re: M4 Mac mini's efficiency

#313

Post by nl »

GeekyBear wrote: post #69
nextos wrote: post #9

I use Linux, but I think the cheapest M4 Mini offers an incredible value and efficiency per €. With education discount, it's around €650, including VAT. It's pretty hard to find such a silent and powerful machine for that little. Any comparable options? A good fanless build with a i3-14100T is more expensive and 40-50% slower on Geekbench. An i5 is a bit closer. Some 2024 Ryzen CPUs can match or exceed its multicore…

Beelink has dropped the price for a roughly comparable unit with an Intel Core Ultra from 800 US Dollars to $700. https://www.bee-link.com/products/beelink-sei14-ultra5-125h

This is the best answer.

The Beelink (and other mini-PC brands) offer comparable performance.

The fact they offer lots of different configurations lets you choose your own trade-offs.

Assuming you don't have an operating system preference, the base model Mac Mini is tough to beat outright, but as you upgrade it there are other options that get interesting.

Re: M4 Mac mini's efficiency

#314

Post by justinclift »

1-6 wrote: post #45

“If only they didn't put the power button on the bottom.” While I think Apple was off the rocker on this particular decision, I do respect their org structure that allows this type of decision to occur. Believe me, there are companies where a dozen people or more would weigh in and prevent an unpopular choice. Consensus sometimes hinders a desired result (both good and bad).

As a counter point, that same org structure resulted in the removal of the 3.5mm audio port. Ugh.

Re: M4 Mac mini's efficiency

#315

Post by eru »

derefr wrote: post #294
nicce wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not cheating if they intend for you to do it It feels like you are proving my point of people finding excuses to buy the Mac with educational discount, when they don't meet the requirements :) The intend it clearly for educational setting. For students and teachers. You dishonor the intend if you still try to claim the discount. Whether you are punished or not.

I think you might be suffering from a categorical blindness to a certain type of thing humans do. Let's say I own a private beach. I want to allow my beach to be enjoyed freely and responsibly by a reasonable number of people, whether friends or strangers. I don't want to constantly be cleaning up garbage on my beach. And I don't want the beach to be overcrowded when I myself use it. So what do I do? Well, I'm sure n…

Great write-up!

> This equilibrium state is exactly the point aimed for by the corporations that create these open secrets.

Not necessarily. You know that biological evolution is blind, but thriving in a market environment doesn't require companies to know why what they are doing is successful.

So eg Photoshop (and Windows) used to be really easy to 'pirate' by individuals. And you can argue that this was good for Adobe (and Microsoft), because it's like an informal education discount: youngsters get used to the software at home and train themselves, so that later on it becomes the obvious choice for the office.

But for the mechanism to work, Adobe doesn't have to understand the mechanism. They could just not know at all about the pirating, or conclude that it's too much hassle to chase the pirates (but be completely unaware of the positive effects). Or on the contrary, they could over-estimate the positive effects of piracy etc.

Re: M4 Mac mini's efficiency

#316

Post by justinclift »

baq wrote: post #100
dansky wrote: post #95

The Mac mini M4 performance is around 4-5x in DaVinci Resolve for me - compared to my HP laptop (i5-1135G7). Rendering HDR video was around 12fps there on the i5 - the same project in the Mac mini gets 60fps. The M4 10 core GPU seems on par or better with a mobile RTX3060(65W) for video tests (NR / Deflicker) so I'm also impressed about the M4's efficiency. A lot of power per Watt. It's becoming a dedicated video ren…

> The power button placement is an annoyance for me, though. Keep the thing upside down. Not joking.

> Keep the thing upside down.

Or maybe on its side? :)

Re: M4 Mac mini's efficiency

#317

Post by nl »

leptons wrote: post #111
dansky wrote: post #95

The Mac mini M4 performance is around 4-5x in DaVinci Resolve for me - compared to my HP laptop (i5-1135G7). Rendering HDR video was around 12fps there on the i5 - the same project in the Mac mini gets 60fps. The M4 10 core GPU seems on par or better with a mobile RTX3060(65W) for video tests (NR / Deflicker) so I'm also impressed about the M4's efficiency. A lot of power per Watt. It's becoming a dedicated video ren…

>The Mac mini M4 performance is around 4-5x in DaVinci Resolve for me - compared to my HP laptop (i5-1135G7). You could pick a variety of non Apple CPUs that easily deliver 4-5x the performance of an 11th gen i5. Maybe don't be disingenous and compare the M4 to a more recent CPU like i5-14600K, which is also 4x the performance. I'm not comparing on power efficiency, since that was not mentioned at all as part of your…

It's not disingenuous to do a real-world comparison to a system you already own when stating the specs. It's actually much more useful to hear these real world anecdotes than to look at geekbench numbers.

Re: M4 Mac mini's efficiency

#319

Post by Izikiel43 »

va1a wrote: post #142
baq wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The power button placement is an annoyance for me, though. Keep the thing upside down. Not joking.

Yeah it seems like this would also increase airflow. Is there any possible issue with just having it upside down all the time?

Isn't the case the heat sink? It might dissipate heat worst when lying upside down, as the table would get hot.

Re: M4 Mac mini's efficiency

#320

Post by _2d30 »

Retr0id wrote: post #189
nielsbot wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feel like that risks overheating...

Not really. Unlike previous mac mini models, the grille on the underside is both the air intake and exhaust. If anything it ought to be better upside-down, since convection now helps the heated air rise out. Edit: any downvoters care to elaborate?

The case is also going to radiate heat and turning it upside down will make that less efficient. The base won't radiate heat in the same due to being plastic and due to it already being used to pass air through.
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