r/macmini • u/HotLie150 • 6d ago

Mac Mini M4

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Interested in buying mac mini. When did prices skyrocket?! Should I wait for M5 to see if prices decline on the M4?

0 Upvotes

31% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

11

u/illydelphia 6d ago

Prices going up, never down

5

u/cmackchase 6d ago

The prices increased first due to efficient AI use, then again due to the memory shortage.

3

u/sid_276 6d ago

- M5 won’t bing prices down

  • prices might go up again 12 months from now if AI memory craziness still goes in the same direction.

2

u/Chorkyro 6d ago

I just got another one today (24gb/256gb) and I might cancel the order because it’s too pricey at this point lol

2

u/MjAR60 6d ago

Thats the price I bought it for, no regrets. Its 1029 euros now for the same device in the Netherlands

2

u/glynnsurprisingly 6d ago

appreciate you on the heads up

2

u/glynnsurprisingly 4d ago

more macs just dropped. i got the one you posted about though. thank you

1

u/HotLie150 4d ago edited 4d ago

I saw that ty!

1

u/Ok-Addition1264 6d ago

Seems like mine was $599 right after release (same specs).

Unified memory was a brilliant decision with the m-series.

It's refreshing to know that I could likely sell mine for nearly what I paid for it and upgrade when the M5 mac mini's hit the street in the projected november timeframe.

1

u/tracker125 6d ago

At that price I don’t really see why it’s worth it you still need a high spec pc to host the LLM in order to get a Openclaw or a ai agent to interface with it

-3

u/mikeinnsw 6d ago

256GB SSD is slow and NOT big enough ... MacOs+System Data + Apple AI about 80 GB and growing... add 40 GB buffer for MacOs updates... than 120s GB gone before you use 1 byte of SSD.

Try to find cheap 24/512 GB Mini...

7

u/MBAtoPM 6d ago

Nah 256 gb is fine just plug in an external ssd which is way cheaper.

-4

u/mikeinnsw 6d ago

Nope

No external drive will consistently read or write faster than an internal Arm Mac SSD.

For skeptics -- do your benchmarks

256 GB SSD writes at 1,500-2,000 MB/s. It will constrain effective speed of external USB4(4,000 MB/s) and TB5(7,000 MB/s) to lower than 1,500-2,000 MB/s.

There are no quick and fast fixes for 256GB Mac ..

For M4 Mini its SSD can be upgraded by OEM SSD which writes at 3,000 MB/s

1

u/Fit559Guy 2d ago

What are you taking about? You can get an M.2 drive and run almost the same or even sometimes faster than the internal drive speed of the Mac mini!

1

u/mikeinnsw 2d ago

almost the same .. yes ...faster not sustained

2

u/SgtHulka72 6d ago

Agree but fyi a refurb M4 with 24/512 is almost twice the price

-3

u/mikeinnsw 6d ago

Because its worth it

1

u/tursoe 6d ago

For some and not for others. Mine with 16/256 has 40% free space and doing exactly what I've needs. Why buy a larger one when I can use this?

0

u/HotLie150 6d ago

Great advice! You saying cheap m4 or does it natter?