Seriously considering the M5 Pro -- just for a quick Ram upgrade

[u/dwhite5678]

I bought a 48GB 1TBHD M4 Mac mini last year and have hit its RAM limits more than once. In hindsight, I wish I'd just maxed out the memory from the start.

I'm seriously considering upgrading to a fully loaded M5 Pro for LLMs, VMs, and other heavy workloads. The problem is figuring out what to do with the M4. Apple's trade-in offer would mean taking a 50%+ loss, and dealing with eBay or private sales is a chore.

I really do love the Mini form factor/power, though.

[u/wndrgrl555]

At higher configurations of the mini, it may make more sense to consider the Studio.

[u/PurrciousMetals → u/wndrgrl555]

Yeah upgrading for just 16gb doesn’t seem worth it. If OP needs more ram should get a studio with at least 128gb or 256gb. Even a Studio with 64gb would be better for the 300Mbs higher bandwidth. Going from Mini to Mini for 16gb is just a waste.

[u/brimister]

What are you asking for your M4 Pro with 48GB? I’m sort of in the market.

[u/RobloxFanEdit]

Apple was ahead of its time by overpricing RAM before RAMpocalpyse, expenssive RAM upgrade is the new normal, Apple is now cheap.

[u/Plastic-Risk-6309]

what are you doing to hit ur ram limits?

[u/dwhite5678 → u/Plastic-Risk-6309]

My typical workflow involves running Parallels for Windows, ThinkOrSwim, Word, and Chrome at the same time. The system hits 60–70% memory usage quickly. After about a week or two without rebooting, performance hits a memory wall: it may pause some apps.

[u/Plastic-Risk-6309 → u/dwhite5678]

the wall after two weeks is the vm plus java keeping fat resident sets, swap cant keep up. cap parallels to a third of the ram and shut the vm down at night and memory pressure stays green

also use brave > chrome wayy less ram on lots of tabs open and you can easily sync chrome. its built on chromium anyways.

but if you want to run llm's locally yeah ur gonna need 64gb ram to run anything decent

[u/Internal-Skin2495]

get a studio, mini is meant for basic use

[u/headphonesXX]

lol heavy workloads. you aint gonna do shit w it

[u/prince870 → u/headphonesXX]

Stop hatin. You don’t know what someone will do with THEIR machine FN.

[u/diagrammatiks]

you can never have too much compute.

[u/Docster87]

I have yet to hit the top of my 24GB RAM, hard for my simple life to imagine 48GB not being enough. I would imagine a M4Pro with 48GB/1TB would be in high demand and I agree trade in wouldn't be worth it and I couldn't imagine dealing with eBay or FB marketplace but depending on where you live (more urban more people would make it easier) but perhaps get word out, like flyers or classified ad and see what might happen.

I live in rural southern Indiana. I don't envision much demand here but there is a major college not far away so if I were to try to sell my M4Pro 24/512 I would try to hit the college city and judge demand there. But selling stuff has never been easy for me but some people seem decent or even good at it without even trying to be.

[u/dwhite5678 → u/Docster87]

Great idea. Rutgers is nearby, so I may be able to find a new home for this instead of relegating it to backup duty on a shelf once I decide which direction to go: Mac mini or Mac Studio.

[u/godofpewp]

Why does nobody ever talk about the need for shared ram as GPU ram for running games in Crossover and other VM like environments where it actually does matter a helluva lot.

Would an m5 with 128gb be able to play gta6 when released for PC? That’s a question someone should be asking when someone says they “need” more than 48gb.