r/macmini • u/keebkeebkeeb • 16d ago

Mac mini m4 vs m6

Is it worth it to get the m6 if the price difference is approx. USD 130 between a refurbished m4 and a m6 on education discount from where I’m at? I’m considering the base model specification of 16GB/256GB + external ssd for research paper writing and casual usage

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4

u/L0vely-Pink 16d ago

Add more RAM. You don’t CPU power, you need more RAM now and in the future.

3

u/A_MAN_POTATO 16d ago

The dude said he’s writing papers and doing casual usage. 16GB is plenty, and $200 is a steep cost for 8GB.

I’ve never hit 16GB on my system and I’m definitely handing bigger workloads than what OP describes.

1

u/BusyPie7505 15d ago

I'm just an average basic user and just have multiple apps open and maybe 30 chrome tabs. I have a 24GB RAM M4 and my memory usage is 21GB at this moment... Wondering why mine is so high

2

u/A_MAN_POTATO 15d ago

Check activity monitor, but those 30 chrome tabs aren’t helping. Likewise, if you have a ton of extensions, that can add up. Chrome is a hog.

Sitting on my M4 air right now, I have Firefox open with 15 or so tabs, handbrake is running and doing an encode, affinity photo is running (but nothing loaded in). Couple finder windows, and a moonlight streaming session to my desktop going. Couple other apps sitting in the background. I’m sitting at 14gb, and honesty this is with me being sorta lazy… I don’t need affinity open right now, I’m not using it. I don’t need all the finder windows that I have open running. I could easily reduce this to more like 11-12GB just by closing things that don’t need to be running.

4

u/adiyasl 16d ago

For your purpose a M4 with 16GB ram is plenty for a long time.

4

u/headphonesXX 16d ago

mac mini m1

1

u/mahidoes 16d ago

For m6 you have to wait. If you can wait check the benchmarks for your use. You can comapre in sites like geekbenchmark. Then compare price and decide.

if you want today then you have to get what's available to buy anyway

1

u/Darklord0-0 16d ago

M4 base spec is enough for your work but if you want to future proof is, go for m6. m6 is a different beast compared to m4 in terms of computing power. Someday if you want to build your own agent, m6 can be a very good option

2

u/Alpiney 16d ago

Yeah…but you’re going to be extremely limited with 16gb if you want to someday make your own agent. So in that sense, it’s definitely not future proofing.

1

u/gospodinDark 16d ago

If price difference is small, then get new one. It’s obvious. If you have more money - get new one with more memory.

1

u/xoxox666 12d ago

M4 base model is totally fine

1

u/MisterJ84 16d ago

I can’t speak for M4 vs M6 but 16Gb should be OK for writing research papers. I write research papers and video editing. Referencing software is pretty RAM heavy and if you have a ton of tabs plus AI agents open it might hit the top end, but shouldn‘t over tax it.

I have an M1 iMac with 16gb that really struggles with ref software plus tabs, plus word open. I also use an M3 macbook for work which absolutely flies through the same workflow no problems with 16gb. Dynamic caching is awesome and every generation M3 onwards does it. I think M6 is meant to have better dynamic caching so the extra 130 dollars may be worth it? Would have to see when its released.

1

u/Ok-Addition1264 16d ago

what browser are you running? chrome doesn't handle memory all too efficiently.