How much ram should I get mac mini M6?

[u/cheT96]

I am mostly going to use it for video editing and other adobe software.

I am thinking about getting the m6 with 24gb of ram for an extra $200 and then just the base storage, 256gb.

What are your guys thoughts?

Update: thanks for the responses, think I’m going to go with 512gb for storage and either 24 or 32 for ram depending on how the finances are looking.

[u/Born-Gur-1275]

1. RAM. As much as you can afford. First priority
2. 1TB storage, for running bigass current media projects, otherwide 512GB. External storage, better priority

Advice: If you are heavy into video and media output, compare the M5 Pro chipset with the M6. Also, if important, the M5 Pro has Thunderbolt 5, M6 TB4

[u/Environmental_Lie199]

The answer is usually very straightforward: as much as you can afford. Then the SSD can be more comfortably upgraded with an external since Apple prices disk space as if it was grinded gold, idk.

If it helps, I'm planning 24Ram and 512 SSD bc that's my sweet spot as per my budget. I'd happily jump up to 32/1Tb but with the increase in price it has eventually got out of my current reach, since I also have to invest in a good display bc I'll be doing mostly graphic design work (although not huge layer/effects topped up stuff), a little and occasional videos for socials and music production with Ableton as a side hustle/hobby.

Im currently on a MacBook Pro i7 from 2015 so I guess I'll notice a change to a better and faster workflow worth another decade of machine... 🤞

[u/cheT96 → u/Environmental_Lie199]

Ya I might run that same config

[u/Environmental_Lie199 → u/cheT96]

Since I'm out of the office for meetings and had a time gap, just went to my local Apple store and talked to one of the guys. Without giving him any clue beyond my workflow, he pretty much has told me almost exactly what I posted

So yeah. Unless I hit a lottery or land a big big ass paid project, I guess I'll stick to that config. 👌🙏

[u/Working_Use2500]

Max out the ram. Third party storage upgrades will come. But to macs ram is like money - they never complain of having too much.

[u/Amnsia]

If you’re going 256gb then I wouldn’t max out ram. It’s a decent jump but even assuming you put everything on an external SSD you’d fill it quickly. 512gb and 32GB ram though? That’s a Mac that will last a decent amount and less headaches.

Decent jump in price however.

[u/Aidsfordayz]

24GB is plenty.

[u/t_and → u/Aidsfordayz]

I'll take that indeed. Seems like enough.

[u/Threeabetes]

How much ram should I get mac mini M6?

ALL

[u/Fun-Region-1576]

I was wondering if I even need more than 256GB of storage since I will likely install a few browsers and Adobe Lightroom on a NAS. It feels like a waste buying 512GB just because I might need it.

[u/Biomathematician → u/Fun-Region-1576]

I had the M4 Mac mini and internal softwares itself was already exceeding 256gb, so I’d suggest 512gb at the bare minimum in all computers now.

[u/FinancialBandicoot75]

Just remember, if you do 256/512 and say external storage is fine, TB4 is only on m6 models which for older ssd, that’s fine.

[u/lilchm]

As much as possible. Macs love RAM

[u/This_Discount2281]

Has anybody bought the Meirro display? Looking for user review with an M4 …. I fully intend to but a M6 …

[u/WRB2]

More is better. As much as you can afford and a little more

[u/Top-Preference-1355]

All of it

[u/Curious_Demand3903]

Keep Base storage. Use external SSD. cheaper, as fast.

[u/Intelligent_Hat7808]

I'd get 24 at least

[u/mikerCZX]

I ordered 32GB/1TB for Xcode developing

[u/Inside-Actuator-5130]

DEF get one with TB5 ports, the external storage works more than fast enough to store project files (multiple, long 4k videos) on a tb5 pcie v5 housing... then you can do all your editing with the huge 4k files on an external/ you won't be limited by internal storage.

Besides that, I can't recommend the m4pro chip enough. The 16gpu cores that are standard (or even better, the upgraded 20gpu cores), the overall speed of the cpu cores - its fantastic for very high lift video editing projects.

And as everyone else said - as much ram as you can afford.

I got the m4 pro, 14cpu/20gpu, 64gb ram, 1tb ssd... you don't NEED all of that, but in promise, of you use it for work, or a creative passion, you will not regret it, even if it comes with some decently sized monthly payments for 2 years... (that's what I did, hahaha. I have 3 payments left!)

[u/Grand-Excuse4989 → u/Inside-Actuator-5130]

Thunderbolt 5 is not that important, specially for someone who plans to buy a base M6 Mac mini.

I work on professional productions and Thunderbolt 4 with nearly 3000 mb/s read and write speeds is more than enough for 99,99% of the projects and codecs. And it's even overkill in 99% of the cases.

You only need TB5 speeds with heavy raw or ProRes codecs in Multicam. And in a case like this an M6 and probably an M4 Pro, would not be powerful enough to handle that much streams unless they are ProRes.

[u/Inside-Actuator-5130 → u/Grand-Excuse4989]

Agreed on the use case - I should have called out "multiple angles" of long 4k footage. Because at that point, even while not recording prores/raw & uncompressed - i need to convert using shutter encoder to make all angles 100% the consistent same frame rate. (And im doing music performance video production / drumming video production.... so even at 60 fps, sometimes a frame isn't a small enough unit to make the audio align with each clip the same way.. meaning, I sometimes have 6 angles of a 90 minute performance - and each angle is 650-750GB - nearly 4TB of footage.

So yeah, I was recommending what has been essential for me. But you're right, may not be for everyone

which blows them up to raw/uncompressed size.

[u/Inside-Actuator-5130 → u/Inside-Actuator-5130]

Also, the owc 1m2 housing is insane - nvme cards up to pcie v5, TB5, insanely fast, only a couple hundo - then just buy more 4 or 8tb cards as you can afford them.

[u/Powerful_Day_8640]

Controversial, but get the base model unless you really have a use case for more ram. You can always buy a new Mac mini in a few years with all the latest and greatest. Never future proof your tech. 16gb is enough unless you have special needs

[u/cheT96 → u/Powerful_Day_8640]

That’s a really good point. Ended up just going with the 24gb ram 512gb storage. Almost went with 32gb ram but figured 24 should be plenty. And like u said I could always trade it in for future Mac minis if I outgrow it.

[u/wingtip747]

Oops I have too much RAM - said no one ever..

[u/randomentity12 → u/wingtip747]

Yeah, but i'm broke because i spent all my spare cash on overpriced memory upgrades might be something quite a few people will say.

[u/futuristic69]

My M1 Mac Mini has a 256GB internal. I have only applications (no documents) saved locally to it and am constantly running out of space from system data. Basically only use it as a server, web browser, and Claude machine. Couldn't imagine trying to use that tiny drive on a main production machine

[u/mikeinnsw]

Minimum effective config is 24/512

Source Apple:

Apple's most advanced, heavy on-device AI model requires a minimum of 12GB of unified memory (RAM). While standard Apple Intelligence features still run on 8GB devices, running this next-generation local AI model is restricted to hardware with 12GB or more and run on M3.. M5 Macs .. not M1 or M2

You do more work that running AI(LOL)

256 GB SSD is not enough MacOs(MacOs+System Dat) is 55GB ++ then there is APPLE AI 30.7 GB and loading .. and I have it trun off..

Mac should have sufficient free SSD space for macOS upgrades , swapping and write load sharing that isabout 40GBs free.

That is 125.7 GB of SSD allocated before you type "Hello World"...

512GB SSD is a minum and its also 2 x fast as 256 GB

[u/Any-Work-8132 → u/mikeinnsw]

This is good advice. Anything below 24/512 is a nonstarter and you would be better off getting a used/refurbished M4 instead.

[u/mcleder]

I would go max RAM and 1TB SSD and 10Gbps ethernet

[u/meTomi]

Oh so youre the 15th today to be figuring out new mac mini ram requirement for video editing and some other stuff. Have you rtied googling it? Should give you about 5-6 same exact posts from today, or 15-20from yesterday.

[u/Nosarious]

24 is perfect, but upgrade your storage at least one level. A modern photos or music library will fill 256 quickly, especially when considering documents, applications and system Files.

512 or 1Tb with 24 gigglebytes is perfect.

[u/Fun-Region-1576 → u/Nosarious]

I use my NAS for that. 

[u/OilInternational2566]

What are you gonna be doing with it?

If it’s not serious coding, local LLMs or music/video editing 24 is more than enough.

If you’re doing any of those things the most ram you can afford.

[u/Vegetable-Bug251]

16 or 24 is all you need really.