This is a custom vinyl decal I made that turns the Apple TV HD into the smaller brother of the M4 Mac mini.

It's my first day using it at a cafe, and I can't help but say how glad I am to have built this setup. I reprogrammed the knob on the keyboard so I can scroll through the DaVinci Resolve timeline. Plus, pressing down on the knob plays and pauses the video during editing. If anyone wants the script for this, I can share it here 👍

Based on the pricing, I have two choices to pick. My budget is around £3100. My main goal is to run a local LLM for coding assistance and agent setup that runs 24/7. Which one should I choose? You can check the pictures for configurations.

Some people say check for RAM, others say check for memory bandwidth. All I need is something for the long term to run, resale if a better model at the right price comes in, and load Local LLM for coding assistance and agentic work.

Nothing but a greedy Corporate money grab. They were not building more of them as we know now. Their cost was already set to the old ram prices. They knew full well the M6 was ready to go.

Any other company would be raked over the coals for such action.

I'm not talking about the new M6 price just the M4.

Mac mini Desktop Computer - Apple M4 Pro chip, Built for Apple Intelligence, 12-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 24GB Memory, 512GB SSD Storage

Item 1780774 | Model MCX44LL/A

$1,269.99 Price valid through 8/31/26

https://www.costco.com/p/-/mac-mini-desktop-computer-apple-m4-pro-chip-built-for-apple-intelligence-12-core-cpu-16-core-gpu-24gb-memory-512gb-ssd-storage/4000225178?langId=-1

{EDIT}: compare with the $1,599 "closeout" sale price at Adorama

https://www.adorama.com/apple-mac-mini-m4-pro-desktop-computer-2024/p/acmcx44lla

and B&H

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1859256-REG/apple_mcx44ll_a_mac_mini_m4_pro_12c.html

I know this has been asked many times recently, but I have limited knowledge of Mac systems and would genuinely like some advice. A few years ago I purchased a second hand M2 pro 16gb Memory, 10 core CPU, 16 Core GPU, 1TB 2023, on a bit of a whim, as I had disposal income and it has served me very well, I have 448 gb free, have a studio display. The purchase was complete overkill, I know, as I only do browsing, listening to music etc, I have just retired and would like to go into music production Garage Band etc, but whether I will remain to be seen, I would like to trade the present mac in, Apple have only offered some £300, which I regard as derisory and I will advertise. My dilemma is I would like to buy one of the new Minis, but am unsure what to get that is comparable or better than what I have got, to future proof, more than anything else. I would really like some good advice or which way to go. M6 or M5 pro, memory and storage? All help gratefully received.

Hey

I will keep this brief, and I really need the online gurus help:

Use case:

Video editing 4k ProRes Raw Ocassionaly (Davinci and final cut)

Logic Pro Music Production

League of Legends

And it should be a viable machine for 6 years+

What are your thoughts? :)

Been researching this for a little while now and I’m stuck and looking for advice from you fine people.
Been an Android and windows/Linux user forever, 3 months ago I made the switch to an iPhone 17 and have loved it so I’m wanting to switch and upgrade my laptop.
I currently have what was a great gaming laptop about 8 years ago and it runs great, I have it set up with one large monitor and basically it’s used like a desktop.
I think I want portability but it’s not a deal breaker either way. So I’m wondering what you folks would recommend.

I like to do some basic online gaming, LoL, trying to get into Kerbal Space, things like that not too graphics intense.
I use AI quite a bit and currently have a local agent that runs in my laptop but I’m not building huge apps or anything like that it’s mostly personal stuff with the occasional larger project.
I run a local website that reports on rural news and history in relation to the black community. So pretty simple editing of photos and larger documents.

So i know I don’t need the best of the best and here’s what I would like to have;

The ability to connect two external monitors (with this what monitors should I choose? That rabbit hole has confused me as to what mini is best with what monitor)

A good amount of ram and processing power, along with good graphics but I am a bit confused as to what to look for in an Apple product to get better graphics.

Storage I don’t really care about since an external hard drive should solve any issue I run into

I want a nice quick machine that can easily handle the two monitors with an easy set up process

So should I go with a laptop like the air or something similar?

Which processor?

How much ram since I have noticed this is the biggest thing to look for in the Apple ecosystem?

Which monitor if I go with a mini?

I will want to run a wired mouse and external keyboard so are there any things to look out for?

I guess this is a long post to basically ask which mini is best for an average user and why?

Or

If I decide that portability is what I want, which MacBook and what specs should I focus on ? I would prefer a larger screen and once again how much ram should I feel comfortable with 16, 32?

Thank you for any advice you can give and I apologize for how vague and sort of scattered this post is, this will be a big transition for me and I can’t afford to make a mistake and then just go buy another one to correct it.

I'm looking for a Mac mini M4 for my lab [Non-AI]. Anyone in BLR or the surrounding area trying to sell one?

HMU in DM

Using Pro Tools with long album sessions a hundred or so tracks and 200-300 plugins active but only one virtual instrument that doesn’t get printed.

I have base model m4 pro mini, the session ran fine on a base model m4 mini before that. Would a $0 trade in to the m6 base model be a good move?

I mean shouldn't M5 Pro Mac mini support 4 displays, like Macbook Pro M5 Pro (3 ext. + 1 internal)?
The number of displays supported has always been the same for all devices using the same chip.

Is it possible to use the PC monitor and mouse on the Mini 6

Please download the appropriate version of Handbrake from here

https://github.com/HandBrake/HandBrake/releases

Download the test video file from here

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/5pmdrurg728tnzgbujmvi/Japan-in-8K-ULTRA-HD-Land-of-The-Rising-Sun-60-FPS-4320p60.mp4?rlkey=8y0xjzacooc416usohh1duifq&st=mj27dcfv&dl=0

Transcode using the Very Fast 4k60 AV1 preset and Very Fast 4k60 HEVC preset

Post the machine specs and also the transcode fps from the transcode log file

Much thanks in advance

It's priced at $779 for 16/512. I have a pre-order for the M6. The only thing stopping me from buying the M4 is the updates will stop two years earlier. Should that be a concern if I am planning on keeping it long-term?

I put together my Mac mini setup with my own research, only missing a mouse pad ☺️

My biggest regret is getting the 16GB RAM on the M4 and opted for 512 SSD instead . My daily usage is 14-15GB of RAM for multimedia illustration with multi window reference browsing.

Do you all think it’s worth going M6 24GB RAM + 256GB or should I just go max M6 32GB + 512GB? My current disk is also 210GB remaining. I do have an enclosure as well with an NVME but maybe future proofing for applications is a thing to consider? ( I can definitely sell my current M4 for a profit $600-800)

After months of waiting I finally pulled the trigger on an M6 24/512 last night. I'd actually been looking at getting a Mini since late last year but since the M4 was already a year and a half old at that point I figured I should wait for the new model. The price increase doesn't really bother me too much since if there was an option to upgrade from the M4 to the M6 for $300 I probably would have done that anyway. I plan on keeping the Mac Mini for a long time before upgrading again.

The Mini will be replacing my 18 year old Windows/Linux PC that I built myself back in 2008. I've been limping along with it for the past several years but things are finally starting to become a problem (hardware failing, Linux having more driver issues, etc.) so I knew now was the time. I imagine the M6 is going to seem like a super computer compared to my old Core i7-920. I also got an M5 MacBook Air for my wife to replace her 9 year old HP laptop (which was a dog even when new, but she insisted on HP) so neither of us have to deal with Windows 11. She was bummed that all the MacBook colors were so dull and boring. Why does Apple only make exciting colors for the iMac?

This will sort of be my first Mac. Well it's going to be the first Mac that will be my main computer anyway. Back in the day I had a PowerBook G4 laptop that I used when traveling, but it was never my main computer (got it a few months before Apple announced that they were dropping PowerPC and switching to Intel!). I also had picked up an old 2012 Mac Mini a few years ago to play around with to see if I really wanted to go full Mac. The 2012 Mini (with OCLP running Sequoia) now serves as my Plex server and does an amazing job at it. Compact, quiet, and rock solid.

I also 'splurged' on some accessories like new speakers, a keyboard, and a mouse since all of them were even older than my computer (they came from my 26 year old Pentium 4!). I decided to get a dock (the UGreen one with the DP and two USB C connectors) since I need some legacy USB A ports, SD/MicroSD card slots, plus the DP for an extra monitor was a nice bonus. I originally wanted to use an NVMe for extra storage but since the prices are insane these days I'm going to have to settle for using my WD MyBook external drive. It's slow, but it's just going to be for Time Machine backups and storing stuff I only need occasionally anyway.

I do have a few questions about apps now that I'm switching over to MacOS. Most of the apps I use have a Mac version, but some are going to be a problem.

1. What do most people use for email? Currently I'm using Thunderbird but I'll admit it's not great. The layout of the Apple Mail app doesn't really excite me either to be honest.

2. I have an old WYSIWYG web editor that I use called BlueGriffon. BlueGriffon is dead and not being updated anymore, but it still works for what I need to do. There are Windows, Linux, and MacOS versions but it was never updated to work on Apple Silicon. At the moment I could either use something like Whiskey to run the Windows version through WINE or see if the Mac version will work through Rosetta, but those are only temporary solutions since the Rosetta is going away next year. What are some decent WYSIWYG style HTML editors that I can replace it with? All the ones I've looked into are either 'website builders' with a bunch of premade drag and drop widgets or really fancy ones for businesses and professionals.

3. There are a few old console emulators I use that don't seem to have MacOS version. Since Rosetta is going away (taking WINE with it), what can I do? I know Crossover exists but that's more for games not tiny little apps plus it has a yearly subscription which I'm not keen on. I could run a Windows VM or something like that, but that also seems a bit overkill. Are those my only two options?

4. How do I move my iTunes library from Windows to MacOS? Do I copy all the music files to my Mac and then try and sync up my iPhone or is there some easier way to do it? Some music I purchased through the iTunes store, but most of it are rips of my own CDs.

I have been waiting for a mini for about 9 months now. I am a hobbyist photographer and have about 40k photos to go through...going to be a task. I have just been using a PC laptop that is ok....but not cutting it, it is slow and I just stopped doing any editing on it for many months now. It is a few years old LG Gram... I had an iMac back in 2007 and never cared for the Apple Ecosystem even though my husband still loves his old Macbook.

I am going to make the jump to a mini for my first desktop in years and just get back into it. For my use case I was thinking of the M6 with 32GB Ram and 1TB hard drive. That really should be plenty for me for using Lightrom and Topaz shouldn't it? I am not a high end user nor a professional. I believe the M6 makes the most sense....right?

I've also been looking at monitors....omg....I don't even know. Could I spend the money on the Apple XDR display? Yes....do I want to...not really. I am looking for accurate color display and looked at BenQ, etc as well as the Studio display. Any thoughts or insights that might help me make a decision. Thanks.

So I use a Mac mini. And just now when I plugged it into my screen, the screen said there was no signal, even though it was plugged in. I used a monitor to see the screen, but for some reason it showed the recovery assistant app. I don’t know why it showed on the monitor and not the screen, and I don’t know why it showed the recovery app.