...but the power button was in an awkward place when switching the cables. So actually I am gonna luv this now.
Exactly. With the new design, you can pick the thing up in fat grabby fingers, pull cables out, turn the unit around, push cables in, manhandle the thing like your nonna squeezing the melanzanas at Guido's Grocery, and you won't accidentally press the power button. The new mini's power button is right where it should be.
Until you pick it up by putting your fingers underneath and thumb on the top and…oops. Honestly, they should have simply had the power button on the front disguised as an apple logo.
Geekbench's Metal scores on the M4 and M4 Pro don't do justice to its actual 3D performance in several 3D rendering tests and games I've run. They are a pretty dramatic improvement. You should also include some actual Power usage info. In expensive electrical areas, it could be a fair bit saved.
The M1 Max Mac Studio idles at around 10 Watts of power, Typical use is 12-18 watts or so, Peak CPU about 44 Watts running all 10 cores at 100%, running a 3D render (GPU render) that power seems to average 45-50 Watts with peak over 55. The M1 Max with 24 Core GPU that I have access to scores a 3790 in Cinebench R24 GPU (a 32 Core GPU M1 Max hits around a 4330)
M4 completes the GPU render faster (and in tests like Cinebench R24 it gets a higher score (approx 4100) than the M1 Max 24 Core GPU, and is close to the 32 Core GPU Max. - it idles at 3 watts (under half the M2 Mac mini used at idle), typical usage is 4-9 watts (web/productivity), peak CPU power usage was 36.5 Watts using all cores at 100%, and in 3D renders/games it averages maybe 25-30 watts of power under load with a peak of 35.5 I was able to hit in a game.
M4 Pro idle is slightly higher at 3.5 watts, typical use was around 5-13 watts, and peak power during 3D renders or gaming was 61.5watts (all CPU cores at 100% did hit a peak of 71.2 watts). Most of the time it uses less power than the Mac Studio. in 3D the M4 Pro performance is beyond the M1 Ultra and using Cinebench as an example past the RTX 2070 as well hitting 7762 score (in the range of the GTX 3060, or Radeon 6700-6800) - other rendering software had similar pretty high performance especially when Mesh Shading and Ray Tracing was involved. Gaming saw similar massive improvements - if Ray Tracing was involved, it had over double the performance of the M1 Max with 24 GPU cores.
Those estimated GB numbers are pretty sporty. 4200 single core in GB6 sounds like a lot. Wait and see.
But yes, an optioned up M4 Mac mini versus a used M1 Max Mac Studio is a tough choice. That’s going to be up to benchmarks, workflows or even how it looks on your desk.
True, but i'm also waiting for real-world benchmarks instead of the really short GB6 ones. Maybe the Mini will throttle much earlier on sustained core usage than the Studio.
I did not experience much throttling with the base M4 Mini (I'd have to run some additional tests to double-check for how much, if any there was), it did get pretty warm and in my opinion the Fan doesn't spin up fast enough for the heat generated - how warm it feels is likely because the power supply is now situated right under the top part of the Mac mini
M4 Pro mini you can put into "High Performance" mode which runs its fans aggressively- in that mode I did not see any throttling occurring even over extended periods of a couple hours. Even with the fans running high, the Mac mini still got pretty warm to the touch - likely an impact of having the power supply right under the top of the Mac mini.
This of course made the fan audible - not as loud as the 2018 6-core i7 Mac mini's got, but was there - not sure I've gotten a Mac Studio as loud under sustained use (I have access to an M1 Max studio and the M4 & M4 Pro mini's at work, and have an M2 Max Mac Studio at home) Was putting the M4 & M4 Pro through their paces at several tasks to figure out how they work for our particular needs - the M4 Mac mini will do almost everything we need (3 screen output, plenty of GPU performance, more than enough CPU performance, previously we had to use M2 Pro Mac mini's for some of these tasks at double the cost)
I bought the M1 Studio Max when it first came out, mainly for professional App development in Xcode. I found it to be the most laggy, underwhelming and disappointing Mac I ever owned (and I go way back). Conversely, the M2 MacBook Air I bought for personal use is by far the best laptop I ever owned 🤷♂️
The fully pimped M4 Pro Mini looks like a reasonable replacement for the Studio 🤞🤞
Not to be an idiot, but I use my MacMini with a GoalZero Sherpa in my backpack, with a HeadsUp display, that has a 120 AC port, the pain in the ass was always accidentally hitting the stupid power button and booting it up when changing power cables. The back pack had a Grid panel, with everything in place cable wise. So when I would get home and remote desktop, I would switch the cable from GoalZero to Wall Outlet, but the power button was in an awkward place when switching the cables. So actually I am gonna luv this now.
Although as some have stated the thickness sucks now... UGH
Wait, what?
You are using a Mac mini as a mobile device? What's this HeadsUp display like? Sunglass form factor? How large is the battery in your backpack? Does it have solar panels to extend the runtime? How does the cooling system work inside your backpack?
@tht I am also waiting for @rezwits response I am quite interested for more information
Sorry... been running and evolving a system since the Pismo with dual batteries! and lid closed madness! Especially when the first days of "Tethering" began ah those were the days! I use a Sony PLM Glasstron. I have used various keyboards and back of the hand track pads. Even had a Griffin Powermate as zoom control with a nice wrist strap etc... Lately I have used keyboards similar to this: Fosmon Mini Bluetooth Keyboard (amazon search). The "Solar Wings" work i.e. Solar Panels. But it's usually too hot to walk and use the computer and charge at the same time. But the sleep mode works well for daytime walking and charging. I know I know it's sounds stupid but... IDK It works it's mine it's fun... I have TONS of development IDEAS I get from walking with my "Gear" on, and that's enough to separate me from the normal rift raft of redundancy... LOL But the thing is my feet get really sore walking like 2-3 miles out the door streaming video and watching street cams LOL!! OK I'll stop, but I alas I am getting old and looking forward to Apple Vision Pro 2 (120Hz) or Apple Vision or something like Augmented Reality Apple Glasses, because the Glasstrons I have been using all I have a flip switch for AR and overlaying video... It's been a fun 25 years running the project but like I said I am getting old, gonna had it down to the nephew and going to retire in AVP heaven... Laters... 2¢
Comments
Until you pick it up by putting your fingers underneath and thumb on the top and…oops. Honestly, they should have simply had the power button on the front disguised as an apple logo.
You should also include some actual Power usage info. In expensive electrical areas, it could be a fair bit saved.
The M1 Max Mac Studio idles at around 10 Watts of power, Typical use is 12-18 watts or so, Peak CPU about 44 Watts running all 10 cores at 100%, running a 3D render (GPU render) that power seems to average 45-50 Watts with peak over 55. The M1 Max with 24 Core GPU that I have access to scores a 3790 in Cinebench R24 GPU (a 32 Core GPU M1 Max hits around a 4330)
M4 completes the GPU render faster (and in tests like Cinebench R24 it gets a higher score (approx 4100) than the M1 Max 24 Core GPU, and is close to the 32 Core GPU Max. - it idles at 3 watts (under half the M2 Mac mini used at idle), typical usage is 4-9 watts (web/productivity), peak CPU power usage was 36.5 Watts using all cores at 100%, and in 3D renders/games it averages maybe 25-30 watts of power under load with a peak of 35.5 I was able to hit in a game.
M4 Pro idle is slightly higher at 3.5 watts, typical use was around 5-13 watts, and peak power during 3D renders or gaming was 61.5watts (all CPU cores at 100% did hit a peak of 71.2 watts). Most of the time it uses less power than the Mac Studio. in 3D the M4 Pro performance is beyond the M1 Ultra and using Cinebench as an example past the RTX 2070 as well hitting 7762 score (in the range of the GTX 3060, or Radeon 6700-6800) - other rendering software had similar pretty high performance especially when Mesh Shading and Ray Tracing was involved. Gaming saw similar massive improvements - if Ray Tracing was involved, it had over double the performance of the M1 Max with 24 GPU cores.
I did not experience much throttling with the base M4 Mini (I'd have to run some additional tests to double-check for how much, if any there was), it did get pretty warm and in my opinion the Fan doesn't spin up fast enough for the heat generated - how warm it feels is likely because the power supply is now situated right under the top part of the Mac mini
M4 Pro mini you can put into "High Performance" mode which runs its fans aggressively- in that mode I did not see any throttling occurring even over extended periods of a couple hours. Even with the fans running high, the Mac mini still got pretty warm to the touch - likely an impact of having the power supply right under the top of the Mac mini.
This of course made the fan audible - not as loud as the 2018 6-core i7 Mac mini's got, but was there - not sure I've gotten a Mac Studio as loud under sustained use (I have access to an M1 Max studio and the M4 & M4 Pro mini's at work, and have an M2 Max Mac Studio at home)
Was putting the M4 & M4 Pro through their paces at several tasks to figure out how they work for our particular needs - the M4 Mac mini will do almost everything we need (3 screen output, plenty of GPU performance, more than enough CPU performance, previously we had to use M2 Pro Mac mini's for some of these tasks at double the cost)
I found it to be the most laggy, underwhelming and disappointing Mac I ever owned (and I go way back).
Conversely, the M2 MacBook Air I bought for personal use is by far the best laptop I ever owned 🤷♂️
The fully pimped M4 Pro Mini looks like a reasonable replacement for the Studio 🤞🤞
Lately I have used keyboards similar to this: Fosmon Mini Bluetooth Keyboard (amazon search).
The "Solar Wings" work i.e. Solar Panels. But it's usually too hot to walk and use the computer and charge at the same time. But the sleep mode works well for daytime walking and charging. I know I know it's sounds stupid but... IDK It works it's mine it's fun... I have TONS of development IDEAS I get from walking with my "Gear" on, and that's enough to separate me from the normal rift raft of redundancy... LOL
But the thing is my feet get really sore walking like 2-3 miles out the door streaming video and watching street cams LOL!!
OK I'll stop, but I alas I am getting old and looking forward to Apple Vision Pro 2 (120Hz) or Apple Vision or something like Augmented Reality Apple Glasses, because the Glasstrons I have been using all I have a flip switch for AR and overlaying video...
It's been a fun 25 years running the project but like I said I am getting old, gonna had it down to the nephew and going to retire in AVP heaven...
Laters... 2¢