Base mini vs air m4

[slitherjef]

About ready to chuck my W11 tower.... So have monitor mechanical keyboard, wireless mouse (RF not Bluetooth) and spare 2tb SanDisk SSD (been here for a while but not sure it works haven't used it) And a USB 3 to apple Port hub dongle for the accessories.

Mini base is 500 bucks or the air 800 for something more self contained but less ports. Would be doing light photo editing. And wasting time watching YouTube

But if something borks on the air, well replace entire thing. The mini, can swap some things out (not internals really though).

Thoughts?

 

[p33t3r]

If you're used to a stationary computer and have all the peripherals, why not go for the mini which also has more ports and costs less? The difference in price is the screen and the portability, and if you don't need those it should be a no-brainer. But of course, once you start using a laptop you might see the advantages of that as well…

 

[maflynn]

Mini base is 500 bucks or the air 800 for something more self contained but less ports. Would be doing light photo editing. And wasting time watching YouTube

The Mini has more GPU cores, and a fan, so its ability to cool itself is superior. the MBA has mobility on its side, where you can use it where ever you want, provided the 13" display isn't too small for you.

If it was me, I'd opt for the mini, but then I already have a good laptop (thinkpad), so my main computing needs is desktop centric.

 

[slitherjef]

Well, hopefully I didn't screw up. Went 512gb mini instead of 256... Thought about ram upgrade also but I don't even know what I'm doing or even if I should have done this. 😳

Now what (assuming Amazon doesn't send me a brick or I don't cancel my unneeded order)?

 

[slitherjef]

Package is due in sometime today, hopefully not filled with rocks or something. Anyway been having a slight bit of buyers remorse already (even as I added it to the cart) and debating on passing it to my sister who's beelink w10 machine is due for "recycling" but still basically working.

I do wonder if I should have went with a laptop to allow access to my current somewhat defunct W11 box that somewhat prompted this purchase. Why still the hold hardware? Well might still be useful for my small steam library but if I take the mouse keyboard and especially monitor for the M4 mini, well it's kind of a brick... I think I do have a spare keyboard and mouse however so bit of a non issue, but no spare monitor.

Would be a chance to upgrade or get spare monitor for less than that of a laptop that would probably work for the light gaming box (the windows 11 box) and I've been looking into cachyOS or maybe fedora.

Just mid afternoon ramblings as I wait for delivery truck