Disadvantages of choosing M4 Pro Mini with 512GB vs 1TB SSD ?

[Fomalhaut]

Apart from the obvious reduction in storage capacity, what are the pros and cons of choosing the base 512GB storage and adding external USB or TB4 SSDs for mass storage?

I plan on keeping large media files on the external drive(s) / NAS, and using the internal only for the OS, applications, and temporary files such as iCloud docs, caches etc.

My main concerns are:

(1) disk performance - but it looks like the 512GB SSD is getting > 4000MB/s in both read and write and this is almost certainly "good enough" for application and OS use.

(2) SSD wear - I plan on using external drives for the large data writes, so the internal should have only "normal" OS and application writes, and mostly data reads, so I don't think write-volume limits are likely to be an issue with normal use.

(3) potential disconnections. I haven't seen many of these during normal usage, but I imagine that an external drive is somewhat less stable than the built-in storage, especially the USB ones that may involve additional software stacks.

I like the idea of having a bit more internal space, and it is relevant on a laptop where external drives can be a hassle when mobile, but I find it hard to stomach the $200 cost of a mere 512GB upgrade.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[AAPLGeek]

You're overthinking it. 512GB is the way to go if you're planning on keeping large media on external drives.

1. People here like to keep obsessing over Blackmagic numbers, but in reality anything over 2000MB/s is more than good enough for apps and OS. In fact, sequential disk numbers have very little bearing on overall OS snappiness.

2. No one needs to worry about SSD wear unless they're crunching large numbers all day. Any SSD is more likely to fail due to other reasons before reaching end of its TBW lifespan.

3. Invest in a decent brand enclosure with a quality cable and you would never have to worry about potential disconnections. I have 3 drives connected to my Mac -- TB3, USB4 and a USB 3 and I've only ever had one disconnection in over 2 years. A new cable fixed it.

Absolutely zero point in giving Apple $200 for a measly 500GB upgrade. I'd max out the RAM over it any day.

 

[Alameda]

You're overthinking it. 512GB is the way to go if you're planning on keeping large media on external drives.

1. People here like to keep obsessing over Blackmagic numbers, but in reality anything over 2000MB/s is more than good enough for apps and OS. In fact, sequential disk numbers have very little bearing on overall OS snappiness.

2. No one needs to worry about SSD wear unless they're crunching large numbers all day. Any SSD is more likely to fail due to other reasons before reaching end of its TBW lifespan.

3. Invest in a decent brand enclosure with a quality cable and you would never have to worry about potential disconnections. I have 3 drives connected to my Mac -- TB3, USB4 and a USB 3 and I've only ever had one disconnection in over 2 years. A new cable fixed it.

Absolutely zero point in giving Apple $200 for a measly 500GB upgrade. I'd max out the RAM over it any day.

I agree. If your workflow is going to require external storage anyway, I don’t see any point in going beyond 512GB internal.

I haven’t seen speed benchmarks on 512GB vs 1TB, though.

 

[Ray2]

250 gb of my internal are MobileSync backups, no duplicates. 120 gb (today) are TM snapshots. Look at more than “your” files. If I was running a 512 I'd be taking a performance hit.

 

[Mike Boreham]

250 gb of my internal are MobileSync backups, no duplicates. 120 gb (today) are TM snapshots. Look at more than “your” files. If I was running a 512 I'd be taking a performance hit.

It's quite straightforward to put mobilesync backups on an external with a symlink.

 

[Ray2]

Seems to me I wrote that very response a few days ago. But that was to someone who discovered he had a problem after he spec'd a small internal.

Not sure if your comment was to me or, addressed to me but directed at the OP.

If to me, I don’t have a problem, 2 tb internal with .7 available.

If to the OP, you’re providing a solution to a problem that’s not known to exist. I’m telling the OP to look and see if there’s more to his space requirements than he thinks.

While symlinks can solve large iOS backups, they haven’t proven to enable recovering files after snapshots are moved. Depending on the OP's TM approach, small internals with large externals can result in egregiously large snapshots. I/we don’t know what he does.

 

[geez66]

I went for mac min m4 Pro with 1tb. My previous Mac mini m1 had 512GB and only had 100gb space. I reckoned I would keep this Mac mini for four or five years and would thus exceed 512GB in the next year or two. But I can also see that thunderbolt 5 (or even usb c) external ssd would probably have been plenty quick enough for storage too.

 

[Mike Boreham]

@Ray2, I mentioned the tip about symlinks for iOS backups for the benefit of anyone who might find it useful. With 250GB it seemed that might apply to you, but fine if not. You hadn't mentioned 2TB internal.

 

[Ray2]

I’ll thank you for everyone. With Apple's egregious RAM/storage upcharges people get attracted to smaller drives. Couple that with the advent of iPhones with tons of storage, an iOS backup can kill a small drive.

 

[bearcatrp]

As time goes, you will start to see your HD shrink as OS updates always add more lines of code, thus larger files. Been watching my M1 mini slowly lose space as I upgrade the OS. Glad I went with a 1TB when I got it a few years ago. When I do order a M4 mini, will still do a 1TB drive. Already have a hub with 4TB storage.

 

[Fishrrman]

If you're got enough $$$ to get the m4pro Mini, then you can probably find $200 more for the 1tb SSD.

Just as I used to say:
16gb is "the new 8",

Now it's time to add:
1tb is "the new 512gb" ...

 

[Fomalhaut]

Hmmm, your replies have given me a few things to consider….

There are, in my experience, quite a few “stealthy consumers” of disk space in macOS, including iOS backups and TimeMachine snapshots, but also cloud storage offline files “hidden” in the user Library, which can be a big deal. I have at least 50GB of documents that I want to be available offline (to avoid download latency over a slow internet connection).

It may well be possible to effectively relocate all of the above on external SSDs, but this could make the system more brittle if Apple changes anything in macOS.

 

[Fomalhaut]

Highlighting my question of iCloud offline files above, do any of you know whether these files (found under ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs ) and other cloud storage files under ~/Library/CloudStorage can be moved to external storage using symlinks or aliases?

 

[iamthedudeman]

Get 512gb. Same speeds as the 1TB and get an external TB4 or TB5 enclosure. Good to go.