M4 Mac Mini over time

[Andy_2341]

Hey everyone,
I've become definitively convinced that I want to replace my PC with a Mac mini for daily driving. I don't do anything too heavy. Typing some docs, making a few slideshows, web browsing and the occasional cloud gaming is all I really do. I may occasionally transfer some files or slice a 3d model (I use my iPad with Onshape to make them in case you were wondering). With that being said, I think a base model will suit my needs but I'm worried about future proofing. I might end up having to switch back to Windows in about 4 or so years for career reasons, so I'm also looking at resale values or maybe a trade in. What do y'all think about just a plain base model for this use? Based on previous experience, how much would it be worth for trade in for whatever new version of the mini is available at that point?
Sorry if I kinda rambled, I hope what I've said makes sense.

 

[cjsuk]

I'm using the base model with 512Gb storage. This handles heavy transcodes and mathematical modelling stuff, RAW photo manipulation fine as well as all the usual daily tasks. It is considerably faster than the Intel 14900k (single thread) I was using for running models before on Linux. The CPU and motherboard in that cost more than the Mac Mini did.

The base model is excessively powerful and I reckon you'll get 4-5 years out of it easily.

 

[Andy_2341]

Awesome. Thank you!

 

[FreakinEurekan]

256 is pretty slim these days, even if you move photos & media off to external. Just depends on your data usage though. I was fine with 256 a few years ago when I got a MacBook Air but right now with my mini - my data would fit in 256, but not with enough margin to be comfortable so I'm at 512.

 

[Starfia]

I think the Mac mini base model from ten or twelve years ago would have been more than enough for that stuff.

Holding its value: to me, it looks like the Apple silicon renaissance (starting in late 2020) made new, powerful Macs so affordable that it started a trend of older Intel Macs selling for less than ever, and that turned out to include previous-generation Apple silicon Macs. I'm sure it will still be so useful in five years that you'll get something for it, but I wouldn't rely on it being most of its retail price or anything.

 

[Alameda]

Computers don’t hold value; they depreciate. So the best value is the basic, 16/256 model. It’s $600, although Costco has it for $500 now.

To bump to 16/512, it’s another $200 and you won’t find it discounted. IOW, if you can buy a $500 model at Costco, the 16/512 will cost $300 more!

You can buy very fast external storage, and since it’s a desktop, you’ll always have it available. For instance, a Samsung 4TB Thunderbolt SSD drive costs about $300. So instead of getting 256 GB more, you can get 4TB more, and it’s still very fast.

 

[Andy_2341]

Computers don’t hold value; they depreciate. So the best value is the basic, 16/256 model. It’s $600, although Costco has it for $500 now.

To bump to 16/512, it’s another $200 and you won’t find it discounted. IOW, if you can buy a $500 model at Costco, the 16/512 will cost $300 more!

You can buy very fast external storage, and since it’s a desktop, you’ll always have it available. For instance, a Samsung 4TB Thunderbolt SSD drive costs about $300. So instead of getting 256 GB more, you can get 4TB more, and it’s still very fast.

Right. I don’t need that much storage, but that was my plan.

 

[Alameda]

Right. I don’t need that much storage, but that was my plan.

FWIW, I found some benchmarks and the 512 GB model has faster disk benchmarks. Presumably, the 512 model has double the chips and they run in parallel. But still... $500 vs $800 is a big difference. You can set up an external SSD drive as the default User drive, so read/write operations get split between the internal System drive and the external User drive.

 

[Andy_2341]

FWIW, I found some benchmarks and the 512 GB model has faster disk benchmarks. Presumably, the 512 model has double the chips and they run in parallel. But still... $500 vs $800 is a big difference. You can set up an external SSD drive as the default User drive, so read/write operations get split between the internal System drive and the external User drive.

I thought they had fixed that with the new ones.