Mac mini M4 Pro: Loud fan noise and thoughts

[Nordman 52]

Well, I gotta say, I’m pretty stunned. I was just movin’ files off a 256GB card from my Sony A7 IV, and that Mini got loud as a freight train. The fan kicked on right away and just kept runnin’...sounds like a kettle whistlin’. Not gonna lie, I’m pretty let down.

I’m workin’ with the base model of the Mini M4 Pro, and it’s takin’ over 15 minutes just to move those pictures into Lightroom. That’s not what I was expectin’, especially with all the praise I’ve been hearin’ from the YouTubers. Feels like I got sold a bill of goods.

Anyone else with similar experience?
I'll probably return this lill guy and grab a MacBook Pro M4 Pro instead.

check this video out folks :

 

[Ray2]

I got sucked into all of 1 YouTube video on the new mini. The channel is an ad platform and offers little to no value for objectively evaluating product. I wait for post like yours.

I'm dealing with A7cR (61mp) files. Might bring my M1 Air to its knees when I use AI based tools. But its silent.

If your going from the card directly to LR, try moving from the card to the internal then importing. I haven't done a comparison but perhaps the card is a bottleneck that's extending import times and building up heat.

 

[2klo]

Well, I gotta say, I’m pretty stunned. I was just movin’ files off a 256GB card from my Sony A7 IV, and that Mini got loud as a freight train. The fan kicked on right away and just kept runnin’...sounds like a kettle whistlin’. Not gonna lie, I’m pretty let down.

I’m workin’ with the base model of the Mini M4 Pro, and it’s takin’ over 15 minutes just to move those pictures into Lightroom. That’s not what I was expectin’, especially with all the praise I’ve been hearin’ from the YouTubers. Feels like I got sold a bill of goods.

Any one else with similar experience?
I'll probably return this lill guy and grab a MacBook Pro M4 Pro instead.

How are you connecting the 256GB card?

 

[jaseone]

Something isn't right if it is doing that, I copied about 400gb from my MBA via the migration assistant using TB4 and moved my entire 225gb photo library from internal to an external TB4 drive without any need for fans and the Mini barely gets warm.

How are you connecting the card? Is something kicking off when you plug it in like Dropbox ?

 

[2klo]

Something isn't right if it is doing that, I copied about 400gb from my MBA via the migration assistant using TB4 and moved my entire 225gb photo library from internal to an external TB4 drive without any need for fans and the Mini barely gets warm.

How are you connecting the card? Is something kicking off when you plug it in like Dropbox ?

Exactly, there really shouldn't be any GPU or even heavy CPU usage involved when just copying files. It sounds like some app or service is triggering heavy usage.

 

[Ray2]

Guys, it’s not moving files. Lightroom runs processes during imports. Those processes put a major load on the cpu/gpu. But I wouldn’t think that would be sufficient to kick on the fans. Unless it became a long, drawn out affair allowing heat to build up. Which might suggest the card is dragging things out. Which is what I believe I see with my 61mp files, going into Lightroom.

The OP is dealing with USB not Thunderbolt which has its own controller. It’s not like running Migration Assistant.

We’re also still in the early stages of a launch when the media can say anything in the hopes of attracting ad money without the inconvenience of a body of evidence to the contrary. About the only review I’ve read that I’d put much trust in was Ars Technica. Reading between the lines, they didn’t want to talk about the noise they experienced.

 

[Nordman 52]

How are you connecting the 256GB card?

I moved the pics over to my Mac mini, and when I got ’em into LR, things went all kinds of crazy. I’m takin’ mine back tomorrow.

And about that fan noise, it’s too much. Even folks who ain’t sponsored are startin’ to talk about it.

 

[robertrl]

Thanks for the info Nordman 52. I have a Sony w/ 60mb per image and of course the Jpedg with about 20mb and usually will do 200 to 400 pics per day at times in downloads though I use Capture One. I was going to get the mini m4pro, but may hold up. Did your problem ever resolve? or did you get the laptop instead? Similar to Lightroom Capture one starts organizing and "culling" and doing things w/ the pics during downloads so I'm concerned and may just wait for the studio. Still using an imac 2017 pro.

 

[magbarn]

I moved the pics over to my Mac mini, and when I got ’em into LR, things went all kinds of crazy. I’m takin’ mine back tomorrow.

And about that fan noise, it’s too much. Even folks who ain’t sponsored are startin’ to talk about it.

Wait for Mac Studio M4Max, The prior M1/M2 Mac minis had a much more robust cooling system to deal with power hungry Intel chips. This new one has much less cooling capacity.

 

[shadowmatt]

I don't think getting a MBP would solve the heat / fan issues...

It may well just be a bug, you should look at the temperature and cpu / gpu usage to see if anything looks odd.

Are you using the latest version of Lightroom and is it running natively? Are its settings to use the GPU? Lightroom > Preferences > Performance

 

[mi7chy]

2024 Mac Mini M4 Pro has the highest max power consumption of any previous Mac Mini at 140W and in a smaller chassis so high fan noise is not surprising. Wonder what decisions drove them to a smaller chassis when it makes more common sense to go with larger heat sink in a larger chassis to keep fan noise minimal. Perhaps high copper cost, small size marketing, upsell to Mac Studio chassis, etc.

 

[Ray2]

2024 Mac Mini M4 Pro has the highest max power consumption of any previous Mac Mini at 140W and in a smaller chassis so high fan noise is not surprising. Wonder what decisions drove them to a smaller chassis when it makes more common sense to go with larger heat sink in a larger chassis to keep fan noise minimal. Perhaps high copper cost, small size marketing, upsell to Mac Studio chassis, etc.

Thunderbolt 5. Note the footnotes at the bottom of the page you quoted from. The Pro could probably draw 140 watts at cpu idle.

 

[DELLsFan]

I would rather have the larger Mac Mini form factor that could mitigate heat better than to deal with rocket fan noise. I haven't received my Pro yet ... If it's like the way I'm reading here, I see a different path after returning it.

 

[mi7chy]

Thunderbolt 5. Note the footnotes at the bottom of the page you quoted from. The Pro could probably draw 140 watts at cpu idle.

Here's "Max" defined on the Mac Studio so should also apply to Mac Mini:

1. “Max” is defined as running a compute-intensive test application that maximizes processor usage and therefore power consumption. No external peripherals are attached during testing.

 

[Ray2]

Here's "Max" defined on the Mac Studio so should also apply to Mac Mini:

1. “Max” is defined as running a compute-intensive test application that maximizes processor usage and therefore power consumption. No external peripherals are attached during testing.

I understand where you're coming from but the Pro's power supply is supposedly 155W. Your interpretation would leave 15W for peripherals. What am I missing?