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Please help me decide between MBP M4 or Mac Mini M4 Pro.

S

Smiletime

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 14, 2011
21
3
I need to replace my 2019 MBP 16" i9. I've always used a Mac laptop and not sure I could give it up for a desktop.


I'm looking at either the MBP 14" M4 Base 32GB and 2TB SSD OR Mac Mini M4 Pro 64GB and 2TB SSD. They're roughly the same money. Common sense would say go for the more powerful Mac Mini M4 Pro but I think I would miss using a laptop around the house. I already have an external monitor, keyboard and mouse.


I use my machines for everyday use and Lightroom Classic and Photoshop. Editing 20MP camera files. I'm on disability so I sometimes make money with my photography but it's not a full time job. Does it make sense to max out a Mac Mini when the base M4 could handle everything I need it for?
 
If you need portability, then go for the laptop.

You could get an M4 Pro MBP (14-core, 20 GPU) with 24Gb RAM for the same price as the base M4 (10 core, 10 GPU) with 32 Gb.
 
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benwiggy said:
If you need portability, then go for the laptop.

You could get an M4 Pro MBP (14-core, 20 GPU) with 24Gb RAM for the same price as the base M4 (10 core, 10 GPU) with 32 Gb.
Click to expand...
I have 32GB of RAM now and I’m using 25-26GB of RAM. So wouldn’t going to 24GB be a downgrade?
 
Your Mac will use as much RAM as it can. Some of that will be file caching. Some of that will be compressed. (And the extent to which compression is used varies.)

I would say that 24Gb is likely sufficient for the kind of tasks you've mentioned. If you were doing audio rendering of samples in a DAW, or large-scale video work, then may be more RAM would be necessary. 20MP photo editing is actually not that much of a big deal these days.

You could add more RAM, if you can stretch to it. It's another option to consider.
 
benwiggy said:
Your Mac will use as much RAM as it can. Some of that will be file caching. Some of that will be compressed. (And the extent to which compression is used varies.)

I would say that 24Gb is likely sufficient for the kind of tasks you've mentioned. If you were doing audio rendering of samples in a DAW, or large-scale video work, then may be more RAM would be necessary. 20MP photo editing is actually not that much of a big deal these days.

You could add more RAM, if you can stretch to it. It's another option to consider.
Click to expand...
Is the 24GB of RAM in the M4 Pro better than the 32GB in the M4 because the increased memory bandwidth?
 
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