Performance.

My primary use for the Mac Mini M4 is for processing and printing still photographs from either my Nikon D800 (36mb lossless compressed RAW files) or from my iPhone 12 Pro Max (32mb Apple Pro RAW) using Lightroom Classic. If video processing is your focus I suggest your research what your applications of choice require in terms of machine hardware.

Apart from the dramatic size and weight comparisons –

• Mac Pro – 54lbs, self contained.
• Mini – 1.5lbs, drive enclosure 10 lbs, DVD reader/burner – 2lbs, the last two external

– the CPU and GPU comparisons are also striking:

• The 2010 Mac Pro sports two 6-core 3.46gHz Intel CPUs, an Nvidia GTX980 4gb GPU and 80gbs of 1333MHz RAM.
• The Mini uses a 10 core 4.4gHz CPU, a 10 core GPU, all Apple Silicon and 16gb of 7500MHz LPDDR5X RAM.

Both machines boot from SSDs and data storage is on traditional spinning disk HDDs.

CPU performance: The Geekbench comparisons are instructive:

Mac Pro on the right.

Simply stated the Mini is 42% faster on single core tasks but 27% slower on multi-core tasks. Now Adobe claims that Lightroom Classic is optimized for Apple Silicon and uses multiple cores when processing. Who knows? I find it hard to believe anything from this poor integrity business. The same one that sold me a ‘perpetual’ license for LR6 only to make sure it did not run on Apple Silicon.

Disk speed: The Mac Mini’s internal SSD is far faster than the SSD in the Mac Pro:

Mac Pro below.

This five fold speed increase contributes to the Mini’s fast start and application loading performance. LR takes 4 seconds to boot on the Mini (my picture catalog contains some 29,000 images) compared with a lengthy 20 seconds on the Mac Pro.

GPU performance: The Mac Pro used a very capable 4gb Nvidia GTX980 card which cost more back in the day than the Mac Mini M4! LuxMark comparisons show that the GPU in the Mini is 15% faster when rendering a complex scene:

Mac Pro below.

Performace with Lightroom: I’m no fan of subjective evaluations when it comes to processing speed but am finding that the Mini is pretty much identical in performance to the Mac Pro when processing images from the relatively large Nikon and iPhone files. With 1:1 previews you can fly through images by holding down an arrow key and when you cease the sharp preview pops up instantly. So the use experience is much the same, you have a minuscule box doing what a monster one did the past 15 years and power consumption is negligible by comparison (one small fan compared with 7 large ones (two of those in the GPU) and a power efficient CPU/GPU). The power supply section of the Mac Pro is alone maybe twice as large as the Mini, which also sports an integrated power supply unit which is tiny.

Security: Perhaps the greatest gain, as mentioned in the opening of Part I, is the availability of up to date security to fend off the bad guys. Yes, Ivan and Boris, I’m looking at you. Cost wise, while Apple continues its habit of ripping you off on disk storage ($200 extra for 256gb more – really!) the sub-$1000 package price (I had to add external disk drive and DVD enclosures to the $745 base price of the 512gb Mini) is a fraction of what the Mac Pro cost for much the same performance. Based on just a few days’ experience the Mac Mini M4 is recommended. The new computer takes up negligible space, costs a fraction of the 15 year old Mac Pro and is equally speedy on most operations. On disk read/write operations the Mac Mini M4 is far faster.

Internal SSD upgrades: Early teardowns of the Mac Mini M4 disclose that the NAND storage resides on a removable card. However, components on that card make it impossible to simply plug in a larger storage one as the Apple design ties the card to your particular machine. However, hackers with micro-soldering skills have unsoldered the two existing NAND modules from the card, replacing them with much larger ones for very low cost, and things work well. So you can bet that an aftermarket business will shortly arise offering this service. When you realize that Apple charges $200 for the jump from 256gb to 512gb, and $600 more to go from 256gb to 1tb, there’s money to be made from competing with Apple’s greed. So if you want a 1TB drive or greater it might make sense to buy the base 256gb $600 Mac Mini and wait for the market to offer upgrades.

If you cannot wait but still want to avoid Apple’s gouging, buy an external Thunderbolt SSD of large capacity and make that the boot drive. This 1tb Thunderbolt 4 example sells for $150. For best performance, be sure to plug it into one of the three rear sockets as the front ones are not Thunderbolt capable.

Location: My M4 Mini hides in the rear of the keyboard tray. The DVD drive is at the monitor’s lower left, along with the camera CF/SD card reader. The disk drive enclosure is in the footwell of the desk:

It looks pretty ugly with cables sprouting out in all directions,
so hiding the M4 Mini at the back of the keyboard tray makes
sense. Ventilation is adequate.

The front connections include a mouse, keyboard and loudspeakers. The three rear Thunderbolt 4/USB-C sockets connect a laser printer, the disc drives, the DVD drive and the camera card reader, the latter two through a two into one splitter. Then there is the HDMI cable for the monitor and the power supply cord.

Time to upgrade: If you’re thinking of upgrading your Intel Mac to the M4 chip set now would be a good time to do that before Pig’s cretinous tariffs kick in on January 20, 2025.

Migration pains.

Apple’s Mac laptops and desktops have seen four generations of CPUs. The original Macintosh used Motorola 68000 CPUs, the first ‘modern’ Macs used IBM’s G3/4/5 series, then came Intel and now it’s Apple Silicon.

When Apple decided to switch to Intel Steve disclosed that they had been working for two years on an ‘invisible’ app named Rosetta which would magically allow IBM configured applications to run seamlessly on the new Intel CPUs and his words were true. It was cleverly named Rosetta and kicked in invisibly when you fired up an IBM application. It never failed and the running speed of the many apps I used was fine.

Well, Apple crafted a new Rosetta for the Intel to Apple Silicon switch and …. it’s an absolute disgrace. It hardly works with any of my old apps, forcing me to upgrade (read: more cost, more complexity, more crappy unwanted ‘features’). The one old app which asked for installation of Rosetta was Lightroom, the first one I tried, which promptly shut down and refused to boot ever again. So I called it right in Part I – Adobe finally forced me to go with the subscription model. My $10 monthly gets me Lightroom Classic – the one I have been using for over a decade – and something called Lightroom Creative Cloud. Anyway, I ponied up, the LR interface came up and I hit Migrate to import my old LR catalog. 12 hours later I got this after many messages telling me my cloud storage was full and attempting to extort yet more money:

12 hours later.

I also got a huge file of error data telling me something about images not migrated. Blood pressure started spiking.

I fired up LR and, to my horror, found that the images were lumped together in one folder chronologically, all folder data lost. Meaning useless. Further, it appears that my images are stored in Adobe’s cloud. Seriously, are you going to trust this business with your art?

Then it occurred to me to check which version of LR this was, and the answer was v8. And yes, the interface is ghastly, pop ups everywhere, cryptic symbols in lieu of words. This is a disaster, I’m thinking. Blood pressure now through the roof. Wait a moment. LR Classic is now on version 14. I had used the wrong version of LR – the cloud one, not the local standalone! Back to the Adobe site, a quick download of LR Classic and 3 minutes later my old LR catalog and previews were converted and I was up and running in the familiar interface I have known since 2007 when the much missed Aperture was discontinued by Apple. Compliments to Adobe for a smooth conversion and a curse on the person who came up with the confusing naming of the two applications. Maybe they should call the cloud version LR Crappy?

A familiar interface.

The files reside on my local drives just as does the application, but cease paying Adobe and you can say hasta la vista to processing capabilities. Still all is up and running and even my several presets and plug-ins appear to be working. The old Photoshop (version CS5 in my case) is toast and I have to learn the many enhancements in LR since my old version 6 to see if PS is needed any more.

Helpful catalog information:

Migration in progress.

How about other commonly used applications?

Intuit Quicken 2007: Rosetta failure. Had to pay an annual subscription fee of $35 for the new version, conversion of the old data file was seamless and the new interface is ghastly. Rosetta fail. $36 annually for the ‘upgrade’.

Steer Mouse: This is an essential utility to enable the programmable functions of the several buttons on my Logitech G500 wired mouse, now in use 11 years and as good as ever. These buttons allow me to jump to the desktop, fire up Mission Control or start a web browser and the application comes with great programmability. Rosetta fail. $20 for the upgrade. Needless to add Logitech ceased supporting its own product years ago.

Carbon Copy Cloner: Mike Bombich’s backup and recovery software is state of the art, has been around for ever and is quickly updated for Apple’s latest planned obsolescence efforts with its OS. Rosetta fail, so another $39 for the upgrade.

Keyboard and mouse connectivity: I am using these short connectors to attach my USB-A devices to the USB-C only Mac Mini M4. The spacing of the three USB-C sockets on the rear of the Mini is way too tight, so do not use those plug-type adapters. They are too thick and you are likely to break one or more of the rather fragile sockets. On my first attempt neither the Kensington keyboard or the mouse were recognized – panic – but pulling the connectors and reinserting them cured the problem. Phew! I have to say those sockets strike me as way too fragile and I would not recommend frequent plugging and unplugging,

Disk drive enclosure: The Terramaster enclosure is now fully populated with 3.5″ spinning and 2.5″ SSD drives. No adapter is required for the latter. Sitting on my desk 2 feet away I can just hear the HDDs working but now that it has been relocated in the footwell the noise is inaudible. The instructions state you should replace the removable side pieces on the removable trays but that’s impossible once the drives are screwed in place. Not a problem. Just leave them off. $170.

Fully populated drive enclosure.

DVD burner/reader enclosure: The OWC enclosure is OK, though the sharp edges could be better finished. It looks rather crude and is missing rubber feet on the base, meaning that the four protruding screws will mar your desktop. I added rubber feet. I think there are better designs out there but it’s not like it cost that much. On first plugging in the drive was not recognized but pulling the plug and reinserting it cured that. Seems like this is a common issue for me. Both the MKV (BluRay) and MDRP (regular DVDs) apps work fine. A rare Rosetta success.

Microsoft Excel: DOA. Rosetta fail. I’m no longer slaving for an honest crust on Wall Street so do not need the power of Excel. Apple’s free Numbers is adequate and reads the Excel .xlsw file just fine. $0. Ditto for Microsoft Word. I simply use Apple’s excellent Text Edit, which is free. For more advanced formatting I would use the free Apple Pages.

Apple Sequoia OS 10.15: One look at System Preferences – now named System Settings because all change is good, right? – and you can see what an absolute pig OS X has become. Too much of everything, useless features that few want or need, change for change’s sake. At least it has not yet locked up so I do not need to access the Mini’s power button which some idiot placed underneath the machine. Probably the same idiot who placed the charger socket for the (not so) Magic Moise on the underside. Steve must be spinning in his grave.

Lessons learned? Migration is hell and Rosetta is largely useless. Be prepared to pay for software upgrades for all your commonly used apps. And set aside a solid 8 hours because things will go wrong and you will have several setbacks. I’m already missing my Mac Pro …. if not its size and electricity demands.

In Part III I will address performance data.