anyone got the new base M4 mac mini yet? The

• 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
• 16GB unified memory
• 256GB SSD storage

Can someone perform benchmarks in their DAWs and compare it to a another computer they have.
comparing how long renders take, how many instances of intense plugins it can handle before overloading, etc.

 

Can someone explain why do Macs have such small hard drives?

 

Because the baseline models are designed to have painful drawbacks/"fatal" flaws making you consider buying the next higher tier, exponentially increasing Apple's margins with every tier. Yes, attached storage is trivial, but it ruins the idea of "tiny box of computer on your desk" for many.

Anyway, I only saw audio benchmarks for the Pro model, if that helps at all.

 

Chat GPT:

Apple Silicon Macs, especially the base models, often come with relatively small SSDs for several reasons:

1. Cost Efficiency: Flash storage, especially high-speed NVMe SSDs, is still expensive per gigabyte. Apple uses fast, integrated storage for performance gains, and offering smaller SSDs in base models helps keep overall costs down, making the products accessible to more customers. Larger SSD options are available but at a premium.

2. Fast SSD Speeds Reduce Need for Size: The SSDs in Apple Silicon Macs are extremely fast (up to several GB/s), making even smaller storage sizes feel more responsive. This speed can make accessing data on smaller drives efficient enough for most tasks, which allows Apple to offer smaller sizes without compromising user experience drastically.

3. Cloud Storage Focus: Apple has been encouraging cloud storage solutions like iCloud, which allows users to store files remotely instead of on their local drives. This can make smaller SSDs seem more viable since users can offload larger files and media to the cloud.

4. Efficiency in Onboard Applications: macOS and Apple’s applications are generally optimized to be efficient with storage, and the storage management features in macOS can help prevent space from filling up unnecessarily.

5. Encouraging Upgrades: Offering smaller storage options at entry levels often leads customers to consider upgrading to a more expensive model if they want larger SSDs.



For professional users, Apple provides custom configurations with larger SSD capacities to cater to heavier storage needs, though at a premium.

 

That depends highly on the buffersize and sample rate.