Hey friends
Does someone made some experience with the M4 base chip now?
I think about getting a MacBook pro with the base M4.
Actually I use a M1 Pro. And it reaches 80% CPU actually in my FL Project.
Many Sylenth 1 instances and some effects.


The thing with the 4 Performance cores on the M4 scares me a bit.
I also want to do some basic video editing in Davinci. 4K material.

Should I get the m4 pro?

 

tbh, i would look for a used/refurbished m2/m3 mac with better storage and shit

 

I saw some rumors of redesigned M5 MacBook Air, so if you're not in a hurry, then perhaps wait, maybe Apple will finally bump up minimum storage at base spec (just as they bumped up base RAM to 16GB after more than a decade lol)

 

Thanks for the new info
Apple always brings up new stuff ^^ The M4 is "brandnew"

 

that size small ssd is just about perfect for MacOS and your audio apps and plugins. It's way more than enough, actually. It's a system disk.

You will still have about 100gb of space left on the internal SSD, and that is if you jam it with plugins and so on. Mac upgrade prices are stupid for RAM and for internal SSD. 250GB gb is laughable for how much storage you really need if you want to install stuff like Falcon, Nexus 5 library, and other stuff that uses any real space. The n4 library being used by N5 is already 200gb footprint. The Logic library is over 50gb, if you even want to install it, but the "essentials" you have to install is tiny.

You are going to need external storage no matter what. Everything big can live there. Your 60+ gb STEAM library for Omnisphere, Nexus 5 library, Serum Presets, and so on can all be "symlinked" but actually using an alias (way easier). The external drives you pick are the same considerations on any other computer. You should really consider a model with an ethernet port. And you will quite possibly need a powered hub.

You need to consider where you are asking. Apparently misery still loves company.

 

The storage is actually upgrade-able by user

 

If it won't be any cheaper to do, and if you decide to do it after buying it; you run the risk of it not being done correctly and you have a more expensive problem. What size drive do you think you could add to it, internally; that will negate the need for an external? That thunderbolt 5 port for an external ssd is already gone, wether you plan on it yet or not. An external is in your future, unless you want no physical backup of anything.

 

FYI (and for user named @tzzsmk which disagreed) :
1. Initially I just wanted to share an information from everymac.com about the matter.
2. It is Cheaper. I check in my country, It is for sale, for example, for about US$185 for the 1TB (I will show the screenshoot of it and the link of one of many of the seller of those kind of modules on my country marketplace, and I have ask some people who has try it, they said it’s ok). While Apple price for 1TB upgrade from the base 256GB model is $400.
It’s just need to be placed just like any other (RAM for example) in ‘usual’ motherboard before Apple M architecture. No need to be soldered, so I can say that very likely it has relatively no difficulty.
3. So the info is valid. I don’t have Mac Mini nor want to buy it and buy the module, nor want to promote it, nor want to do research/test nor say without doing any research or test first about it that it’s risky/worth the risk etc etc (like you did)... but it’s a valid information.

keep your positive thought always when accepting information.


OK?

 

Last edited: May 30, 2025 at 3:39 PM

to be clear, I do disagree with statement of storage being user-upgradeable,
sharing 18-minute video that clearly states you need a second Mac, additional Apple USB-C USB-C cable, external SSD for backup/restore, prying kit, special screwdriver kit, caution not to rip Mac apart when dismantling everything in a non-user-friendly way, DFU restore isn't meant for casual user either,
all that said, that procedure is not supported by Apple, it may (and most likely will) void warranty,
oh and after all that hassle you end up with SSD speeds barely on par with decade old PCIe 3.0 NVME like my 2015 PC gives

 

Where is your logic to disagree?

i said
Initially I just wanted to share the information I read from Everymac.com that the internal storage in Mac Mini M4 can be upgradeable by user although Apple said it cannot. (Of course it doesn’t have to mean that EVERY users can do it. Just like any other things with computer tinkering and etc.)
So Is that statement right?
Yes.
So what’s the thing you disagree?

Then I checked is that everymac’s statement is true?
Yes. Proved by many youtube videos like the link I attached, by the fact that there are many sellers of the upgrade modules like I told & the link I shared, (which are cheaper than Apple upgrade price & which IMO is not difficult to do for someone who can tinker with their computer & tools and follow clear guides on internet, video/text/pic whatever). But if it’s still difficult in your opinion, still, that doesn’t negate the fact that: MAC MINI M4 INTERNAL STORAGE ACTUALLY CAN BE USER UPGRADED ALBEIT APPLE SAID IT CAN’T.
So what’s the thing your disagree for?

i don’t and I never said anything about Warranty Void, which is should have been very easy to be guessed that it will be.
And I would feel it a bit strange for people if they cannot guessing it that way, especially in this very forum where we easily talk about cracked softwares which we know all about its ‘bad’ sides, but we keep talking about it freely because we are also already understand the consequences of it.
And I also never said about that it would be slower or not or etc.

So.. Again I repeat the statement (which you said that you disagree) :
“Despite Apple said that it Can’t, actually Mac Mini M4 internal storage is user upgradeable”

you may still disagree only if you are blinded stubborn & cannot have simple logic to understand that word. And I don’t care

 

Last edited: May 30, 2025 at 7:57 PM

I was exactly writing all this, then I noticed that you already did.
Yes: it is definitely possible to swap the internal SSD on a macmini. It must be said that it is a dangerous and complicated procedure, not economically convenient and that it doesn't give the desired result in performance. Also, voiding the Apple Plan protection means that any hardware failure you could have in the future will not be covered by insurance (this means paying full price for assistance)
Is it worth getting into this mess to save just a couple of hundred bucks? Thinking about this kind of shortcuts is for PC minded people: we're dealing with Mac here.
I think it is better to think that it can be done than to actually do it

 

The minute anything in that machine fails, they will know you have opened it and will not fix or replace it for you. They will blame you. Maybe you think this is limited to the ssd failing. It isn't. Do you plan on opening it with no tools? They will know it has been opened and tampered with, without question.

If you think that is not a "risk" for a user, that is on you.

An external SSD is still a much better option, no matter what you think you may know about computers you do not even own.

You mean "cheaper" than paying Apple's crazy prices for storage upgrades? Sure. If you were actually to spend the time looking into what you will get for your money just buying a nice external SSD, you would understand this:

An external SSD will always be cheaper than a 2TB internal disk upgrade. You are going to buy an external no matter what you do, so a $200 internal SSD upgrade is more expensive in the end. Something which you will absolutely need to buy anyway will cost you $0 extra. If you do not want to factor that small tidbit in, and ignore any basic IT practices; go with a single internal drive.

Unless your video there shows you how to do Time Machine backups onto a user-replaced internal SSD instead of an external physical volume and be able to only get one partition of the same physical internal disk to fail; there is no way around getting an external drive. Backups on the same physical volume are only marginally better than no backup at all.

@ “Despite Apple said that it Can’t, actually Mac Mini M4 internal storage is user upgradeable”

Have fun following the advice of clickbait videos.

 

Last edited: May 30, 2025 at 11:29 PM

I just got the M4 Mac mini and it's running my old projects at 30-40% on ProTools. My old PC which cost 4 times more than the M4 was running the same projects at 70-80%. The only downside is the storage but I don't mind using external storage.

 

Who really gives 2 craps? That thing is a enormously over priced hockey puck that has 0 upgradeability (your SSD arguments are comical) , 0 malleability, and begs apple to continue to infringe on its users privacy. You can do nothing say nothing and see NOTH-ING resembling any form of privacy or autonomy unless APPLE decides you can. ENJOY!

 

Mac mini M4 is a Instant Buy.