Thread 105986178

Talk me out from buying an m4 Mac Mini.
>Smaller than all other mini PCs in the same price and performance category
>More powerful than all other mini PCs in the same price and performance category
>Quieter than all other mini PCs in the same price and performance category
>Consumes less power than all other mini PCs in the same price and performance category
I feel like there is no need for me to have a full tower, and something like M4 Mac Mini will be plenty for.
All would just add a dock with 2 8tb nvme ssds, I will have plenty of fast storage, and will use my Mac Mini as home server, when I am away from home.
The only thing which is stopping me is how cucked Apple is then it comes to privacy. I assume, that Asahi can partially mitigate that.
I have looked into building my own 8700g based system, but will be more expensive (unless I buy used parts), consume more power and will take up more space.
Also, I don't care about gaymes.

>>105986178 (OP)
>8700g
>create a budget system
>still pay the novelty tax like a retard
go figure
>homeserver
8 cores? whatfor?

>>105986197
>homeserver
>8 cores? whatfor?
It would just cheaper and easier to have a single device for everything. Given how little power a Mac Mini consumes, having 8 cores won't be a problem.
>8700g
Okay what other options do I have when? I want to build a mini PC with a similar footprint of an M4 Mac Mini, with similar performance.

>>105986178 (OP)
also
>dock
like, external?
like, something you connect to an usb 3.2?
thats half the speed of a pcie 4 lane
your setup is dumb

>>105986209
>I want to build a mini PC with a similar footprint of an M4 Mac Mini, with similar performance.
that isnt
>All would just add a dock with 2 8tb nvme ssds, I will have plenty of fast storage, and will use my Mac Mini as home server, when I am away from home.

make up your mind
ask /hsg/
because for a homeserver even 2 cores would be enough. was. dono how things stand now but homeserver was retirement for your old hw too slow to be used anymore

>>105986213
>dock
Yeah, an extarnal dock, connected via Thunderbolt

>>105986224
that changes things, apparently...
... when stacked against one sole lane
2 vs 5
but then nvmes go up to 4 lanes

eh, if you want a mac mini, buy a mac mini and dont pollute the catty retard

>>105986178 (OP)
>Also, I don't care about gaymes.
So you should buy it.
All you'll get from /g/eets here are poorfag copes.

>>105986178 (OP)
>Talk me out from buying an m4 Mac Mini.
why?
what's in it for me?

I'm having serious problems with it. Keyboard and mouse keep randomly disconnecting and not being recognized and I have to unplug and replug both USB's multiple times daily. Google it. Common problem with no fix. Same thing with second monitor. My second monitor would not work. Also had a problem with blurriness on my monitor turns on MacOS is blurry unless you have an Apple Display and there is nothing you can do.

>>105986178 (OP)
pro:
nice device

contra:
>how_To_Turn_It_On.gif

>>105986178 (OP)
>More powerful
at what? ARM apps?
fuck off retard

>>105986635
just push the button
>oh no

>>105986178 (OP)
>MOAR POWER
>What applications do you use?
>err Brave Browser
lol you don't need to justify your love of getting fucked by Apple's storage pricing to anyone but yourself.

>>105986800
>wahh storage
It's not a laptop nigga, just plug in more drives

>>105986820
>plug in more drives
>in a mac mini

>>105986870
USB

>>105986178 (OP)
i don't think asahi linux will be a fun experience on M4. it's a relatively new SOC and you'll be chasing alpha kernel releases for the next year. a used M2 mini with 16gb ram will be cheaper and have much better mainstream linux support.

you should also be realistic about how much performance you will get out of apple silicon on linux. macOS is fast because it's developed with the M-series processors in mind, linux is not and will lack support for features that may be critical for your chosen server loads.

>>105986178 (OP)
>will use my Mac Mini as home server
this is the only retarded part
you do NOT need one of these for a home server. get a n100/n150 instead.
ridiculously overpowered for home server duties

>>105986178 (OP)
>>105986999
also using asahi is a retarded idea
it still does not work well enough. do not buy one of these to use linux.
>t. m3pro / m4 / m2 mini owner

>>105986999
>n100/n150
literal e-waste, 10 times slower and uses more electricity than the m4

I just bought one, no regrets. Everything I want in a daily driver and work station. I still have my gaming PC in the corner in case I want to play one of the games not on Steam/Mac.

Very fast and quiet machine, crazy how cheap Mac hardware is now

>>105986178 (OP)
ARM + macOS = no software

emulation sucks

>>105987120
macos has more software than linux ever had

>>105987034
you're a fucking retard.
i have a n100 minipc, and all of those apple machines. every machine in my house has a tapo outlet.
the n100 uses 3.5-5W, the m4 uses 5-8W.
he doesn't need m4 performance. therefore the power he doesn't use (or need) is being wasted
shut the fuck up, you clueless imbecile

>>105987120
its not 2003. even windows has a shitton of packages in arm, essentially all macos packages are arm now.

>>105987200
never happened

>>105987200
Im with you but probably go higher than that. Prolly 13600hx

>>105987318
where is the m4 macmini?

>>105987333
torrenting in my living room
i aint turning it off to prove rajesh wrong

>>105986178 (OP)
kek if you're dumb enough to even consider buying anything apple maybe deserve to be scammed

>>105986178 (OP)
They make cases that makes it look like a little Mac Pro.
Some even have a built in dock with extra ports and space for SSDs.

>>105987037
What monitor do you have? Do you experience any blurriness?

>>105988321

I have a generic acer and dell monitor, using the HDMI port and lightning bolt to DP connectors. It might be a little blurry but not enough to bother me, are they better optimized for Apple monitors or something?

>>105986178 (OP)
The "small" aspect falls apart when you start adding external storage and USB hubs to make it usable.

If they made it a bit bigger with nvme slots and USB A ports it would have been so much better.

>>105988422

There are 5 USB-C + lightning bolt ports. This is enough for dual monitors, keyboard mouse, and a drive. What else do you need?

>>105986197
You think that retard has any plans of actually making a home server?
He could get that done for way cheaper at the same power draw and ever get multiple boards too

>>105986178 (OP)
Why would I, make your own decision, if it fits your usecase then go for it, I don't care what you buy or use

>>105988435
>USB-C
I need at least 5 USB A ports.

>>105988422
>The "small" aspect falls apart when you start adding external storage and USB hubs to make it usable.

Guess what. It's still small. And you have all that space still left over to add all even more shit.

>>105987120
>emulation sucks
Emulation on those new M chips Macs is actually pretty damn good.

>40 replies
>Not a single viable alternative (size, price, performance, noise)
Don't buy an M4 Mini, but we are not going to tell what to do instead

>>105988686
macbook perhaps?

but mac minis get really pricey to upgrade

>>105988870
>macbook
For the price of an M4 mini, I can only get a Macbook Air, which:
1. Has no fan
2. Has worse performance
3. Overheats
Also, I just don't need/want a laptop

>>105988686
He mentioned a home sever with no actual services, until he does that nobody can help.... Also USB as a storage option for a home server is a bad idea

there is no equivalent to macs

macs have:
>soldered SSD/RAM/WLAN
doesnt exist on 99% of PCs
>when pajeetOS runs out of RAM it swapfile rapes the SSD to death within 3 years
doesnt exist on 99% of PCs
>when the SSD dies it bricks your entire currybook because the EFI is stored on the soldered SSD to save $0.05
doesnt exist on 99% of PCs
>components serial numbered and tied to the motherboard to prevent repair and replacement (including battery)
doesnt exist on 99% of PCs
>riveted keyboard that requires total destruction of the chassis to replace
doesnt exist on 99% of PCs
>flexgate cables that are so brittle they crack from opening your screen past 90 degrees more than 2 dozen times
doesnt exist on 99% of PCs
>screens so fucking shit they have over 90ms response times (essentially 10Hz)
doesnt exist on 99% of PCs
>screen made from pajeet trash glass that cracks from temperature change in seasons or tape over the iBotnet webcam
doesnt exist on 99% of PCs
>so fire and explosion prone the FAA have banned them from all flights
doesnt exist on 99% of PCs
>uses phone CPU that's so shit it gets destroyed by decade old i3s from 2017 and can only "compete" by cheating at benchmarks in extreme edge cases with hardware accelerators
doesnt exist on 99% of PCs
>curryniggers at apploo get so full of sniffing their own currynigger silicon shit they ship currybooks with no fans and they run so hot they melt the keyboard keys
doesnt exist on 99% of PCs

>keyboards with 63.5% failure rate
unheard of on PCs, and yet you curryniggers defend it with "jus werx fer me!"
just because you're in the 36.5% survivor group doesn't make your currynigger trash any good
this list goes on forever
there's no PC laptop as total fucking currynigger shit as crapple's streetshitter books
they are the biggest heaps of steaming currynigger shit in the history of computing second only to curryPhones

>>105986178 (OP)
>I want nogaems performance-cucked PC/mac
>I have money for 2 $600 8tb ssds
>I would rather have a stationary desktop mini mac cuckbox and shove those ssds into a dock than get a laptop + NAS
such a weird choice

>>105986178 (OP)
I considered it. It looks like a good deal /if/ the base 16GB model meets your needs.
I've decided against it for two reasons.
First, I need x86 VMs. The x86->arm translation layers works great for applications but this doesn't extend to running VMs with old software.
Second, I need loads of RAM and the price bumps for high spec models are unreasonable.

Currently torn between a custom SFF build and buying one of the various chinese NUC-style "mini PC"s.

>>105986178 (OP)
>Asahi
Asahi is just starting on M3 support let alone M4. Since the main dev who was holding the whole thing together gave up and quit. For M1 and M2 you end up with a UEFI machine that has to boot their jew 16k kernel with custom retarded drivers that call wfi in a loop to have even tolerable performance, and no boot security/configuration at all, plug a USB stick and it will boot off of it no questions asked. So if you're fine with wondering if you have a bootkit each time you power on then go right ahead. Otherwise stick to Apple's OS since you bent over for their hardware, might as well get fucked all the way instead of halfway. At least it's actually supported and isn't a joke.

https://marcan.st/2025/02/resigning-as-asahi-linux-project-lead/
https://asahilinux.org/fedora/#device-support

>>105989075
I'm still building it but I'm building a odroid h4 ultra and odroid h4+ system.
One for a low power home sever and another for a router.
It uses low power and you can convert it into a ITX board with a conversation kit. Get a decent Case and you're good to go if you're willing to use a standard PSU but you can use a plug in adapter save some idle draw and just buy the sata and power cables for it instead.

>>105989013
Why does Apple still struggle to beat Celerons with their CurryPUs?

>>105986178 (OP)
no reason not to. just stick to the base unit and pick up one of the stands to add ports and nvme. m4 should be safe since m2 was the last mini update, we likely won't see a m5 mini

>>105986178 (OP)
Do it. ARM is the future and Mac Minis are incredibly good.

NTA
but 24 vs 32 gb ram?

>>105990956
Usecase?
You have to give a usecase for these questions anon

>>105990981
i got a mba m3 with 16gb, but it keeps pushing into yellow memory pressure when coooding, so i try to constraint how much i run simultaniously

I have a 20 year old g4 mac mini, do you think I could sell it to an idiot confusing it for an m4?

>>105986178 (OP)
So what about the Asrock Deskmini X600? Has room for 2 SATA and 2NVMe and the new version even has USB4 for expansion incl. eGPUs. I have the X300 and it idles around 7 watts, and with my 5700G its more than strong enough for home server use. I just use it as a daily driver as I don't need my gaming rig for shitposting most of the time. And the best parts, its upgradeable, even the CPU

>>105987160
>macos has more software than linux ever had
????

>>105991053
You're actually using it correctly get more vram just for cushion but if you don't need bleeding edge you can save money on a previous gen.

>>105991132
*ram
Too many ai threads

>>105991126

It has nearly all proprietary software used by professionals: Adobe suite, Ableton Live, Microsoft Office, Cinema 4D, Autodesk, Affinity suite, etc.

It has a mostly BSD userspace, so you get 99% of Linux/Unix command-line software. Git, Vim, Clang, Python and a bunch more are distributed by Apple as part of Developer Utils (automatic installation first time you use them). Everything else easily installed via Homebrew, MacPorts, or Nixpkgs.

It runs Wine so it can run (some) Windows software.

Plus all the Mac exclusive software like Apple's Final Cut and Logic Pro, along with 3rd-party software like Sketch and Things 3.

It's the only OS that lets you have (nearly) everything without resorting to dual-booting or virtualization. Sure you can run some of the stuff on Linux via Wine. But Mac gets its own versions and features that are supported by the developers.

>>105986178 (OP)
Follow your heart anon. If you do want to gaymen I play dota on my M4 MBP all the time. I did however build a desktop that runs Fedora to do other stuff on.