Apple’s M4 Mac mini is a BEAST, but can it beat out the $2,400 M2 Max Mac Studio?!
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Timestamps ⬇️
M4 Mac mini vs M2 Max Mac Studio – 00:00
Comparison Charts – 00:30
Geekbench 6 CPU – 01:35
Speedometer 3.0 – 01:48
Figma Web Design – 01:58
Geekbench 6 Multi-core – 02:23
Geekbench 6 Metal GPU – 02:50
3DMark Wild Life Extreme – 03:06
3DMark Steel Nomad Light – 04:17
Cinebench 2024 – 04:46
Thermal Performance – 05:06
Xcode Benchmark – 06:44
Logic Pro X Benchmark – 07:13
Lightroom CC 50x 42MP Export – 07:34
Lightroom CC 500x 42MP Export – 07:49
Blender Rendering Party Tug – 08:46
Design Difference – 09:14
Which Mac Should You Get? – 10:15
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Micro Center has the base M2 Max for $1,349.00. I ended up choosing the studio because of cooling efficiency and 32 GB of RAM versus 24 on the M4 Pro mini. It seemed $150 more for the studio. What’s worth it for the additional RAM even though by the numbers, the M4 pro mini is a faster albeit hotter machine.
For future testing, could you please do some local AI testing, like Ollama? While local AI is kinda a programmer thing, some non-programmers are getting into it, & it tests memory size, bandwidth, GPU & SSD speed fairly well.
For the people that could still be deciding between the MS M2 Max vs Mm M4/M4 Pro, my situation was the following if it helps you: I was updating from Mac Pro 2013 Top Spec, I'm a programmer but I wanted a new Mac ASAP for video editing primarily and programming as secondary task. Back in mid-February of this year I was watching repeatedly this video to choose between the two, the rumour about MS M4 Max releasing in Feb was already around, but there was no way of knowing exactly when it was gonna be released, so my options remained the same, my needs because of my workflow were: 64 GB RAM at minimum and a lot of ports.
I opted for the Mac Studio M2 Max refurbished because, even tho the Mini M4 was better at CPU, video editing is going to demand more video engines and a lot of cooling (things that the MS has) and, spec'ing out the Mac mini M4 to have 64 GB of RAM is not possible, I needed to upgrade to the M4 Pro to opt for 64 GB, and it was going to be more expensive than the refurbished MS M4 Max that I was eyeing out at the Apple page.
So I ordered it in mid-February, two weeks later the Mac Studio M4 Max was announced lol but even if I waited for it, I couldn't afford the 64 GB and it was going to take a while for them to appear in Apple Refurbished, so, as of April 2025, if you have the same needs as me: go for the Mac Studio M4 Max if you can afford it, otherwise go for the MS M2 Max, I'm sure I made the right decision. Consider the Mac mini if you are going to do a lot of CPU intensive primarly though. Good luck!
I dont understand, if i work whith a LUmix S5 and make 1 hour documentarys, whith color correction, sound effects and a few animations… the Max is better? or not?
I'm glad I waited for the m4 max studio
which one you recommend mac mini m4 pro or mac studio m2 max? I kinda decide this 2 mac.
Please retest this when u get the M3 ULTRA Mac Studio with REAL workloads like BITCOIN Mining, and not all these kiddy benchmarks and web browsing for babies.
Why any of you compare the more obvious macs that are comparable ? M2 MAX 12/38gpu VS M4 PRO 14/20gpu, with same amount of RAM ? or M2 ULTRA vs M4 MAX ? more interesting comparaisons, isnt it ? M4 mini base VS M2 max, obviously we know the results, okay !
Why didn’t you compare the m4 pro mini ? Just curious. Because when I ask the compare closer than you think as long as you use 64gb for both
i wish you used a 3rd earlier model to compare all to the past high end eg a 2020x mac pro
My biggest concern is the noise and the heat. I run a home studio moslty to record my band. I don't do any video. I was wondering if the Mini will be quiet enough and won't heat too much during the most demanding sessions.
Why not compare the Mini m4 pro? For example, you suggested we buy the Mac Studio because the Logic Pro track count was higher. Thats a huge leap to suggest that vs the M4pro mini, which probably would’ve been comparable.
I'll admit I'm not all that familiar with Geek Bench, but at around 1:40 you say that the M4 Mac Mini is a thousand points higher in single core performance. However, while your graphic does show the Mini labeled with 3828 and the M2 Max fabled at 2831, the bars or the graph seem backwards? The higher number has a shorter bar graph? Is this just a mistake or do I not understand the benchmark?
Nice 👍
If you have an used Mac Studio Max 512gb and 32gb ram for 800€ and a Mac mini m4 basic 16gb ram and 256gb for 719€, wouldn’t the studio be the better option? Dunno what to go for
well if you could overclock the m2 max it would outperform the m4 by far
The Mac M2 Max has better cooling performance compared to the M4, and I think the durability of the M2 Max is better because of better cooling
Hello everyone.. Can anyone tell me which mac is best for video editing? Mac Mini Or Mac Studio
The delema is mac studio m2 max with base is on sale for 1800 and max mini m4 pro with base is 1400 but if upgrade ram to 48gb is 1800. So 1800 mac mini m4 pro with 48gb or mac studio m2 max with base?
That pathetic looking thing has no place on my deck. powerful or not
The Mac Mini needs liquid metal for the cooling
This was EXTREMELY helpful!
I just bought the Mac Mini M4 and I"m super Please with the performance I recommend the Base with 256Gb if your an a budget or the 512GB like I got Still alot of power in a little package.. If storage is a problem I know they make a base with USB – C extension hub for about 65.99 and you can slap in an NVE card..
For me LR export is the most irrelevant test. Once I finished my workload, I am fine to export all photos and then take a coffee and come back few minutes later. Much more interesting is for me Denoise or import (convert to DNG) performance, as this always feels like limitation when you start your workflow.
Hi, I have a question for you. I've been watching a lot of videos about the Mac Mini M4 Pro, and I think you might help me solve a doubt I have. I'm looking to buy the Mini M4 Pro with 64 GB of RAM, 1 TB of SSD, a 14-core CPU, a 20-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. The price is almost 3000 euros. Then I noticed that the Mac Studio M2 Max, with a 12-core CPU, a 30-core GPU, a 16-core Neural Engine, 64 GB of unified memory, and 1 TB of SSD, costs about the same. I work mainly with Adobe software (Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects), so now I have a dilemma about which one would be better to buy. I hope you can help me figure it out, haha! Thank you so much for the great content you make!
10:46 "The only reason to buy the Mac Studio is for the graphics performance" … another good reason to buy the Mac Studio is for the super quiet fans for music production, I have the M1 Mac Studio and it's always silent even with demanding tasks. The M4 Mac Mini's fans would drive me insane during music production.
Awesome comparison. I would love you guys to include LLM comparison (like ollama) since gpu, memory, and bandwidth are highlight differences
Still on a 2020 iMac with XT5700 16 gig graphics card, how does it the graphics compare to this new Mac Mini.
If you are using a Mac and buying an external SSD, there is no need to spend extra $$ for Gen 2×2 like the SSD advertised in the video. Gen 2×2 SSDs cost more because they advertise higher speeds (1500-2000 Mbps), but Macs don't support Gen 2×2, so in practice you will end up getting the same 800-1000 Mbps speeds as you would with any normal (cheaper) Gen 2 SSD.
Thanks guys!
fyi : 1:43 the Geekbench 6 CPU single score graphics is around the wrong way. Cyan bar for 3,828 should be longer than the grey 2,831 bar
Not sure about other video editors but i couldn’t care less about exports. I want to see the playback/scrubbing experience on a stacked timeline. Big files, fx, motion blur, noise reduction etc.
You can get the m2 max used with warrant for $1299
A much better buy
Why not comparing to M2 Ultra? ultimate vs ultimate
I don't trust the Lightroom export test results. No attempt to explain the discrepancy between 50 images and 500, and seemingly no further investigation. Also, no testing of Adobe or DxO noise reduction performance, which is the primary bottleneck in my high-volume high-ISO event workflow.
Imagine if you can link up several base Mac Mini using some type of thunderbolt interface….
You say in the video, "who does gaming on a …… like these?" However, I am a recovering Windows PC consumer and I would like to do gaming on a mini – so why don't you include the top performing Mac mini and test it for gaming. Id really like to know how well the Mac mini 12-core, 16 core GPU does in gaming vs anything else…Why would I buy a intel/amd based windows PC for gaming, when BSOD is a feature not a bug? So please review the upgraded versions of the product, not the lowest level. Thank you!
$479 on sale at Costco now for black friday
Wow. This guy is good at reading off numbers 👍🏼
M4 Mac mini is best value PC but isn't as powerful as Studio, particularly on graphics like video editing
So the Studio still should worths for pro video editors, but then should wait for early next year until they release M4 Max/Ultra Studio
$500 at Costco through 12/2
For those ning nongs that keep OCDing over the button position of the mac mini: Turn you Mac Mini UPSIDE DOWN
Correction: The front ports on the Pro Mac Mini are still USB C.
Great test as always! What I would like to see in addition, is MM M4 Pro (14/20/16) vs MS M2 Max (12/38/16). Seems like the gap could be way less there – especially for video and music production.
The cheapest u can get one is with apple’s student discount
この検証は本当ですか？動画の編集時の動きと書き出し速度については、ほかのYouTube動画と違うのが引っかかる。M4 Proって実際にそんなに早くはないという結果になってるのに、この動画では大絶賛？
Do Mac Mini M4 Pro vs Mac Studio M2 Max next.
I would not recommend the $599 base MacMini with only 256GB of storage to anybody; instead I would recommend the 512GB base MacMini for $799. Even with an external 2TB drive as shown in the ad, 256GB will be woefully inadequate as many applications use the main drive for storage and expect to be installed on the main drive. There are some workarounds for moving applications and your user folders, but they are often cumbersome to maintain. Even 512GB easily fills up, but it is much easier to manage than 256GB.