https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2024/m4-mac-minis-efficiency-incredible

Skip to main content
Jeff Geerling

Main menu

  * Merch
  * About
  * Blog
  * Projects

M4 Mac mini's efficiency is incredible

November 12, 2024

I had to pause some of my work getting a current-gen AMD graphics
card running on the Pi 5 and testing a 192-core AmpereOne server to
quickly post on the M4's efficiency.

M4 Mac mini on desk

I expected M4 to be better than M1/M2 (I haven't personally tested
M3), and I hoped it would at least match the previous
total-system-power efficiency king, a tiny arm SBC with an RK3588
SoC... but I didn't expect it to jump forward 32%. Efficiency gains
on the Arm systems I test typically look like 2-5% year over year.

The M4 mini I just bought reaches 6.74 Gflops/W on the HPL benchmark.

I can get 283 Gflops at 42W, versus 264 at 66W on my M1 Max Mac
Studio (for a round 4.00 Gflops/W).

The chip isn't the fastest at everything, but it's certainly the most
efficient CPU I've ever tested. And that scales down to idle power,
too--it hovers between 3-4W at idle--which is about the same as a
Raspberry Pi.

This is total system power draw, too--not just the CPU.

And the system I bought includes 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 32 GB of
RAM; most systems I've used consume 4-6W just _running the 10 GbE
controller!

In 1.25U of rack space, you could run three Mac minis, idling around
10W, giving almost a teraflop of CPU performance. (Not to mention
there's a fast GPU/NPU, 10 GbE, and tons of high speed Thunderbolt IO
in the back.)

If only they didn't put the power button on the bottom.

You can check out all my top500-benchmark results on GitHub, and
follow my progress testing out the M4 mini here.

I haven't tested an M4 Pro Mac mini yet, so I'm not sure if the
efficiency is any better or worse.

Further reading

  * Mac Studio is 4x more efficient than my new AMD PC
  * The Rock 5 B is not a Raspberry Pi killer--yet
  * Turing Pi 2: 4 Raspberry Pi nodes on a mini ITX board

apple
m4
mac
mac mini
performance
benchmarks
top500
energy efficiency

  * Add new comment

Search [                              ]
[Search]
Geerling Family Crest
All content copyright Jeff Geerling. Top of page.