[HN Gopher] M4 Mac mini's efficiency is incredible
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       M4 Mac mini's efficiency is incredible
        
       Author : marinesebastian
       Score  : 158 points
       Date   : 2024-11-12 22:08 UTC (51 minutes ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.jeffgeerling.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.jeffgeerling.com)
        
       | austinpena wrote:
       | M4 Mac Mini with 16GB RAM is doing a "good enough" job of editing
       | 6k raw footage in Premiere for my team. I'm surprised to say I'm
       | content with the 16GB of ram so far.
        
         | wslh wrote:
         | I bought the first MacBook Air M1 with 8GB because it was the
         | only option available in my area. Initially, I had doubts,
         | especially after using notebooks with more than 16GB of RAM in
         | previous years. But I was genuinely surprised by how well the
         | M1 performed. My takeaway is that there's a lot of room for
         | similar improvements in Linux!
        
           | nordsieck wrote:
           | I have an m1 as well.
           | 
           | And while I'm broadly satisfied with its performance, I do
           | think that the SSD is probably carrying some of that load.
           | And for a machine that often gets used far longer than a PC,
           | I can't see that being great for longevity.
        
             | gjsman-1000 wrote:
             | > And while I'm broadly satisfied with its performance, I
             | do think that the SSD is probably carrying some of that
             | load. And for a machine that often gets used far longer
             | than a PC, I can't see that being great for longevity.
             | 
             | This isn't the early 2010s anymore - SSDs last "long
             | enough" for most people, to the point they are no more
             | consumable than your motherboard or your RAM. (I've
             | actually experienced more RAM failures than SSD failures,
             | but that's an individual opinion here.)
             | 
             | And for the downvoters - do you remember the last time you
             | handed in your Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, iPhone, or even
             | laptop specifically for a random SSD failure, unrelated to
             | water damage or another external cause? Me neither.
        
               | telgareith wrote:
               | people really don't grasp that the slowest SSDs are still
               | 3-5x faster than the fastest HDDs (including SAS drives.
               | Yes, the dualport kind).
               | 
               | And, Looking at the anandtech review of a vertex 3 way
               | back in 2011...
        
           | wkjagt wrote:
           | I'm still very happy with my 8GB Air M1 as well. It's
           | incredible how well it still works for a 4 year old entry
           | level laptop. I see all these new M's come out, and I'm sure
           | they're fantastic, but I'm not at all tempted to upgrade.
        
       | wslh wrote:
       | I've been lurking here for more updates on the Mac Mini M4 since
       | I haven't bought mine yet. I also shared some thoughts in
       | previous comments [1][2], as I'm not only impressed by the
       | technical achievements and form factor but also interested in
       | seeing how Apple's business evolves over the next few quarters.
       | I'm curious whether Apple will increase its market share on the
       | desktop side while continuing to dominate in mobile.
       | 
       | [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42025411
       | 
       | [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42099883
        
       | philip1209 wrote:
       | That's great - I wonder if you could get one working with Kamal
       | [1] and Cloudflare Tunnel [2] to run public web apps from a home
       | computer?
       | 
       | [1] https://kamal-deploy.org/
       | 
       | [2] https://www.cloudflare.com/products/tunnel/
        
         | choilive wrote:
         | Yes, just using docker containers and cloudflare tunnel I am
         | using mine as a server for my self hosted apps.
        
           | zikduruqe wrote:
           | Don't forget Tailscale serve and funnel.
           | 
           | https://tailscale.com/blog/reintroducing-serve-funnel
        
       | ewalk153 wrote:
       | Given these efficient numbers, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple
       | were racking Minis for serving the new ML models for Siri.
        
         | wmf wrote:
         | Mac minis probably don't have enough RAM to hold Siri's models.
         | It's more likely that Apple is using (modified) Mac Studios.
        
           | jsheard wrote:
           | Why use Macs at all? It's their platform, they can spin a
           | custom motherboard with 4-8 Apple Silicon systems, network
           | switching and power delivery for all of them integrated into
           | one compact rackmount unit if they want to.
        
         | favorited wrote:
         | They've publicly disclosed that they built custom Apple Silicon
         | servers to power Private Cloud Compute.
         | 
         | "The root of trust for Private Cloud Compute is our compute
         | node: custom-built server hardware that brings the power and
         | security of Apple silicon to the data center, with the same
         | hardware security technologies used in iPhone, including the
         | Secure Enclave and Secure Boot."
         | 
         | <https://security.apple.com/blog/private-cloud-compute/>
        
       | LordKeren wrote:
       | I can't help but wish that Apple would provide the handful of
       | features needed to make a Mac mini into a competent home server.
        
         | rgbrgb wrote:
         | what else do you need?
        
         | riknos314 wrote:
         | What specific feature gaps would you like to see them address?
        
           | echoangle wrote:
           | Official Linux support would help, is anyone running MacOS on
           | a server?
        
             | cosmotic wrote:
             | If running native ports of server software isn't your cup
             | of tea, you can run Linux containers on macos.
        
               | echoangle wrote:
               | In the full GUI MacOS install? And the Linux container
               | (I'm assuming you mean container like docker or podman?)
               | would run in a Linux VM?
        
               | cguess wrote:
               | I run full multiple Ubuntu desktop VMs on Parallels on a
               | M1 MacBook Air. You can use Docker for server installs,
               | sure, but QEMU also works great on Macs and with Rosetta
               | you can even get pretty damn close to native x86
               | execution speeds.
        
               | risho wrote:
               | they run through virtualization which is clunky to
               | interface with across boundaries and introduces overhead.
               | I also don't think it has any hardware acceleration for
               | things that would benefit from using the gpu.
        
             | cguess wrote:
             | This isn't the market for MacMinis though. Why are people
             | on this forum so bad at understanding market segmentation?
             | Apple made an incredible _desktop_ machine that happens to
             | work pretty damn well as a server if you poke around.
             | 
             | This machine is for people at home to for editing video.
             | It's _great_ in the field for production where it goes from
             | pelican case to hotel desk to folding table to pelican case
             | to cargo hold to storage.
        
           | risho wrote:
           | Linux support. MacOS is a desktop first gui based operating
           | system. Linux on the other hand is a server first
           | cli/terminal based operating system. Everything server
           | related is designed to on linux first and foremost and may or
           | may not incidentally also run on MacOS.
        
             | SG- wrote:
             | run it in a VM.
        
             | dangus wrote:
             | macOS is explicitly designed to not be a server, and the
             | consumer hardware it runs on is also designed that way.
             | Apple even discontinued the Server tools that you could buy
             | on the App Store that used to be called Mac OS X Server.
             | 
             | If you want to run Linux server apps, you should run Linux.
             | Because Apple hardware and macOS isn't giving you any
             | advantages over a generic piece of hardware running a Linux
             | distribution. The hardware costs more and is less
             | upgradable than off-the-shelf hardware.
             | 
             | Servers should not run desktop environments because they
             | are a waste of resources and widen the attack surface due
             | to having more components installed and running.
             | 
             | And even if you want a desktop environment for your Linux
             | server, Linux most certainly has a wide selection of mature
             | stable desktop environments.
             | 
             | If you need to do development work or just achieve the goal
             | of running Linux applications on a Mac, that can be easily
             | done via virtual machines, containers, etc.
        
           | nikcub wrote:
           | I'd like to replace my NAS using a mini - but Apple segment
           | the market on disk.
           | 
           | A "dumb" NAS 2.5" SSD drive array plugged into one via
           | firewire, and then out to the network via the Mac Mini would
           | work.
        
             | marxisttemp wrote:
             | FireWire?
             | 
             | Once I have some more disposable income I plan to buy a
             | Thunderbolt RAID array and a mini. FireWire hasn't been on
             | Macs for at least a decade.
             | 
             | Apple's internal storage pricing is absurd but you wouldn't
             | plan to use a NUC or a Raspberry Pi SOC's onboard storage
             | for a NAS anyways.
        
         | MBCook wrote:
         | What would those be?
        
         | bryancoxwell wrote:
         | I've never tried turning a Mac into a home server. What
         | features do you need that it's missing?
        
           | toast0 wrote:
           | Depends what 'home server' means.
           | 
           | MacOS would need syncookies to be a viable tcp server on
           | public IPs, IMHO, but MacOS pulled FreeBSD's TCP stack a
           | couple months before syncookies were added, and they never
           | rebased or otherwise added syncookies later.
           | 
           | I haven't looked into if they pulled any scalability updates
           | over the years, but I kind of assume they haven't, and the
           | stack would have a lot of lock contention if you had more
           | than say 10,000 tcp sockets.
        
         | lurking_swe wrote:
         | i've found it pretty easy to run my "homelab" with docker
         | compose. Traefik binds to port 80 and 443, and all my apps are
         | accessible behind the proxy.
         | 
         | Docker desktop can be configured to start on login. For keeping
         | the mac awake "forever", i'd suggest the Amphetamine app.
         | 
         | I also appreciate that you can easily use the macOS screen
         | sharing app to login and manage the mac from a laptop.
        
           | manmal wrote:
           | That certainly works, but Docker will use a Linux VM, right?
        
         | prewett wrote:
         | Maybe they already have, depending on what you need. Settings
         | >> General >> Sharing provides lots of options. "Remote Login"
         | is SSH and SFTP, and last time I used it, "File Sharing" was
         | SMB. "Screen Sharing" and "Remote Management" seem useful, too.
         | I assume that "Media Sharing" is supposed to allow iTunes on
         | your network to see media files, although I've never used it
         | and the information on the dialog is limited.
        
         | spacedcowboy wrote:
         | I have a Mac mini backed by an Areca 24-bay Thunderbolt disk-
         | array in the rack in the garage. Works like a dream.
        
         | NotYourLawyer wrote:
         | Such as?
        
       | nextos wrote:
       | I use Linux, but I think the cheapest M4 Mini offers an
       | incredible value and efficiency per EUR. With education discount,
       | it's around EUR650, including VAT. It's pretty hard to find such
       | a silent and powerful machine for that little. Any comparable
       | options?
       | 
       | A good fanless build with a i3-14100T is more expensive and
       | 40-50% slower on Geekbench. An i5 is a bit closer. Some 2024
       | Ryzen CPUs can match or exceed its multicore performance, but
       | these are also more expensive and much less energy efficient.
       | Pricewise, things start favoring PCs if you need more RAM, as Mac
       | upgrades are costly.
       | 
       | One can potentially use Nix on a Mac Mini to keep similar
       | development environments to those used in Linux, but AFAIK some
       | packages are not supported on ARM. Any experiences using Nix and
       | nix-darwin as a daily driver?
        
         | vetinari wrote:
         | NUC 14th gen with i3 is around 400 EUR with VAT, with no RAM or
         | storage. For the other 250 EUR, surely you can get more RAM
         | than 16 GB and more storage than 256 GB.
        
           | nextos wrote:
           | I use a NUC as a daily driver. The problem with NUCs is that
           | cooling is suboptimal, the fan is small and thus noisy. It
           | can be fixed with a third-party case, but that's at least
           | EUR60-100 more for a much slower machine. Plus, you may void
           | the guarantee by transplanting the motherboard.
        
             | vetinari wrote:
             | I have i7 NUC13 mounted on a back of monitor and I can
             | barely hear it. It's not that bad, previously (NUC7-era) it
             | was much worse.
        
           | gjsman-1000 wrote:
           | > NUC 14th gen with i3 is around 400 EUR with VAT
           | 
           | 4 cores instead of 10 cores, 69W TDP instead of 22W, UHD
           | Graphics 730 versus Apple's 10 core GPU (0.5 TFLOPs vs about
           | 4.3), 23% worse single core performance, 45% worse multicore,
           | and much louder cooling.
           | 
           | It's not a fair comparison.
        
             | vetinari wrote:
             | So get a stronger one. There will be always something that
             | is better on one or another side.
             | 
             | I have 13th gen i7, with 64 GB RAM and 2 TB ssd (and 2.5
             | GbE). It was 800 EUR + VAT, last year. How much would
             | similar Mac Mini cost?
             | 
             | Not a fair comparison either.
             | 
             | Edit: 69W for the NUC is not TDP. It is 69W power brick
             | that ships with the machine.
        
             | AshamedCaptain wrote:
             | It's almost half the price.
        
         | talldayo wrote:
         | > Any experiences using Nix and nix-darwin as a daily driver?
         | 
         | Not positive ones, even on x86 Darwin. Homebrew feels a lot
         | more stable, which is a decidedly concerning thing for the
         | average Nix enjoyer.
        
           | edude03 wrote:
           | What kind of issues are you having?
        
         | tredre3 wrote:
         | > With education discount
         | 
         | I don't understand why so many people use the discounted price
         | as reference. Surely very few of us on HN are still in college?
         | So let's use the actual price when making comparisons.
        
           | no_wizard wrote:
           | all you need is a .edu address If I recall correctly. you can
           | buy them on alumni addresses.
           | 
           | That said, a far chunk of HNs never completed college, like
           | myself and lost access to any email accounts of this sort,
           | which only further supports your argument directly, as the
           | EDU discount isn't universally attainable
        
             | devmor wrote:
             | I'm going to have to check this out, I no longer have
             | access directly to my old college email, but it still
             | forwards to my gmail over a decade later!
        
             | nicce wrote:
             | Regardless, if people start to abuse this by getting
             | discount while not actually being student or teacher, we
             | can say goodbuy to that discount and real students and
             | teachers will suffer from it.
        
           | stirlo wrote:
           | It's trivially easy to obtain the discount. Anyone working in
           | education, or a student at any level, k-12, higher ed,
           | graduates with access to uni email can get it. Apple doesn't
           | ask any questions or for verification.
           | 
           | They also go on sale at a similar price to the general public
           | relatively frequently.
        
           | mp05 wrote:
           | > Surely very few of us on HN are still in college?
           | 
           | What makes you think that? I'm back in school getting a MEng
           | degree in my 30s.
        
           | bdangubic wrote:
           | very few on HN pay full price for Mac products ;)
        
           | brailsafe wrote:
           | [delayed]
        
         | denkmoon wrote:
         | Just put Asahi on there, or any linux you like. I'm sure the
         | support will be there soon if it's not already.
        
           | stirlo wrote:
           | Asahi Linux doesn't currently support M4 but it's planned for
           | next year.
        
         | steeleduncan wrote:
         | Nix works well on mac, very similar to Nix/Linux for the most
         | part. There are some missing packages, but the common ones tend
         | to be fine. Its worth using the Determinate Systems installer
         | to avoid reinstalling Nix on every macOS update though.
         | 
         | Nix-darwin is good, and I use it, but it is nowhere close to
         | NixOS. I think there are some options I've set through it that
         | macOS keeps overriding, so the declarative configuration drifts
         | from the real one eventually
         | 
         | I think the only real issue with Nix on macOS is that Nix can
         | eat through storage quite quickly, and storage upgrades are
         | pretty expensive on Macs. This might push the balance back to
         | an fanless ryzen build
        
           | nicce wrote:
           | > I think the only real issue with Nix on macOS is that Nix
           | can eat through storage quite quickly, and storage upgrades
           | are pretty expensive on Macs. This might push the balance
           | back to an fanless ryzen build
           | 
           | Only if you want to be able to roll back multiple versions.
           | Otherwise, I think it is fine.
        
         | GeekyBear wrote:
         | Beelink has dropped the price for a roughly comparable unit
         | with an Intel Core Ultra from 800 US Dollars to $700.
         | 
         | https://www.bee-link.com/products/beelink-sei14-ultra5-125h
        
         | foobarian wrote:
         | At this point maybe the main benefit of an x86 machine is it
         | has a spot to plug in an Nvidia GPU :-)
        
         | edude03 wrote:
         | Daily nix user across Mac and Linux, though I use Mac for
         | actual development. No problems here moving between the two
         | with my dev env defined on GitHub [0]
         | 
         | [0]: https://github.com/edude03/dotfiles
        
       | pjot wrote:
       | I recently upgraded from a 2020 Intel MBP to an M3 Pro. I've been
       | been blown away. Even more, I've yet to hear the fans turn on.
        
       | NKosmatos wrote:
       | Best quote from the post: "If only they didn't put the power
       | button on the bottom"
        
       | rgovostes wrote:
       | > _If only they didn 't put the power button on the bottom._
       | 
       | I can't tell if anyone is being serious about the "Powergate"
       | issue. The thing is 5" wide and weighs 1.5 lbs, it's not exactly
       | a burden to lift it a little. And there are highly practical
       | workarounds:
       | https://www.reddit.com/r/macmini/comments/1gncek7/nailed_the...
        
         | ewhanley wrote:
         | I also wonder how often people are actually turning them off.
         | It's generally a rare event to push the power button on a mac
         | in my experience
        
           | pupppet wrote:
           | I don't even turn my computer off when going on vacation.
        
         | kranke155 wrote:
         | It's not a burden.
         | 
         | I consider it a typical Tim Cook decision, in that the man led
         | the company that made one of the fastest CPUs in the world,
         | makes it draw as much as a Raspberry Pi. Absolutely crazy feats
         | of engineering, design, manufacturing... and -
         | 
         | There is that ONE detail that would've made it perfected but
         | it's botched!
         | 
         | I don't mind it too much, since it's still 99% close to
         | perfect.
         | 
         | But, but...
        
           | AcerbicZero wrote:
           | Hah, Tim Cook decision pretty much sums it up; its the kind
           | of thing that wouldn't have lasted 5 seconds when placed in
           | front of Jobs (although there is a strong chance Jobs would
           | have demanded his own nonsensical addition/subtraction to the
           | design).
        
             | kranke155 wrote:
             | Yeah he likely would have said no ports, or lets have only
             | one port, or he would have demanded that the Mac mini has
             | the dimensions of some multiple of pi...
             | 
             | Nobody's perfect.
        
           | whartung wrote:
           | Shame they got rid of the ability to power the computer on
           | and off from the keyboard. I know its been that way for some
           | time, I'm sure there's good reason for it (maybe it doesn't
           | work well over BT or something, or simply few generic
           | keyboards offered the power button).
        
           | soheil wrote:
           | 1. Given millions of things that are perfect it takes one of
           | them for HN to lose its mind, power button happened to be it
           | this time, Cook didn't decide that.
           | 
           | 2. How often do people exactly have to turn off and on a mac
           | that consumes less than a pi for them to constantly be
           | reaching out to that power button?
           | 
           | 3. Standby, hibernate exist.
        
         | bookofjoe wrote:
         | >Apple Says There's a Simple Reason for the Mac Mini's Odd
         | Power Button Location
         | 
         | https://gizmodo.com/apple-mac-minis-odd-power-button-locatio...
        
         | steeleduncan wrote:
         | Because minis are very commonly racked in bulk, and its both
         | very irritating for that use case, and entirely unnecessary
        
           | cguess wrote:
           | Minis are rarely racked in bulk unless you're running a
           | server farm, which is not the use case they design for. The
           | MacMini is first and foremost a desktop computer for non-
           | professional people or at least not sysadmins. If people want
           | to rack them, go ahead, but in that case how often are you
           | hard rebooting a machine vs soft reboot anyways? Macs aren't
           | known for freezing up too much.
           | 
           | Either way, it works for the use case its designed for.
        
           | evilduck wrote:
           | Why not just rack them upside down then?
        
           | rgovostes wrote:
           | Some of the rackmount kits for previous generations already
           | reroute the power button and connectors to the front, like
           | this https://racknex.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/with-
           | power-bu.... (Though why not just install it backwards?) I
           | guess they will be able to run a little lever under the M4
           | model the same way.
           | 
           | Actually, the M4 model is a little taller so it no longer
           | fits in a 1U rack mount. Whereas before you could fit 2
           | horizontally in 1U, now you'd possibly fit 8 or 9 vertically
           | in 3U. (Edit: This company says 10 per 2U
           | https://www.racksolutions.com/m4-mac-mini-apple-
           | hypershelf.h....)
        
         | ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
         | I just got one (M4Pro model).
         | 
         | It's pretty zippy.
         | 
         | I have pressed the power button exactly once, since Friday (the
         | day I got it). All other restarts were "soft" (including a
         | couple of crashes). The keyboard and trackpad do fine, starting
         | a shut-down computer.
         | 
         | It's replacing a docked MBP. That power button was a _lot_ more
         | difficult to reach, and I needed to hit it more often than
         | this.
        
           | rgovostes wrote:
           | I spent a few minutes looking up whether a Mac could be
           | booted from a Bluetooth keyboard but couldn't find any
           | documentation of that. Back in the day some(?) Mac models
           | could be booted by a USB keyboard, see
           | https://www.projectgus.com/2023/04/griffin-imate/ for
           | technical details.
        
             | kube-system wrote:
             | > Back in the day some(?) Mac models could be booted by a
             | USB keyboard
             | 
             | Heck, way back in the day, Macs all had power buttons on
             | the keyboard.
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_key
        
         | akira2501 wrote:
         | > it's not exactly a burden to lift it a little.
         | 
         | Human dexterity is not constant. Some people have injuries
         | which compromise them.
         | 
         | > And there are highly practical workarounds:
         | 
         | Apple. A consumer product company where every _single_ product
         | has some massive defect which must be apologized around.
         | 
         | Which is fine.. but I'm not sure how that justifies their
         | typical price point.
        
         | darknavi wrote:
         | If the power button is the main gripe with this model of Mac
         | Mini, then its doing pretty well.
        
         | userbinator wrote:
         | Or rotate it 180 degrees. There's nothing on the top (now
         | bottom) anyway that can't stand being covered up.
        
       | GeekyBear wrote:
       | Also interesting, the M4 Mini has the flash storage on a
       | replaceable module, instead of being soldered to the motherboard,
       | although the NVMe controller is still integrated into the SoC.
       | 
       | iFixIt and others have already posted videos showing that the
       | flash storage is now upgradable.
       | 
       | > M4 Mac mini Teardown - UPGRADABLE SSD, Powerful, and TINY
       | 
       | https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rtdGxBeSkz8
        
         | winwang wrote:
         | The controller being decoupled is an extremely interesting
         | idea! Makes a lot of sense. I wonder if it includes a
         | (nontrivial) cache.
        
           | telgareith wrote:
           | Seems likely its a cacheless (well, host bus memory) design
           | like the ones used by Apple on their other designs.
        
         | AshamedCaptain wrote:
         | "Upgradeable" is too big of a word here, specially considering
         | that they're using different form-factors even between the
         | models released on the same year (e.g. pro vs non-pro) ; and
         | also different from models released on the previous year (e.g.
         | studio). This almost certainly means that next year's model
         | will also use a different interface, so you won't be able to
         | upgrade your storage at all.
        
         | IshKebab wrote:
         | "Upgradable" if you are willing to desolder and replace the BGA
         | chips.
         | 
         | You can't just swap the module out.
        
       | 1-6 wrote:
       | "If only they didn't put the power button on the bottom."
       | 
       | While I think Apple was off the rocker on this particular
       | decision, I do respect their org structure that allows this type
       | of decision to occur. Believe me, there are companies where a
       | dozen people or more would weigh in and prevent an unpopular
       | choice. Consensus sometimes hinders a desired result (both good
       | and bad).
        
       | thought_alarm wrote:
       | I wish the same could be said of the Studio Display, which is
       | quite power hungry. If the Mac is running then the display is
       | using minimum 10 Watts of continuous power usage at all times,
       | fan running, with the screen off.
       | 
       | I guess it takes 10 Watts to maintain the Thunderbolt controller,
       | USB hub, A13 processor, and run the fan.
       | 
       | Power usage does drop to <1 Watt when the Mac is actually
       | sleeping, unless anything is plugged into the USB hub. Even an
       | empty iPhone cable will cause the display to draw 5 Watts. It's
       | disappointing.
        
       | ghaff wrote:
       | I may have to break down after the holidays.
       | 
       | I have a 2015 iMac and I've been holding off (and haven't really
       | been using my Apple Silicon MacBook as intended) so it may be
       | time to do the upgrade.
        
       | dangus wrote:
       | I see a lot of reviews that say things like this but seem to be
       | written by people who aren't testing against commonly available
       | mini PCs that are built on efficiency architectures.
       | 
       | How different is the efficiency of this compared to something
       | like an Intel N100/200/300 or a Ryzen 7 7735HS that you can get
       | in cheap mini PCs from manufacturers like Beelink?
       | 
       | I am not doubting that Apple's processors are class-leading but
       | at the same time it seems like I see a lot of people impressed
       | that a mini PC can idle under 10 watts. That's been common for a
       | long time now.
        
       | jchw wrote:
       | While it may not be the literal fastest CPU ever, it still seems
       | very, very fast, and the efficiency is pretty compelling. I'm not
       | sure how much of those efficiency gains are a product of the
       | design constraints that Apple is not beholden to (external
       | memory, x86 backwards compatibility, other aspects of the AMD64
       | architecture, etc.), the slightly better process nodes, or
       | superior design. I'm honestly dying to know, but I guess we won't
       | find out, and as far as the products go, it doesn't really matter
       | that much. The end result is a pretty good deal.
       | 
       | As a mainly non-Apple user I see the following caveats for my own
       | uses:
       | 
       | - I'd love to see better Linux support. (As far as I know, Asahi
       | Linux only covers the M1 and M2 lines, and as amazing of a
       | project as it is, last I looked, it's neither upstreamed nor
       | exactly what one might consider first class. Maybe it's getting
       | there now, though...)
       | 
       | - I'm worried about the SSD situation still. It seems like it
       | hasn't amounted to much (yet), but some use cases might be more
       | impacted than others, and once the SSD does finally fail, the
       | machine's dead. This is not how things work in most PCs, even
       | mini PCs, and it's a bit of a hard pill to swallow.
       | 
       | - The pricing is great at the baseline, but it gets progressively
       | worse as you go up. The Apple M4 Pro Mac Mini has a baseline
       | price of $1,399.00, which I think is pretty decent for a high-end
       | computer with 24 GiB of RAM. But, it maxes out at 64 GiB of RAM,
       | which is less than half of what I have in my current main
       | machine, and believe me, _I use it_. That 64 GiB of RAM upgrade
       | costs $600. For comparison, the most expensive 64 GiB DDR5 RAM
       | kit on PCPartPicker is $328.99. Don 't get me wrong either, I
       | understand that Apple's unified RAM is part of the secret sauce
       | of how these things are as efficient and small as they are, but
       | at least for my main computer I really don't need things to be
       | this compact, so it's another tradeoff that's really hard to
       | swallow.
       | 
       | But on the other hand, for people happy to use macOS as their
       | primary operating system, the M4 line of Macs really does look
       | the best computer Apple has ever produced. (For me, it is rare
       | that I feel compelled to even consider an Apple computer; the
       | last time was with the original M1 Mac Mini, which I did buy,
       | although after some experimentation I mainly just use it for
       | testing things on macOS rather than as a daily driver machine.)
       | There really aren't many caveats especially since the base memory
       | configurations this time around are actually reasonable.
       | 
       | I suspect these things could be great on homelab racks if the
       | longevity issues don't wind up being a huge problem.
        
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