Buying new Mac Mini, need to determine minimun RAM and STORAGE

[Einst_Stein]

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Looking for budgeting Mac MINI RAM/Storage setup.

 

MY I7 RETINA 27" iMAC is not cooperative. Main problem is SDD too small (128GB) that external storage (HDD) would not help ( adobe wants more). Am planning to buy a budgeting system Mac Mini M4. Not sure how much (min) RAM and storage should I get. I am leaning towards 24GB+ 1TB as this is the middle choice. To top choice would be 32GB + 2TB.

I am assuming this is the last upgrade I would have according to my age and activity, or, to work for the next 10 years (7 years till Apple abandon me + 3 years stretch). Main job would be Adobe PS + LR and MS Office. The photo file should be mainly still photo from S3 (64MP). NO video work. But AI challenge is likely to be on the way, also photo AI centric. 

Budgeting Monitor: I am considering Phils 27" that claims Gamut to cover 108% AdobeRGB or 100% sRGB. Alternatives might be Viewsonic 27 or ASUS PROART or MSI MPG, all according to GAMUT specs on paper.

Any advice or warning?

 

 

Edited June 4 by Einst_Stein

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[zeitz]

I know many people with disagree with these statements, but he is my option.

20 minutes ago, Einst_Stein said:

108% AdobeRGB

I never heard of a monitor that is more than 100%.  I don't think even Eizo would make this claim.  Have you considered Eizo ColorEgde or BenQ Photo monitors?

Are you planning to do video, such as DaVinci Resolve?  You may want to look at a MacStudio.  A 4K monitor may be of interest.

13 minutes ago, Einst_Stein said:

external storage (HDD)

HDDs are obsolete.  M4 MacMinis are only Thunderbolt 3/4.  If you want an external drive to work nearly as well as an internal drive you need Thunderbolt 5 and an SSD enclosure with the right chip set.  What external drive are you going to use for Time Machine?

MacMinis are limited in the number of ports, but this deficiency is common to all Macs.  Are you going to add a dock/hub?

16 minutes ago, Einst_Stein said:

to work for the next 10 years

I think you are being unrealistic, particularly with the monthly updates to the Adobe Photo Suite of software that you use.  Who knows where AI is going in photo editing.

[Einst_Stein]

1:  Whether the said monitor has 108% AdobeRGB is certainly subject to be verified, but at least theoretically over 100% of Adobe RGB or sRGB is certainly possible. I would be open minded,

2: I don't understand what you mean external storage is obsolege. If you mean hard drive vs SSD, this is also not true.

3: Anything is possible, but unreakistic is probably overstated. Apple will support a machine for 7 years. Given Adobe is one of its major application, you can be sure that adobe + Apple together will make sure the max set up (32GB + 2TB) should work functioanlly within tne time frame. Any new apps are not guarantteed. Of course whether the performance would make people happy is also another story. The 3 years stretch after Apple store supporting the machine is expected as industry common protocol. 

4: AI requirement is indeed the majoir uncertainty, but I believe max setup  (32GB + 2TB) should be safe, not sure the middle set up (24GB+1TB). Thisa is what makes me feel unsafe. But I am not asking non-professional's opinions (though it can still be a reference), I am asking professionals who understand the development strategy in this field. since I myself is also working somewhat AI relarted, my current understanding is, the trend of basic SW/HW is to reduce the demand of memory and storage. Though application layers would still grow the memory and storage. 

Edited June 5 by Einst_Stein

[Bronski]

I was recently comparing my M1 max Studio with 24 GB RAM to a M4 Mini with 24 GB RAM, although I was looking a CPU performance. Although the M1 max has quite a bit more cores the M4 is still faster overall, which should have been clear from the start. My M1 max Studio has 512 GB SSD which is barely enough.

As I've seen the hubs that fit underneath the M4 mini have SSD slots now, but as has been mentioned above those can only be attached by Thunderbolt 3/4, so that is not compareble to an internal SSD. Depends on your patience...

[Chris W]

This is interesting to me as I probably should upgrade from my 2020 MacBook Air soon.

I have a BenQ photo monitor and it is excellent and was very affordable. I also exclusively use SSD external drives, they are extremely fast and also quite affordable (for 1 to 2TB). I wouldn't use a regular hard drive again. Speed impacts the time you wait loading files, or dumping them off.

I use a 2TB SSD and when I'm finished working on a project I save the files to cheap 'My Passport' hard drives for archiving (at least two).

[ianforber]

I went through this about 8 months ago when replacing my 2017 MacBook Pro. I decided on a Mac Mini with 16GB unified memory and 512GB storage. I keep all my photos on external disks so I only need internal storage for software. All good so far. If I’d had the money I would’ve gone for 24GB and 1Tb combo but only for peace of mind. I paired it with the Apple Studio display, which I’m very happy with. 

[darylgo]

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This is my solution to replacing my Mac Trash Can with 128gb ram, I would continue to use it if updates were available, many new features are unavailable for this old computer.  I had it for ten years. it's release was 2013, like you (OP) I want to get ten years use.  Mac Studio, 64gb Ram, 2 tb hard drive.   

[jankap]

I still have (and use) the Mac Cube (AD 2000).