Mac Mini M4 VS Mac Mini M2 Pro for X-T5 (40mp)

Visible_Light · Nov 7, 2024

I have the opportunity to buy:

Option 1: second-hand Mac Mini M2 Pro
- 512GB storage
- 16GB Ram
- with apple trackpad and Magic Keyboard!!
- 700 euro (754 usd)

it is barely used and literally as new with the box etc

Option 2: new Mac Mini M4 (Base model)
- 256GB storage
- 16GB Ram
- warranty
- 719 euro (775 usd)

My goal is to edit 40mp RAW files of my X-T5 using C1 / Lightroom / Topaz.

its a hard decision since on paper the M2 looks better (see the spec sheet below). But I’m not sure about the architecture of the chips and how future proof the M2 is. GPT says this:

I’m really looking forward to your feedback!! Cheers

Peter Foiles · Nov 7, 2024

First, you are not the only one with similar questions there are at least a couple of other threads here around optimal configurations for the new M4 chips. So check around.

The used M2Pro listed will be perfectly fine for your task. The M4 option listed would be a bit more fine with one red flag for me and that is the 256gig ram. That will work but just. You don't want to run ssd more than about 80% of capacity which leaves you about 200gig usable and about a quarter(?) of that will be MacOS and that feels pretty cramped to me. Again it will work but just.

Ray tracing is of no use for photo editing, the higher bandwidth of the M4 will likely be of marginal value. So if you can't spring for the 512 version of the M4 the M2Pro would be the better option for me.

If you can wait a few days the new machines are being released tomorrow (Nov 8) and lost of real world test results with photo editing apps will be coming soon after.

Visible_Light · Nov 7, 2024

Peter Foiles said:
First, you are not the only one with similar questions there are at least a couple of other threads here around optimal configurations for the new M4 chips. So check around.

The used M2Pro listed will be perfectly fine for your task. The M4 option listed would be a bit more fine with one red flag for me and that is the 256gig ram. That will work but just. You don't want to run ssd more than about 80% of capacity which leaves you about 200gig usable and about a quarter(?) of that will be MacOS and that feels pretty cramped to me. Again it will work but just.

Ray tracing is of no use for photo editing, the higher bandwidth of the M4 will likely be of marginal value. So if you can't spring for the 512 version of the M4 the M2Pro would be the better option for me.

If you can wait a few days the new machines are being released tomorrow (Nov 8) and lost of real world test results with photo editing apps will be coming soon after.

Thank you for the detailed response! I did try to find a similar question, but couldn’t locate one that matched mine exactly. It seems your answer focuses primarily on the storage difference (256GB vs. 512GB), rather than on the architecture and core count differences between the two (M4 with 10 CPU & 10 GPU cores vs. M2 Pro with 10 CPU & 16 GPU cores).

Btw I hope I can find a nice benchmark of the new M4 quickly!

hsphsp · Nov 7, 2024

Visible_Light said:
Peter Foiles said:

First, you are not the only one with similar questions there are at least a couple of other threads here around optimal configurations for the new M4 chips. So check around.

The used M2Pro listed will be perfectly fine for your task. The M4 option listed would be a bit more fine with one red flag for me and that is the 256gig ram. That will work but just. You don't want to run ssd more than about 80% of capacity which leaves you about 200gig usable and about a quarter(?) of that will be MacOS and that feels pretty cramped to me. Again it will work but just.

Ray tracing is of no use for photo editing, the higher bandwidth of the M4 will likely be of marginal value. So if you can't spring for the 512 version of the M4 the M2Pro would be the better option for me.

If you can wait a few days the new machines are being released tomorrow (Nov 8) and lost of real world test results with photo editing apps will be coming soon after.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the detailed response! I did try to find a similar question, but couldn’t locate one that matched mine exactly. It seems your answer focuses primarily on the storage difference (256GB vs. 512GB), rather than on the architecture and core count differences between the two (M4 with 10 CPU & 10 GPU cores vs. M2 Pro with 10 CPU & 16 GPU cores).

Btw I hope I can find a nice benchmark of the new M4 quickly!

Some benchmarks here: https://appleinsider.com/articles/2...h-faster-apple-silicon-gets-with-each-release .

Visible_Light · Nov 7, 2024

hsphsp said:
hsphsp said:

Thank you for the detailed response! I did try to find a similar question, but couldn’t locate one that matched mine exactly. It seems your answer focuses primarily on the storage difference (256GB vs. 512GB), rather than on the architecture and core count differences between the two (M4 with 10 CPU & 10 GPU cores vs. M2 Pro with 10 CPU & 16 GPU cores).

Btw I hope I can find a nice benchmark of the new M4 quickly!

Click to expand...

Some benchmarks here: https://appleinsider.com/articles/2...h-faster-apple-silicon-gets-with-each-release .

Nice! Iets seems the Multicore results of the M4 & M2pro are the same (14400 vs 14480).

however the M2 Pro GPU seems a lot better!

Visible_Light · Nov 7, 2024

Peter Foiles said:
Ray tracing is of no use for photo editing, the higher bandwidth of the M4 will likely be of marginal value. So if you can't spring for the 512 version of the M4 the M2Pro would be the better option for me.

Yeah the new M4 with 521gb with same accessories will be 950 + 150 euro. So the M2 Pro 512gb with trackpad and keyboard for 700 looks like a good deal?!

p.s the M2 Pro even has a better benchmark compared to the M4 Pro?!

AndyGordon · Nov 8, 2024

My experience with an original m1 MacBook Pro 16gb ram, and my current M3 Pro 36gb ram on 40mb fuji and 50mb gfx files

M1 handles all this absolutely fine, the M3 Pro is a bit faster, but not enough to make you go wow

M2 Pro will do absolutely fine, M4 a little bit faster, but really I think we've hit marginal gains on these chips now

Visible_Light · Nov 8, 2024

AndyGordon said:
My experience with an original m1 MacBook Pro 16gb ram, and my current M3 Pro 36gb ram on 40mb fuji and 50mb gfx files

M1 handles all this absolutely fine, the M3 Pro is a bit faster, but not enough to make you go wow

M2 Pro will do absolutely fine, M4 a little bit faster, but really I think we've hit marginal gains on these chips now

Yeah fair enough.. also the chips M2 were released quite recently .

The differences aren’t huge, but it’s still surprising to me (and to the authors of the benchmark article) that the GPU scores of the M2 Pro actually outclass the M4 Pro. For some reason, the M2 Pro even takes the top spot in the benchmarks, while the M4 Pro only ranks third.

dmartin92 · Nov 8, 2024

I should maybe apologize in advance for my comments, because maybe I am just getting sucked in by the hype, but I have been looking at a lot of the videos from YouTube stars like Marques Brownlee and Dave2D, and I just don't see how you could let yourself "miss out" on getting the new Mac Mini M4.

If you already owned something else, then you would be facing the "worth it to upgrade ?" question, but you are not.

The new ones are so small and cute too, so if get the older model, you will have one of those "big, old, outdated, clunker models".

Maybe it's a question of other people having a calmer, more measured and reasonable perspective than the perspective that I have ... but still, I wanted to share my thoughts.

I mean, I am going to be soon getting a Mac Mini M4, and this will be the first Apple computer I have used since the early 1980s, when my father had an Apple IIe.

It just amazes me that you could seriously be thinking about NOT getting the new Mac Mini M4.

But logically, calmly, I see the validity of your question.

Kind regards.

Visible_Light · Nov 8, 2024

dmartin92 said:
I should maybe apologize in advance for my comments…..

… It just amazes me that you could seriously be thinking about NOT getting the new Mac Mini M4. But logically, calmly, I see the validity of your question.

Kind regards.

Haha, I like this response! But Let’s be honest, a purchase decision usually has both rational and emotional aspects. I have to admit, I sometimes let my emotions get the best of me

YESSS, the new Mac is cute and tiny. But even the old Mac mini would still be by far the smallest computer I’ve ever owned.

And when it comes down to spending an extra 400 euros on a computer with similar computing speed (and even slightly worse graphical capabilities) just because it’s cute, my rational side definitely takes over.

dmartin92 · Nov 8, 2024

Visible_Light said:
Haha, I like this response!

Good. I was being a bit sarcastic, but not entirely.

Good luck with your decision. Kind regards.

Peter Foiles · Nov 8, 2024

Visible_Light said:
dmartin92 said:

I should maybe apologize in advance for my comments…..

… It just amazes me that you could seriously be thinking about NOT getting the new Mac Mini M4. But logically, calmly, I see the validity of your question.

Kind regards.

Click to expand...

Haha, I like this response! But Let’s be honest, a purchase decision usually has both rational and emotional aspects. I have to admit, I sometimes let my emotions get the best of me YESSS, the new Mac is cute and tiny. But even the old Mac mini would still be by far the smallest computer I’ve ever owned.

And when it comes down to spending an extra 400 euros on a computer with similar computing speed (and even slightly worse graphical capabilities)

WRONG - WRONG - WRONG

The graph you refer too is clearly bogus and the author of the article even says so in the body of the article.

This is just one of the first of many tests that will be coming out now that the machines are out in peoples hands.

Visible_Light said:
just because it’s cute, my rational side definitely takes over.

Visible_Light · Nov 9, 2024

Peter Foiles said:
Visible_Light said:

dmartin92 said:

I should maybe apologize in advance for my comments…..

… It just amazes me that you could seriously be thinking about NOT getting the new Mac Mini M4. But logically, calmly, I see the validity of your question.

Kind regards.

Click to expand...

Haha, I like this response! But Let’s be honest, a purchase decision usually has both rational and emotional aspects. I have to admit, I sometimes let my emotions get the best of me YESSS, the new Mac is cute and tiny. But even the old Mac mini would still be by far the smallest computer I’ve ever owned.

And when it comes down to spending an extra 400 euros on a computer with similar computing speed (and even slightly worse graphical capabilities)

Click to expand...

WRONG - WRONG - WRONG

The graph you refer too is clearly bogus and the author of the article even says so in the body of the article.

This is just one of the first of many tests that will be coming out now that the machines are out in peoples hands.

Peter Foiles said:

just because it’s cute, my rational side definitely takes over.

Click to expand...

This YouTuber says the M4 Pro is better compared to the M2 Pro which makes total sense. But my decision is regarding the M4 base versus the M2 Pro.

I just meant the graphical performance of the M4 base is slightly worse than the M2 Pro. Is this Wrong wrong wrong?

All the articles I’ve checked so far seem to confirm the fact that the 16 core GPU of the M2 Pro outperforms the 10 Core GPU of the M4 base. In addition, the bandwidth of the m2 pro is 200 vs the 100 GB/s.

Anyway, I would love to see some other M2 Pro vs M4 base benchmarks or real world test..

(And graph on the precious page that indicates the poor performance of the M4 Pro vs the M2 Pro must be bogus indeed)

bakubo · Nov 9, 2024

Visible_Light said:
I just meant the graphical performance of the M4 base is slightly worse than the M2 Pro. Is this Wrong wrong wrong?

All the articles I’ve checked so far seem to confirm the fact that the 16 core GPU of the M2 Pro outperforms the 10 Core GPU of the M4 base. In addition, the bandwidth of the m2 pro is 200 vs the 100 GB/s.

I have an M2 Pro 12/19 MBP. Are you sure the M2 Pro Mini has 12/16? It might have 12/19.
I use my MBP with LrC and Topaz and it works well. My photos are 26mp, 20mp, 16mp, and even smaller for old photos.

Visible_Light · Nov 9, 2024

bakubo said:
Visible_Light said:

I just meant the graphical performance of the M4 base is slightly worse than the M2 Pro. Is this Wrong wrong wrong?

All the articles I’ve checked so far seem to confirm the fact that the 16 core GPU of the M2 Pro outperforms the 10 Core GPU of the M4 base. In addition, the bandwidth of the m2 pro is 200 vs the 100 GB/s.

Click to expand...

I have an M2 Pro 12/19 MBP. Are you sure the M2 Pro Mini has 12/16? It might have 12/19.

I use my MBP with LrC and Topaz and it works well. My photos are 26mp, 20mp, 16mp, and even smaller for old photos.

No the M2 Pro has a 10 core GPU and 16 Core GPU

bakubo · Nov 9, 2024

Visible_Light said:
bakubo said:

Visible_Light said:

I just meant the graphical performance of the M4 base is slightly worse than the M2 Pro. Is this Wrong wrong wrong?

All the articles I’ve checked so far seem to confirm the fact that the 16 core GPU of the M2 Pro outperforms the 10 Core GPU of the M4 base. In addition, the bandwidth of the m2 pro is 200 vs the 100 GB/s.

Click to expand...

I have an M2 Pro 12/19 MBP. Are you sure the M2 Pro Mini has 12/16? It might have 12/19.

I use my MBP with LrC and Topaz and it works well. My photos are 26mp, 20mp, 16mp, and even smaller for old photos.

Click to expand...

No the M2 Pro has a 10 core GPU and 16 Core GPU

Okay. The M2 Pro came in 2 configurations:

12/19
10/16

bakubo · Nov 9, 2024

Visible_Light said:
bakubo said:

Visible_Light said:

I just meant the graphical performance of the M4 base is slightly worse than the M2 Pro. Is this Wrong wrong wrong?

All the articles I’ve checked so far seem to confirm the fact that the 16 core GPU of the M2 Pro outperforms the 10 Core GPU of the M4 base. In addition, the bandwidth of the m2 pro is 200 vs the 100 GB/s.

Click to expand...

I have an M2 Pro 12/19 MBP. Are you sure the M2 Pro Mini has 12/16? It might have 12/19.

I use my MBP with LrC and Topaz and it works well. My photos are 26mp, 20mp, 16mp, and even smaller for old photos.

Click to expand...

No the M2 Pro has a 10 core GPU and 16 Core GPU

Your chart in your OP shows M2 Pro 12/19.

Visible_Light · Nov 9, 2024

bakubo said:
Visible_Light said:

bakubo said:

Visible_Light said:

I just meant the graphical performance of the M4 base is slightly worse than the M2 Pro. Is this Wrong wrong wrong?

All the articles I’ve checked so far seem to confirm the fact that the 16 core GPU of the M2 Pro outperforms the 10 Core GPU of the M4 base. In addition, the bandwidth of the m2 pro is 200 vs the 100 GB/s.

Click to expand...

I have an M2 Pro 12/19 MBP. Are you sure the M2 Pro Mini has 12/16? It might have 12/19.

I use my MBP with LrC and Topaz and it works well. My photos are 26mp, 20mp, 16mp, and even smaller for old photos.

Click to expand...

No the M2 Pro has a 10 core GPU and 16 Core GPU

Click to expand...

Your chart in your OP shows M2 Pro 12/19.

Yeah it says until (tot) 12 and 19 cores. But the apple website only mentions 10/16. And all the other specsheets I found too. So I assume they did the benchmarks with 10/16.

bakubo · Nov 10, 2024

Visible_Light said:
bakubo said:

Visible_Light said:

bakubo said:

Visible_Light said:

I just meant the graphical performance of the M4 base is slightly worse than the M2 Pro. Is this Wrong wrong wrong?

All the articles I’ve checked so far seem to confirm the fact that the 16 core GPU of the M2 Pro outperforms the 10 Core GPU of the M4 base. In addition, the bandwidth of the m2 pro is 200 vs the 100 GB/s.

Click to expand...

I have an M2 Pro 12/19 MBP. Are you sure the M2 Pro Mini has 12/16? It might have 12/19.

I use my MBP with LrC and Topaz and it works well. My photos are 26mp, 20mp, 16mp, and even smaller for old photos.

Click to expand...

No the M2 Pro has a 10 core GPU and 16 Core GPU

Click to expand...

Your chart in your OP shows M2 Pro 12/19.

Click to expand...

Yeah it says until (tot) 12 and 19 cores. But the apple website only mentions 10/16. And all the other specsheets I found too. So I assume they did the benchmarks with 10/16.

The M2 Pro Mini came in both M2 Pro configurations:

12/19 -- $200 more
10/16

I suggest you verify which one it is from the person who is selling it.

Visible_Light · Nov 10, 2024

bakubo said:
Visible_Light said:

bakubo said:

Visible_Light said:

bakubo said:

Visible_Light said:

I just meant the graphical performance of the M4 base is slightly worse than the M2 Pro. Is this Wrong wrong wrong?

All the articles I’ve checked so far seem to confirm the fact that the 16 core GPU of the M2 Pro outperforms the 10 Core GPU of the M4 base. In addition, the bandwidth of the m2 pro is 200 vs the 100 GB/s.

Click to expand...

I have an M2 Pro 12/19 MBP. Are you sure the M2 Pro Mini has 12/16? It might have 12/19.

I use my MBP with LrC and Topaz and it works well. My photos are 26mp, 20mp, 16mp, and even smaller for old photos.

Click to expand...

No the M2 Pro has a 10 core GPU and 16 Core GPU

Click to expand...

Your chart in your OP shows M2 Pro 12/19.

Click to expand...

Yeah it says until (tot) 12 and 19 cores. But the apple website only mentions 10/16. And all the other specsheets I found too. So I assume they did the benchmarks with 10/16.

Click to expand...

The M2 Pro Mini came in both M2 Pro configurations:

12/19 -- $200 more

10/16

I suggest you verify which one it is from the person who is selling it.

It’s the 10/16.. somehow It seems all the info online is about that model.. also the benchmarks

Mac Mini M4 VS Mac Mini M2 Pro for X-T5 (40mp)

Forum Enthusiast

Senior Member

Forum Enthusiast

Well-known member

Forum Enthusiast

Forum Enthusiast

Senior Member

Forum Enthusiast

Senior Member

Forum Enthusiast

Senior Member

Senior Member

Forum Enthusiast

Senior Member

Forum Enthusiast

Senior Member

Senior Member

Forum Enthusiast

Senior Member

Forum Enthusiast

Similar threads

Keyboard shortcuts