Specs for an M4 Mini

S

SFrost

Bit poster
I am upgrading my i7 MacBook Pro to a M4 Mac mini. The MacBook has been my work computer for way too many years and it lags like crazy when running parallels. My main uses, which I generally have multiple running simultaneously:
  • Flow models for engineering applications (parallels)
  • Data processing apps with files under 1GB (parallels)
  • Blender 3D modelling (generally boolean stuff, so CPU heavy calcs rather than GPU heavy) (Mac)
  • QGIS Mapping (Mac)
  • Python (Mac)
  • Excel / Word (Mac)
  • Various Adobe apps (Mac)
For the new computer, I am planning on the M4 Pro with the upgraded 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU. My main question is would I see a benefit from upgrading the memory from 24GB to 48GB? Do I need to go to 64GB? I am looking for a serious upgrade from my current set up.
 
Same question here. I am planning to upgrade my old iMac (i7, 16Gb, SSD upgraded) to the Mac mimi m4. My usage profile is common desktop tasks (mail, browsing,..), basic music edition (not professional) using Logic, Finale,... and Parallels running 2 or 3 (simultaneously) VMs using Windows 11 and/or Ubuntu, none of them have any "heavy" apps/tasks, just some Office and utilities.
Should I choose M4 or M4 Pro to run those 2 or 3 simultaneous VM's? How much memory would be required?
Thanks!
 
Definitely go 48GB.
I'm a newbie and am considering a similar upgrade, albeit with different requirements, and slightly less demand.
Right now, you need 8GB of RAM for OSX and another 8GB RAM for each VM running Windows. Factor in Apple's Intellignece down the track, and you are already at 16GB RAM of OSX. I'd go a minimum of 48GB RAM - allows for x1 OS X and x2 VM each 16GB - only US$400 upgrade.
future-proof moving forward, IMHO
Another US$200 to jump to 64GB, I can't say, but tempting if you have a tendency to hang on to hardware longer than most.
 
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