Side by side
Apple M1 Max vs Mac Mini M4
Apple M1 Max
39 positive (93%) · 2 mixed (5%) · 1 negative (2%)
Trust + time weighted: +92%
AI summary — not a quote
The Apple M1 Max is widely regarded by users as a high-performance 'beast' that maintains its relevance years after its initial release. It is particularly praised for its longevity and the value it offers on the used or refurbished market, where it often outperforms newer base-model chips in tasks requiring high RAM and GPU cores. Users transitioning from Intel-based Macs describe the performance jump as 'night and day,' highlighting its efficiency in video editing and software development.
Pros
- Exceptional longevity with users reporting it still feels 'snappy' and powerful years later
- Fast video export times thanks to dedicated built-in encoders
- Excellent performance-to-price ratio when purchased used or refurbished
- Quiet operation; fans often remain off even during demanding tasks like software compilation
Cons
- The 16-inch MacBook Pro model is noted for being heavy and less portable
- Specific GPU-intensive tasks like noise reduction may be slower than some dedicated PC GPUs
- RAM and storage are not upgradeable, necessitating high initial specs
Top excerpts
Yes. It’s still a beast. For non-programming/engineering work, this machine will give you many years of snappy service still.
I bought my used, but absolutely mint condition M1 Max MBP 16 for around $1500 USD a year ago
I have a 16" M1 Max and while it is a massive quality of life upgrade over my old Razer with an RTX 2080, the Razer still ran GPU intensive video workloads like noise reduction a bit quicker. Export times are way faster overall though due to the M1's built in encoders tho.
If you value high RAM, high storage, or high GPU performance, get a refurbished/used M1 Max or M2 Max. ... I recently upgraded from a base M1 Pro to a fully loaded M1 Max that was cheaper than buying the base M5 Pro and I’m glad I did. It has 64GB ram and 4TB storage which feels amazing.
M1 Max/Pro still goes super strong.
Mac Mini M4
10 positive (100%) · 0 mixed (0%) · 0 negative (0%)
Trust + time weighted: +100%
Top excerpts
Because at that budget an M4 Mac Mini is probably the easiest option.
If not I’m just goingto get a m4 mac mini, already use a MacBook so why not.
M4 Mac Mini should give you better performance as you get faster single core and much better graphics performance.
I recently switched to a base model M4 Mac Mini for 4K video editing because my old PC couldn’t handle the footage
Bonus points for having access to the entire Apple creator studio, which for photo and video work is a very nice plus.