Microsoft tried before using their Windows RT with arm and failed miserablely. Thought arm is dead, But then Apple come to the rescue and released M1. Did not expect it run well on their own chip & OS ,then continue to expand till M4.

Moving away from using Intel seem to be correct way.

Now apple seem to be in better position especially saw what they tried to do with ram increased to 16GB on all models [thanks to AI].

This year i feel apple really nail it with correct strategy on M4 Mac mini. Even ipad move to 128GB storage compare to previous 64GB.

This post has been edited by ericlaiys: Nov 17 2024, 12:42 AM

Jumping on the bandwagon and everyone's excitement, what's your take on upgrading the MM's internal SSD from 256GB to 512GB?

Don’t do it. Get an external 1TB ssd for cheaper.

So it's not true that should there be insufficient RAM, it'll draw off power from the SSD and uhmm slow the entire system down or something to that effect? The more I read the more confused I get man.... but I am definitely glad to hear your reply

Might need to bother you though as I start learning more about external SSDs/NVMe, etc etc.

This post has been edited by tinkerbel: Nov 17 2024, 12:21 PM

Internal storage 256gb more than enough. I have survived 4 years. I just add on 2tb nvme
Waste of money to upgrade internal storage. Besides trade in value is only higher when base model rather than upgrade.

Ram bump to 16gb memory is great for normal use.
Last time my m1 run 8gb and 256gb can do video editing as well

This post has been edited by ericlaiys: Nov 17 2024, 01:07 PM

With 16GB now, it would mostly be sufficient. I used to have the m2 base 8GB and 256GB. It uses swap(get storage as ram) when ram is not sufficient and it's only uses around 1-2GB more. The max I've seen was 5-6GB swap because I was running big ai language model.

It won't slow anything down when it's using swap.

It's almost RM1000 just to go from 256GB to 512GB, that's 50% the cost of an entire Mac Mini M4 256GB (education pricing), if you ask me I'd rather top up a bit more and get two Mac Mini M4's for that price.

This post has been edited by jonthebaptist: Nov 17 2024, 01:31 PM

I will wait until the internal SSD is come out from third party. Is waste to change just the chips alone.

Still no availability date for Malaysia right?

Sirim not yet approve

Another question - will I be able to run applications off the external SSD drive? I'm thinking, if others are porting their entire Home folder and booting their system from it, I should be able to run applications like Photoshop and maybe some games from it right?

Another question - will I be able to run applications off the external SSD drive? I'm thinking, if others are porting their entire Home folder and booting their system from it, I should be able to run applications like Photoshop and maybe some games from it right?

yes you can. view this youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtIbGq6Od6o
get thunderbolt 4/usb4 nvme enclosure, then it run even better like internal storage

This post has been edited by ericlaiys: Nov 17 2024, 08:44 PM

Booting off external ssd wil disable the ability to use Apple intelligence and Apple Pay. I have thought about it but knowing the caveats, wouldn’t go to this route. You can install apps to external ssd though straight from AppStore. Or just moving the apps from application folder to external ssd.

Yes, I'm aware about disabling Apple Intelligence. Don't intend to boot entire system off the SSD, just running apps off it as you say. Just wanted to clarify that it's doable. My existing system without any documents and just app tells me I have 160GB installed on it. I will need to wipe some off!

@ericlaiys
Will check out the YT link you provided. Now I've to go learn about NVMe storages!

can, and then create alias inside the application folder as if it's on the machine instead of SSD.

been using such setup for a few years, TB3 nvme drive + Mac mini

For external drive I plan to get Acasis TBU405ProM1 + WD SN850X 2TB combo is that a good combo? Not sure the 850X is a bit overkill for TB4 or I shall just get the SN770 intead?

This post has been edited by muman7: Nov 18 2024, 09:37 AM

depend price difference. But surely the speed is overkill for TB4. It's already limited to around 3500-4000MB/s. Unless you get thunderbolt 5 enclosure and M4 Pro. But don't think market has any TB5 enclosure yet.

I am getting OWC Envoy Ultra 2TB as external storage.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-ultra

This post has been edited by Barricade: Nov 18 2024, 10:38 AM

Design does not seems to have any internal fan. TB5, and speed around 6000MB/s... can fry egg or not on the casing?

If it overheats, it would shut down.