Early Experiences With an M4 Mini as a Secondary Computer

Hardware
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I wrote about my original setup back in November here – and now I’ve written some more about in here, as I’ve had it for some more time.

Does anyone else have a similar setup?
Any advice for stuff to use it for?

Currently, for me, it’s the following:

  • Backups
  • Light gaming
  • Media server, with Jellyfin
  • RSS server, with Miniflux
  • (In time: Probably HomeBridge and/or HomeAssistant)
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Tranks for sharing. My setup will be similar with a Plex server.

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I wish I could a backup Mac. Electricity prices are so insane here it costs an arm and a leg!

I use my Mac Mini M2 Pro (16/512) as my main computer/server. I also run an old Mac Mini 2012 i7 as my OPNsense router. I dedicated that because having it on the main computer is a big no-no as I would constantly lose my home network connection.

I estimate running the i7 2012 mini runs me about $65 a year in electricity which is a lot considering it’s sorta like a subscription expense.

I use my Mac Mini M2 Pro for:

  1. Audiobook server (w/ Prologue on iOS / Plex)
  2. Movie (Plex + Infuse Pro)
  3. Audio (Plex + Prism Music)
  4. Homebridge server (lets me control my Ring alarm with Siri using homepods!)
  5. Airprint server (HandyPrint). Bridges my printer to become airprintable
  6. HomeCam - view my 9 HomeKit cameras through my Mac.
    • DuckDNS server (Docker)
  8. Leave my Mac on so Mail client can process rules
  9. Minecraft server (Kiddo)
  10. Server as NAS. Acts like a NAS with my 2TB drive attached to it.
  11. Calibre book server. - can download my books from anywhere.
  12. Torrent - seed Linux ISOs for the community :sparkling_heart:
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Cool! I’m interested in hearing back when you get it going. :slightly_smiling_face:

If you don’t already have Plex Pass, I can recommend giving Jellyfin + Infuse a go. Infuse is a better player, and Jellyfin has worked flawlessly for me so far. (And it’s free – but that doesn’t matter if you already have lifetime Plex Pass.)

Oof, yeah that sounds rough!

But as you’re already using a Mini, it seems like you get most of the benefits you’d get from having a secondary one? Plenty of cool use cases!

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If you are only using the old Mac Mini as an OPNsense router, ignoring all the other potential apps and use, from a pure cost/performance point of view, have you considered a dedicated OPNsense appliance box with a lot smaller power draw?

Not suggesting you change anything, just curious as saving say, half of $65/year might amortize the cost of a much lower power box over the 3 to 5 year useful life?

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The M4 Mini just about had me. But I need a laptop to get my work done and I live in an apartment. A Mac Mini might be what I christen a house with.

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This man is right.

I have plex pass but I would rather buy infuse pro and use jelly fin at this point.

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