Looking to replace my 2018 (i7 / 32 GB / 1 TB) Mac Mini server. It runs Plex, manages a 24 TB DAS RAID 5 array, handles stuff I’d like to keep off my laptop (video transcoding, etc.) and acts as the “source of truth” for my files.
Considering getting a base M4 (M4 / 16 GB / 256 GB) Mac Mini to replace it. In particular, considering getting one NOW so I have the choice about whether/when to upgrade to Golden Gate. Ship date for a Mini ordered TODAY is mid-August. So I still have some time, but not much.
I’m thinking that if I treat this purchase as a “pure server” Mac, and keep all non-essential files on the DAS, I could get by with the base M4 Mini. Basically the Mac would primarily be a place to put software that operates on the files stored on the DAS.
I’ve done an aggressive clean of the files on my 2018 Mini. Basically, I tried to configure it like the M4 I’m looking to get. Uninstalled apps I don’t need, adjusted my Dropbox selective sync settings, etc. At this point, I have 177 GB used. So on a 250 GB Mac, that would be about 70% utilization, which seems like enough of a cushion.
Is there any reason any of you can think of that I’d need to bump up the RAM or the SSD? Like something coming down the pike that I’m not considering? I know AI will get more ubiquitous, but to me that’s what my 36 GB / M4 Max laptop is for.
At this point the Mini is still relatively cheap ($800), and I’m thinking that saving the extra for the next upgrade (hopefully 5 or 6 years out) would be the better choice.
You might want to look into how much Apple Intelligence is going to take up in space for the models in Golden Gate. I have heard on MacRumors forum it could take up to 50 gigs of space. you are using 177 GB right now. you might want to think bumping up to 512 GB for storage.
My home server is an M4/16/256GB MacBook Air that runs Arqbackup and Google Drive for Desktop and is 95% idle most of the time. My internal drive is rarely more than 50% full because I keep most files on an external SSD.
I used to dream of a Mac Mini in my four door pickup, a display mounted on the back of one of the seats, my truck a rolling data center.
Unfortunately, I became a victim of practicality. Laptops, as it turns out, are pretty handy in a variety of settings.
So now I dream of mounting a second display for my Macbook in my truck, which I’m sad to say breathed its last and was involuntarily replaced through cruel tangled fate with a minivan.
I want to hate minivans. On a remote riverbank, sitting in a third row seat with the second row stowed, I have to admit. It’s a pretty cool roving office.
I’m not saying this is a good solution but it might be a solution that you haven’t considered that might work for you so I’ll mention it:
You could try setting your Mac laptop to always remain on when it’s plugged into power. I actually had a fancy setup where my laptop always remained turned on if it was plugged in on a high wattage charger (even with lid closed). E.g. >30W, >20W, lower. At the lower values it would go to sleep below certain battery percentages thereby meaning that it will always have some battery when I come to use it but if it’s on a sufficiently high wattage charger it will just stay alive 24/7. This meant that I got 90% of ‘always on’ without having to actually have a dedicated device.
I’ve since moved to a server + laptop. If you’re mainly wanting better cpu/gpu for batch processing tasks, then ‘launchd’ plus the above power management idea could be a solution.
The laptop goes with me when I go places, and other people expect the server to be available - so that’s not a solution, unfortunately. There are other things happening as well that need to be available 24/7, not just when my laptop is home.
I’m in a similar situation but I’m going to wait until after the next processor update. My Mini is also my main backup computer, something that’s even more important to me now that I spend a lot of time on the other side of the country for work.
All of my important data is in cloud services that get synced to the Mini, which then backs it up in various ways (rsync to external drive, TimeMachine, Backblaze). Because of this, the Mini needs a large enough internal SSD to have all of my cloud storage synced to it, which is the only upgrade that I’d look at over a base model.
If backing up your cloud storage locally is important to you then having a large enough internal SSD to hold it all is (more or less) necessary.
30% free doesn’t seem like a lot of free space given
when you want to upgrade to a newer version (even point versions) you’ll need to download the installer
New OSs are likely to use more space
with the advent of Apple Intelligence, especially if it’s mandated as some point rather than optional, even more space, and potentially more swap space required.
Just out of curiosity, is there any reason other than “it’s not time yet”?
This is my one reservation. My current workaround is that my laptop downloads everything, backs up via Arq to the Mini, and then the Arq backups are backed up. It’s a bit convoluted, but I think it solves the problem.
Mostly because of the feeling that the M5 will be out “soon” coupled with the fact that the current machine (last generation Intel Mini, i5, 64GB, 2TB) is stil performing well as a file/backup server. I’m in no hurry so I may as well wait for the next generation (or until the current machine can no longer run a supported version of MacOS).
Edit to add: 64GB was excessive but I thought that since it would be my last Intel Mac and I run some Windows VMs, I’d ensure that I would have a place to run them if necessary. It turns out that ARM Windows VMs run Intel software well enough for me. The next Mini will have 16GB RAM or whatever the minimum turns out to be when it’s released.
To quote Stan from South Park, “I learned something today.” I was thinking “supported” basically meant “latest” (and Apple has dropped Intel with Golden Gate), but after a quick Google I see Apple has a rolling window of about 3-ish years for security updates.
That may change my calculus on purchasing. I’d still like to have the choice about when/whether to upgrade, but if my current Mac is good until 2028 then that gives me significantly more runway.
Not really for the use case you’re describing. An M4-class CPU and 16GB look enough for me. Obviously having 24TB of attached storage means your bulk storage needs are going to be well served.
But one thing I fail to understand is why you have 177GB used? Video transcoding I would guess you’re doing it in an external disk, but perhaps you have caches or older stuff lingering around. The other app you mention is Plex, but again 177GB space taken only by seems to me excessively high.
On the other hand, you could potentially boot from an external dedicated drive so if you’re in a pinch down the road you could boot from a 1TB external SSD.
That surprised me too. I’m still digging through DaisyDisk to identify issues. I’m down to 121 GB, so that’s even more headroom.
But other than /Applications and /Users, my system is burning about 54 GB of space. /Applications is 9 GB, mostly small stuff that I just want to keep around (LibreOffice, VLC, etc.). Docker is a few gigabytes. And I have maybe 5 GB of Dropbox stuff synced over.
I’m coming to the conclusion that caches are a huge part of it. Plex is burning 12 GB of cache. And while I only have about 6 GB of email, MailMate seems to be burning another 6-7 GB in caches and indexes.
This is giving me fond memories of way back when I got an 80 megabyte hard drive and thought I’d never run out of storage again.
