I'm thinking about purchasing the new M4 Mac Mini equipped with 16GB of unified memory and a 512GB SSD. I'm a full-stack web developer, and my typical tech stack includes React, Next.js, Tailwind, TypeScript for the frontend, and Node.js, Express, Laravel, and Spring Boot for the backend. I also work with MySQL, MongoDB, and PostgreSQL, often using Docker. Alongside my web development work, I occasionally need to run Android Studio for app development, which means using emulators with my backend services. Although I'm not involved in heavy video editing or AI/ML workloads, I do prioritize a smooth development experience, quick builds, and efficient multi-service operations. Will the M4 Mac Mini with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD be sufficient for my needs over the next few years? I'm curious if anyone has experience with similar setups and can share insights on performance, thermal throttling, or SSD constraints.
3 Answers
Yeah, it's more than enough! I’ve been using an older setup for years, and the M4 would be a significant upgrade. Just remember that IDEs like Android Studio can use a lot of RAM, so while 16GB is generally fine, consider upgrading to 32GB if you're running multiple resource-heavy applications at once.
While 16GB of RAM is usually fine, I'd suggest you keep an eye on using Docker, as it can be RAM-intensive depending on how you have things set up. If you find yourself maxing out memory often, it might be worth thinking about a RAM upgrade down the line.
Definitely, the M4 Mac Mini with 16GB should be plenty for your needs, especially since you're not diving into heavy video tasks or AI. The ARM chips are great for development workloads and should handle your stack smoothly. Just keep an eye on your SSD space, especially with Android Studio, as it can take up quite a bit with cached files and projects.
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