If you've ever wondered what Mac Mini M4 to buy...

I put mine to the test today. I'm not interested in benchmarks but real-world testing—you know, when you open some apps, put them under some load and see if they are still going.

I bought the base model M4 with the 16GB RAM. I was torn between that and 24GB. I never questioned storage, as I can add more later at a lower cost than an upgrade with Apple.

I’m a casual user on a day-to-day basis, but a user that leaves a machine running 24/7 as it is used as a server and, therefore, should always be accessible. I must add that the Mac Mini is headless, so I rely on remote desktop applications to take control.

I was replacing a top-end Late 2012 Intel Core i7 Quad Core, so anything I would replace it with would be a massive jump in performance.

Switching from Intel to Silicon was a slight concern for me, as I use Virtual Machines. I'm pleased to be able to say that running two instances of Ubuntu ARM in VMware has been no problem at all. These are Ubuntu Server VMs, each with a single core and 1GB RAM per VM. One VM runs Pi-hole and PiVPN, while the other runs Docker, and there is Datarhei's streamer for RTMP.

Now, straight to the test, I have had all of these things running on the base model:

2x Ubuntu VMs in VMware, 1 core, 1GB for each

3 Desktop Screens, one Dummy HDMI dongle, and two BetterDisplay Pro screens. And on each screen:

Dummy Display: OBS for screen capture of 3rd screen to send to RTMP

Second Display: Steam running for Steam Link and Ryujinx via Steam

Third Display: Brave Browser window with live video playing

The background:

Wireguard VPN Loopback for Audio capture from the browser

All of the above was running without any issues. I tested gameplay in a remote location using Steam Link on Apple TV and confirmed that the live stream was being captured as tested on another device that was available to view it.

Yeah, so the 16GB model is going to serve me well I think.