Hardware update - stick with M1 MBA, update to M3 MBA or go with M4 mini ?

pfschim

pfschim

Just a Skeleton with a Jazz bass
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Apr 26, 2006
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#1
I'm pretty clear on what I'm going to do, but I thought I'd pose the question and see what the collective wisdom and experience of TB has to say.

I'm currently working on an M1 MacBook Air with 16gb ram and a 1TB ssd. My SiL gave it to me out of spares from his company, so it was a pretty good deal for me ;)
I use Logic Pro, Reaper and Ableton (lately mostly Logic Pro) and a Focusrite Gen3 18i3. It all works fine for my needs, although I have been able to choke the M1 MBA a few times with project files that had quite a few more software instrument parts than I usually run.

My goal is to future proof the computer core of my recording rig and, as I did not pay anything for the M1 MBA, I'm good to drop some $$ to update/upgrade.

FWIW, I also got and used a Intel i7 based Mac mini in the same exchange. I liked the Mini format because it had plenty of ports and did not require me to use an external Thunderbolt port expander like I have to do with the MBA and I do have a nice external monitor, keyboard and mouse.

So, my choices are to grab an M3 MBA with 16gb ram and 1TB ssd, or an M4 Mini with similar specs. I understand the M4 provides more processing power vs the M3, and more onboard ports, but I don't think the M3 will be challenged by anything I would plan to do for recording work and I already have a good Thunderbolt port expander that I use with the M1 MBA.

Any thoughts ?
 
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#3
silky smoove said:
I run absolutely massive sessions on a 2018 Intel i7 Mini, so even your M1 would be a big step up for me :p

All that to say, I think you’ll be hard pressed to go wrong either way.
Click to expand...
yeah, that's why it's a pretty easy decision either way. It kind of comes down to the portability of a MBA vs the more port rich Mini.

I think the Mini I have is a 2017 i7 with 32gb RAM and 1TB ssd. It worked great, but it does have a fan that would spin up pretty readily when I did anything much more than just a few tracks .... and the MBA really spoiled me as far as fan noise.
 
#4
If you are doing most of your recording in one place, I would recommend a Mac Mini, preferably with the M4 Pro chip for longer future proofing. You can still use the MBA on the road if needed, but you’ll have a super solid computer with plenty of ports for years to come with the Mini. That Pro chip is very nice and comes with 24 GB of memory, which makes a noticeable difference with running plugins.
 
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#5
m4m is not mobile device
it has only five expansion ports if i recall
you know if you have a need for field work or indoors only

m3mba 15" is similarly priced to m4mbp 14" that has more ports

i, personally, went w/ studio. from 5,1 big tower. lot of internal storage was replaced w/ external storage. winter 2025 is the end of 3yrs replacement cycle and will see then what are my options.

and, if you ask me, i would never go w/ 1Tb internal disc, unless you do video. would rather invest in 32Gb RAM [and m4m that supports 32Gb RAM]

external storage is a bit expensive, but when time comes to replace your computer, you only unplug from the old one, plug into the new one and carry on with our work. look around for deals. when jumped from macpro to studio, got one wd usb3 10Tb for 200€. few months later another one of 12Tb for the same price. backup and mass storage solved. this spring used an owc thunderbolt case w/ 16Tb wd red drives appeared for 300€. got them in RAID0. this summer a dealer had huge discount on owc thunderbolt case that takes 4 ssd. whole deal, with four 1Tb NVMe sticks done for just 500€.
day job, i work on graphics both motion and still. need storage. ;)

hope i helped a bit.
 
#6
m3 used to have problems with daws, no clue if they're resolved yet. m1/m2 pro can be a bit better than your current setup, but frankly if your setup works for you, there's no much point in future-proofing that way, as there will be an m5 next year.

this said, an active cooling mac is IMO a better investment for real-time tasks and future-proofing. they can get pretty warm with daws, passive ones will throttle at this point.

usually people don't upgrade their macs every 1-2 years, so I'd just sit back and relax.
 
#7
Are you doing field recording? If not, why are you looking at a laptop? That portability comes with a price premium. You get more actual compute resources with a desktop machine. And for a DAW, you’ll want a nice big screen, which makes the laptop screen redundant.

I have enjoyed my base model Mac Studio. I recommend that over a Mini, if you can afford the price difference.
 
#9
I have a 2012 MacBook Pro, 16GB/500GB and a brand new M3 Pro MacBook Pro 24GB/1TB.

The 2012 still handles Logic and Ableton 11 very well.

The M3 Pro is a beast.

I still want a MacMini to keep stationary.

That being said, the M1 is still no slouch compared to the Intel stuff.
 
#10
Thanks to all for the thoughts on this. As Silky said, no matter what I do, I'm going to be in good shape.

The M1 MBA has been fine and I got it for free (nice son-in-law with too much gear on his hands ;) )

I already have a nice external monitor and keyboard for use with the MBA as well as the i7 mini I got, so I have those things covered.

I have choked the MBA a few times in the past 6 months, but it could have been other resource loading issues and not Logic.

Since I paid nothing for the MBA, I can easily justify an update to the computer part of my recording setup. I guess I would mostly be doing this for future proofing, and with the recent US elections and possible new tariff wars, some tech prices may jump (all speculation on my part of course).

I don't really do any mobile recording work, but I do bring my laptop when I travel for any length of time (more than a week), so there's that argument in favor of the M3 MBA. I don't think I have yet to push the MBA into thermal throttling yet, but it's hard for me to know either way.

As @MrVentures pointed out, my best bet may be to get a spec'd up M4Pro mini for my main home system, and keep the M1 MBA for mobility purposes.

Thanks again for the input and insights! 👍
 
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#11
I enjoy my MacBook because I use it at my studio space, at home and even checking and tweaking mixes in bed with headphones.

I have essentially the same monitors at my studio and home so mixing stays pretty consistent
 
#12
I am still rocking a 2010 MBP with 16GB of RAM. and 2TB although I have Mac Mini M2 as well. I will use the M2 for running additional plug-ins and used it for bouncing because it is fast. I think any generation, MacBook Air is a compromise. I do have very good Interfaces that have native or hardware accelerated plugins. Antelope Audio Zen Tour and UAD Apollo. They do the heavy lifting. I also have Outboard preamps in a portable. 300 lunchbox format. So the PC is basically a console emulation display my DAW amd recording storage that is why I can get away with a 14 year old machine.

Having said that I am going to upgrade to a better MacBook before the years end. Daughter works for Apple so will get the employee discount for a laptop this year
 
#13
I've been using a 2020 MBP Intel I9 notebook for, well, since 2020. I do a fair amount of remote recording and I have yet to choke the machine, but admittedly, I do live recordings of bands, groups, a couple of orchestras, etc. Few to no software instruments.

With all this in mind, I'm eyeing an M4 MBP when they come out (they may be out, haven't looked). But just a week ago, I recorded a 11-piece horn band with my Intel MBP. Didn't break a sweat (well, any more than usual, it does run kinda warm, as this were known for....)

I worked with a couple of M2 and M3 machines here and there. I wasn't even aware of some so-called problem with DAWS until I read about it. I've seen nothing of the sort. But recording isn't my full-time job, so I may have missed one somewhere.
 
#14
logdrum said:
I am still rocking a 2010 MBP with 16GB of RAM. and 2TB although I have Mac Mini M2 as well. I will use the M2 for running additional plug-ins and used it for bouncing because it is fast. I think any generation, MacBook Air is a compromise. I do have very good Interfaces that have native or hardware accelerated plugins. Antelope Audio Zen Tour and UAD Apollo. They do the heavy lifting. I also have Outboard preamps in a portable. 300 lunchbox format. So the PC is basically a console emulation display my DAW amd recording storage that is why I can get away with a 14 year old machine.

Having said that I am going to upgrade to a better MacBook before the years end. Daughter works for Apple so will get the employee discount for a laptop this year
Click to expand...
I used the 2017 i7 mini as well as the 2020 M1 MBA. For the recording stuff I do, I have not found the MBA to be a compromise at all. A port expander gives me all the external ports I need and the fanless experience has been outstanding. The 2017 i7 Mac Mini is well configured with 32gb ram and a 1TB ssd, but its cooling fan does spin up under load (even with my fairly modest projects) and while it's not crazy loud, it's certainly louder than the totally silent MBA.
 
#15
I've been using Macs for 30 years, and in my latest transition I went from a decent spec Intel iMac to a MacBook Air M2. I'm not doing anything crazy with sample libraries but definitely use a lot of plugs and the Apple Silicon Air is the smoothest, fastest machine I've ever owned. Have had no issue with throttling and heat has ceased to be an issue. I can't even wrap my head around what the power must be like on the Minis and Pro laptop models. Meanwhile, my work high spec Windows laptop is fan city with four hours worth of battery at best..
 
#16
pfschim said:
I used the 2017 i7 mini as well as the 2020 M1 MBA. For the recording stuff I do, I have not found the MBA to be a compromise at all. A port expander gives me all the external ports I need and the fanless experience has been outstanding. The 2017 i7 Mac Mini is well configured with 32gb ram and a 1TB ssd, but its cooling fan does spin up under load (even with my fairly modest projects) and while it's not crazy loud, it's certainly louder than the totally silent MBA.
Click to expand...
I do a lot of Orchestral libraries and the MBA that my daughter gave me is not cutting it, that is why I got the Mini
 
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