- So in this video, I wanna talk
about some of the problems I've been having
with the M1 Mac mini.
Now, I did another video where I discuss
why I transitioned from a $7,000 MacBook Pro
to a $800 Mac mini.
Now, after I made that video,
I've been doing a lot of different work on this computer,
and there's been a few things that have come up.
So don't get me wrong,
this is still a really powerful computer,
and it's still my main editing machine.
However, if you're gonna get into the Apple Silicon system
and the whole new processing, you're gonna have to think
about a few things before you make the transition.
Now, the first thing that's a big issue
is actually with the Mac mini itself,
and that is the Bluetooth connectivity,
because if you're using the Bluetooth from the Mac mini,
it seems to not connect with your keyboard or your mouse.
For a while, I was actually completely fine
using my keyboard and mouse,
and then it just stopped connecting.
So like the mouse would be super jumpy
or like I'd hit the keys and just nothing would happen.
And this is actually a problem with Mac minis.
And this isn't the first model that's had these problems,
but the Bluetooth just doesn't work right.
So the solution that I found
was I got a Logitech keyboard and mouse,
and these go to a Bluetooth dongle
that I actually have on the back of my desk.
And before I had this setup,
which is a pretty minimalist setup,
like there's nothing here,
all of my cables run through the wall,
and they go to that closet in the back over there.
And the reason for that
is I like to keep a pretty minimalist setup.
I don't like a lot of clutter on my desk when I'm working.
I just feel like it's very distracting
when I have all these things everywhere.
And so I really like this minimalist setup.
But originally because of the Bluetooth issues,
I did have my Mac mini on my desk,
and I still would have issues,
even if the mouse was like from here to here,
it still had issues.
So the solution is to just not use the Bluetooth.
And I have an extension cable that's a USB extension cable
that runs from my closet to the back of my desk.
And then I have the dongle just right here.
So if you're someone that uses Bluetooth mouse
and keyboard that doesn't have a dongle,
you might have an issue with the Mac mini.
Now the second problem is speed
with the eight gigabytes of RAM.
So originally, I had just the base model, Mac mini.
That was the one I could get a hold of.
And I, when I started working with it,
it worked fine in all the software that I was using.
Now, I use Final Cut to do my editing.
And the majority of what I do on my computer
is video editing and photo editing,
but more on the video editing side,
and I'm a Final Cut user.
So for the main piece of software that I use,
it is optimized for the Apple Silicon.
And the second biggest piece of software I use is Notion,
and that is also optimized.
But what I noticed is when I get into bigger edits.
So my last video that I did that was a massive edit,
was my Pony Express documentary.
That video took a lot of power.
And I saw that as I was editing it,
I kept hitting that eight gigabyte limit.
So I actually went and got the 16 gigabyte version,
512 internal storage.
And now when I'm editing,
I'm never actually hitting that limit.
I'm staying around 12 to 14 gigabytes of RAM at most.
So the 16 gigabytes is actually more than enough.
However, the eight gigabytes will work,
it just depends on your workflow.
If you're very intensive with the amount of footage you use
and the codecs that you're using, then yeah, the M1,
eight gigabyte might not be the best solution.
The 16 would be a better choice.
I've had no issues at all with the 16.
Any footage that I throw at it, it cuts it like butter.
And I use the Sony a7S Mark III.
It's not a very easy camera to work with on most machines
because of the codec that you get out of this camera,
but the 10-bit footage, I can play it smoothly
in real time with full quality and I don't have any issues,
and that's on Final Cut,
it doesn't necessarily work on all pieces of software.
On my last video that I made about this computer,
a lot of people were asking about Premier and Resolve
and all the pieces of software are in different phases.
But Final Cut is definitely the one
that is most optimized for the Silicon system right now.
So if you're a Final Cut user,
this is definitely a computer you should consider.
Now, one of the other big issues that I've had
is the apps that work with this new system.
Right now, not every app works.
And for me being a Final Cut user,
there's a ton of plugins that don't work.
So every time I open up Final Cut, I get this warning
of this just list of plugins that just don't work anymore.
And unfortunately, a lot of those plugins, I want to use.
So for me, I've had to kinda change the way
that I work to do my edits until the plugins
are gonna be available for the new M1 Max.
So I've been able to make it work,
but I wouldn't suggest everyone just jumped ship
and get this computer right away.
You really need to dig into your workflow,
and the different things that you need
to make your process faster.
It actually might be better to stay with an older system
and work in that ecosystem because all of the apps work,
versus transitioning to a new system and having to pick
and choose what you're gonna work with
because some things actually don't work that well.
One other issue that I've been having
is the ports that are available on the back of the machine.
It's definitely much better than the MacBook Pro,
which has two USB-Cs, but with the ports
that are available on the back of the Mac mini,
I still have to have a bunch of dongles
and extensions for my personal workflow.
Because I work off of two monitors,
and I also work with a ton of different hard drives
depending on the project that I'm working on.
So my solution has been two main dongles.
I have one that's a USB-C dongle,
that splits off into my monitor
and gives me some more USB attachments as well.
It's not the best, but it works for what I need.
And it also has a SD card slot.
And then the second dongle that I got is one for USB 3.0,
so it's just an extension that breaks out
into a bunch of different USB 3s.
So I've gotta be the fastest transfer times
and I'm not gonna use these two dongles to edit off of.
However, it allows me to add a lot more to this machine.
And that then leaves me two extra slots open,
another USB 3.0, and then another USB-C.
Now, I have the 512 version
which is more than enough to run the system,
however, I can't edit off that.
And one thing is,
if you want to get the fastest edit time possible,
you probably wanna edit off the internal storage.
And I've noticed that the speeds are much faster
if I edit off of that internal storage.
So ideally, you would probably wanna get the two terabyte,
because then that becomes a machine
that you can work off of internally.
Whereas with the 512, I have to use external hard drive.
And the one that I have
is the Samsung T7 which works super well.
It's a really fast SSD drive, I have a two terabyte of that.
And that seems to be the best
in terms of speed when it comes to editing.
So I basically load up that drive
with whatever project I'm working on,
and just edit off of that.
And the reason that I went this route
with the 512 versus the two terabyte,
is because I also have a MacBook Pro,
and I wanna be able to be mobile.
So having my edit station here is great,
but there's a lot of times
where I'm not necessarily gonna be home,
and I still wanna be able to edit my projects.
So for me, it made more sense with my workflow
to just work off of a SSD drive,
and then flip between both my laptop
and my system here in my office.
Or if you just have like an edit bay
and you just have one place where you're gonna be working,
then I would suggest getting
the two-terabyte internal storage on the Mac mini,
because that's gonna be the fastest way
to work off of this computer.
And then you also don't take up one of your USB Cs.
Now with this Mac mini,
it's definitely much better than the laptops,
even my four USB-C laptop, MacBook Pro that I used to have.
It's still better because it's got things
like your network cable and your HDMI out.
So HDMI goes to one monitor,
the dongle goes to the other monitor,
and then that network out, I go to my Synology server,
and that works super well for my setup.
So what I basically have done,
is put everything in the closet,
I have a rack case that I've built out there.
It's got my Synology servers,
it's got all of my hard drives, everything configured
for the Mac mini, and everything plugged in.
So I'm never having to actually go and plug extra stuff in.
And I think that's important with a system,
is build it out in a way where you're not having
to reconfigure things all the time.
So dongle life is a real thing, even on the Mac mini,
and it's something to consider.
But if you're working off a MacBook Pro,
you're gonna be in the world of dongles, anyway.
I think the only computer where you might not be
in so many dongle world is going to be the Mac Pro.
This is a super cheap computer
for being one of the fastest machines that I've worked on.
It's pretty insane the kind of speeds
that you get when you're working in Final Cut Pro
on a computer that costs so much less
than all the other pro machines.
If you wanna see any of the pieces of equipment
that I use to build my editing suite,
I'll put a link down below,
description to a kit that has everything.
And also if you have any questions
about how to configure the Mac mini,
then go down in the comments and let me know down there.
But next, I highly suggest
you check out this video right here.
It goes through why I switched from Panasonic to Sony.
And as I mentioned earlier in this video,
workflow is super important to me.
So that's one of the main reasons
that I've switched my entire camera setup
from Panasonic's to Sony.
All right, guys, I'll see you over there.