71-90K Mac Mini M4 v/s Mac M2 v/s Windows

divyanshvrma

divyanshvrma

Apprentice
Hi! I have a budget of around 80-85k for a laptop/pc
I already have a low specs laptop so incase I buy a pc and need to travel, I can carry the current laptop. Mostly I work from home so portability is not a major issue
What would u suggest to go with?
I edit videos for creators and produce music (After effects and Fl Studio)
 
If on windows machines and you are sailing the seas to get your softwares, do check before buying a mac machine, if your softwares are available through illegitimate ways.

Of course if you already have geniune license then it's no problem.

Since you mentioned after effects and the color accuracy matters to you consider getting the macbook or iMac you will get a well calibrated display.
 
divyanshvrma said:
Hi! I have a budget of around 80-85k for a laptop/pc
I already have a low specs laptop so incase I buy a pc and need to travel, I can carry the current laptop. Mostly I work from home so portability is not a major issue
What would u suggest to go with?
I edit videos for creators and produce music (After effects and Fl Studio)
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piracy (windows) else Mac any time. also for Mac, of for m4
 
Close your eyes and go for macbook air m4 base model. If you need storage later get an nvme ssd and a thunderbolt enclosure for high speed. Or cheap usbc one for around 1500.
Btw there are many small retailers offering good offers on Macbook air m4. So don't buy without checking. Plus edu offers on apple site

M4 Macbook air base model is 80k from one of these offline dealers with apple warranty. In case you don't find it anywhere else, dm me. I'll give you the details. Don't want to promote them unless absolutely needs it with no mainstream alternative.
 
Base model macs might not be a good fit for your stated requirements since they're limited to 16 gigs of ram. If you pay +Rs.20,000 you can upgrade the base mac mini m4 to 24gb ram and it would be in your budget. I would personally want at least 32 gigs of ram.

If you can somehow take advantage of the student discounts, you could get the m4 mini base model with 32gb ram for ₹87900 ( or 24gb at ₹69900 ).
 
Midhun said:
Base model macs might not be a good fit for your stated requirements since they're limited to 16 gigs of ram. If you pay +Rs.20,000 you can upgrade the base mac mini m4 to 24gb ram and it would be in your budget. I would personally want at least 32 gigs of ram.

If you can somehow take advantage of the student discounts, you could get the m4 mini base model with 32gb ram for ₹87900 ( or 24gb at ₹69900 ).
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I know what you mean, I have 2 macbines with MAx chips and 64gb ram. But Nothing is enough for after effects.
I use base m4 mac mini and it works great and runs a few offline LLMs too. Video editing is great too. You cant have unlimited use at limited budget.
To go for 24gb ram you'll need to buy from apple directly which is at min 10k more. That means you're spending 30k for 8gb ram.
If these requirements are non-negotiable, I suggest getting secondhand M2-m3 macbook pros. Which will add more cost but atleast wont be a ripoff.
 
Party Monger said:
Close your eyes and go for macbook air m4 base model. If you need storage later get an nvme ssd and a thunderbolt enclosure for high speed. Or cheap usbc one for around 1500.
Btw there are many small retailers offering good offers on Macbook air m4. So don't buy without checking. Plus edu offers on apple site

M4 Macbook air base model is 80k from one of these offline dealers with apple warranty. In case you don't find it anywhere else, dm me. I'll give you the details. Don't want to promote them unless absolutely needs it with no mainstream alternative.
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Thunderbolt enclosures are upwards of 10K. Just get 512 space internal. And 10gbps enclosure.
 
32/256 m4 mini with student discount and get an NVme Ssd and enclosure.
there might be some credit card discounts available too.
Screenshot 2025-06-01 at 6.30.58 PM.png
 
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princeoo7 said:
I paid something around 7.6k or 40Gbps one. working pretty well. else 3 to 4k one for 10Gbps enclosure.
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10gbs ones are under 2k wide variety. I got wavelink thunderbolt around 5k, its OOS since then.
abhaysk94 said:
32/256 m4 mini with student discount and get an NVme Ssd and enclosure.
there might be some credit card discounts available too.
View attachment 238383
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There is no point in spending that much with M4. That chip will be a bottleneck much before the ram.
If needed better to go for M4 pro which is a much more capable chip. but nearly double.
Or older m3 pros.

You can also go for M1 Max studio or M2 max studio. Much better chips and overall performance in creative apps. Waaay more ports. Dual encoders. Im also selling my M1 max studio for 1.25L. 32gb ram and M1 max chip. 512 ssd. Just saying.
 
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divyanshvrma said:
Hi! I have a budget of around 80-85k for a laptop/pc
I already have a low specs laptop so incase I buy a pc and need to travel, I can carry the current laptop. Mostly I work from home so portability is not a major issue
What would u suggest to go with?
I edit videos for creators and produce music (After effects and Fl Studio)
Click to expand...
A windows PC would be a better choice for you
 
dafreaking said:
You'd be surprised. I've had editors who have interviewed with me for gigs and they are very open about not using legit stuff. Anyway.. That's going off topic.

@OP
Whatever you do, try for a minimum of 32gigs of RAM
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yea I know! but if work is for orgs its better to not use pirated stuff due to security reasons.


+1 for 32gb or more. yesterday I tried optimizing 600 plus photos with clop and ended crashing a Mac :hilarious: memory exhausted error message :P
 
dafreaking said:
@OP
Whatever you do, try for a minimum of 32gigs of RAM
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16gb is more than enough unless you have specialized workloads like animating on Adobe. IF you hit a limit like batch photo editing once in a year, you can always split the load. Apple devices cost a lot more for ram updates as retail discounts dont apply on apple website and the upgrade itself costs a lot.
If you do want 32gb you'll find base Macbook pros for a little more generally with 36gb ram. Performance will be much better.
 
Party Monger said:
16gb is more than enough unless you have specialized workloads like animating on Adobe. IF you hit a limit like batch photo editing once in a year, you can always split the load. Apple devices cost a lot more for ram updates as retail discounts dont apply on apple website and the upgrade itself costs a lot.
If you do want 32gb you'll find base Macbook pros for a little more generally with 36gb ram. Performance will be much better.
Click to expand...

Err the OP mentions After Effects. 16gb is going to feel inadequate very soon.

I'm aware of the Apple tax on RAM and Storage. With storage you can still get away with using external Ssds, but there's no other solution for ram other than getting a higher spec right if the bat.
 
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