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Configure an M4 Mac for Video Editing

[ Update, Nov. 18, 2024. I just finished testing all three video editors. Based on what I’ve learned, I’ve changed my opinion on RAM and GPUs. I also added new comments and modified my hardware recommendations. ]

After finishing my performance testing of both NLE software and a range of Macs, it is clear that the M4-series Macs continue Apple’s tradition of delivering outstanding computer performance in a variety of form factors at (mostly) affordable prices.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

SO, SHOULD YOU BUY ONE?

Maybe.

The big benefit to M4-computers is support for more and larger monitors and, on M4 Pro and M4 Max systems, support for Thunderbolt 5. However, Thunderbolt 5 also requires buying Thunderbolt 5 storage hardware.

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INTERNAL STORAGE PERFORMANCE

I looked at the speeds of various internal drives. All M-series computers have internal drives roughly equivalent to the fastest Thunderbolt 5 external unit, which is about 6,000 MB/second.

However, tests using both Final Cut and Premiere also show that they are not exporting data anywhere close to Thunderbolt 5 speeds. FCP exports max out around 1.2 GB/second. Resolve and Premiere are both slower.

In general, buy enough internal storage to hold the operating system, all applications and work files. I have a 2 TB system on my M2 Max Mac Studio and I’m using 500 GB of it. Use external storage for all projects and media.

The big benefit to Thunderbolt 5 – currently – is that file transfers using Finder or other third-party file transfer software will come close to filling a Thunderbolt 5 pipe – assuming the storage hardware is fast enough to support that speed. This makes handling giant files much easier and faster. But it won’t make much difference – yet – to your NLE.

PLANNING YOUR CONFIGURATION

As you plan your new system, here are some considerations to keep in mind:

Laptop or Desktop

If you need portability, buy a laptop. If not, desktops will cost less and, generally, have better heat management. All M4 Macs include a monitor and keyboard, except for the Mac mini.

M4 vs. M4 Pro vs. M4 Max

If you are a hobbyist, with a limited budget, or don’t edit that much, or principally need it for office work – web, word processing, spreadsheets, databases and the like – the M4 is TOTALLY perfect.

If you need/want Thunderbolt 5 – and the additional external monitors it supports – you must get a system with an M4 Pro or M4 Max chip.

If you are doing massive multicam edits, working with gigantic frame sizes, have zero time for anything to render, work with 3D space, or create animated videos; all of these will benefit from an M4 Pro or M4 Max chip. (The M4 Max is nice to have for media editing, but it has power you’ll never use.)

If you have the budget, but don’t know – yet – what you want to do with it, get a system with the M4 Pro chip.

CPU Cores

More cores provides more performance. But even base-level systems have more than enough performance for media editing. Keep in mind that, in general, M4 systems are roughly as fast as M2 systems and 10X, or more, faster than any Intel system.

UPDATE: Regarding efficiency vs. performance cores, no software maxes out all the cores all the time. So, there’s no reason to spend extra for more CPU cores. I generally recommend something in the middle. In fact, both FCP and Resolve use efficiency cores more than performance cores for playback and rendering.

GPU Cores

Increasingly, our NLEs are using GPUs more effectively. More GPUs will help both simple and complex projects with rendering and export.

UPDATE: I used to say the number of GPUs doesn’t really matter. In this round of testing, they matter a lot. Once you have at least 24 GB of RAM, if you need to choose between more RAM or more GPU cores, buy more GPU cores. More RAM is nice, but more GPUs boost performance.

RAM

In the past, 16 GB of RAM was the minimum for video editing. The 8 GB that Apple shipped was OK for office applications, but far too limiting for editing. Today, with the new unified memory of M-series chips, I recommend 16 GB for straightforward editing regardless of frame size. I recommend more RAM for multicam editing or large frame sizes. The exception is Premiere which is much more RAM hungry than FCP or Resolve.

Again, based on my testing, you won’t see a significant improvement in media editing or rendering performance with more than 24 GB of RAM. Remember, all NLE software was designed to run in 8 GB of RAM. What more RAM gets you is larger cache files.

UPDATE: Based on my testing of Final Cut, Premiere and Resolve, systems with more RAM, but fewer GPU cores are not as fast as systems with relatively less RAM and more GPU cores. At a minimum, get 24 GB of RAM. Then, if you have to choose, buy more GPU cores before you buy more RAM.

Storage

Media files are gigantic. Regardless of how much internal storage you buy, you’ll need more. Rather than spend excessive dollars boosting internal storage, buy enough internal storage to give your system room to work, then supplement it with external storage.

UPDATE: The minimum internal storage I recommend for media is 1 TB. Yes, you can get away with  512 GB but your space will be crunched sooner than you expect. At the high-end, I recommend 2 TB. For media, buying more internal storage than 2 TB is wasting money.

In my office, I have a Mac Studio with 2 TB internal, an external  8 TB SSD RAID, an external 48 TB HDD RAID, and a 160 TB HDD network server. And that’s just for me – you can never have enough storage.

Ethernet

Unless you have a network optimized for 10G, which requires a 10G switch, 10G server connections, and 10G cables, a 1G Ethernet port on the computer will be fine.

Because I like playing with blinking lights, my office network is optimized for 10G.

CONFIGURATION RECOMMENDATIONS

If you have the money, buy whatever you want. There’s no harm in buying more than these specs; load your system however you want. However, if you are on a budget, here’s what I recommend as the best way to allocate your limited dollars.

NOTE: I ended up buying one of these systems. Here’s what I bought and why.

To Save Money – but still be productive editing video.

MacBook Pro – UPDATED
Size: 14″
CPU: M4 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU
RAM: 24 GB
Storage: 1 TB
Price: $1,999.00 (US)

iMac
CPU: M4 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: 1 TB
Gigabit Ethernet
Price: $1,699.00 (US)

Mac mini
CPU: M4 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: 1 TB
Price: $999.00 (US)

Better Performance

MacBook Pro – UPDATED
CPU: M4 Pro, 14-core CPU, 20-core GPU
Size: 16″ (easier to see the interface)
RAM: 24 GB
Storage: 1 TB
Price: $2,699.00 (US)

iMac
CPU: M4 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU
RAM: 24 GB
Storage: 1 TB
Price: $2,099.00 (US)

Mac mini – UPDATED
CPU: M4 Pro 12-core CPU, 16-core GPU
RAM: 24 GB
Storage: 1 TB
Gigabit Ethernet
Price: $1,599.00 (US)

High-End

MacBook Pro – UPDATED
CPU: M4 Max, 14-core CPU, 32-core GPU
Size: 16″ (easier to see the interface)
RAM: 36 GB
Storage: 2 TB
Price: $3,899.00 (US)

iMac
CPU: M4 10-core
RAM: 32 GB
Storage: 2 TB
Price: $2,699.00 (US)

Mac mini – UPDATED
CPU: M4 Pro 14-core CPU, 20-core GPU
RAM: 24 GB
Storage: 2 TB
1G Ethernet (10G if your network supports it)
Thunderbolt 5
Price: $2,199.00 (US)

SUMMARY

It’s important to remember that you don’t need to buy the fully-loaded version of any system to get serious work done. Apple charges a fortune for RAM and storage. You can buy more RAM, but I wouldn’t buy more than 48 GB; your system won’t use it for video editing. More GPUs are better than boodles of RAM.

Also, it is FAR cheaper to buy external storage, while providing room on your internal drive for macOS, applications and work files. If you need real speed, buy external Thunderbolt 5 SSDs when they become available.

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45 Responses to Configure an M4 Mac for Video Editing

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  1. Koby Deane says:
    November 26, 2024 at 11:25 am

    Thank you, Larry for taking the time to break this down. It was a tremendous help for me upgrading from my Intel iMac to the M4 pro.

    Reply
  2. Miko says:
    November 28, 2024 at 10:54 pm

    Hi Larry,
    I’m considering two options: buying Mac Mini 14 CPU 20 GPU M4 Pro with 24gb or choose 48gb ram option. Could you please help me when you need to buy this 48 gm ram option? Now I do editing and animation for social media purposes but maybe expand my job to more 3d animation or something like that. Could you please tell me if it’s worth it to buy 48 GB ram for the future or 24 GB is totally fine to start with?

    Reply
    • Larry says:
      November 29, 2024 at 5:05 am

      Miko:

      Given what you plan to do with the system, you don’t need 48 GB, nor will you see a significant performance benefit if you get it.

      Larry

      Reply
  3. Liz Oakley says:
    December 2, 2024 at 8:25 am

    Hi Larry, Upgrading from my 2017 iMac Pro and looks like the M4 Mac Mini pro is the way to go. I just ordered the Studio Display and am reviewing your specs. I’m editing multi-cam (2 streams at 4k Clog3) long format doc style. 15 to 30 minute. Shooting log so adding Lut’s, some motion graphics and lots of reframing.

    If I’m working on PP do I stick to the 24gb in your high end specs or do i need to go 48 as you mention as an option in the PP section?

    Thank you SOOOOOO much for all your hard work. I’ve been a fan for a long time and I am so grateful for your ability to share somewhat complex issues in straightforward ways.

    Best,
    Liz

    Reply
    • Larry says:
      December 2, 2024 at 8:30 am

      Liz:

      If you aren’t doing really extensive multicam edits, 24 GB will be fine. 2 clips of 4K is not a big deal – even with lots of effects. Worst case, you’ll need to render but, truthfully, I would be surprised if you do.

      Larry

      Reply
  4. Sophocles Tsivides says:
    December 3, 2024 at 12:20 am

    Hi! Great article. So what would be your recommendation for 4K multicam editing in FCPX and light to medium Fusion (either desktop or laptop as a new system)? I Have a Sonnet Solo 10G adapter, Synology 1621 with 10G card and a 10G switch. On the other hand a refurbished 16″ M2 Max/64 GB/2 TB/12 CPU/30 GPU would do the job? Thank you in advance!!!

    Reply
  5. Hendrik says:
    December 5, 2024 at 1:36 pm

    Hi Larry,

    Excellent article. I am on the fence making a decision between a the Mac mini M4 Pro 24GB or the Mac Studio M2 Max – 32GB. Both with 1TB of storage.

    I am doing a lot of Timelapse videos – rendering tons of images per day. Using DXO Photolab export (inclusive noise reduction) and LRTimelapse to render out the videos. I use Final Cut for the final editing. Length of the videos – 3 – 5 minutes

    Besides this I am editing marketing videos with the use of plugins and effects. Length between 15s – 60s

    Question: Which system would you recommend based on the above information ?

    Thanks,
    – hendrik

    Reply
  6. Richard Harvey says:
    December 11, 2024 at 5:13 am

    Thanks, Larry. Most useful. However you recommend that most storage be external, and yet I can find very few compatible external RAID storage solutions available for my Mac Mini 4 Pro currently on order. Do you have any recommendations? I am looking for about 10 TB, at least, with 4 bays.

    Reply
    • Larry says:
      December 11, 2024 at 5:17 am

      Richard:

      Smile… You are using the wrong search criteria. ANY Thunderbolt 3/4 – and soon to be Thunderbolt 5 – RAID is compatible with the M4 Pro Mac mini. I have several RAIDs here, some as old as seven years, that all work perfectly with my new Mac mini.

      Search for Thunderbolt 3 RAIDs and you’ll be inundated with options. OWC, Promise, Glyph, CalDigit are all good companies to consider.

      Larry

      Reply
  7. JJ says:
    December 15, 2024 at 9:57 pm

    Hi! I edit with Davinci and am struggling to choose between:

    – M4 MBP Pro Chip 14″ 12 Core CPU, 14 Core GPU, 24GB Ram, 1TB SSD

    vs

    – M4 MBP Pro Chip 14″ 14 Core CPU, 20 Core GPU, 48GB Ram, 1TB SSD

    I heard that the GPU:Ram ratio should be 1:1.5-2.0, so that is why I settled on either of these two configurations. I am also in need of a new camera so ideally I would like to save money by going for the first option, but I also want something that I won’t outgrow. Will there be a performance difference between the two? Thanks 🙂

    Reply
    • Larry Jordan says:
      December 16, 2024 at 4:37 am

      JJ:

      I don’t necessarily believe in that GPU to RAM ratio, especially based on my recent tests. BOTH of these systems are excellent. BOTH will do a fine job. You won’t outgrow either one of them.

      You don’t need more than 24 GB of RAM. So save money there. More GPUs will be faster BUT, if money is tight, the 12 / 14 Core is fine. Key factors are the M4 Pro chip, 24 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage.

      Larry

      Reply
      • JJ says:
        December 16, 2024 at 11:37 am

        Thanks! When you say faster, do you mean in terms of workflow or rendering? I’m not worried about waiting a couple of extra minutes for rendering, but smooth workflow is the most important. Would you say that using features such as noise reduction, fusion, etc would have an effect on the performance of the 24 vs 48, or 12/14 vs 16/20? Thanks so much again for your help! 🙂

        Reply
        • Larry says:
          December 16, 2024 at 11:48 am

          JJ:

          Rendering. Any M4 unit is fast enough for workflow/editing/moving stuff around. The only exception might be playing effects in real time with highly compressed codecs such as H.264 or HEVC.

          For the effects you mention, the amount of RAM will have less impact than the number to GPUs. Noise reduction, especially, is GPU intensive.

          Larry

          Reply
  8. ian says:
    December 16, 2024 at 11:27 am

    Great review thank you :0 I also looked at the performance comparison you wrote between Final Cut, Premier, Resolve. Really good.

    A question for you. You mentioned you have an 8 TB SSD RAID and external 48 TB HDD RAID> Can you elaborate on those? How you connect to them. What you use them for in your workflow? Or if you have a link to another great article you’ve published that would be awesome 🙂 Thank you and God bless you 🙂

    Reply
    • Larry says:
      December 16, 2024 at 11:47 am

      Ian:

      The 8 TB SSD RAID is an OWC Thunderblade. Here’s my review:

      https://larryjordan.com/articles/review-owc-thunderblade-ssd-raid-really-fast-but-not-as-fast-as-you-imagine/

      I’ve been using it for two years now and it’s been totally reliable. I use it for all active editing projects.

      The 24 TB (I mis-wrote earlier) HDD RAID is an OWC ThunderBay. I’ve owned three or four of these and just purchased a new one with Thunderbolt 3 support. I’m writing a review of it this week. Here’s my latest review:

      https://larryjordan.com/articles/product-review-owc-thunderbay-4-raid/

      I purchased the first one ten years ago. The one I’m using now was purchased 5 years or so ago, it only has Thunderbolt 2. The one I purchased last week has Thunderbolt 3 support. I populate all of them with Seagate hard drives.

      All these units connect via Thunderbolt to my Mac Studio. The SSD is used for active projects. The HDD RAID is used for backups and archiving.

      Hope this helps.

      Larry

      Reply
      • ian says:
        December 18, 2024 at 9:30 am

        Awesome 🙂 Thank you God bless you 🙂 One other question… my hard drive is sitting at approx. 75% full with a 1 TB internal SSD with no image data on the drive. Should I upgrade to a 2 TB internal SSD or would the 8 tb external ssd you mentioned resolve the need for the internal space for editing?

        Reply
        • Larry says:
          December 18, 2024 at 9:32 am

          Ian:

          This depends upon your budget. If you internal drive is 75% full WITHOUT media, then, yes, upgrading to 2 TB makes sense if you can afford it.

          On the other hand, if you can’t, fast external storage will be perfectly fine – just another box attached to your computer.

          Larry

          Reply
          • ian says:
            December 19, 2024 at 7:20 pm

            Thanks Larry 🙂 Went ahead with the 8 TB SSD for RAID 0 and the 24TB HDD for RAID 5 backup you outlined. From there we’ll do a cloud backup. The 2023 M2 Pro Mac Mini with 1TB internal, 32 GB RAM, 12 core CPU and 19 core GPU seems to have decent perf still. And coupled with the external 8 TB SSD should justify a big cost savings while offering a lot more storage than not having the 8 TB SSD and trying to use the 2 TB internal drive on a new Mac mini M4 Pro with similar cores etc. Storage is so affordable compared to when I first stared out with computers. Really appreciate your help 🙂

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