Switching from Linux to macOS¶

My career in computers started with a Macintosh and after ~ 11 years of Linux only I bought myself a Mac Mini M4 Pro. This is not only a story about switching operating systems, but also about switching from a clunky power hungry x86 self built PC to a sleek and tiny Mac Mini with an M4 Apple Silicon APU.

I did not want my new computer to be slower than the old one. This is not an easy task as the new Mac Mini draws much less power, is more silent and much tinier. Let's see if I was able to achieve that goal. I will post plenty of different specs and benchmarks.

Setting¶

Accoustic measurements are taken with an iPhone 13 with Decibel X and a distance of 50cm to the tested device.

Temperature Measurements are taken with a cheap laser meter from China. I only took temperature readings of the Mac Mini as the Case of the x86 PC are not really affected.

Power measurements are taken with a Voltcraft Energy Monitor 3000.

CPU Benchmarks¶

Geekbench¶

MAC: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/12570660

Phoronix¶

PC phoronix-test-suite batch-benchmark pts/cpu https://openbenchmarking.org/result/2506239-NE-ZOGGN014576

MAC phoronix-test-suite batch-benchmark pts/cpu https://openbenchmarking.org/result/2506237-NE-MACMINI4243

GPU Benchmarks¶

Geekbench¶

MAC OpenCL: 69304 https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/4360842 Metal: 112992 https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/4360837

Accoustics¶

The Mac Mini is super silent most of the time I'm working on it. Yet when running benchmarks it is hearable yet it's not annoying as it is not too high pitched. Of course the power consumption is at its max of 70-80 Watts.

Power Consumption¶

This is a very different picture

Conclusion¶

The sway window manager is extremely snappy even more so than the macOS's Quartz. So the general working framework is the winner here in terms of promptness. Yet it's not only the window manager that I'm using. I used to cut videos on Linux with KDEnlive pretty often. When I was working with 4k material it was very painful. It was super choppy and lagged like all the time. On the Mac though it fells much more mechanical and instant. Overall it is a much much better experience to cut on a Mac with Final Cut instead of KDEnlive on a Linux PC.