I’ve been seriously tempted to splurge some dosh on getting a Mac Mini. Without doubt, if I was starting from scratch TODAY, this is the system I would start from – alongside a Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse.
But what specification would I choose, and what other accessories would I purchase. That’s the second part of this post.
After doing quite a bit of reading, and watching several reviews (see references at end), I have determined that for me (and I stress, for me), that the first decision that can be made is that the M4 Pro chip is way over the top for me, so that just leaves RAM and Disk Storage as a decision to make.
My MacBook Pro (2021 – M1 chip) is doing just fine, and that’s the real reason why spending money at this time is just not a sensible option, and it has 32Gb RAM. I often have several applications open at the same time when editing photos as well as Lightroom Classic – Topaz, Photoshop, Safari, and others. Having the “headroom” to know I can easily swap between them without delay (once they’re loaded) is important. So the first decision is an easy one – my MacMini should have 32Gb RAM.
The other decision to make is how much SSD storage do I need. When I purchased the MacBook Pro I imagined this would be a machine that would last me a very long-time, and so I decided that maxing up on internal storage “would be a good thing”. Wrong on a number of counts. Firstly, I really hadn’t worked out in my mind how I would use iCloud storage (I have 2.2Tb of storage – currently even in an Apple Family scenario it’s only 1.2Tb “full”). Secondly I had no sight of the incredible innovation in offline fast SSD disks, including those using NVMe technology (more later).
I recently purchased this 1Tb external SSD from Crucial for c.£99 – it does read/write at incredible speeds of 2,100 MB/s – certainly fast enough to read or write an image bearing in mind that my fast SD cards only r/w at 300MB/s. So having a large amount of internal SSD storage now doesn’t seem so essential – especially given Apple’s insanely high upgrade costs. So instead of the 2TB of internal storage (I must have been mad!) in the MacBook Pro, I think 512Gb SSD would be ample.
So we would have this Mac Mini, 2024 costing TODAY from Apple – £1199
Apple M4 chip with 10‑core CPU, 10‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
32GB unified memory
512GB SSD storage
Gigabit Ethernet
Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI port, two USB‑C ports, headphone jack
If I wanted to save cash, I would drop the SSD to 256Gb and save £200.
The next piece of kit I’d need would be a monitor. What do I particularly require? Good colour reproduction comes top of the list, with Adobe RGB compatibility as a possibility, Thunderbolt connectivity (better than HDMI for working with the Mac systems) and a good working relationship with Mac hardware.
Although the Dell Ultrasharp range would be a very sound choice, as would monitors from Asus, I’ve been very happy with the BenQ monitor I purchased to work with the MacBook Pro as a desktop system, so I would stick with them and with Wex Photovideo who I purchased the monitor from. Some in the range have a specific M-mode to ensure the best mirroring from a MacBook display. It makes sense to get that compatibility if available, even with the Mac Mini.
The monitor I have is the BenQ PD2725U 27 inch 4K UHD Thunderbolt 3 Monitor and it cost me then £899; the price has now dropped to £698 (on Amazon). However there are other BenQ monitors in the range and you can explore the BenQ and Wex Photovideo sites to see the current ranges and see prices on Amazon. You might also take a glance at this one – the MA 270U – which has a good review, or this one – the SW242Q (if you want a 24″ monitor).
So you have the Mac Mini, a monitor, keyboard and mouse, what else? Well although the MacMini is well equipped with ports, none of them are USB-A ports, and there’s no SD-Card slot – two deficiencies that I would have to rectify.
I can do that in one of two ways. I could use a docking station like the one I use with the MacBook Pro – the CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub – which is just great (but currently unavailable but look at any in the range from CalDigit, Sabrent, OWC or UGREEN), or an alternative which is in many ways much more aesthetically pleasing (ie tidy) – a MacMini Hub, of which there a couple, but take a look at this one – I love it!
There are others on Amazon. None of them are Thunderbolt 3/4 yet, so I might wait a bit – they will be more expensive when they arrive, but could be worth the wait, because you can install that NVMe SSD RAM in them – a really cost-saving move for more storage. [Even if you can’t wait and have run out of storage, this Hub should be a good purchase – but it doesn’t appear to be available yet in the UK.]
The alternative is to buy an NVMe Enclosure and put a SSD NVMe card (from Crucial or Samsung) in it and hook it up to the MacMini directly. That’s a really earth-shattering and cheaper alternative to Apple storage, but again make sure you’re looking at 40GB/s transfer or Thunderbolt 3/4. I can recommend UGREEN kit.
Video Reviews of Mac Mini
The last one almost echoes my thoughts, but I think her original decision to go with 24Gb RAM on the MacBook Pro, was wrong!!
Recently, someone in the Cardiff u3a Lightroom Pantry group asked me this question …
Sorry to bother you, but I’m running out of hard drive space on my Mac, can I delete any of these files? I’m wondering about the previews file????
The first thing to say is that the user is storing images on an external hard disk, just the catalog and previews files etc. are on the internal hard disk. So this text from a post from a Lightroom Queen Forum is helpful …
Unless you have a laptop and or your images on an External drive, you don’t really need Smart Previews, standard Previews will grow unless you limit the number of 1:1 preview to 30 days. Deleting images does not immediately delete the previews though I think it will eventually.
If you upgrade to LrC v14.01, you also now have the option to limit the size of standard previews not exceed 100 or 150 GB or what number that you set. LrC will the delete previews beginning with the oldest and starting with the 1:1.
I have about 82,000 images in my master catalog and a standard preview size of 41GB. On import I generate minimal previews, no 1:1 and have 1:1 previews set to delete after 30 days. I have not (yet) set a limit on the size of my standard Previews.
So the user should use Smart Previews as they have an external hard disk holding their images.
They should also look at the Import parameters for Previews (in the top-hand corner of the screen) in the Import dialogue and choose Smart Previews. They should also NOT use 1:1 Previews as they take-up more room on their hard disk, and should choose Standard Previews. This is my setting box …
Finally, the user (and you maybe) should look at the Catalog Settings > Preview pane which might be a way of restricting the growth of the Preview file (as mentioned in the Lightroom Queen Forum) …
An important fact I forgot to mention (which again was mentioned in the LrQ Forum post) – you can delete the Preview file; it will just be recreated as needed (it takes a very short time to recreate a preview of an image). Limiting the size of it will certainly ensure that the disk space used will be less, and if they create 1:1 previews in the future, deleting them after 30 days (as I have it set) will ensure that disk space will be controlled too.
Another member challenged me on why (see Import settings above), I chose to Make a Second Copy of images when I import. My response …
It’s a timing issue. I don’t keep SD cards with images on them – I know some of you do. I Format the cards in Camera (not on the computer) almost immediately after I’ve imported. [That stops the rather annoying feature of images you’ve previously deleted in LrC being suggested for Import when Import All is selected in the dialogue.] So … I need a belts and braces facility in place, just-in-case, my internal hard disk crashes before Time Machine has backed-up my current year images. So I do a Second Copy to my iCloud drive, which I delete periodically, usually at the same time as I delete old backups of catalogs which are also held on the iCloud drive.
Next we turn to the range of tasks that I do every year at this time – as the year ends and a new year begins.
The first thing to state (and a very obvious one at that) is Backup your Catalog, and then continue to Backup your Catalog as you try some of these ideas out. That will mean exiting Lightroom Classic and NOT skipping Backup. It’s better to be safe than sorry!!!
So what might you wish to do when Importing images into your catalog?
Two things really, first creating a “preset” for the Metadata that you’d like to import with every image which will then be baked into the EXIF data of the image. The second is the Preset itself which records the action that you wish to take on each Import eg where the images will be stored, in what form, renaming them, making a second-copy, profile changes, etc etc.
Let’s look at each in turn.
You want to add to the Metadata added to the image at the time of import, to add keywords, or to add a Copyright notice. This can be done from the Metadata pull-down menu in the right-hand Import panel …
Screenshot
… and here you have a whole range of options that you can choose from with perhaps the most relevant being the Copyright info. and any info about you you want added …
Screenshot
… so my Copyright info, and the only ones I use in the Metadata, and which I update each year before January 1st looks like this …
Screenshot
… and that’s about it. I enter MLT Copyright 2025 in the Metadata field in the right-hand pane and move to the next step – creating an Import Preset.
Click on the Import tab in the Library module; apart from deciding whether you want to …
NB I almost always choose Copy
… you will see at the bottom of the screen the word None …
You click on “None” to see the range of Presets you can deploy
… unfortunately, this will always be the case; it’s up to you to now create, and then choose the Import Preset you want to use. This has its advantages because you can change the one you want to use by year, by camera, by anything.
So, you set up the parameters from the right-hand pane the way you want them and then click on None and …
Screenshot
… Save Current Settings as a New Preset, and you’ll be asked to give it a name, and that’s it. Every time you want to apply these parameters to an Import, that’s what will happen. The files may be renamed (if that’s your wish), they will be copied to a specific folder on your hard disk, etc etc.
Other tasks to do at year end.
Search for missing files (these will be photos in the catalog, but not in folders -they’ve probably moved!)
Searching for duplicates – The Lightroom Queen has an excellent post on this topic which I can’t improve upon and recommends a plugin (which I have used) which in the case of simple duplicates works well.
For more complicated duplicate problems – perhaps involving whole folders of potential duplicates, its probably far better to use an operating system program such as dupeGuru (MacOS and Windows) or Photosweeper (MacOS) – there are others for Windows that I haven’t tried. I’ve tried both but prefer dupeGuru as it allows you to do a quick sweep by EXIF data, and Content of Pictures specifically.
One suggestion I have is to separate folders into catalogs and Export as Catalog before doing any scans for duplicates. When you have a folder that you think is clear of duplicates chose Import as Catalog from the Library > File menu, and when this has been achieved, delete the original folder.
This links to another feature that I rally hadn’t appreciated until I read this article. Rather than doing move of files/folders INSIDE Lightroom (which is the accepted wisdom to maintain the integrity of the catalog) – which can take a really long time and which is also potentially dangerous in terms of file corruption, use Find missing folder. You chose the old folder in the Library and then point (by right-clicking) to the new folder you’ve just imported.
Backup
All of the above was a preface to doing the real annual task which is creating an offsite backup which up until this year was copying all the images and the catalogs onto a hard disk that I stored in my son’s house nearby. This was the safe/secure disaster recovery option which meant that all my historic images would be safe.
In doing this work, this year, I realised that I’d probably not been as clever as I could have been, and in copying images and catalog(s) separately, I’d been missing a trick. It became obvious to me (light-bulb moment) that I should Export as Catalog (Catalog + Images) to the Hard Disk. This then led to the realisation (second light-bulb moment) that I was keeping a large number of old catalogs, for previous versions of Lightroom that I would never go back to, because if I stopped my Photographic Plan subscription I would still have access to the Library module. Why would I want to go back to an earlier version!
I was on a roll now and looked at other people’s backup strategy. Yes, I was doing the right thing in having a 3-2-1 approach – three backups, two locations, one offsite, but was I really doing the most efficient and most effective form of backing-up. Perhaps (third light-bulb moment) it might be better to clone my Lightroom folder(s) overnight – so that I could quickly recover in the case of primary internal hard disk loss – instead of relying on rebuilding from Time Machine and iCloud Drive; and perhaps it might be better to look at Cloud storage for the offsite storage.
I’m moving closer to making a decision on this and if I do move in this direction I will probably use Carbon Copy Cloner (MacOS only) for cloning to a local hard disk, and Backblaze for offsite storage to the cloud, run overnight.
I’ll report on how I get on with this at a later date.
