How to read this chart. The Macs on the furthest left and further at the top represent the best bang for the buck value in the Apple Mac universe as of Spring 2025.
As everyone already knows the Mac mini M4 base is an amazing deal (that is until you start having to upgrade the SSD and memory). Then you hit Apple’s infamous upgrade ladder.
If you’re going to upgrade steps in the ladder, in our ever so humble opinion you might as well spring for the Mac mini M4 Pro which gives you comparable performance to the 1st two generations of the Apple Mac Studio M1 Max and M2 Max. Interestingly enough it did not make our top 5 list on both sides.
Then we have the other end of the spectrum represented in the right column for super power users working with 8k video footage and running local LLMs. You’ll have to decide if saving minutes of time every you render out footage or getting more tokens per seconds is worth the extra money but chances are if it saves you an hour a day, then the investment could pay off.
The M4 Max variants found in the Mac Book Pro 16″ and Studios are relative bang for buck power houses beating the 1st two generation of Ultras.
If you want to see all the machines plotted (including where the Mac mini M4 pro falls), click here.