Node Kits
Apple Mac Mini M4 (base)
4/5
$499 – $799
The cheapest way into Apple unified memory. The base M4 Mac mini is silent, tiny, and great for small local models via Ollama/MLX — but 120 GB/s bandwidth and a 24GB memory ceiling cap it at ~7–14B-class models. A genuine entry point, not a big-model box. Step up to the M4 Pro for 64GB / 273 GB/s.
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Specifications
| Chip | Apple M4 (10-core CPU / 10-core GPU) |
| Neural Engine | 16-core |
| Unified Memory | 16GB – 24GB |
| Memory Bandwidth | 120 GB/s |
| Storage | 256GB – 2TB SSD |
| I/O | 3× Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, Gigabit (10GbE option) |
Pros
- Cheapest path into unified memory + macOS MLX/Ollama/llama.cpp
- Silent, tiny, 16-core Neural Engine
- Excellent single-thread performance
Cons
- 120 GB/s bandwidth caps token throughput on bigger models
- 24GB memory ceiling locks out 30B+ models
- Soldered RAM, no CUDA — buy the right config the first time
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