Mac Mini Ordered

I’ve just ordered a Mac Mini with an M4 chip and it should arrive by the end of the month. I’ll be adding a 3TB Thunderbolt drive to increase the storage space. Iam getting the base model regard the 256GB Storage for the internal drive. I have opted for 24GB of ram memory and that will be plenty to handle the work I’m going to do coding. I will be interested to see how I will set up the backing up of the data when I have the Home folder pushed out to the external drive. I like to have a Time Machine backup of the Home folder to keep it safe. Will I have to get another drive for that? One for the 256GB internal drive and another one for the external drive? It is best practice to use a drive double the size of the one you are using Time Machine on. I will still need to keep the back up drives I have in play for the MacBook Pro.

What will I do for a Keyboard?

I will miss the built in fingerprint reader I have on the MacBook, but I could remedy that with buying one of the new Apple Keyboards which also have TouchID. Will I do that or look at a cheaper third party keyboard. The one my wife uses is quite good. Or will I bite the bullet with the ZSA Keyboard I have. Dive into the touch typing and the Colemak keyboard layout? I have been using the Colemak keyboard layout for a while now and the problem is that I don’t seem to be getting any quicker with my typing. It is too easy to jump back to the keyboard on my MacBook Pro. I just did exactly that, because it was easier to get the key combination I wanted to use in Windsurf. If I use command with the right arrow key I can save a lot of typing getting the words one at a time from the suggestions from the AI. Note: I have just added a custom keyboard key stroke to do this. It is a little bit of a hack, but it works.

Connection of peripheral devices to the Mac Mini

I have been using a Thunderbolt hub, a CalDigit box, with the MacBook Pro. I have two 32in 4k monitors, My good microphone, hard drives for TimeMachine, main data, back up for that main data drive, and another to backup the internal drive. It’s a sweet setup. Will I connect the Mac Mini to the CalDigit box or leave that to the MacBook Pro? Or something in between? Some things connected directly to the Mac Mini and some connected to the CalDigit box. I might need to buy one more drive for backup purposes.

What will I do with the Mac Mini?

I will use the Mac Mini to do coding, and many of the things I do on my MacBook Pro now. It will be my main coding machine and the MacBook Pro will there for doing some of the same things, but with the emphasis on mobile coding and other general work. I can see myself sitting the couch doing stuff with it and it will be a slight change of scenery, at least. An other thing will be a benefit for the computer is that it will not be permanently plugged and the battery will be grateful. I like to have a clean and tidy desk so moving the MacBook Pro off the desk is a good thing.

So many YouTube videos about the Mac Mini

It is pretty universal on YouTube that the Mac Mini is a great choice. Most going for the base model with 256GB Storage and being delighted with the computer. They mostly commented about how good it is for video editing, which means it will handle the not so heavy lifting of my coding work no problem. I could have gone for the 16GB version probably, but 24GB will give a bit of extra longevity. I use Chrome for the FlutterFlow application development, so that will use up a good bit of the memory. Other than that I don’t have too many applications I need to run on the Mac Mini.

I don’t care about the power button being on the bottom of the computer. I won’t be using the power button on the Mac Mini hardly ever anyway. It really is amazing how powerful the Mac Mini is for the size of it. It will look great on the desk, really tidy. I just have to be patient with the wait for it to arrive. I probably could have gone for the 16GB version of the Mac Mini and got it a bit quicker.

Update - Mac Mini Arrived

The Mac Mini arrived on 18th January 2025. I have been getting it set up and ready for business. I hooked up the 2TB Thunderbolt dive to it and set it up as the Home folder. Still have a few things to finish up with the set up. It’s going to be my main computer for coding and general work. The new keyboard is pretty good and I’m not sure if I want to connect up the ZSA Keyboard. I will leave it off for a week and see if I miss it. Still have to add the Streamdeck and get more use out of it. Still need to disconnect a couple of the other drives that I have for TimeMachine and the one I use to back up the hard drive on the MacBook Pro. I have a couple of 4TB drives which were the main data storage and its backup also for the MacBook Pro. They can stay connected to the CalDigit box and the Mac Mini.

All in all I’m happy with the Mac Mini and it’s nice to set the MacBook Pro free from the desk. I have the Macbook Pro on the sofa with me right now, makes a change from using the iPad Pro. I keep wanting to touch the screen and I’m shocked each time it does nothing. The things I want to do are things like getting details from IMDB.

Set up the Mac Mini for FlutterFlow simulation. Had to install Java and a Java SDK. It took a bit of setting up, but now it works a treat. Looks like I’m back in business again. I also have Neovim working and Yazi and some other command line tools working.