Taking a look at the M1 Mac Mini as a home server

In this video I test using a M1 mac mini as a home server running Mac OS 13. I try installing many common home server software, look at how Mac OS can be used as a server OS, and compare it to other solutions on the market. I also take a look at the transcoding abilities of M1 processor and the power consumption of the system.

[MotownBatman]

I just decided to give this a shot last night, I have no Idea how to use docker, so I have to figure that out this afternoon.
Glad this video popped up, gives me hope

[tonycosta]

You can put two 2.5" SSDs in a pre-2014 Mac Mini. I did that with my quad core i7 Mac Mini Server (yes, they made one for a couple years). I connected a larger storage unit to it via Thunderbolt 2 for additional storage, although SSDs are so cheap, I'm not sure I need it. I have 4TB internal storage for less than $160.

[DrMacintosh]

I've got a 2018 Core i3 Mac mini running as my home server. It runs Plex, an SMB file share, and a Linux VM. It also backs up my Plex Media Library and iCloud Photo Library to Backblaze. It's also a Time Machine Server.

[TheZonga]

Love how through you are, keep up the videos man!

[DacMan]

This is always a good idea. I have an M1 I use my 2012 i7 Mac mini with twin SSD as a server works so well.

[bowlingdoughnutsmd]

I think all these videos from linux bros are missing the biggest and easiest ways to fix all their problems. They just stop at "it's not like Linux." The host of this video is literally following linux instructions without doing any problem solving.

[zaidahmed]

Really interesting
Thanks for pursuing this topic

[Licardo]

Imo one of the best spaces for an m1 on a rack is its local LLM capability. Since ram is basically GPU memory, you get a really energy efficient llm machine that you can set up a reverse proxy and call anytime you want with a lightweight server.

[LampJustin]

17:00 NUC like mini pcs do that at least this well, even with the same power draw. Intel QuickSync is really good and on 12th Gen, I've seen it pull over 20 1080p transcodes. 4k h.264 isn't that hard to transcode anymore. The battle test is transcoding 4k HEVC with HDR Tonemapping.

[AhmedMoussa]

I know that this video is one year old. But, using docker is very simple on macOS and instead of installing things like PlexMedia, JellyFin, or Sonar using binary, just use like you would on Linux using a docker image which will work like a charm.

[cheebadigga]

I vote for re-testing this one as soon as Linux fully supports M1 chips (aside from graphics, not really needed to test basic server needs)

[LetrixAR]

You could try Colima as a Docker Desktop replacement. It should perform better and it's also more simple.

[jimcallahan]

I have been thinking about (I haven't tried it) to get a Mac Mini with 10 gig ethernet and connect it to Asustor Flashstor 12 with 10 gig ethernet (would this work with a plain CAT6E, crossover or would a hub be required?). The Asustor sets up RAID using SSDs and the Mac Mini as a server consumes it. The server application could be Plex, PostgreSQL, PostGIS or JupyterHub or another server app using Docker. To connect to the LAN use a dongle off the Mac Mini. One would have a powerful Mac Mini with a disk farm with a potentially huge capacity. Alternatively, one could use Flashstor 6 if there was a way to directly connect the 3.2 USB connections on each machine, but which is apparently not possible without ethernet (?). Avoiding 10 gbs ethernet would save a lot of money on both ends.

[notnotjake]

Thinking about going this route for Homebridge primarily

[ched]

Great video! I think I'm going to grab one of these and plug it into the living room tv along with all my hard drives

[CameronSanders-om]

Seems like the best you can hope for is to run some arm based linux os in qemu and do all your nitty gritty stuff there, not sure what the networking situation would be like though. Though i'm guessing the idea here is to see much much macos can do out of the box.

[Spoolingturbo]

this is so much easier to understand than Proxmox

[Aluminiumplatte]

I bought two Mac Minis from 2012 each to 100, -€, put in 2 TB ssd, 16 GB RAM und ubuntu Server. Each machine runs with 8 Watt in idle.

[luigitech]

I imagined that, I'd like to see the same review with Asahi Linux

[yagoa]

I have used it since launch and had zero issues with USB HDD bay