M4 Mac minis Cluster: Powerful but Not for Everyday Use

A cluster of M4 Mac minis - Image credit: Alex Ziskind/YouTube

Cluster computing involves using multiple computers to handle processing on a project. In a video published on Sunday, Alex Ziskind demonstrated a cluster computing setup using the M4 Mac mini.

There are benefits to using Apple Silicon rather than PC with powerful graphics card for cluster computing. Apple's use of Unified memory on Apple Silicon means that the Mac's memory is used by the CPU and GPU. The Apple Silicon GPU therefore has access to a lot more memory.

For a start, processing using a GPU relies on having considerable amounts of video memory available. On a graphics card, this could be 8GB on the card itself. Then there's power draw, which can be considerable for a graphics card. By contrast, the Mac minis were found to use very little power.