That iPad could also be mirroring its video to some other (much bigger) screen…
Mac mini gets 120 FPS? Really?
There aren’t any M4 results in Zwiftalizer yet but M2 / M3 variants do perform well
It looks like Zwift hasn’t assigned a profile to the M4 as of yet so it is getting a medium profile and capped at 60fps. Hopefully they get it assigned pretty soon.
Frustrated by this as well, but hopefully coming? Any sense of what profile M3 chips were getting?
I’ve updated the table in the OP to include processor details now that the included Mac mini is out of date. Though like all macOS devices, the new one would also be limited to a “High” profile.
Yep! In fact, it only really seems limited to the resolution and refresh rate of the monitor it’s attached to - and that’s the old M2 Mac mini!
The new M4 Mac mini is benchmarking around the same performance as the M4 iPad Pro (a touch better, likely due to thermals). But it will still be locked to “High” detail, not “Ultra”, the same way a Mac Pro would be. Meanwhile that iPad Pro with the same processor remains locked to “Basic” and is further limited to 30fps and 1536p.
Essentially, all hardware today* is capable of running Zwift to its fullest extent. But unless you’re running Windows OS, you will be getting a degraded experience.
*(Except Apple TV - sorry! But the A15 is honestly not that far behind…next gen will be up there for sure.)
Would this include the M2 iPad Air, in your estimation? Or are you limiting that statement to M4?
Hey all, I’m looking to step up my Zwift visual experience, Looking at the new M4 Mac mini as a step up from the ATV I’m currently using with my Samsung 55’’ 4k TV.
Has anyone done this upgrade yet?
I’m looking to get into the Ultra profile and 4K resolution.
Thanks in advanced…
Right now the only systems that get the ultra profile are machines with a dedicated GPU that’s on a list built into the game, and that list doesn’t include any macs that you can buy new. The M1-M3 Macs get the High profile, which is quite good in my opinion - much better than Apple TV by a long way but a little below Ultra. Someone recently reported that they have an M4 and it got the Medium profile. This is likely temporary since it’s new. I expect that in a future game release it will be moved from Medium to High, though it’s possible that it may end up at Ultra if they decide it works well at that profile. I would not buy it with the assumption that it will ever get the Ultra profile.
Thank you @Paul_Southworth this answers my question. I do have an M1 Mac Air that I will try out this evening via HDMI.
Is there a published list of what devices (CPU & GPU combos) are assigned the Ultra profile?
No they don’t publish a matrix of GPUs and their profiles. I think at some point in the past someone extracted it from the game but I’m not sure where that post is and it would be out of date now. Maybe @oldnapalm knows how to do that?
For example you can easily build a PC from used parts for around US$200 that will get the Ultra profile and acceptable performance at 1440p. It won’t be the form factor of a mac mini though.
Thanks for that confirmation too @Paul_Southworth .
I’ve started venturing down this custom built rabbit hole now…
Happy to see that will get away from the BT device limit on the ATV too.
I changed my Apple TV to a Mac mini M1.
Advantages:
1 higher resolution
2 much smoother image
3 slightly more detailed bicycle shadow
4 no BT restrictions are a big advantage
5 keyboard control - drone view
Disadvantages:
1 no remote like in Apple TV, but nice to have it at hand
2 I don’t see such a big jump in graphics despite the resolution
Some other advantages include access to log files for troubleshooting and upload to zwiftalizer.com, support for ANT+ dongles, support for Sauce 4 Zwift, ability to create custom workouts, and earlier access to game releases since there’s no app store review required. Macs with M series CPUs all get support for video screenshots, which is available on Apple TV 2nd and 3rd gen 4K models but not the older ones.
Yeah, its actual performance would be similar to the M2 Mac mini (a “High” that should probably be “Ultra” but is otherwise unlocked). However, because it gets the ‘mobile’ build of Zwift it will be locked to “Basic” graphics, low frame rate, and limited resolution.
Here’s a list of GPUs that get assigned Ultra profile (CPU is irrelevant since no CPU with onboard graphics gets the Ultra profile). It’s not definitive. I compiled it a year ago from hundreds of thousands of log files uploaded to zwiftalizer.
and here’s High and Medium
Thank you kindly for sharing this information, makes life a load easier to navigate the GPU portion of the process.
Love the work you doing on the analyser!
I’ll get the m4 base version shortly and will report how it performs.
Sometimes, we don’t realize what we’re missing until we experience it—this is especially true when switching from Apple TV to a dedicated PC for Zwift.
I now run Zwift on PC equipped with a mid-tier GeForce RTX 3060, paired with a 55" 4K display at 120Hz. This setup allows me to run the game at 4K UHD (2160p) resolution. However, the incremental visual difference when moving from ‘High’ (1080p) to ‘Ultra’ (1440p) or even 4K UHD (2160p) is surprisingly modest. It looks great -don’t get me wrong, but it’s not the jaw-dropping improvement I’ve seen in games (and I’m not even a gamer). Most probably my eyes are a bit spoiled, but when I moved from High to 4k UHD, I was expecting a mind-blowing experience.
Nevertheless, when I am out of town and using Zwift on Apple TV, iPhones, tablets, and similar devices, it can be somewhat painful. 
