I have to quickly add another affordable Mac for a rush job. Before I get an 8-core M1 Mac mini with 16GB Ram, I was wondering if I would run into any problems? I know it would run in Rosetta. And I know some PC config. would give me more bang for the buck, but I just can't have the headache of two different operating systems right now.
As you wrote, Arnold doesn't support the M series chip.
I'll guess that you are still using CINEMA 4D. You'd have to run CINEMA 4D in Rosetta 2 mode (and I don't know how good that is). C4DtoA should work, but that's still being tested here.
I would be setting up the Arnold multi-machine render system for the first time. Or I could just put C4D and Arnold on that machine as a stand-alone. Not sure which would be more efficient. I'd get a second Arnold license. Everything should work in Rosetta II for now, correct? and eventually It'll be faster when all the stuff is ported to the M1. But I'm thinking for $1000 it's a decent solution at the moment.
If the machines are on the same network, you can use TeamRender. Then you could render a single frame on two machines (but not using the Arnold IPR window). Or you could distribute full frames to the two machines.
Yes, Arnold should work in Rosetta 2.