Five by five! Apple has unveiled a dramatically redesigned Mac mini featuring M4 and M4 Pro chips, marking a dramatic leap forward in both performance and design at a lower cost.
The new model is now a compact 5 x 5 inches—under half its former size—while achieving significant performance improvements. Notably, it is Apple's first carbon-neutral Mac, marking a key milestone in the company's environmental efforts.
Apple claims that, despite the tiny size, it delivers up to 6x faster performance at one-twentieth the size of the best-selling PC desktop in its price range. This compact form factor is enabled by what Apple calls an "innovative thermal architecture" that guides air through different levels of the system, with all venting done through the foot of the device.
Starting at a surprisingly aggressive $599, the new base model challenges preconceptions about what constitutes an "entry-level" Mac in 2024.
The M4 configuration arrives with a 10-core CPU paired with a 10-core GPU and, perhaps most significantly, 16GB of unified memory as standard.
This configuration creates what Apple positions as a versatile powerhouse, targeting a broad spectrum of users. While students might leverage its capabilities for coding projects and media creation, small business owners can rely on its enhanced performance for day-to-day operations. Creative professionals traditionally pushed toward higher-end machines, might find this base model surprisingly capable of handling their workflows.
Compared to the M1 Mac mini:
Compared to the Intel Core i7 Mac mini:
Apple's positioning of the M4 Pro variant, starting at $1399, shows an intent to continue pushing the high-end desktop market. While the base M4 covers everyday computing needs (with even the top end version featuring a 10-Core CPU, 10-Core GPU, 24GB Unified Memory and 512GB SSD Storage coming in at $999) , the Pro variant represents Apple's attempt to deliver workstation-class performance in the mini form factor.
The headline feature—what Apple boldly claims is "the world's fastest CPU core"—represents a significant advancement in Apple's custom silicon journey, particularly in handling professional workloads. The Pro variant seems specifically engineered to address the performance bottlenecks that traditionally pushed users toward larger, more expensive workstations.
Compared to the Intel Core i7 Mac mini:
Compared to the M2 Pro Mac mini:
Apple's approach to connectivity with the new Mac mini represents a significant shift in design philosophy, finally addressing one of the most consistent user complaints about previous models - port accessibility. In what might be seen as a rare instance of Apple prioritizing function over form, the company has introduced front-facing ports for the first time in the Mac mini's history.
For the first time, Mac mini features front-facing ports for easier access:
The inclusion of Thunderbolt 5 on the Pro model offers 120 Gb/s transfer speeds, which could dramatically improve workflows involving large file transfers or external storage arrays.
As Apple's first carbon-neutral Mac, this release marks a significant environmental milestone toward Apple 2030, the company's carbon neutrality goal. Key environmental features include:
We haven’t seen much from Apple Intelligence yet, given it only launched yesterday (unless you're in the EU), and even then only in US English. Still, the much-touted AI future for Apple is on clear display across its various models, with this desktop system being no exception. Time will tell if it can live up to the hype!
The latest iteration of Apple's desktop operating system brings several improvements to the Mac mini, focusing on ecosystem integration and productivity enhancements.
Users can now wirelessly interact with their iPhone directly from their Mac mini, accessing apps and responding to notifications without reaching for their phone—a feature that could fundamentally change how users manage their daily workflow across devices.
The operating system includes:
Gaming sees particular attention in this release, with Apple continuing its push into the gaming space through features like Personalized Spatial Audio and improvements to Game Mode. This comes alongside the announcement of high-profile gaming titles, including the upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows, suggesting Apple is perhaps ready for a larger push into the gaming space after decades of seeming disinterest.