Along with the new M4 MacBook Pro series Apple is releasing this week (here is Fast Company’s review of Apple’s latest laptop), the company is also debuting a new Mac mini. The Mac mini is arguably the more radical of the two: Apple’s diminutive computer has now received its first major design overhaul in 13 years.
Yet the new mini has more to offer than a redesign. For much of the past week, I’ve been using Apple’s newest desktop ahead of its official launch tomorrow. Here are my thoughts on its upgrades and who this miniature machine is for.
Apple Mini-Me’d the Mac mini
The new Mac mini is available in two different chip configurations—either the M4 or the more powerful M4 Pro, which sports more processing cores and a better GPU, making it ideal for tasks like high-end video editing and gaming. Storage options start at 256GB and go all the way up to 8TB on select models. Memory options start at 16GB or 24GB on select models and can go as high as 64GB. The model I tested had the M4 Pro chipset with 48GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.
But I’ll delve more into the mini’s specs later. First I want to start with the unboxing. When I took the review unit Apple sent me out of the box, I was struck by the fact that that the computer could nearly fit in the palm of my hand. Without a doubt, its size is the most noticeable thing about the redesign.
The mini has always been Apple’s smallest computer, but it really earns its name with this latest iteration. It’s now just 5 inches by 5 inches square (with rounded corners, of course—this is Apple). That’s down from the 7.7-inch squared M2 model this new mini replaces (there was never an M3 Mac mini). To put the mini’s new size into even more perspective, it’s now not much bigger than an Apple TV 4K, which is just 3.66 inches squared.
The reduced size means that there’s more room on your desk now for other things. The Mac mini’s height, of just 2 inches, also means that you can place the tiny computer directly below most monitors—good for those with cramped workspaces.
But while the new design is mostly eye candy, the M4 Mac mini series sports some truly useful upgrades as well.
Ports at your fingertips
Apple has clearly designed the new Mac mini to sit easily on your desk alongside your mouse, keyboard, and coffee cup. And because it’s within such easy reach, the company has finally made the welcome decision to add front-facing ports. For the first time, the Mac mini finally sports two USB-C ports on the front of the device, along with a headphone jack (previous Mac minis only had these ports on the rear of the computer).
The new front ports mean that it’s super quick and convenient to plug in an external hard drive, headphones, or accessories, because you never have to turn the computer around. The front ports are also great for charging the new USB-C Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad that Apple has released alongside the new mini.
Of course, the front USB-C ports and headphone jack aren’t the only ports on the mini. Flip it around, and you’ll find another 3 USB-C ports on the rear, as well as an Ethernet port and an HDMI port. These latter two ports are great for those in the creative industries who often like a hardwired internet connection for maximum speeds and the ability to connect a TV right up to their computer, so they can see how the content they are creating will look in living rooms across the world.
Apple Intelligence and the power of the M4 Pro
While my review model was relatively juiced with the M4 Pro and 48GB of memory, it’s important to note that all varieties of the Mac mini now come with at least 16GB of memory—the threshold Apple’s new artificial intelligence platform, Apple Intelligence, requires.
And using Apple Intelligence on Apple’s new entry-level Mac is one of the highlights of the new device. All Apple intelligence features I tested were incredibly snappy. For example, I edited several of my photos in the Photos app using Apple Intelligence’s new “clean up” tool, which lets you quickly remove unwanted objects from pictures. I simply circled objects I wanted to be removed, and Apple Intelligence got rid of them in less than a second.
The speed is no doubt evidence of the power of the M4 Pro and the 48GB of memory packed inside my unit. Using Apple Intelligence’s writing tools to proofread and rewrite documents was just as quick.
Yet it’s not only AI tasks that excel on the new Mac mini. Another advantage provided by the M4 Pro that I enjoyed was its graphics performance. The M4 Pro chip in the Mac mini is available with a 16-core GPU or a 20-core GPU. Both (as well as the 10-core GPU found in the standard M4 Mac mini) are capable of hardware-accelerated ray tracing. This is important in gaming and 3D animation apps.
Ray tracing allows for realistic-looking reflections and other light effects in computer-generated environments. In other words, it can make video game worlds look incredibly immersive, as I found out playing Myst on my review unit. Light and shadows dance around Myst’s worlds in ways I had only been used to seeing on gaming PCs before.
USB-C accessories and that power button
Alongside the Mac mini, Apple has finally updated its Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse, and Magic Keyboard with USB-C charging ports. (These accessories previously had Lightning ports).
This is great because modern iPhones now all charge via USB-C, too, as do AirPods. So now, when I’m using the Mac mini, I can have one USB-C cable plugged into the computer and use it to charge my iPhone or any of these Apple accessories when they need charging. It’s a little convenience that is much appreciated, though it should be noted that the Mac mini does not automatically come with the new USB-C Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse, and Magic Keyboard. These items are sold separately.
Second, with the redesign of the Mac mini, Apple moved the computer’s physical power button underneath the raised lip in the device’s rear left corner. For some reason, this has caused a stir online, with some calling the placement of the button inconvenient (since you need to raise your Mac mini slightly to get your finger under the computer to press the button).
But for me, this is a non-issue. Once you turn on your Mac mini, you’ll most likely leave it on and simply let it go to sleep when you’re done with it for the day. Then, when you want to begin using it the next day, you simply wiggle your mouse or press a key on the keyboard to wake it.
Still, if you do like physically shutting off your desktop computer each night, then perhaps the power button placement could get annoying when you need to turn it on again, especially if you like to set objects on top of your Mac mini.
Who’s the Mac mini for?
There are two main groups of people I feel the Mac mini is for. The first is probably no surprise: It’s for switchers—Windows PC users who want to try out a Mac without investing a grand. And for them, the entry-level M4 Mac mini is perfect. It’ll run them just $599 (provided they already have an existing keyboard, mouse, and display to use with it), and for that, they get the M4 chip, which can run circles around most PC chips, as well as 256GB of storage and 16GB of RAM.
But I think the new Mac mini is even better for another group of people. Thanks mostly to its low entry-level cost and powerful M4 chip, the Mac mini is perfect for new or existing Mac users who want to dip their toes into this novel world of AI we are entering. It comes with artificial intelligence integrated into it, in the form of Apple Intelligence. And while Apple intelligence is just taking its first steps, it’s already an incredibly useful tool in the productivity space, and it will likely gain additional features as we move into 2025—all of which either the M4 or M4 Pro Mac mini will be able to handle with flying colors.
So, if you’re curious about the Mac or you’re curious about Apple Intelligence or just artificial intelligence in general, but don’t want to plunk down more than a grand for a new iMac or MacBook, I’d highly recommend picking up the new Mac mini.
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