There’s Shark Week, and then there’s Mac Week. It’s a little less exciting, but Apple first announced a new iMac yesterday, and today we’re being treated to a new Mac Mini. Tomorrow, there’s a good chance you can expect a new MacBook Pro, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The Mac Mini is Apple’s tiniest desktop computer and it’s getting its first redesign in decades. Apple refreshed this machine early in 2023 with the M2 chipset, but the latest entry is powered by the all-new M4 Pro, a processor making its debut today. The M4 lineup improves on power efficiency and speed, and like its predecessor, it can take advantage of the new Apple Intelligence that rolled out this week in macOS Sequoia 15.1.
Apple’s smallest desktop starts at $599 and is available for preorder now. It starts shipping on November 8.
Photograph: Courtesy of Apple
Small but Mightier Than Ever
OK, remember when Apple said the Apple Watch Series 10 had an all-new design and it still looked pretty identical to every other Apple Watch? Yes, the small changes made the Series 10 more comfortable and nicer to wear, but new design is a bit of a stretch. That’s kind of like the Mac Mini. It hasn’t received a major redesign since 2010, but things are changing now.
The already small desktop computer is now even smaller—coming in at 5 x 5 inches. Despite the smaller footprint, it’s a little taller, and the base slopes down with vents for airflow. It’s still, for all intents and purposes, a metallic cube.
Apple has finally added ports to the front, making them easier to access. Two USB-C ports support the USB 3.0, and there’s a 3.5-mm headphone jack. On the back, the M4-powered Mac Mini includes three Thunderbolt 4 ports while the M4 Pro version has three Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports (another first—Thunderbolt 5 is the latest standard that supports up to 80 Gbps data transfer speeds and it’s only available in very few devices at the moment). Both models also have an HDMI (for connecting an external display), an Ethernet connection (configurable up to 10 GB), and a port for the power cable. Apple has completely nixed the USB-A ports in this model.
Unlike the iPhone, which arrives exactly on time every September, Apple’s desktop hardware can be a little more sporadic, and naturally, that means the processors powering these machines aren’t chronological. The last Mac Mini had the M2 chip, and no, this one doesn’t have the M3, but the M4 instead. There are two types to choose from: M4 or M4 Pro.