Apple Mac Mini (M4, 2024) Review: A Small Yet Powerful Desktop

the champion part astir the Mac Mini has ever been its simplicity. This tiny desktop PC is casual to adhd to immoderate workstation—just plug it into your peripherals, and that’s it. Apple’s latest mentation maintains this reputation, though with a caller look for the first clip successful more than a decade. It besides supports a brace of processors: the M4 oregon M4 Pro chipset.

It's the astir affordable mode into what the latest and top Macs person to offer, including Apple Intelligence, the company's artificial quality features. The basal exemplary with the M4 starts astatine $599, portion the M4 Pro–powered Mac Mini starts astatine $1,399. Apple's lone different desktop enactment is the new iMac with the M4, starting astatine $1,299.

As is the lawsuit with astir Apple hardware implicit the past fewer years, the caller Mac Mini sports incremental updates implicit its predecessor. That's not a atrocious thing. This is inactive a large small computer, and you tin physique an affordable, stationary setup astir it. But anyone with a caller Mac Mini (2020 oregon newer) shouldn't consciousness the request to upgrade unless you're feeling a show drag.

Miniature PC

The Mac Mini is simply a machine designed to beryllium stationary connected your desk, but present that it's smaller and much portable than ever, it's a small enticing to conscionable prime it up and propulsion it successful a container for hybrid enactment setups. Maybe you person a show and peripherals astatine the bureau oregon the aforesaid astatine home—after all, this happening has a smaller footprint than a MacBook (5 x 5 inches) and weighs conscionable 1.5 pounds (down from 2.6 pounds).

It is somewhat taller though, with vents that slope down for airflow, but retains its cube-like shape. This signifier inactive slots successful nicely astatine the basal of Apple's Studio Display, not that you person to walk the absurd terms connected this beauteous monitor. (We person plentifulness of much reasonably priced monitor recommendations here.)

A batch of radical compared the Mac Mini's caller look to an Apple TV box, but I deliberation it looks much similar a mini Mac Studio—especially with the caller larboard arrangement. Apple yet added ports to the beforehand (a gripe I had with the M2-powered version), which means I tin walk little clip annoyingly reaching implicit to the backmost to plug a cablegram in.