The 2024 Mac Mini Shrinks the Size but Promises Supercharged Performance

The Mac mini is back, showing however Apple is inactive trying to beryllium that size inactive matters. The Cupertino, California institution has shrunk its already tiny desktop to astir arsenic overmuch abstraction arsenic an Apple TV box. What’s more, the caller mentation comes with the latest successful Apple silicon, the M4 chip.

Apple is preparing to motorboat 2 versions of the Mac mini adjacent month. You tin nab the baseline, $600 exemplary with the regular M4 spot oregon opt for a much expensive, $1,400 Mac mini with the M4 Pro. The past Mac mini Apple debuted successful 2022 and was released successful 2023. It housed an M2 spot oregon an M2 Pro. The caller instrumentality starts astatine 16 GB of RAM with options up to 64 GB and retention options up to 8 TB if you’re consenting to walk an other $2,400 connected the astir costly model.

The M4 archetypal debuted with this year’s iPad Pro. That mentation of the aforesaid spot included a 9-core CPU, a 10-core GPU, and enactment for ray tracing. At the introductory level, the caller mentation of Apple’s tiny desktop includes a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, akin to the new iMac conscionable announced Monday. Meanwhile, the M4 Pro includes a 12-core CPU and 16-core GPU with a basal of 24GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD storage. You could besides spell for a 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU for an other $200. The M4 successful the Mac mini means that Apple’s tiny machine volition beryllium amended for gaming, adjacent if Apple’s autochthonal crippled library is inactive constricted compared to the competition.

The erstwhile Mac mini container measured 7.62 inches square. The caller Mini is astir 5-by-5 inches successful magnitude and width, positive precisely 2 inches successful height. This volition mean it takes up”much little space” connected your desk, but Apple claims it should inactive support chill with its caller aerial guides, which nonstop the exhaust done the beforehand vents.

The M4 chip’s 16-core neural motor is besides acceptable to bushed the M2 connected inheritance AI performance. The M2 tin enactment astir 16 TOPS, oregon trillions of operations per second, portion the M4 is expected to bash 38 TOPS. However, that’s not astir arsenic important arsenic its CPU and GPU capabilities, particularly for intensive tasks and AI processing. Based connected our M4 benchmarks with iPad, we expect the caller spot to amusement immoderate awesome gains implicit the M2 version.

Apple has reconfigured the larboard enactment connected the updated small Mac (a overmuch amended sanction for the instrumentality if lone Nintendo didn’t ain the copyright connected that). Instead of lodging 2 USB-A ports similar the 1 from 2023, the redesigned mentation includes a powerfulness connector, HDMI port, and 3 USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4. There are besides 2 regular USB-C ports connected the chassis’ beforehand face. It looks similar my mainstay wired gaming rodent volition request a larboard hub.

Apple whitethorn be developing a slate of new wireless mice, keyboards, and trackpads to regenerate the existent Magic lineup. This could beryllium a boon for folks looking to enactment wrong the Apple ecosystem, though anybody other volition request to commencement reasoning of adapters if they’re hoping to usage the latest Apple products connected their desktops.

Apple said it plans to propulsion the expanse disconnected adjacent more Mac products this week, truthful support your oculus retired for adjacent much caller desktops and laptops.