Mac Mini: Apple M1 Chip And Intel Options, Starts At $699

Contents

1. Should You Buy the Mac mini?
2. M4 Mac Mini Features
3. How to Buy
4. Reviews
5. Design
• Ports
• Display Support
6. M4 and M4 Pro Apple Silicon Chips
• Media Engine
• Memory and Storage
7. Other Features
• Speakers
8. Available Models
• Base Models
• Build-to-Order Options
9. Mac mini Timeline

Apple updated the Mac mini in October 2024, introducing an overhauled design and much faster M4 and M4 Pro Apple silicon chips. This is the biggest update the Mac mini has seen since 2020, when Apple silicon chips were first introduced, and the first redesign since 2010.

The updated Mac mini is notably smaller than the prior version, and it takes up less space on a desktop or in a server rack. It measures in at 5 inches by 5 inches, which makes it 2.75 inches smaller on each side than the previous model. It is two inches tall, however, so it is about 40 percent taller than the prior version. The Mac mini weighs just 1.5 pounds.

M4 and M4 Pro Apple silicon chips in the Mac mini integrate the GPU, CPU, RAM, and other components. The M4 chip has a 10-core CPU with four performance cores and six efficiency cores, and a 10-core GPU that supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh sharing for improved gaming and GPU-intensive tasks.

The M4 Pro chip has up to a 14-core CPU with 10 performance cores and four efficiency cores, and up to a 20-core GPU. Both chips come with a faster 16-core Neural Engine for Apple Intelligence and machine learning tasks, and a dedicated Media Engine for hardware-accelerated video decoding and encoding.

While the M4 Mac mini supports up to 32GB unified memory and offers 120GB/s memory bandwidth, the M4 Pro models support up to 64GB unified memory and 273GB/s memory bandwidth. According to Apple, the M4 Mac mini models are up to 2x faster than the prior-generation M2 Mac mini models.

Apple overhauled the design of the Mac mini, but while it is significantly smaller, it has the same square-shaped silver aluminum enclosure. Apple added a new thermal architecture to accommodate the M4 chips in the smaller body, with a vented foot that pulls in air from the surrounding environment to cool the machine. Air is able to circulate throughout the system before being vented back out. With the thermal design, the Mac mini remains cool and quiet during operation.

Standard M4 Mac mini models come with a 256GB or 512GB SSD that is configurable up to 2TB, but the M4 Pro can be purchased with up to an 8TB SSD.

The M4 Mac mini supports up to three displays, with two displays at 6K 60Hz and one display at 5K 60Hz. It can run an 8K display with 60Hz or a 4K display with a 240Hz refresh rate along with one display at 5K resolution at 60Hz. The M4 Pro Mac mini also supports up to three displays, but it can run three that have a 6K resolution at 60Hz. Alternatively, it can handle one 6K display at 60Hz and one 8K display with 60Hz or a 4K display at 240Hz.

All Mac mini models have two USB-C ports that support transfer speeds up to 10Gb/s on the front, along with an additional three USB-C/Thunderbolt ports at the back. The M4 Mac mini has Thunderbolt 4 ports that support transfer speeds up to 40Gb/s, while the M4 Pro Mac mini has three Thunderbolt 5 ports that support transfer speeds up to 120Gb/s.

There are built-in speakers in the Mac mini, along with a 3.5mm headphone jack that supports high-impedance headphones. An HDMI port supports multichannel audio output, and there is a Gigabit Ethernet port configurable to 10Gb Ethernet. The back of the Mac mini also includes a connector for power. At the bottom of the Mac mini, there is a power button for turning it on and off.

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Other M4 Mac mini features include Wi-Fi 6E support for use with routers that support the 6GHz network, and Bluetooth 5.3.

The Mac mini models do not come with displays or included peripherals, which is why pricing is lower. You need to supply your own display, keyboard, and mouse with these desktop machines.

Pricing on the M4 Mac mini starts at $599 for 16GB RAM and a 256GB SSD. A model with a 512GB SSD is available for $799, and a version with 24GB RAM and a 512GB SSD is available for $999. The higher-end M4 Pro version with 24GB RAM and 512GB SSD is priced at $1,399, and there are multiple build-to-order upgrade options available.

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