Mac mini radically redesigned with M4 and M4 Pro chip

Apple unveiled the radically redesigned Mac mini on Tuesday, with versions powered by the M4 chip and a new M4 Pro chip. The smaller-than-ever desktop computer features a new design with convenient ports on the front and back, faster processing speeds and, for the first time, Thunderbolt 5 connectivity and a carbon neutral guarantee.

“The new Mac mini delivers gigantic performance in an unbelievably small design thanks to the power efficiency of Apple silicon and an innovative new thermal architecture,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, in a press release.

The faster Mac mini is available for preorder now, with a release date of November 8.

A big new design for the little Mac mini

Despite being nearly 20 years old — starting on PowerPC, then Intel processors and now Apple silicon — the Mac mini has only had two major designs. Its initial white polycarbonate and aluminum dressing matched the aesthetic of the PowerPC and iPod era it debuted in. And a shorter, wider, silver aluminum unibody housed Apple’s small desktop computer since 2010.

This new design looks far more mini than before — it measures only 5 inches by 5 inches. Taking advantage of the energy and thermal efficiency of Apple silicon, it’s closer in size to an Apple TV than the previous Mac mini. However, it’s still milled out of bead-blasted silver aluminum. Taking a cue from the Mac Studio, some of the ports appear on the computer’s front, providing easier access.

Coming with M4 and the new M4 Pro

Historically, Apple doesn’t update the Mac mini doesn’t with every new chip; sometimes it skips a generation. The new Mac mini jumps straight from M2 and M2 Pro to M4 and the new M4 Pro.

The M2 came with 8/10/16 CPU/GPU/Neural Engine cores; the M2 Pro came with either 10/16/16 or 12/19/16 CPU/GPU/Neural Engine cores.

The new Mac mini with M4 bumps that up to 10/10/16 CPU/GPU/Neural Engine cores, and doubles the memory on the entry-level model from 8 GB to 16 GB. According to Apple’s press release, when compared to the older M1 model, performance in apps like Microsoft Excel is 1.7 times faster; AI-powered speech-to-text is twice as fast; image editing in Adobe Lightroom Classic is a whopping 4.9 times faster. And compared to “the best-selling PC desktop in its price range,” the mini is “up to 6× faster at one-twentieth the size” for video editing workflows.

The M4 Pro features “the world’s fastest CPU core” — up to 14 of them. The GPU gets a modest bump up to 20 cores; it’s twice as fast as the base M4 chip. Built for Apple Intelligence, the Neural engine performs 3× faster than the former M1 Pro. The M4 Pro now comes with up to 64 GB of unified memory. And Apple says it boasts 75% faster memory bandwidth than the M3 Pro.

Next-generation connectivity

Although Apple axed the USB-A ports — a sacrifice necessary for its smaller footprint — the Mac mini packs more ports than ever before. All models come with power, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, five USB-C ports and a headphone jack. On the entry-level Mac mini, those three ports on the back are Thunderbolt 4, for powering high-resolution displays, fast external storage, docks for legacy ports and much more.

The Mac mini with M4 Pro brings it forward to the next generation of connectivity. The three ports on the back are Thunderbolt 5. It can power three 6K displays at 60 Hz, or transfer data at 120 Gb/s — twice the speed of Thunderbolt 4. The headphone jack on the front supports high-impedance headphones for studio-quality audio.

Pricing and availability

Apple made the new Mac mini available for preorder Tuesday. The entry-level M4 version starts at the same $599 price as the previous model. The more-powerful M4 Pro version starts at $1,399. Apple says orders will arrive, and the Mac mini will become available in stores, on November 8.

Apple calls the new Mac mini the first carbon-neutral Mac. According to the press release, it is “made with over 50 percent recycled content overall,” and manufactured using 100% renewable energy. It’s even shipped primarily by ocean freight, to reduce the carbon footprint of the supply chain. To offset the energy usage of all the computers over their expected lifetime, Apple says it “invested in clean energy projects around the world.” As icing on the cake, “the packaging is now entirely fiber-based.”

The Mac mini ships with macOS Sequoia, now featuring Apple Intelligence. The AI features built into the system include writing tools, object removal in photos, notification summaries and more.

Tune in tomorrow for one more exciting announcement

Apple skipped its traditional October product event this year, opting for a series of press releases and shorter videos. A few weeks ago, Apple introduced the iPad mini with A17 Pro. This week brought a new M4 iMac, new Magic Keyboard, Trackpad and Mouse accessories with USB-C and now the new Mac mini. We expect Apple to release new MacBook Pros with M4, M4 Pro and M4 Max processors Wednesday.