Apple continues its flurry of Mac announcements with the introduction of the M4 Mac mini. This marks the first major redesign since the unibody model debuted in 2010, bringing a new chip, refreshed aesthetics, and key hardware updates.
This new iteration shrinks the Mac mini’s footprint to a mere 5×5 inches, occupying less than half the desk space of its predecessor. While slightly taller at two inches (compared to the previous 1.4 inches), it resembles a compact Mac Studio. The weight has also been significantly reduced to just 1.5 pounds, down from 2.6 pounds. Manufactured with 100% renewable materials and using less aluminum, Apple proudly declares this its first carbon-neutral Mac.
The M4 and M4 Pro chips now power the Mac mini, aligning it with the iMac and iPad Pro. The base M4 chip adds two CPU cores over the M2, totaling 10 cores—six performance and four efficiency cores. The M4 Pro boasts up to a 14-core CPU with 10 performance cores. Apple claims performance improvements of up to 1.8x over the M1 and 1.4x over the M2 for the M4, and the M4 Pro is touted as twice as fast as the M2 Pro in certain tasks.
A woman using the M4 Mac mini with three monitors connected.
Graphics also see enhancements with the M4 chip. While maintaining the 10 GPU cores of the M2, the M4 benefits from faster cores, wider memory bandwidth, and double the ray tracing performance. The M4 Pro offers a configuration with up to 20 GPU cores. This upgrade represents a leap from the M2 and M2 Pro, skipping the M3 generation entirely. Apple positions the M4 Mac mini as six times faster than the top-selling PC desktop in its price range.
Apple Intelligence features prominently, with the M4’s Neural Engine offering twice the speed of its predecessor. While retaining 16 cores, the Neural Engine promises accelerated local AI processing for tasks in applications like Photos and Premiere Pro.
Port selection receives a practical overhaul. Two front-facing USB-C ports alongside a headphone jack offer convenient access. The two USB-A ports have been replaced by three Thunderbolt ports on the rear, supporting up to three 6K displays. The M4 Pro model features Thunderbolt 5 ports with 120Gb/s data transfer speeds, while the base M4 model utilizes Thunderbolt 4 at 40Gb/s. Both models retain an HDMI port and Ethernet jack. While a power jack remains, the power button appears absent in promotional images.
The ports on the back of the M4 Mac mini.
Addressing previous criticisms, Apple doubles the base memory to 16GB without raising the $599 starting price. This upgrade previously cost $200 on the older Mac mini.
The Mac mini announcement follows the M4 iMac reveal, part of Apple’s “exciting week of announcements.” The new Mac Mouse, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Trackpad, announced with the iMac, are also compatible with the Mac mini. An M4 MacBook Pro is anticipated later this week.
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