Apple has announced the much-awaited 2024 Mac mini, powered by the M4 and M4 Pro chips in a super-compact design.
2024 Mac mini Comes in a Very Small Form-Factor with Extremely Powerful and Worthy Upgrades Including Forward-Facing Ports
I’m going to start with the thing that everyone cares about the most, and that’s the design.
Design
Without a doubt, this is exactly what the Apple silicon Mac mini should have been from the start. Not that chunky block of aluminum which Apple has been selling for years.
Compared to the M2 Mac mini, this one’s just 5-by-5 inches in size, which means you can put it anywhere you like and not worry about taking up too much space. The only thing that makes this design possible is Apple silicon; nothing else.
RAM Starts at 16GB
Apple is doing away with 8GB of RAM on base models. The new Mac mini with M4 and M4 Pro start with 16GB of RAM, and that’s absolutely crucial for daily tasks and Apple Intelligence.
M4 and M4 Pro Chips
The Mac mini starts with the M4 chip which has a 10-core CPU and GPU. This is actually quite interesting given that the new M4 iMac starts with an 8-core CPU and GPU.
In the same footprint, Apple is offering the M4 Pro variant of the Mac mini, and it features a 14-core CPU and up to 20-core GPU. But here’s where things suddenly get wild – you can configure the M4 Pro model with up to 64GB of RAM.
Keep that small 5-by-5-inch footprint in mind, and you’ll be left scratching your head.
USB-A No More
It’s best to say it now rather than later, but the Mac mini ditches the USB-A ports completely in favor of Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 5, depending on which model and variant you’re buying.
Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 5 All Around
When it comes to connectivity, there are multiple ways to connect your favorite devices to the Mac mini. But you get up to 5 USB-C ports whether you get the M4 Mac mini or the M4 Pro Mac mini.
With the M4 Mac mini, you get 2 USB-C ports at the front and 3 Thunderbolt 4 ports at the back. The M4 Pro model takes things a step further with 3 Thunderbolt 5 ports at the back, each supporting a massive bandwidth of 120Gbps.
More Connectivity
You also get a headphone jack at the front with support for high-impedance headphones. On the back, there’s an Ethernet port that can be configured with up to 10Gbps speeds, while the HDMI ports round off the main specifications.
Wild External Display Support
The M4 Mac mini supports up to 2 6K displays or a single 5K display, which is more than enough for most use cases.
With the M4 Pro Mac mini, you can connect up to 3 6K displays running at 60Hz, which is absolutely nuts. This is the Mac mini we’re talking about here, not a Mac Studio or Mac Pro.
Carbon Neutral
Keeping the environment in mind, this is the first-ever Mac that is carbon neutral. It is manufactured from 50% recycled materials and 100% renewed energy.
Pricing and Availability
The price is so good. The M4 Mac mini starts at just $599, while the M4 Pro starts at $1,399. You can obviously configure the computer in multiple ways that will take the price even higher.
You can pre-order the Mac mini right now, and it will start to ship on 8th November.
