Apple’s week of Mac announcements continues today with the news that the Mac mini is getting a complete redesign as well as turbocharged with the company’s M4 and brand new M4 Pro chips.
Despite its even tinier size at just five by five-inches, the new Mac mini M4 delivers up to 1.8x faster CPU performance and 2.2x faster GPU performance over the Mac mini M1, according to Apple. This new smaller Mac is also built from the ground up for Apple Intelligence.
At the same time, the Mac mini M4 is Apple’s first carbon neutral Mac with a more than 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across its material, manufacturing, transportation and customer use.
Besides the redesign and the addition of M4 or M4 Pro chips, the biggest difference with this new Mac mini is with its ports. As was rumored back in September, the Mac mini M4 now has both front and back ports and instead of USB-A ports like on the Mac mini M2, they’ve now all been replaced with Thunderbolt ones. However, while the standard Mac mini M4 comes equipped with Thunderbolt 4 ports, the Mac mini M4 Pro is the first Mac ever to have Thunderbolt 5 onboard.
| Mac mini M4 | Mac mini M4 Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $599 to start | $1,399 to start |
| CPU | M4 (10-core CPU, 10-core GPU) | M4 (12-core CPU, 16-core GPU) |
| RAM | 16-32GB | 24-64GB |
| Storage | 256GB-2TB | 512-8TB |
| Ports | 5x Thunderbolt4/USB 4, HDMI, 2x USB-A, Ethernet (up to 10GB), 3.5mm headphone jack | 5x Thunderbolt5/USB 4, HDMI, 2x USB-A, Ethernet (up to 10GB), 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Dimensions | 5 x 5 x 2 inches | 5 x 5 x 2 inches |
| Weight | 1.5 pounds | 1.6 pounds |
On the front of the Mac mini M4, you’ll find two Thunderbolt ports as well as a headphone jack and around back, there are three Thunderbolt ports along with an HDMI port, an Ethernet jack and an AC port. These extra USB-C ports make a lot of sense though as Apple has updated its Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad and other accessories with them as well.
The Mac mini M4 starts at $599 while the Mac mini M4 Pro starts at $1,399. Both of these new Macs are available for preorder today in the Apple Store app in 28 countries and regions. These new Mac minis will begin shipping on Friday, November 8.
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