Apple Unveils Mac Minis With M4 and M4 Pro Chips

Apple Newsroom:

With M4 Pro, it takes the advanced technologies in M4 and scales them up to tackle even more demanding workloads. For more convenient connectivity, it features front and back ports, and for the first time includes Thunderbolt 5 for faster data transfer speeds on the M4 Pro model.

The M4 Mac Mini Thunderbolt story is simple not too complicated: the three rear ports on models with the regular M4 are Thunderbolt 4; the three rear ports on models with the M4 Pro are Thunderbolt 5. The front ports are just USB-C, no Thunderbolt, on all Mac Mini models. Why you might care: Thunderbolt 4 supports 40 Gbps symmetrical send/receive; Thunderbolt 5 supports 80 Gbps symmetrical send/receive or 120 Gbps send / 40 Gbps receive (e.g., for displays).

The new Mac mini footprint is less than half the size of the previous design at just 5 by 5 inches, so it takes up much less space on a desk. The super-compact system is enabled by the incredible power efficiency of Apple silicon and an innovative thermal architecture, which guides air to different levels of the system, while all venting is done through the foot.

The new Mini form factor sports a dramatically smaller footprint, but because it’s taller (which ought to be better for thermals), the difference isn’t as great by volume:

HeightWidthDepthAreaVolume
M4 Mac Mini5 cm12.7 cm12.7 cm161 cm2807 cm3
Previous Mac Minis3.58 cm19.7 cm19.7 cm388 cm21,389 cm3
M2 Mac Studio9.5 cm19.7 cm19.7 cm388 cm23,689 cm3
Apple TV 4K3.1 cm9.3 cm9.3 cm87 cm2268 cm3


No cheating either: the power supply remains inside the Mac Mini case. (But as shown above, the Mac Mini remains quite a bit larger than an Apple TV 4K.) One odd detail is the placement of the power button on the bottom of the case.

Base RAM goes from 8 to 16 GB (which appears to be true for all M4-based Macs) and goes up to a maximum of 64 GB with the M4 Pro, and all M4 Mac Minis support up to three displays. See Apple’s Compare page for more details on what’s new and changed.

Also interesting is the announcement format. Rather than one 30–40 minute video announcing all M4 Macs at once, Apple has made separate 10-minute-ish mini keynotes for each. iMacs yesterday, Mac Mini today, and presumably MacBook Pros tomorrow. And rather than shoot inside Steve Jobs Theater, they filmed at the new Observatory building — a smaller setting for smaller announcements.

Lastly: a fun 2-minute stop-motion introduction commercial.

★ Tuesday, 29 October 2024