The Mac mini will celebrate its 20th birthday in January. And I think the M4 version of the Mac mini is far and away the most appealing one the company has ever made.
When it was introduced during the white plastic heyday of peak iPod-era Apple, the Mac mini was pitched as the cheapest way to buy into the Mac ecosystem. It was $499. And despite some fluctuation (as high as $799 for the entry-level 2018 mini, $599 for this year's refresh), the Mac mini has stayed the cheapest entry-level Mac ever since.
But the entry-level models always left a lot to be desired. The first Mac mini launched with just 256MB of RAM, a pretty anemic amount even by the standards of the day. The first Intel Mac mini in 2006 came with a single-core Core Solo processor, literally the last single-core Mac Apple ever released and the only single-core Intel Mac. The 2018 Mac mini's Core i3 processor left a lot to be desired for the price. The 8GB of RAM included in the basic M1 and M2 Mac minis was fine for many things but left very little headroom for future growth.
For years, the Mini was the odd man out in the Mac desktop lineup. Apple has given plenty of love to the iMac over the years. The Mac Pro has had a few false starts, but the company is clearly committed to offering a true professional-grade desktop experience. The Studio is the new kid on […]
Apple's week of Mac announcements has wrapped up this morning with the launch of the new M4 MacBook Pros, and we now have a full picture of the M4 chip lineup that will drive the Mac for the next year or so (excepting the M4 Ultra, if we end up getting one).
Because Apple staggered its product and chip announcements, we've gathered some basic specs from all versions of the M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max to help compare them to the outgoing M2 and M3 chip families, including the slightly cut-down versions that Apple sells in the cheaper new Macs. We've also rounded up some of Apple's performance claims, so people with older Macs can see exactly what they're getting if they upgrade (Apple still likes to use the M1 as a baseline, acknowledging that the year-over-year gains are sometimes minor and that many people are still getting by just fine with some version of the M1 chip).
At least as far as the Mac is concerned, Apple has technically released six different chips this week under three different brand names. The M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max all have one slightly cut-down entry-level version with fewer CPU and GPU cores and one more-expensive, fully enabled version.
Generally, in the places where Apple offers both versions of each chip, you can upgrade to the better CPU/GPU without also having to pay for more RAM or anything else. But the M4 Max is an exception—buying the fully enabled M3 Max also requires you to pay for a jump from 36GB to 48GB of memory, making the total cost an additional $500. Apple's site lists it, somewhat misleadingly, as a $300 addition, but toggling the selection also automatically selects the $200 RAM upgrade.
Apple's week of Mac announcements continues today, and as expected, we're getting a substantial new update to the Mac mini. Apple's least-expensive Mac, the mini, is being updated with new M4 processors, plus a smaller design that looks like a cross between an Apple TV box and a Mac Studio—this is the mini's first major design change since the original aluminum version was released in 2010. The mini is also Apple's first device to ship with the M4 Pro processor, a beefed-up version of the M4 with more CPU and GPU cores, and it's also the Mac mini's first update since the M2 models came out in early 2023.
The cheapest Mac mini will still run you $599, which includes 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage; as with yesterday's iMac update, this is the first time since 2012 that Apple has boosted the amount of RAM in an entry-level Mac. It's a welcome upgrade for every new Mac in the lineup that's getting it, but the $200 that Apple previously charged for the 16GB upgrade makes an even bigger difference to someone shopping for a $599 system than it does for someone who can afford a $999 or $1,299 computer.
The M4 Pro Mac mini starts at $1,399, a $100 increase from the M2 Pro version. Both models go up for preorder today and will begin arriving on November 8.
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