Apple announces redesigned Mac Mini with M4 chip – and it's so darn small

As part of the company's week of Mac-focused announcements, Apple just unveiled a smaller but even more powerful Mac Mini. It now features Apple's latest M4 silicon, supports ray tracing for the first time, and ships with 16GB of RAM as standard – seemingly the new normal in the Apple Intelligence era. With the regular M4 chip, the machine still starts at $599, while the more powerful M4 Pro model has a starting price of $1,399. Like the updated iMac announced yesterday, the Mac Mini is available for pre-order now and will be available in stores on November 8th.

The first thing you'll notice is the new design. Rumor has it that the Mini has been significantly reduced in size – and it was already a relatively small desktop device to begin with. Now it's downright tiny, measuring five inches in both length and width. If you're wondering how Apple manages to keep things running cool, the company says it's due to the M4's efficiency and “an innovative thermal architecture that directs air to different levels of the system while keeping all ventilation above the “Foot done”.

Nevertheless, Apple has equipped this device with plenty of I/O: There are two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm audio jack on the front. On the back you'll find Ethernet, HDMI and three USB-C/Thunderbolt ports. While the USB-A ports are history, it's worth noting that the base M2 Mini only had two Thunderbolt 4 ports and two USB-A ports. With the M4 you get a total of five ports. So you lose the native USB-A port, but get an additional Thunderbolt port.

The speed of these Thunderbolt ports depends on which M4 processor you choose. The regular M4 chip features Thunderbolt 4, while the M4 Pro offers the latest Thunderbolt 5 throughput.

The M4 Pro Mac Mini also offers higher overall performance with its 14 CPU and 20 GPU cores. The RAM can be configured up to 32 GB on the regular M4 or up to 64 GB on the M4 Pro. The storage is a whopping 8 TB. So even though the Mini is pretty small, you can make it really powerful if you're willing to spend enough. 10 Gigabit Ethernet also remains an optional upgrade for those who want it.

We'll likely see the M4 Pro chip in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros that Apple is reportedly announcing this week, along with an even more powerful M4 Max chip that isn't available in the Mini. But the Pro should be sufficient, as for many prosumers and creative people.

It's a busy week for Apple. The M4 iMac made its debut on Monday and the company also introduced its first Apple Intelligence software features for iOS, iPadOS and macOS. (More AI features, including image generation and ChatGPT integration, will be released in December.) Tomorrow could see the debut of these updated MacBook Pros as Apple rounds out its new hardware. The company is expected to report its quarterly results on Thursday, no doubt highlighting its latest fleet of Macs.