Apple proclaims redesigned Mac Mini with M4 chip — and it’s so rattling small

As a part of the corporate’s week of Mac-focused bulletins, Apple has simply launched a smaller, but much more highly effective Mac Mini. It’s now outfitted with Apple’s newest M4 silicon, helps ray tracing for the primary time, and ships with 16GB of RAM by default — seemingly the brand new regular within the Apple Intelligence period. The machine nonetheless begins at $599 with the common M4 chip, whereas the extra highly effective M4 Professional mannequin has a beginning worth of $1,399. Just like the refreshed iMac introduced yesterday, the Mac Mini is obtainable to preorder instantly and will likely be in shops on November eighth.

The very first thing you’ll discover is the brand new design. As rumored, the Mini has been shrunken down significantly — and it was already a comparatively small desktop machine to start with. Now it’s downright tiny, measuring 5 inches in each size and width. Should you’re questioning how Apple manages to maintain issues operating cool, the corporate says it’s by the M4’s effectivity and “an modern thermal structure, which guides air to completely different ranges of the system, whereas all venting is completed by the foot.”

Even so, Apple has loaded this factor up with loads of I/O: on the entrance are two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm audio jack. Round again you’ll discover ethernet, HDMI, and three USB-C / Thunderbolt ports. The USB-A ports are certainly historical past, however it’s price noting that the bottom M2 Mini solely had two Thunderbolt 4 ports and two USB-A ports. With the M4, you’re getting 5 ports in all. So that you’re shedding native USB-A however selecting up an additional Thunderbolt port.

The pace of these Thunderbolt ports will differ primarily based on which M4 processor you select. The common M4 chip contains Thunderbolt 4, whereas the M4 Professional will get you the very newest Thunderbolt 5 throughput.

The M4 Professional Mac Mini additionally delivers higher general efficiency with its 14 CPU and 20 GPU cores. RAM will be configured as much as 32GB with the common M4 or 64GB with the M4 Professional. Storage tops out at a whopping 8TB. So whereas the Mini is sort of small, you may make it severely mighty for those who’re keen to spend sufficient. 10 gigabit ethernet additionally stays an elective improve for many who need it.

We’re more likely to see the M4 Professional chip come to the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Execs that Apple is rumored to announce this week, together with an much more succesful M4 Max chip that’s not obtainable within the Mini. However the Professional ought to be lots as is for a lot of prosumers and creatives.

It’s a busy week for Apple. The M4 iMac made its debut on Monday, and the corporate additionally rolled out its first Apple Intelligence software program capabilities throughout iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. (Extra AI options, together with picture era and ChatGPT integration, will likely be launched in December.) Tomorrow may see the debut of these upgraded MacBook Execs as Apple rounds out its new {hardware}. The corporate is about to report quarterly earnings on Thursday, throughout which it’s going to little question trumpet its newest fleet of Macs.