Along with the new M4 MacBook Pro series Apple is releasing this week (here is Fast Company’s review of Apple’s latest laptop), the company is also debuting a new Mac mini. The Mac mini is arguably the more radical of the two: Apple’s diminutive computer has now received its first major design overhaul in 13 years.
Yet the new mini has more to offer than a redesign. For much of the past week, I’ve been using Apple’s newest desktop ahead of its official launch tomorrow. Here are my thoughts on its upgrades and who this miniature machine is for.
Apple Mini-Me’d the Mac mini
The new Mac mini is available in two different chip configurations—either the M4 or the more powerful M4 Pro, which sports more processing cores and a better GPU, making it ideal for tasks like high-end video editing and gaming. Storage options start at 256GB and go all the way up to 8TB on select models. Memory options start at 16GB or 24GB on select models and can go as high as 64GB. The model I tested had the M4 Pro chipset with 48GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.
But I’ll delve more into the mini’s specs later. First I want to start with the unboxing. When I took the review unit Apple sent me out of the box, I was struck by the fact that that the computer could nearly fit in the palm of my hand. Without a doubt, its size is the most noticeable thing about the redesign.
The mini has always been Apple’s smallest computer, but it really earns its name with this latest iteration. It’s now just 5 inches by 5 inches square (with rounded corners, of course—this is Apple). That’s down from the 7.7-inch squared M2 model this new mini replaces (there was never an M3 Mac mini). To put the mini’s new size into even more perspective, it’s now not much bigger than an Apple TV 4K, which is just 3.66 inches squared.
The reduced size means that there’s more room on your desk now for other things. The Mac mini’s height, of just 2 inches, also means that you can place the tiny computer directly below most monitors—good for those with cramped workspaces.
But while the new design is mostly eye candy, the M4 Mac mini series sports some truly useful upgrades as well.
