Smaller Mac mini Powered by M4 and M4 Pro Chips
First, Apple introduced the M4 iMac (see “New 24-inch iMac Upgraded with M4 Chip,” 28 October 2024). The next day, the company pulled back the curtains on the diminutive M4 Mac mini, described in an intro video on the product page as “the lovable little Mac that can do it all.” Apple also noted that it’s the first carbon-neutral Mac.
The silver M4 Mac mini is smaller but taller than its predecessor, looking like a cross between the previous Mac mini and an Apple TV. It measures 5 inches (12.7 cm) square and 2.0 inches (5.0 cm) tall; the previous model was 7.7 inches (19.7 cm) square and 1.4 inches (3.6 cm) tall. It also finally moves some ports to the front for easier access—there will be less fumbling around in the back.
As before, the Mac mini comes in two configurations: one with an M4 chip starting at $599 and the other with an M4 Pro, starting at $1399. You can place pre-orders now with delivery and in-store availability on 8 November 2024.
Let’s look at the key specs and how they’ve changed:
- M4 and M4 Pro chips: The M4 has the same specs as the high-end M4 iMac: a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. However, with the M4 Pro, you can choose between a 12-core CPU/16-core GPU chip and a 14-core CPU/20-core GPU chip for $200 more. Apple claims the M4 is roughly twice as fast as the M1, and the M4 Pro is two to three times as fast as the M2 Pro. While Apple doesn’t directly compare the M4 and M4 Pro, the additional cores should enhance performance for demanding tasks.
- Memory: Like the iMac, the M4 Mac mini starts at 16 GB of memory, up from 8 GB. That’s welcome and likely helpful for Apple Intelligence. You can upgrade to 24 GB for $200 or 32 GB for $400. The M4 Pro Mac mini ships with 24 GB by default and provides upgrades to 48 GB for $400 and 64 GB for $600. We have long recommended 16 GB instead of the default 8 GB, but it remains to be seen if Apple Intelligence features noticeably benefit from even more memory.
- Storage: For the M4 Mac mini, the base level of storage remains 256 GB, with options for 512 GB ($200), 1 TB ($400), and 2 TB ($800). The M4 Pro Mac mini starts at 512 GB and lets you increase that to 1 TB ($200), 2 TB ($600), 4 TB ($1200), or 8 TB ($2400).
- Connectivity: The front face of both models features two USB-C ports with support for 10 Gbps USB 3, along with a 3.5 mm headphone jack. On the back, you’ll find Ethernet (either Gigabit Ethernet or 10 Gigabit Ethernet for $100 more), HDMI, and three Thunderbolt ports. The M4 Mac mini features Thunderbolt 4 ports offering up to 40 Gbps, while the M4 Pro model breaks new ground in the Mac world with Thunderbolt 5, boasting transfer speeds of up to 120 Gbps. Gone are the USB Type-A ports from the previous models.
- Display support: Both models support up to three displays, one more than the M2 Mac mini could drive, although the capabilities vary slightly once you get into 6K screens like Apple’s Pro Display XDR.
However, not all the changes are positive. Most notable is the price of the M4 Pro Mac mini, which starts at $100 more than the M2 Pro model it replaces. It does have 8 GB more memory, but the M4 Mac mini and M4 iMac didn’t increase in price despite a similar increase in memory.
Moving the headphone jack to the front of the Mac mini makes it a lot easier to plug in headphones, but if you use speakers, you’ll have a cable sticking out of the front at all times. There’s no pleasing everyone.
The M4 Pro Mac mini also has only three Thunderbolt 5 ports, compared to four Thunderbolt 4 ports on the M2 Pro model. While the front-mounted USB-C ports are better in nearly every way, some will still mourn the loss of USB Type-A ports from the back of the previous models.
Finally, while most people seldom need to press the power button these days, putting it on the bottom feels weird.
Overall, though, these new M4 and M4 Pro models make the Mac mini even more attractive than before. They’re smaller, faster, and have higher memory ceilings. While everyday users of the M1 or M2 Mac mini may not see any compelling reason to upgrade, pro users who rely on the M2 Pro Mac mini might be tempted by the additional performance and Thunderbolt 5 connectivity.
Apple’s target market for the Mac mini is still those working on an Intel-based Mac (or a PC) who want to move to the Apple silicon world. In particular, one of these Mac minis with an Apple Studio Display presents a compelling alternative for those of us who appreciate the versatility and performance of the 27-inch iMac.
I love that the base RAM on the Pro is 24 GB.
Also, TB5 is a nice addition. The marketed 120 Gbps is unfortunate because the top 40 Gbps part of it, the “Bandwidth Boost” as Intel marketing likes to call it, is reserved for video and not actual PCIe b/w at your disposal for just any bidirectional data i/o. In terms of user-facing data over PCIe, it’s 80 Gbps which is twice what TB3/4 offered (it’s also PCIe 4.0 now).
For those of us who need fast disk i/o, TB5’s 80 Gbps in real-world applications will translate to something just above 6 GB/s (see the OWC Envoy Ultra as an early example of that). This is great news because it means we are finally getting an external interface that roughly matches the b/w of our internal flash.
Looking forward to ordering an M4 Pro 14" MBP tomorrow.
Both the iMac and MacMini do not support Wi-Fi 7, only Wi-Fi 6E. So far, the only Apple device supporting Wi-Fi 7 is the new iPad Mini. It’s not crucial yet since there are almost no reasonably priced Wi-Fi 7 routers, but it is undoubtedly not forward-looking.
The power switch for the Mac Mini is underneath the rear left corner. While you don’t need to access it often, you do need to when it is essential to power the computer off and back on if it has been shut off. The switch on the MacSutudio is on the back near the lower left corner, and just reaching around to find it is non-trivial; the MacMini spot is even more unreachable and involves lifting the corner. You could say it’s equivalent to the charging port for the Magic Mouse being on the bottom.
Yes. Definite stirrings of tech lust here, particularly when using these things as build bots, servers, and VM hosts. However, right now my own homelab M2 Pro covers me for sufficient RAM and storage, and in fact gives me a spare TB port on what, sans hub, would otherwise be a guaranteed usage of all of the available ports.
So the question is this: just how much faster is the top M4 Pro config over the equivalent M2 Pro, taking into account the two additional performance cores? Enquiring minds, etc.
Apple’s intro video says 1.6x for CPU tasks, 1.5x for GPU tasks, and up to 2x for “motion effects” (M4 Pro now supprts hardware accelerated ray tracing).
Core clock is up 10% (has anybody noticed we’re at 4.3 GHz now?) and memory bandwidth is up 37% compared to M2 Pro.
The new Mac Mini has lots of compute power in its small form. It also has high bandwidth connectivity, especially in the higher performance models. This suggests the possibility to connect many Mac minis creating a miniature high powered server farm. This also suggests adding a Mac mini as a peripheral to provide access to compute functions requiring Apple Silicon for existing Intel equipment.
I had been thinking of adding a Mac mini as a coprocessor for the MacPro. Now I wonder if the combination would work better with the Mac mini controlling the MacPro as its file server.
Does anyone have insight into connecting a Mac mini and MacPro7.1 (Intel)?
I am very curious to see the speed differential between the internal drive (assume 1T version) and an external (like a Sammy 990Pro) NVMe in one of the 40gb/s enclosures.
That will be interesting indeed. The best transfer rates I’ve seen to flash over TB4/USB4 on a Mac have been about 3.2 GB/s. I know my M1 Pro does about 5.5 GB/s to its internal flash and the fastest M2 Studio I have seen does IIRC about 7 GB/s. If these new systems manage to surpass that it will increase the internal flash advantage some more — and this just after TB5 came to present a path to external 6 GB/s. It had almost caught up.
@ace Adam, you’re killing me!
My 27 inch intel iMac with 128gb RAM is for sure Apple’s target market for this machine. But “maybe wait until tomorrow?”
It cracked me up.
Looking forward to see what else is coming from this staggered rollout.
I think today was the last new machine release.
John Ternus, Apple’s SVP for Hardware Engineering, has hosted each daily video this week. At the end of this one, after the surprise MacBookAir announcement (16GB for all), he quickly summarized what had been announced and said that was it for a week. After the credits, there was a little non-announcement dessert.
I’m surprised the Mac Studio wasn’t updated to M4. That’s what I’m waiting on for replacing my Intel iMac.
Rumor is it won’t be until May-June 2025. And that makes me wonder if the upgrade will be more than just a speed bump and Thunderbolt 5. But what could it be?
Simple guess: It will be 2Q25 when the M4 Ultra is ready to ship in quantity.
Today I ordered a new Mac Mini.
With the following configuration:
Apple M4 chip with 10‑core CPU, 10‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
24GB unified memory
512GB SSD storage
Gigabit Ethernet
Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI port, two USB‑C ports, headphone jack
To replace my 2018 Mac Mini Intel.
I will write up my opinions, set up, and first impressions.
If you’re interested I will post on my blog sometime later in November.
They got you with “Just one more thing,” my friend.
What’d I miss?
MacBook Pros. Unless of course it was me who was writing a day behind that particular introduction. In any case, it looks like all the cats are out of all the bags for this week. Have a great weekend!
Yeah, I posted the comment after the MBPs were launched.
Couldn’t agree more about my 27" iMac. Wonderful 4g resolution. Lots of screen real estate.
Having connectors on the front does not make it easier. YEARS ago I gave up on the orientation of my Minis. I put them in backward so ALL the connectors face me. If Apple wants to make it easier, stop using black on black.
But Apple does not want to make it easier. They want to make it prettier. Aesthetics sell more than ergonomics.
I’m glad my new Mini is old style. I was pleased that my new Mac Studio is all silver, no black invisibility.
Thunderbolt 5 is great news. But an internal free NVME-slot would have been even better.
I guess I’m one of the exceptions that use the power button every day? Reason: my current Mac mini (2018, Intel) does not stay asleep and randomly wakes up without any explainable reason (and yes, I checked/set all the settings), so I now power it down at the end of the day.
Putting the power button on such an awkward place alone makes this Mac mini a no-go for me. The loss of ports on the back also makes this model less attractive to me. I think I’ll stick with what I have until it can no longer be upgraded to the latest OS. By then I hope Apple has realized it’s error and redesigned the next model.
If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t assume that a new Mac mini would require an awkward workaround for unusual and undesirable behavior in a six-year-old machine.
There’s no standard reason to power cycle a Mac daily. The only reasons I’ve powered my iMac off since I got it over four years ago are:
Plus, the difference in energy usage between sleep and being shut down is minimal.
Two questions:
With the removal of the type-A USB ports, does anyone know if any of the type-C ports can provide the non-standard extra power required by an Apple SuperDrive? I realize that the drive is no longer being sold, but (I assume) lots of people have them and would need a new optical drive if new Macs can’t provide the necessary power.
(I realize that this question may have already been answered by people using SuperDrives on other Macs’ USB-C ports.)
With the awkward location of the power button, do you think there’s any problem with standing the computer on its side? The new mini has a redesigned thermal architecture, but will it work well if the computer is sitting on its side?
I wouldn’t be surprised if some accessory makers begin selling a Mac Mini stand that either raises the Mini slightly (to improve airflow and to provide better access to the power button) or allows a vertical placement (similar to stands Sony includes with PS4 and PS5). I’ve seen these kind of stands for Macbooks, previous Minis and Apple TV’s.
Personally, I would be leery of keeping Minis and TVs on their sides because of the ventilation design. Both seem to be reliant on a bottom-to-top air flow and heat flow.
That’s an odd one. It’s always been about more than just power draw. The drive itself has an input current spec labeled as 1.6 A IIRC which for USB2 would translate to max 8 W (though for some reason not clear to me, its power draw is often reported as 2.25 W). Now 8 W is easily supplied by USB-C (15 W on Macs, not necessarily on hubs), but there have nevertheless been plenty of people who have powered hubs with more than 8 W available and still they can’t get it to connect. However, direct connection to Mac usually works and since the Mac mini’s USB-C ports will supply 15 W it’s definitely worth a try.
If that doesn’t work it’s still not the end of the world. Apple has in the past stated that they have 3 adapters that should work to connect a SuperDrive: USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter, USB-C VGA Multiport Adapter, and the USB-C to USB Adapter. The former two are expensive, but the latter is cheaper. $19 is still expensive compared to other A-C adapters/cables, but if this is the one thing allowing you to continue using a beloved SuperDrive, probably worth it.
I’d have no qualms trying that out. For one, M4 wattage is low (only the Pro models have a Cu heatsink, the vanilla M4 uses just Al, not unlike to the Studio Max/Ultra heatsink difference). More importantly, the M4 mini actually employs a fan that directs air for cooling along an engineered path. In through three sides, up, over, down, and out the back. So this is not just convection designed to carry warm air out the top, there’s an actual flow channel and forced air via blower. I would be very surprised if putting it on its side (especially on the left side such that forced air goes upwards as it heats up) made much of a difference. And if so, there would be warning signs: first more noise, and eventually the Mac mini throttling, or in extreme cases shutting off. But there is essentially no risk that running it on its side could all of a sudden toast a fancy new Mac.
My Apple SuperDrive runs fine connected to the USB-C port on my MacBook Pro. However, I believe that you need to use the USB-C to USB-A adapter supplied by Apple for this setup to work.
A SuperDrive plugged into my 2017 iMac says it needs 500 mA, with 600 mA of “Extra Operating Current”.
I used a non-Apple USB-A to USB-C converter and plugged into one of the iMac’s Thunderbolt ports. It was reported with the same power requirements on the USB 3.0 bus. It could mount and play a DVD. I didn’t try burning a disc.
That being said, I have ripped about 350 CDs to Apple Lossless using XLD to get perfect rips. I was running into too many cases where the 10 year old SuperDrive had errors, but the same CD would rip perfectly on other CD drives. So I got a non-Apple DVD burner – which has its own power supply so the USB port is moot. That drive* has never given me an error.
* OWC Mercury Pro, with an LG Super Multi GH24NSC0B mechanism
I’ve been using an M2 Studio (“2023”) for eleven months now, and reaching the power switch is a complete doddle — at least where I have mine: to the right of my Studio Display, about half a centimeter to the right (I’m right-handed) of the Display base, and protruding about two centimeters forward of the vertical part of the base. Sitting where I normally sit in front of the display, I have to bend forward no more than a couple of inches to get my right hand to where my middle finger can reach down and touch the switch button. Obviously, others’ mileage may vary.
Given the considerably smaller size of the M4 mini, I can’t see anyone having an issue reaching over to lift up that cornet of the machine and access there power switch, unless (a) they have some very taut cables constraining the tilt of the machine, or (b) they have the mini mounted on its side, attached to the back of a display.
I just ran across this article about a proposed quick 3D-printed hack. We might be seeing these things sold for $5 or less as a simple (but possibly ugly) fix:
Jason has a comprehensive review.
The M4 Mini has its flash storage in sockets:
Of course, the modules are not sold separately and they are cryptographically paired with the motherboard, but given the fact that the hacker community has figured out how to upgrade the storage in a Mac Studio, we may see something for this Mac in the future.
This is the first I’ve read of a “High Power Mode” on the M4 Pro:
Source:
This video shows all the gory details with micro soldering BGAs and the like. It can be done, just not by any Joe. The modules are very similar but not identical to those on the Studio.
Thanks. This is about as I expected it would go. And since we know that they can be replaced, I still think it is only a matter of time before someone starts selling replacement boards pre-populated with new flash chips, so mere mortals like you and I can install them and initialize with Configurator.
The SuperDrive never required non-standard extra power, that turned out to be a myth. I’m not sure where it originated, but it is widespread and the ‘correction’ seems to be little known. I myself wasn’t aware until whilst trying to use my SuperDrive under an emulated Mac OS 9 on my M1 MacBook Pro, I posted to the Mac OS 9 Lives forum. Someone there linked me to tnkgrl’s 2008(
) post debunking the non-standard power theory:
Turns out the culprit was a handshake in custom Apple firmware in the IDE to USB bridge:
Read the full post for all the gory details and how to replace the bridge to get the SuperDrive working with any computer that has USB.
I’ve been using my SuperDrive on my M1 MacBook Pro with an Anker USB-A to USB-C adapter. I’ve not tried burning a disc, but have been reading both CD(-R)s and DVD(-R)s with no problem. So I don’t think you need to use the Apple adapter. The main thing seems to be that the drive needs to be plugged into a port on the Mac (with or without an adaptor) so the special handshake can take place.
Ah, that’s how I ran the test with my iMac above. My SuperDrive is normally plugged directly into one of the iMac’s USB-A ports, because I had heard long ago that was a requirement. And for the test, I plugged it directly into a Thunderbolt port, via the adapter. I didn’t try plugging it into a hub.
Probably from Apple’s own system information tool:
According to StackExchange:
I haven’t been able to find an Apple source of documentation for the “Extra operating current” parameter, and it is zero for all devices other than the SuperDrive, but it strongly implies that the drive requires (under certain circumstances) 600 mA (or maybe up to 1100 mA - it’s unclear if the “extra” is in addition to or including the required current).
I’m also not 100% certain that your analysis is correct. When the SuperDrive first shipped, there were people who hacked various drivers (on Linux and Windows) to get the drive working. It worked most of the time, but would occasionally fail when burning DVDs, which (I think) is the most power-consuming operation.
As for hacking my drive, if I find that I can’t use my existing drive for some reason, I’ll probably just buy a Blu-Ray burner, mount it in a USB enclosure that has its own power supply, and use that. It will cost more than hacking Apple’s device, but the hacking isn’t worth my time and aggravation (and I’ll be able to access Blu-Ray media with the new drive).
Anything we can do to get a new 27" iMac?
The memory prices are cute. 4 TB fast portable drive for $300 and 4TB on the mini it’s $1200?
Even bigger news, iFixit ran some tests and found:
If iFixit could swap modules between two Macs (I assume using Configurator to pair them with the new host), then it’s really good news for anyone trying to make aftermarket storage modules.
The big issues working against a company like OWC making such a module (before the news from this artcile) were:
But with the new news, that third bullet does not apply, at least for the M4 mini (hopefully for future Macs as well, but we’ll see about that).
Best spec yet I’ve seen for the Mini… great chart Adam. I finally got it together to get a kill-a-watt on my cMP power cord. Just sitting here reading this page, it’s drawing 150W. Depending on what I am doing, that can shoot up to over 200W. In winblowz, runs around 200W idle. Playing my fave MMORPG jacks it up to 380-410W. I just wonder what a new pc machine would draw…
As for storage, I’ ve seen a video with a guy getting just about 1k Mb/s on a 256GB model. That’s awful. I’ve seen guys testing a 512GB model and getting into the 3k range. While I think at some future point, we may be able to buy those little prepopulated boards to upgrade storage, I expect them to be nowhere in sight for at least 6 months. AND will the fruit do it’s thing and invalidate using them. Not an unusual move for Cupertino as they are FAR likelier to get away from it in the current climate.
A 1T boot drive is what I think I’m going to go for. My bet is the disk i/o might be faster still than 3k as I have seen a video showing a “hacked” (might have been iFixIt itself) 2T install hit around 5k. Now some may say get 512G then an external drive. Aside from speed issues, that means 2 of the 3 ports taken up (remember one has to have some backup solution).
FWIW, power consumption reported by my UPS is about 110W during normal usage, spiking to about 150W under heavy load and dropping to around 90W when idle with the screen off. I never put the computer to sleep, because I frequently access it over my LAN when I’m not seated in front of it.
But this load isn’t just the computer. It’s everything connected to my UPS:
I should have put a kill-a-watt on it much sooner, learning interesting stuff. Had to visit a neighbor for an hour or so, let the cMP sleep. Got back and saw it running 0.1W. Wow… it’s actually rare to go to sleep because generally if I’m not going to use it for an extended time, I’ll shut it down.
BUT my issue is my mouse driver got unloaded and I see no way to get it back without having to reboot the system. I doubt Logitech gives two shits with such an old machine & OS.
That’s pretty low, at least for large transfers where you care. Is that for the vanilla M4? Even at 256 GB, it should come with 2x128 GB which helps with the problem some former low-end minis showed. The M4 Pro pushes over 5 Gbps to/from its internal flash.
Pretty good for a up to 16 year old computer with a very large and flourishing aftermarket community, THIS is the real cheesegrater!
Nah, that’s the Trash Can™
Tab has a liver tumour (as yet undiagnosed but it’s having a profound effect on her appetite), so all thoughts of upgrading are banished from my mind and I’m questioning my choices to aim high rather than manage with what I have. We’ll see if I can make my new homelab setup (lots of VMs and under-the-hood routing configuration) work with acceptable performance. If I can, then I’m going to leave it for another day and concentrate on making my elderly feline friend better, for all the life that gives her (and spend time with the little darling as best I can, regardless). The Tab Test will henceforth be a benchmark for future purchases: if you had to choose, would you rather treat a beloved pet or risk default by buying this upgrade / new shiny thing?
Yeah, I saw many videos of guys getting very slow transfer off the internal drive. GFor a host of reasons, I went for thee 1T model (got an edu discount) and I benchmarked mine showing roughly 3k read and write. Funny and these days it seems almost universally read is skower than write. Back in the spinning days it was the opposite.
Holy smokes, the power consumption is TINY on my M4. Just futzing around draws 5-7 watts. More intensive can draw up to 12-15 watts. I’ve seen it spike to 20, but VERY rarely.