As expected, Apple today officially announced the new Mac mini featuring the M4 and the new M4 Pro chips. The new Mac mini measures 5 by 5 inches, less than half the size of the previous Mac mini. Thanks to the power efficiency of Apple silicon and a new thermal architecture, Apple was able to create such a powerful system in such a compact size.
The Mac mini with M4 features a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU and now starts with 16GB of unified memory. The Mac mini with M4 Pro features up to 14 cores (10 performance cores and four efficiency cores) and up to a 20-core GPU. Thanks to the powerful CPU and GPU, hardware-accelerated ray tracing is now available on the Mac mini for the first time.
The Neural Engine (NPU) has also been upgraded to 16 cores to support Apple Intelligence. The M4 Pro supports up to 64GB of unified memory and 273GB/s of memory bandwidth. Also, M4 Pro supports Thunderbolt 5 in delivering up to 120 Gb/s of data transfer, more than double the speed of a Thunderbolt 4 port.
The new Mac mini features two USB-C ports on the front that support USB 3 and an audio jack with support for high-impedance headphones. The Mac mini with M4 comes with three Thunderbolt 4 ports, while the Mac mini with M4 Pro comes with three Thunderbolt 5 ports.
Gigabit Ethernet, which supports up to 10Gb Ethernet and has an HDMI port, is standard on the new Mac mini. While the Mac mini with M4 can support up to two 6K displays and one 5K display, the Mac mini with M4 Pro can support up to three 6K displays at 60Hz.
You can now pre-order the new Mac mini with M4 and M4 Pro in 28 countries and regions. Apple will begin shipping the new Mac mini from Friday, November 8th. The Mac mini with M4 starts at $599 and $499 for education. The Mac mini with M4 Pro starts at $1,399 and $1,299 for education.
If you configure the new Mac mini with the M4 Pro (12-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine), an 8TB SSD, 64GB of unified memory, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, it would cost you a whopping $4,699 before taxes. At this price tag, you might also consider buying a Mac Studio with somewhat similar specs.
With its impressive performance and versatile connectivity, the Mac mini is poised to become a popular choice for both everyday computing and professional workflows.