Apple Mac Mini (M4) review: more power in a tiny package

For years, the Mini was the odd man out in the Mac desktop lineup. Apple has given plenty of love to the iMac over the years. The Mac Pro has had a few false starts, but the company is clearly committed to offering a true professional-grade desktop experience. The Studio is the new kid on the block, addressing a wide range of price points, from under $2,000 to upwards of $5,000.

When Apple announced the first wave of its M series of chips in 2020, it used the opportunity to reconnect with the Mini. The arrival of first-party silicon was enough reason to be excited, overshadowing the fact that the company hadn’t redesigned the system’s enclosure in the decade since the first Mini was announced.

Last week’s announcement marked the first major redesign to the product since 2010. That’s a long time for any company — let alone Apple — to keep a design around. Rumors that the newer, smaller Mac Mini would be “Apple TV size” turned out to be overstated. The desktop is larger than the Apple TV 4K in all three dimensions at 5 x 5 x 2 inches to the set top box’s 3.66 x 3.66 x 1.2 inches.

That said, the new desktop is closer in size and proportions to Apple TV than it is to its own predecessor. As far as aesthetics, the Mini most closely resembles a scaled-down version of the Mac Studio, sharing that system’s brushed aluminum and rounded corners. It’s not a one-to-one, however.

Mac Mini vs. Studio

Owing to its significantly smaller surface area, the Mini has fewer ports. It has three Thunderbolt ports on the back and a pair of pure USB-C ports up front — a nice addition to help avoid tangled wires. The Studio, meanwhile, sports either four or six Thunderbolt ports (depending on the chip), two USB-A ports and two USB-C ports (M2 Max only). Both the Mini and Pro sport an HDMI port and Ethernet jack, while only the studio has an SDXC card reader.

Like the Studio, the Mac Mini has a headphone jack, only it’s been moved to the front of the device. All said, Apple did a solid job keeping most of the ports intact. The Mini is also one of two Macs with Thunderbolt 5 as an option, as that feature was introduced with the new M4 Chip.

The Studio, on the other hand, had its last update in the M2 days. It’s fair to say that desktop is overdue for an update. That’s unlikely to launch this year. It’s worth noting, however, that a newer-generation chip doesn’t mean faster processing across the board. After all, the Ultra versions of Apple Silicon are best suited to handling more-complex workloads, and as of yet, there’s been no mention of an M4 version.

One of the odder design features echoes one of Apple’s most controversial choices. Just as the USB-C Magic Mouse retains the charging port on its underside, Apple shifted the power button from the rear of the desktop found on the Studio to the bottom. It’s not entirely clear whether this decision was pragmatic due to limited surface area or if it was simple an aesthetic choice, though my money is currently on the latter.

That said, this isn’t as frustrating a decision as the Magic Mouse. While it’s annoying to have to lift the Mini up to access the power button, the decision doesn’t impede on one’s ability to use the system in the way it does on a mouse that needs to be charged upside down.

The other notable feature of the bottom is venting for the fan. While it’s true that Apple’s proprietary chips consume less power than their predecessors, they still get hot — especially in those instances where you’re pushing a Pro-level chip to its max. Beyond that, however, I suspect that most folks won’t trigger the fan too often, aside, perhaps, from gaming.

What’s in the box?

The Mini comes with either an M4 or M4 Pro. The former starts at a reasonable $599, with the upgrading pushing the cost up to $1,399. That’s $100 more than the new M4 iMac, which includes own display, keyboard with TouchID, and a mouse. Obviously there’s a difference in performance between the M4 and M4 Pro, but it’s worth noting just how quickly the price creeps up.

The model Apple sent TechCrunch for review sports an M4 Pro with 14 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores, 48GB of memory, and 1TB of storage. It runs $2,299 as configured. That’s $300 more than the entry level M2 Pro Studio. A fully speced out Mini with 8TB of storage and 64GB of memory will run $4,699. Toss in a nano-textured Studio Display, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Trackpad, and we’re suddenly at just a hair under $7,000.

Once the price hits those heights, you begin to wonder precisely where the Mini sits in the line. I would place it between the iMac and Mac Studio. Essentially, it’s the starter Mac desktop for those who want to bring their own monitor to the party. Its compact size is nice, taking up significantly less desk space than the Studio, but it’s still not portable due to the nature of it being a desktop.

If true portability is what you’re after, buy a MacBook. You can always use it to power a couple of monitors. You can pick up a new 13-inch MacBook with the 16GB RAM upgrade for $999 right now. Though it’s worth noting that you’ll need an M3 chip or higher if you want to power two monitors.  If it’s really just an entry-level desktop you want, the new M4 iMac starts at $1,299.

Mac in the middle

The new Mac Mini is a case of a (mostly) well designed machine without an entirely clear market segment. Its sweet spot is those who already have a monitor or monitors and are just looking to upgrade their system with the newest entry-level Mac. I would toss in those who want to pick out their own monitor, but don’t want to invest in the Studio and don’t particularly care about the freedom a laptop brings. Or maybe the platonic ideal is someone who wants a quick, easy, and (relatively) cheap desktop to supplement it — without the built-in limitations of an all-in-one iMac.

If any of the above rings true, by all means, go small. There’s little that’s inherently bad about the machine (the power button is more annoying than bad), but it’s not entirely clear where it stands in the Apple desktop lineup, with the Studio and iMac flanking it on either side.

I can’t tell you for sure how large that segment of the market is at present, but I suspect the system is most purchased in the enterprise. It’s easy to image companies buying these up in bulk. For consumers who are on the fence, consider whether a MacBook or iMac makes more sense for your setup and pocketbook.