Amazon Leaks Smaller Mac Mini With M4 and M4 Pro Chips, Two Front USB-C Ports, Up to 64GB of RAM, and More

[RamGuy]

I'm using a base M1 Mac mini as my second computer, connected to my second monitor. I'm very eager to see what this might end up like. The 256GB storage on my M1 Mac mini isn't cutting it anymore, so I might be tempted to replace it.

All depends on the pricing. I have this sinking feeling that Apple will give this the "all-new design" price uplift. There is no sensible reason why the pricing should increase, the footprint is lower, there is less material used in the chassis, etc. But I bet we'll see a price hike, sadly.

Glad to see they didn't go with a "slim, but tall", like the newer Apple TVs tend to somewhat look like. They look like cut off portions of Apple Time Capsules / AirPort Extremes. I was fearing this re-design might end up looking like that, and all the leaks did point in that direction. Luckily this looks much better.

Only thing I fear is sticking a fully decked M4 Pro into this small, presumably fanless (?) body, will lead to thermal throttling.

 

[phrehdd]

More curious to see how a comparable build of the M4 Mini and the M1 Studio Max.

 

[fpnc]

If you scale the "leaked" images between the Mac Studio and the assumed M4 Mac mini the width of the new mini comes out to about 4.9 inches with a height of 1.9 inches. My old BeeLink mini PC would still be a little smaller than the new Mac mini and the Beelink has 5 USB ports (4 USB-A, some at 10gb, one data and video-capable USB-C), two ethernet ports (both 2.5Gb), two HDMI, and a front analog audio port. However, the M4 will be MUCH faster than the Alder Lake-N100 processor in the Beelink and the video on the M4 will absolutely "smoke" the Beelink. That said, the Beelink with 16GB DRAM, a 500GB M.2 disk, and support for three external monitors was priced at $210 back in July 2023.

The Apple TV is 3.66" x 3.66" x 1.3" and thus the new Mac mini MIGHT be about three times larger by volume (we don't know whether the mini will be square or slightly rectangular).

 

[Velli]

Comparison image

That is a microphone.

Where did this image come from?

 

[Ramchi]

This looks awesome one! This is something I will be looking forward to buy but certainly not now but will be a great one for those who are buying it. The form factor, flexibility and the configuration. Great one Apple!

 

[Velli]

Very interesting, and very happy about 64gb RAM. However, I wonder how noisy it will be, considering the small and compact size, when doing prolonged demanding work - like working with larger projects in Logic Pro.

Waiting for reviews...

I’m crossing my fingers that the M4 version will be fanless. I’m shooting for a base spec to use as a portable Roon server.

Edit: No dice, so I too will wait for reviews on noise levels, albeit for the base version.

 

[picpicmac]

I do physics simulations and experiment data analysis. Bigger RAM, larger simulation grid, also will hold more data in RAM rather than load/dump to disk. Currently, I need to do multiple hacks to reduce the experiment data dimensions to be stored in RAM and processed, or otherwise I'll blow up swap and kill SSD lifespan in a month.

The Mac Mini is not designed for high system requirements.

That's why Apple makes the Mac Studio and Mac Pro.

Currently the M3Max MBP can be fitted with up to 128GB of RAM, which is a lot for a portable machine. But it's damn expensive.

Also, you do use an external SSD for booting, don't you? A Thunderbolt enclosure is not too expensive. Using up external SSDs then simply becomes a simple thing to swap out the SSD stick if it fails.

 

[DickieSmith]

Depending on the specs and price I'm seriously tempted by the Mac Nano.
My 2018 MacBook Pro has a 5 minute battery and attempts lift-off under the slightest load, my iPad is all I need when travelling, and my work M1 MacBook Pro has me covered for work.
A tiny little box for personal use that takes up no desk space and crushes the performance of my current MacBook sounds like a no brainer.
I'm really hoping it can be powered by a 60w USB C charger for a single cord set up with my monitor.

 

[polyphenol]

I'll be waiting to find out if there are any issues like slower SSD or RAM access on certain specs. Not that it is much of an issue for me, I just want a bit more RAM and SSD than my bottom end M1 mini - 16/512 would be adequate. But I do like to know before I buy.

 

[SpitUK]

The lovely thing with the M4 is the insane single performance, everything will just feel very snappy.

 

[chucker23n1]

Possible M4Pro processor config.

Ah, you're saying 14 cores might be 6p8e instead of 8p6e. I considered that, but found it less likely. But it's possible, sure.

 

[chucker23n1]

Hmmm... the Mac Studio M_Max base unit is less than that.

But also has half the storage.

 

[jlc1978]

Someone is getting fried for sure.

I'm guessing Apple provided the comparison, it was staged for n updated and for whatever reason the updated rolled out before the announcement. Maybe the announcement was set for Tuesday so the doc was put into a regularly scheduled Tuesday update; just the wrong time.

 

[apocalyarts]

Looks like this will be the announcement for today with the Mac Mini and the M4 Pro.

Then tomorrow we will get new MacBooks with the M4 Max/Ultra?

 

[b.la]

Can’t rule it out, especially if “M5” is a bit of a misnomer (a half-generation or whatever), but my money is on no. The M4 was a bit of an outlier, probably mostly because they wanted to use the M3’s process as little as possible. I think they’re happy starting with the iPhone, then branching out to Apple Watch (e-cores only) and iPad and Mac (more cores, higher clock, Thunderbolt, more memory controllers, etc.).

What I’m wondering is whether the early-25 Air will still get the M4, because by that point, the iPad will have received in ~10 months earlier. Maybe they’ll instead wait a while, then take the Air straight to M5. And then introduce the Studio alongside that?

Yes, I think the Air and Studio will come out with the M5 chips and we’ll also see them updated quickly in the MBPs too as they seem to be Apple’s best sellers.

 

[frou]

I'm using a base M1 Mac mini as my second computer, connected to my second monitor. I'm very eager to see what this might end up like. The 256GB storage on my M1 Mac mini isn't cutting it anymore, so I might be tempted to replace it.

Sad stuff. A desktop computer being generally fine, but getting fully replaced because the fixed soldered storage is too small?

 

[chucker23n1]

Looks like this will be the announcement for today with the Mac Mini and the M4 Pro.

Then tomorrow we will get new MacBooks with the M4 Max/Ultra?

Probably, yep. That way, they can play up "there's also the M4 Pro!" today and "And the M4 Max!" tomorrow.

OTOH, they might save "the best" for last in terms of redesign — the Mac mini is the most significant change in that regard.

 

[upthetoffees]

Looks like this will be the announcement for today with the Mac Mini and the M4 Pro.

Then tomorrow we will get new MacBooks with the M4 Max/Ultra?

What time was it announced yesterday?

 

[Velli]

Sad stuff. A desktop computer being generally fine, but getting fully replaced because the fixed soldered storage is too small?

I agree that’s not great, but to be fair if that is really the only issue, it could be solved with external storage. A 1TB USB stick is 100$.

I do agree that Apple has a blind side in their environmental efforts, so I’m not saying it to stop criticism of Apple. Just saying that the user likely is thinking of replacing rather than expanding, due to other factors too.

 

[2fx1989]

Who at Apple said to you they would be releasing processor updates for the entire Mac line up at the same time?

I don’t understand this complaint. People build up this expectation around what they want and complain when they don’t get it. Why not just wait and see what a company releases (which is completely out of your control) and either buy it or don’t?

Is the Mac Studio less capable of doing what you bought it to do now compared to day 1? Nope. Have Apple continued to innovate on their chips to further accelerate what’s possible with these machines? Yep!

Talking about Apple’s lack of focus on their high end machines… the things we use our computers for today wouldn’t be possible without the innovation on these chips but as the saying goes, you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

 

[2fx1989]

As someone with three Mac Studios now, if things don't improve I am just going back to PC. Apple's attitude with the desktop line and pro lineup since the 2013 trash can Mac Pro has been atrocious. I thought ditching Intel was the ENTIRE purpose to make sure things release on a regular schedule? I end up using my M3 Max more than my M2 Ultra for the GPU workflow, and its utterly frustrating I spent nearly $8,000 for my Mac Studio but only $3,600 for my laptop.

Apple has never ever made any promise about a regular release schedule as far as I know so I've no idea what you're complaining about. And also how is it that 12 months after you made the decision to buy an ULTRA with one particular chip that suddenly it's so completely useless for your needs that you absolutely must have a new ULTRA with a newer chip to save you? You'r making no sense at all and it just sounds like whining.

I know a freelance Cinema 4D graphics artist that waited for the M1 Ultra to come out and was very happy with when it did. I recently told them that it looks like in summer 2025 that the M4 ULTRA Mac Studio will be released and he said "to be honest the M1 is so good, upgrading is not on my mind now"

 

[JippaLippa]

A mini mac studio; that's so cute!
Anyway the mini is slowly becoming a beast, being able to be configured with 64GB

 

[BigKahunaBurguer]

I would have loved a black version.

 

[chucker23n1]

A mini mac studio; that's so cute!
Anyway the mini is slowly becoming a beast, being able to be configured with 64GB

Well, the M4 (M5?) Studio will probably go to at least 256 GiB, if not 384:

• The M2 Ultra only goes to 192, but the M3 Max already goes to 128, and the Ultra is typically twice that.
• These specs suggests the M4 Pro will go up to 64. The M3 Pro only went up to 36. That suggests the M4 Max will go further than the M3 Max's 128, probably something like 192.

 

[upthetoffees]

What time was it announced yesterday?

8am pdt. So next batch will be announced in 4.5 hours from now