Apple Announces Redesigned Mac Mini With M4 and M4 Pro Chips, Two Front USB-C Ports, and More

[wideEyedPupil]

Yeah, the market size of the edge case users who need 64GB RAM, but are only buy a Mac Mini, I have to think is absolutely microscopic

I think you'll find that Apple's predatory pricing on DRAM upgrades for all their Macs is similar. Sometimes you might see something slightly more reasonable on DRAM upgrades from the top end Studio or MBPs but generally it's $200 per 8 GB = $25/GB across most models ATM (A$300 per 8 GB).

Interestingly for the M4 pro mini, the RAM transfer is listed as double the bandwidth as the M4 minis but the pricing is $400 per 24 GB in upgrade steps = $16.78/GB. Which is obviously cheaper c.f. the base model M4 mini even though it's running at twice the bandwidth (speed, yet to be confirmed in real world testing).

iMacs DRAM upgrades are same as base M4 mini, $25/GB.

Studio currently upgrading their RAM at $12.50/GB in multiples of 64 GB. No doubt Studio DRAM chips for use with M2 Max and Ultra chips will be significantly higher spec RAM than the M2 Mac Minis are running. So half the price for better quality DRAM which they probably inventory at one tenth of the olume of the RAM chips in Apple's entry level Macs and MBPs.

welcome to the Apple world of DRAM pricing incongruity. Some say predatory, others say what the market is willing to bear! There's no neoclassical mythical supply/demand curve pricing mechanics at play at Apple (or anywhere for that matter).

Be interesting to see where the MBPs land for RAM upgrade $/GB

 

[xbjllb]

Curses Apple that 64 gig memory and 4 TB ssd forced me to bite instead of the top of the line intel iMac pro I was all set to get at half the price not including a decent monitor.

And apple card help too.

Ya got me! Great work! And in the nick of time too.

 

[creediddy]

I would love for Sequoia to incorporate tvOS with a click of an app on the homescreen. Thus Mac Mini can be used as an Apple TV. Apple TV remote can already used with Mac. Only makes sense, but will cannibalize Apple TV sales.

 

[wideEyedPupil]

where did they announce it? its not even on their site

its there. launch was on Apple's YouTube channel. MBP launch will be there same time tomorrow.

 

[CraigsDog]

Great little system …

What monitor do you guys use? Studio is way out of my needs or budget

Do you need high refresh? Do you need 4K? Do you need both together?

 

[Black Diesel]

What do I need to edit 4K footage seamlessly in Davinci Resolve? Would a base M4 Pro work with 24gb of RAM? Or do I need to spend the extra $400 to get 48gb of RAM? Is it worth it to buy the extra cores for $200?

I have been stockpiling video footage for a long time and I need a new machine to learn how to edit. Let me know your thoughts on a machine that can handle photo editing in Lightroom and 4K video editing in Resolve for the next few years.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Facts...you are right. They are most likely a Studio or Mac Pro user and not Mini.

Wrong. They were most likely a Studio or Mac Pro user, but 64 GB available RAM changes that to also make Mac Mini as a fully competent choice.

 

[wideEyedPupil]

I would love for Sequoia to incorporate tvOS with a click of an app on the homescreen. Thus Mac Mini can be used as an Apple TV. Apple TV remote can already used with Mac. Only makes sense, but will cannibalize Apple TV sales.

don't see how a much more expensive product like Mac mini having ATV like features will "cannibalise" ATV sales.

 

[creediddy]

Curses Apple that 64 gig memory and 4 TB ssd forced me to bite instead of the top of the line intel iMac pro I was all set to get at half the price not including a decent monitor.

And apple card help too.

Ya got me! Great work! And in the nick of time too.

Ouch $3500 for a Mini. You may want to reconsider a Studio.

 

[Serqetry]

Great little system …

What monitor do you guys use? Studio is way out of my needs or budget

32" 4K TV works great, as long as you install BetterDisplay to fix the scaling and put it in RGB mode.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

What do I need to edit 4K footage seamlessly in Davinci Resolve? Would a base M4 Pro work with 24gb of RAM? Or do I need to spend the extra $400 to get 48gb of RAM? Is it worth it to buy the extra cores for $200?

I have been stockpiling video footage for a long time and I need a new machine to learn how to edit. Let me know your thoughts on a machine that can handle photo editing in Lightroom and 4K video editing in Resolve for the next few years.

I would recommend maximum available RAM for the next few years.

 

[seek3r]

Until we get real performance reviews, you are simply mislead by the marketing team.

Those machines typically dont measure up to an M3, do you think the M4 has *worse* performance than the previous gen?

Also false and to some people, an external power brick means easy replacement in case of failure.
Again, this is a desktop computer, not a laptop and funny enough, all laptops comes with a external brick.

Laptops come with a brick because it’s space on the inside you can shave off for battery on a portable device, no one cares about that on a desktop, and I gotta tell you, on the old minis with a brick:

1) the brick was less reliable than the psus in minis since (also the PSU is pretty easy to pull on a modern mini, *and* they dont have a high rate of failure)

2) it was a massive pain in the ass compared to just a light 2 prong standard cable

Sorry my friend, but selective reading is not cool. I clearly stated the internal dust issue, not the fan.

Yes, dust is an issue with machines with fans, all machines with fans. A machine without fans doesnt suck in dust

Its a miracle that they got so far in spite of Apple, since Apple doesnt help them at all.
So its not really running at the hardware's full potential, unlike Linux on a x64 PC.

Apple has helped them by adding raw image mode for ex, it wasnt explicitly lending direct resources to the project but it was very obviously targeted at it, Marcan posted about it a while back (screenshot below)

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Ouch $3500 for a Mini. You can want to reconsider a Studio.

Unfortunately a longish wait for a Studio, and a maxed-out Mac Mini works well right now.

 

[wideEyedPupil]

I see your point, but most people won't need all ports. USB-A's should have been removed by Apple 5 years ago. Again Apple is notorious for being "minimalist", thus love or hate it, dongles will become Apple's way of future of controlling peripheral connectivity.

I'll be needing to buy a dedicated USB hub rather than using my 27" 4K displays as USB hubs I think if I upgrade from M2 Pro to M4 Pro. It's not the loss of USB-A I'm bemoaning, its the halving of ports on the back and calling it "more ports". More Apple spin more like it!

 

[urbanmacUser]

So 3 displays. 1 HDMI the other 2 USB-C ….who can point me to USB-C screens that are reasonable cost?

 

[LJXXXD]

WHY'S IT GOT A HEADPHONE JACK ON THE FRONT!

This drives me crazy… I dont know what they are thinking

 

[Schrödinger’s]

Mac NUC

That makes it MUC then!

 

[vbctv]

I'm not in the market, because my M2 Pro mini is still too early in its lifecycle to consider replacing, but this is pretty much what I hoped it would be.

Same here, just got the M2 Pro version last year and upgrading to a base M4 is NOT an upgrade, The M2 Pro GPU is way more powerful, just lacking ray-tracing. And M4 Pro version got a $100 price increase for base model. I love the small footprint but specs-wise if you have an M2 Pro version, you would need to go to the $1399 M4 Pro base version for it to be an 'upgrade'. And that is food of thought for a lot of people and something that should be on the news feed for people looking to upgrade.

 

[Think creative]

32 maximum in the Mini. 48 only available in the Pro Mini.

I meant either the 24 base pro or the 48 RAM upgrade. I can't decide on which one. I will start playing around with some local LLM stuff, which makes me think 48 might be the wiser call.

 

[creediddy]

don't see how a much more expensive product like Mac mini having ATV like features will "cannibalise" ATV sales.

It potentially would have an impact. Most people use Apple TV for Netflix, Prime, AppleTV+, Fubo, Hulu, Xfinity Stream, DirectTV Stream.

 

[macduke]

LMAO, the cost to add 16GB of memory to the Mac mini is almost as much as the entire computer itself costs.

Even so, I'll probably pick up the base model with the education discount at some point for my kids to use. They need to get off their iPad sometimes and start learning to use real computers. I'm just unsure about the memory because I want them to be able to use this for years until they are old enough to have their own laptop. My daughter is getting into photography and video editing, but I doubt they will do anything heavy. But what about in five years? Will 16GB be enough for future macOS upgrades and AI models? Or the base GPU? I'm sure my kids will be doing a lot with AI as time progresses. They have to if they want to stay relevant and ahead of their peers.

They really know how to walk you up that price ladder through limiting options. Like the M4 Pro starting at 24GB instead and you can't even get 32GB. Maybe some of that is the way the chip is packaged but they probably leaned into that because of marketing. A lot of people don't realize how huge pricing is in marketing. They suck you in with a low price and then work you up the ladder on upgrades that are somewhat mismatched at different tiers. Before long you're like "But why not get a base Mac Studio" and then they got you.

Although at this point the base Mac Studio is looking downright old. The M2 Max multi-core score seems to benchmark around the same level as the M4, with the M4 single core destroying it. This M4 Pro is likely to blow the Mac Studio out of the water. Not much reason to buy one right now, especially with the Thunderbolt 5 on the Mac Mini. Only real reason is if you max it out on memory and need the GPU.

 

[vbctv]

I own two Mac Minis an M1 base and an M2 Pro with 16 GB (always hitting the RAM ceiling, mainly just from Safari and/or FireFox, doesn't struggle with InDesign, AI, PS and Acrobat running (Though Acrobat is an absolute VM hog, like insane VM footprints and the Adobe app feedback forums confirm it's not just me, others see it too, FU Adobe from a user of AI 3.3 and the first versions of PS ever).

On the M2 Pro we get 4-USB-C and 2x USB-A on the back and I always have the 4 USB-C filled and often both the USA-A. I have to use my monitors as USB-A hubs for tablets and webcams etc. Even the M4 Pro model is a reduction in ports on the back by HALF! 6 down to 3 and 2 on the front, which occasionally I would like but not at the cost of rear ports.
Typically Apple taking something away, charging more and telling use we're getting "more ports" — bold face lying I reckon.

Upgrading from the M2 Pro is NOT an upgrade unless you go to the M4 Pro which got a price increase and is $1399 now for base model (M2 Pro was $1299). The GPU in the M2 Pro is way better than the M4 base even with the lack of ray-tracing. Only thing the M2 Pro lacks is ray-tracing and AV1 encode/decode support.

 

[seek3r]

I would love for Sequoia to incorporate tvOS with a click of an app on the homescreen. Thus Mac Mini can be used as an Apple TV. Apple TV remote can already used with Mac. Only makes sense, but will cannibalize Apple TV sales.

This was called front row, Apple discontinued it a while back. I think most folks want appliances for their TV these days, HTPCs are still around of course but they’re pretty niche overall

 

[memo90061]

I currently have a Mac Mini M2 Pro with 16gb and 512gb. I want to upgrade and wonder if 24gb would be enough or should I jump to 48gb? I wonder if 1tb or 2tb would be fine. I just bought a 4tb SSD with a thunderbolt enclosure.

 

[DELLsFan]

I still balk at paying £200 for 256GB of extra storage... I find that criminal and I'd like to have words with the specific person at Apple who signs off on that level of gouging.. but I do want one.

I do too. I have this love-hate relationship with Apple mostly because of this issue.

10-core M4 standard across all models AND 16GB of RAM in the base as well for the same $599 starting price?! Oh Apple is kinda giving with these updates...

Apple giveth the RAM and taketh away the storage.

Still 256gb only….

That’s insulting

We do this to ourselves. We love just about everything else about new Mac releases - except for the storage price gouging.

The 300-$400 per TB of SSD is a sad joke. Apple acting like it's 2014.

If I didn't love everything else about MacOS, I'd be pretty turned off by Apple's mark ups here. I appreciate the R&D that preceded the release and am excited about Apple Silicon, but internal storage upgrades make my fillings ache.

You are forced to buy Mac Studio. For 99% of users 16GB up to 24GB of ram is plenty for daily activity use.

Agreed. Even gamers should be pleased with how World of Warcraft plays on this beauty. ;p
$200 upcharge to go from 256GB base model to 512GB. Crazy

Purchase an external drive

Which one is best using T5 connectivity?

Not a lot of ports on the back, but to be expected with the form factor.

Cute and fun, but mine will likely be mounted under my desk or on the back of or behind my monitor.

Hopefully we see some nice matching TB docks that slot under or on top and have an NVMe slot(s)

Thermal performance evaluation is a priority in my opinion. All Silicon Minis so far have handed thermals very well.

This is Apple ensuring that people have to upgrade faster! Why not charge $100 and still make $96 in profit?

Because you can charge $400 and make $396 in profit.

Fan question is important to thermal throttling. I don't really like the language of "whole new thermal architecture".

Will probably order one, and if it is a throttle monster ...then it can (will) be returned.

I share the same concern..