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Apple Announces Redesigned Mac Mini With M4 and M4 Pro Chips, Two Front USB-C Ports, and More
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No Wifi 7 and people are going nuts? This is a slap to our faces. 🤦🏽♂ No Thanks.
*falls off chair*
No, the above price doesn't make me fall off a chair... But -
USD $599 starting price - which as I understand is without any sales taxes, that different states apply at different levels.
Ok.
In Australia? The starting price is AU$999.
So - if we take US $599, and add 10% for Australian GST, and then convert that figure at today's exchange rate, the price is...
$999.74.
Aussies, go crazy! I don't recall ever seeing that before.
(Or debunk my math.)
Sounds like you’re just bored. If the situation were reversed (carrying a Mac mini in your backpack with a keyboard and portable monitor) and someone had a chance to get a MBP, 100% would jump at the MBP.
If the mini used the same case as the previous gen but still had the same specs and internals, would you still be tempted?
Funny to see everyone so excited by the value offered by Apple's new entry level devices. Last week, 8GB was enough for anyone, now people are delighted to get 16GB of RAM without having to pay £200 for it.
You can thank Apple's new-found preoccupation with AI for this. It exposes exactly the problem with selling computers with stingy specs - it leaves no room for growth when something new comes along. All those 8GB Apple Silicon computers are likely inadequate for running an LLM on top of the usual OS, apps and browser tabs.
Given the years Apple wasted on self-driving cars and VR goggles before getting with the program, they've had to catch up fast. So this year they've simply been forced to forgo the entry-level price-gouging and give customers the extra RAM for free. Must have been a tough pill to swallow.
You can thank Apple's new-found preoccupation with AI for this. It exposes exactly the problem with selling computers with stingy specs - it leaves no room for growth when something new comes along. All those 8GB Apple Silicon computers are likely inadequate for running an LLM on top of the usual OS, apps and browser tabs.
Given the years Apple wasted on self-driving cars and VR goggles before getting with the program, they've had to catch up fast. So this year they've simply been forced to forgo the entry-level price-gouging and give customers the extra RAM for free. Must have been a tough pill to swallow.
No. It's got nothing to do with processing power. You could attach a 20TB hard drive to a computer from 2010 and it would be fine. Most NAS's run weak ARM chips or Intel Celerons.
The 4TB drive is only available to the Pro model due to market segmentation, not any technical reason.
Time Machine will back up all connected disks (unless told otherwise). So just buy a drive big enough to back up the internal + external drive, with obviously a lot of space to spare for versions. The TM drive doesn't need to be particularly fast, though, so e.g. a 6TB 2.5" HDD would be fine.
Yes, if the disk is formatted as APFS Encrypted.
Crucial and Samsung are pretty good. SanDisk have had some issues in the past couple of years but may be OK now. USB-C drives are available in 1000MB/s and 2000MB/s versions, depending on whether they're Gen 2 or Gen 2x2. Alternatively, buy a 4TB NVMe drive and enclosure and roll your own. I expect enclosures that match the new mini and go underneath it will be out soon. You could go Thunderbolt, but it's a lot more expensive; it will offer native performance, but is likely unnecessary for your usage.
The OS, many apps and stuff like iCloud has to go on the internal SSD. Some people on this thread have said their internal drive fills up quickly, even with most stuff on an external. This would need closer examination though; it's possible this is down to cache files (e.g. After Effects) and the like, which could likely be moved to the external.
Nope. Ports and headphone jack in the front - NO. I have the Mac Mini M1 and I like having all the ports in the back. I don't want to see wires hanging in the front of my computer. Also I don't have any thunderbolt devices so I'd have to use adapters. Not for me thanks. I almost bought the redesigned iMac but seeing the headphone jack on the side where I'd see the cord was a hard pass for me as well.
To be honest, the most useful port to have on the front would be USB-A, so you could temporarily plug in memory sticks, cables and dongles. But obviously the style police would veto that one.
The side-mounted headphone jack on the iMac is awkward, though likely not a deal-breaker for many. You can always use BT headphones, and the built in speakers are supposed to be reasonably good. Or just use a USB audio dongle for desktop speakers.
If you connect a USB device or headphones to your M1 the cables are still going across the desk except that you have to reach around the back of the Mac.
Sorry to be logical. Your complaints are unfounded and defy reality.
Regarding these ports I've come around more to them, although I do think the audio jack should be on the back of the machine. I can see Apple's thinking though.
At the moment I'm on a MacBook Air. On the left side are two USB C ports, and on the right is an audio jack. All they've done with the mini is place these easily accessible ports found of the sides of a laptop on the front of this machine.
What I would like to see however is some more consistency with the audio jack. If Apple has now decided a decade after it declared war on this port that it is now essential to have then can we please have it back on the iPad for example.
Soon it will be cheaper to buy a second Mac mini for the extra 256GB of storage instead of paying for the upgrade 😂.
It was a bit painful to take the L but I ordered a 512 GB variant for this. Will be combined with an external 2 TB NVMe.
I really didn't want to at first in order to fully exploit the value of this little beast, but got too anxious about having to nanny "System" overly much with an external drive as I might find use cases I haven't thought of over the years. Sometimes apps dislike being run from external, I might want a VM or so on the main drive for whatever reason etc. Twice the internal drive size will provide far more than twice free space.
BUT what's ridiculous with the pricing is that it's so low to begin with that even a 16/512 setup at a ridiculous Apple markup for the SSD upgrade is still highly competitive with a comparative PC... That's just bonkers.
I really didn't want to at first in order to fully exploit the value of this little beast, but got too anxious about having to nanny "System" overly much with an external drive as I might find use cases I haven't thought of over the years. Sometimes apps dislike being run from external, I might want a VM or so on the main drive for whatever reason etc. Twice the internal drive size will provide far more than twice free space.
BUT what's ridiculous with the pricing is that it's so low to begin with that even a 16/512 setup at a ridiculous Apple markup for the SSD upgrade is still highly competitive with a comparative PC... That's just bonkers.
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Apple are offering £220 trade-in for my 16/512 M1 Mini in pristine working order. So £20 more than an 8GB RAM upgrade, and £830 less than I paid for it.
I think I'll pass.
People crying about headphone port being placed in the most logical way for the headphone application, because they use it for speakers, need a reality check. 
For once Apple did something sensible and logical.
For once Apple did something sensible and logical.
That's really bad. You can get at least 500 EUR (~ £420) for the same machine from an independent trade-in service. Likely even more, if you sell it on eBay or classifieds.
Here in Canada, the base Mac mini with 16GB RAM and a 256GB SSD is $799 CAD (excluding the education discount).
If you double that to 32GB and 512GB, the machine is $1549 CAD.
Let x = the RAM + SSD
Let y = every other part of the computer
x + y = 799
2x + y = 1549
Therefore:
x = 750
y = 49
So that’s $49 for the CPU, GPU, neural processor, WiFi modem, I/O ports, display driver, audio processor, the entire thermal system, the whole chassis and casing, all the glues, fasteners, and other components, the packaging, the software, and the warranty coverage.
Not bad for $49.
If you double that to 32GB and 512GB, the machine is $1549 CAD.
Let x = the RAM + SSD
Let y = every other part of the computer
x + y = 799
2x + y = 1549
Therefore:
x = 750
y = 49
So that’s $49 for the CPU, GPU, neural processor, WiFi modem, I/O ports, display driver, audio processor, the entire thermal system, the whole chassis and casing, all the glues, fasteners, and other components, the packaging, the software, and the warranty coverage.
Not bad for $49.
Yeah, Apple trade-in offers have always been crap when I try them - there's zero incentive at that rate.
I'd planned to keep it anyway for general office stuff unless there was a decent trade-in offer, and get a new M4 for more creative work, but I'm starting to think I might not bother.
I think he just doesn't want to see any holes in the front of his computer. Just the featureless, impassive perfection of an aluminium block.
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UGREEN USB C to RCA Audio Cable Type C to 2RCA Male Jack Plug Adapter Car Auxiliary Stereo Speaker Amp Cord Compatible with iPhone 17 16 Pro Max/16 Pro/16 Plus, iPad Pro, Galaxy S25, Pixel 10 Pro, 5FT
Practical & Functional Simplify Connection--The USB C to 2RCA Cable directly connects your Type C/Thunderbolt 3 devices to audio output devices of 2RAC phono port, without audio converters. For example, play music from the phone to car stereo radio, from iPad Pro to speaker, from MacBook to ampli...www.amazon.com
Great use for a Thunderbolt 4 port, though admittedly a rear 3.5mm output would have kept it free for high speed SSDs and 5K monitors.
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Play on words. If they increased base RAM and didn't increase base storage, the point was that we've been robbed of at least 256GB of additional base storage in my humble opinion.
