{"id":45557,"date":"2024-10-29T13:29:55","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T17:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=45557"},"modified":"2025-06-25T14:58:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T18:58:39","slug":"mac-mini-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2024\/10\/29\/mac-mini-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Mac mini 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple<\/a> (Hacker News<\/a>, MacRumors<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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Apple today unveiled the all-new Mac mini powered by the M4 and new M4 Pro chips, and redesigned around Apple silicon to pack an incredible amount of performance into an even smaller form of just 5 by 5 inches.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

For more convenient connectivity, it features front and back ports, and for the first time includes Thunderbolt 5 for faster data transfer speeds on the M4 Pro model.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Mac mini with M4 features a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and now starts with 16GB of unified memory.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

For users who want pro-level performance, Mac mini with M4 Pro features the world’s fastest CPU core with lightning-fast single-threaded performance. With up to 14 cores, including 10 performance cores and four efficiency cores, M4 Pro also provides phenomenal multithreaded performance. With up to 20 cores, the M4 Pro GPU is up to twice as powerful as the GPU in M4, and both chips bring hardware-accelerated ray tracing to the Mac mini for the first time. The Neural Engine in M4 Pro is also over 3x faster than in Mac mini with M1, so on-device Apple Intelligence models run at blazing speed. M4 Pro supports up to 64GB of unified memory and 273GB\/s of memory bandwidth — twice as much bandwidth as any AI PC chip — for accelerating AI workloads.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

They kept HDMI but dropped a Thunderbolt port. The version with the Pro processor starts at $1,399 instead of $1,299 with the previous model, but it includes 24 GB of RAM, up from 16 GB.<\/p>\n\n

Dan Moren<\/a> (post<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Apparently you cannot spec the new M4 Pro Mac mini with 32GB of RAM—it’s the standard 24GB or you have to pay $400 to double that to 48GB? (I have 32GB on my M2 Pro Mac mini…so I’d have to downgrade or pay wayyyy more.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Steve Troughton-Smith<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Since people always ask this: a base model Mac mini is a perfectly fine computer for developing iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro apps comfortably. I’ve never had to worry about performance or RAM usage on my M1 — it’s fast, stable, and reliable.<\/p>

(But I also do not use Slack or Chrome, or any of the other worst offenders, so weigh that appropriately)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Jason Snell<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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And keep in mind, the Mac mini was never updated to the M3—its last update was to the M2 in early 2023. So if you’re just looking at the Mac mini, the model-to-model speed boosts will be even more impressive than the gains between this chip generation and the last.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Mr. Macintosh<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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A lot of people are talking about the new M4 Mac mini power button location.<\/p>\n

Apple decided to put it on the bottom. While the bottom vent raises the height, you will still have to tip it up to reach the power button.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Miguel Arroz<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The new Mac Mini internal architecture is reminiscent of the Apple TVs. Fan on the bottom (some Apple TVs have it), logic board in the middle, power supply on top. This way, heat generated from the power supply doesn’t go up to the SoC. Quite cool (no pun intended)!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Christian Selig<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Damn, new Mac mini is (I believe?) the first Mac with DisplayPort 2.1 support. That means a theoretical maximum monitor support of 8K at 240Hz (!!) with HDR and DSC.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n