Apple Shrinks Mac Mini, Supercharges Performance with New M4 and M4 Pro Chips

In a week filled with announcements, Apple unveiled its refreshed Mac Mini, shrinking it down even more, and it’s now rocking the new M4 chip. This redesign — the first in over a decade — brings some impressive upgrades inside the new, even tinier case. Say hello to the new M4 and M4 Pro-powered Mac mini, now redesigned with a compact 5×5-inch footprint, more ports, and Apple’s proprietary personal intelligence system: Apple Intelligence.

Small and Fierce

The new Mac mini is tiny…really tiny. This M4-driven marvel is less than half the size of its predecessor (just five inches square) but promises up to 6x the speed of competing desktops in its range. To keep things cool in such a tight space, Apple credits the M4’s efficiency and a new thermal architecture that channels airflow through vents cleverly hidden in the Mini’s base. Performance-wise, the M4 Pro is where things really get cooking, with 14 CPU and 20 GPU cores, plus up to 64GB of RAM and 8TB of storage. This little guy might be “mini,” but it’s no lightweight.

Performance Upgrades: The Fast and the Furious

On the front, you’ve got two USB-C ports and an audio jack, while the back sports Ethernet, HDMI, and three USB-C/Thunderbolt ports. Yes, Apple’s officially said goodbye to USB-A here — but hey, you do get an extra Thunderbolt port, and for Pro users, the M4 Pro model kicks things up to Thunderbolt 5 speeds. Apple claims that the M4 Pro’s single-threaded performance is the fastest on the market, delivering up to 4x faster Excel calculations and 26x quicker DNA sequencing. Need more than spreadsheets? The M4 Pro handles up to three 6K displays and enhanced ray tracing for crisp visuals.

Bringing Personal Intelligence to the Desktop

One of the show-stopping features is Apple Intelligence, which uses on-device processing and Apple’s privacy-focused Private Cloud Compute for anything from writing support to image creation. With Siri’s upgrade, users can bounce between voice and typed commands and even get contextual help about their devices. And for those who’ve always wanted ChatGPT integrated with Siri – that’s coming this December.

Pricing and Availability

Starting at $599 for the M4 model and $1,399 for the M4 Pro, the new Mac mini is available to order now with deliveries beginning on November 8.

It’s been a busy week for Apple’s Mac lineup — this comes right after the M4 iMac and a rollout of Apple’s new Intelligence features across its platforms. With rumors of new MacBook Pros on the way, it seems Apple’s on a mission to redefine just how much power they can pack into a machine. In sum, Apple’s latest Mac mini is compact, powerful, and eco-savvy, making it an ideal choice for tech enthusiasts who want it all – minus the guilt.