Tech News

Apple Launches New Mac Mini with M4 and M4 Pro, Thunderbolt 5 Support and More

Highlights

Apple has unveiled a redesigned Mac mini with new M4 and M4 Pro chips.
Now available for pre-order and shipping on November 8.
The base M4 Mac mini starts at $599 (Approx INR 50,370) with 256GB of storage and 16GB of RAM.
The M4 Pro Mac mini starts at $1,399 (Approx INR 1,17,640) with 512GB of storage and 24GB of RAM.

New Mac Mini with M4 and M4 Pro officially launched. (Image credit – Apple)

Apple has unveiled the redesigned Mac mini powered by its new M4 and M4 Pro chips amidst the recent series of announcements. Apart from being Apple’s first Mac to support Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, this updated Mac mini is quite smaller in size.

The new Mac mini is available for pre-order now and will begin shipping on November 8.

Catch the announcement here –

In the announcement, Apple said, “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. With M4, Mac mini delivers up to 1.8x faster CPU performance and 2.2x faster GPU performance over the M1 model. With M4 Pro, it takes the advanced technologies in M4 and scales them up to tackle even more demanding workloads.

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.

The new Mac mini is also built for Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that transforms how users work, communicate, and express themselves while protecting their privacy. And marking an important environmental milestone, Mac mini is Apple’s first carbon neutral Mac with an over 80 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across its materials, manufacturing, transportation, and customer use.”

In a separate marketing video, Apple highlights the following features –

Small size
Port diversity
Apple Intelligence abilities
Support for Gaming, Photography, and more

Here’s a breakdown of the new Mac Mini.

Mac Mini – Redesign and Compact Size

The New Mac mini is significantly smaller in size. (Image credit – Apple

Apple’s new Mac mini has a much smaller design of just 5 by 5 inches size, which is about half the size of its predecessor.

Apple achieved this compact form through an “innovative new thermal architecture” that directs airflow through various levels of the system, venting only through the bottom.

Apple has welcomed the refreshed Mac mini with an Apple Event-style video.

On the front, the Mac mini includes two USB-C ports and a headphone jack. The back hosts three Thunderbolt ports, an HDMI port, and a gigabit Ethernet port. Notably, this Mac mini no longer has USB-A connectivity.

Mac Mini – M4 and M4 Pro Chips

M4 Pro chip boosts CPU and GPU performance, up to 64 GB RAM and Thunderbolt 5 support

This Mac mini is available with either the M4 or M4 Pro chip, making it the first device to offer the M4 Pro, which Apple previously introduced in the iPad Pro and 24-inch iMac.

Both configurations start with 16GB of RAM.

The M4 Pro chip can support up to 64GB of memory and features a 14-core CPU with 10 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores alongside a GPU with up to 20 cores, providing up to double the GPU speed of the standard M4 chip.

Apple shared some performance highlights:

M4 vs. M1 Mac mini:

Handles up to 2.8x more audio effects in Logic Pro projects
Delivers up to 13.3x faster gaming in World of Warcraft: The War Within
Enhances photos with up to 33x faster upscaling in Photomator

M4 Pro vs. M2 Pro Mac mini:

Supports up to 1.8x more audio effects in Logic Pro
Renders motion graphics up to 2x faster in Motion
Completes 3D renders up to 2.9x faster in Blender
Neural Engine in the M4 Pro is over three times faster

The M4 Pro model also introduces Thunderbolt 5 with data transfer speeds up to 120 Gb/s, more than doubling Thunderbolt 4’s bandwidth.

Thunderbolt 5 USB-C Cable Available on Apple Store

Thunderbolt 5 USB-C cable can be purchased from the online Apple Store. (Image credit – Apple)

Post the Mac mini announcement, the online Apple Store updated the new Thunderbolt 5 USB-C cable. new Thunderbolt 5 USB-C braided black cable in its online store for $69 (Approx INR 5800)

The Thunderbolt 5 ports are exclusive to the M4 Pro Mac mini models, as it requires the extra bandwidth provided by the Pro chip.

According to the product description, this cable can be used “to connect a Mac with Thunderbolt 3, 4, or 5 (USB-C) ports to Thunderbolt (USB-C) and USB displays and devices such as Studio Display, Pro Display XDR, docks and external drives.”

Moreover, the cable can “connect iPhone and iPad models with USB-C to your Mac.”

Mac Mini – Pricing and Configurations

– Mac mini base model with M4 Chip starts at $599. (Image credit – Apple)

The base M4 Mac mini starts at $599 (Approx INR 50,370) with 256GB of storage and 16GB of RAM, and it can be upgraded to 32GB of RAM and up to 2TB of storage. A 10-gigabit Ethernet upgrade is also available.

The new Mac mini features a wide array of ports to drive any setup.

The M4 Pro Mac mini starts at $1,399 (Approx INR 1,17,640) with a 12-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 24GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. This model can be configured with a 14-core CPU, 20-core GPU, up to 64GB of RAM, and up to 8TB of storage.