Apple Mac Mini 2024 Review: A Button Push Away From Flawless

I had high expectations for this year ’s Apple Mac mini . Compared to last twelvemonth ’s offer , the Mac Mini with M4 is nearly flawless . Apple reduced the size of it of the small figure factor system of rules by almost half , making it idle than ever before .

But the material hotshot of the show is the new M4 chip that ’s exponentially more powerful than anything Apple has put out over the retiring four years . Plus , you ’ve got a caboodle of nifty update through macOS Sequoia , and a host of Apple Intelligence feature design to make your work or play into a more streamlined experience . good of all , you could get all that awful for $ 600 ( start ) . The only thing I can really nitpick is the force clitoris , which is in a sincerely odd location .

Apple Mac Mini 2024

© Adriano Contreras

The Mac mini M4 is a bonafide powerhouse in a flyspeck loge with weird clitoris locating .

Pros

Cons

Apple Mac Mini 2024

©Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

Apple Mac Mini 2024 Review: Design and Features

The Mac Mini comes in four sapidity . The $ 599 base framework has an M4 chip with a 10 - core CPU and GPU with 16 GB of integrated memory and 256 GB of onboard storage . My review unit is a step up , costing $ 799 with double the computer memory . Next is the $ 999 mannequin , which increase the co-ordinated computer memory to 24 GB while retaining the 512 GB SSD . And finally , you have the creme de la creme that costs $ 1,399 and has an M4 professional chipset with a 12 - magnetic core CPU , 16 - Congress of Racial Equality GPU , 24 GB of unified memory , and 512 GB of storage .

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you’re able to also configure the Mac Mini M4 with up to 32 GB of memory and a 2 TB SSD , which will be you $ 1,799 or $ 1,899 if you add a gigabit Ethernet port wine . you could play tricks out the Mac Mini M4 Pro with a 14 - core CPU , up to 64 GB of unified memory , an 8 TB SSD , and a Gb Ethernet port wine . However , it will set up you back a whopping $ 4,699 .

Mac Mini M4 and Mac Mini M2

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This Mac Mini was already a tiny , wee thing , but somehow , Apple found a style to make it even humble . At 5 x 5 x 2 inch , it ’s half the sizing of the last - gen Mac Mini ( 7.75 x 7.75 x 1.4 inch ) . It ’s also lighter , at 1.5 pounds compared to 2.6 Ezra Loomis Pound . The young dimension make the Mac Mini extremely portable and stand for that it will take up less space on a desk .

However , that ’s not the only difference , as Apple has added quite a few interface . You get a pair of USB - cytosine ports and a headset jack on the front of the equipment with a triad of Thunderbolt 4 ports on the back with an HDMI port , Ethernet jack , and power stimulus . If you opt for the M4 Pro Mac Mini , you get three Thunderbolt 5 port for some futureproofing .

The Modern Mac Mini has the same iconic minimal art that you ’ve amount to expect from Apple . The top and sides of the suit are made of facile anodized aluminium . There are no crisp sharpness , as all the corners are gently rounded . The large glossy Apple logotype on the top of the twist finishes the look .

Mac Mini M4 and Mac Mini M2

©Photo: Sherri L. Smith / DreamSmith LLC

But it ’s the bottom of the Mac Mini that has people talking . In the rear - left niche , you ’ll find the mightiness button . It ’s an inconvenient positioning , but Apple ’s betting that you ’ll only be turning the system on once . At just , they recall you ’ll put the Mac Mini to slumber now and then . It ’s a jolly safe wager , but I wish Apple could have come up a way to place it on the back of the machine like last year ’s version .

Both version of the Mac Mini run on macOS Sequoia , which brings a host of features designed to improve productivity , telecasting conferencing , security measure , and even gaming . One of the cheater features is iPhone Mirroring , which allows you to access your iPhone on the Mac Mini ’s background . After a relatively scant setup , I could get at every app on my iPhone . It cut down on me forever checking my phone as I could interact with the telephone set ’s notifications right on the Studio Display ’s screen and get back to workplace .

billet , one of my preferent productivity apps , also has some new tricks . The app now supports audio transcription , which is handy during meetings and briefing . It can also act as a estimator in a tweak . case in the equality with an equal signal , and billet will crunch the numbers pool for you .

Apple Mac Mini 2024 4

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Safari also flummox some newfangled updates , bringing a redesigned Reader and a unexampled Viewer . The motorcar - learning - power Highlights feature can also glean helpful selective information such as a quick summary , directions to a positioning , or information about a song , TV show , or movie . Distraction Control has also been add to admit more focussed web browsing .

If you ’re an app hoarder like me , you know that it does n’t take long for your screen to become cluttered . Apple ’s got the remedy with loose window tiling , allowing you to easily coiffe all your errant window . you may place them side - by - side or shoot them into street corner for easier projection screen navigation .

television conferencing has also find some polish . When it ’s time to jump on a Zoom call or FaceTime , be sure to use the new Presenter View to get a trailer of what everyone will see before you go live . Like many other connection conferencing apps , you’re able to switch out your backcloth with one of Apple ’s integrated selection or use your own images . content also got a big update , bringing novel text effects and emojis . There ’s also sticker Tapbacks to express yourself in a fun way ,

macOS Sequoia Reader

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As defrauder become more sophisticated , keeping various watchword is even more crucial . But remember all of them is a challenge in itself . The Passwords lineament keep all your passwords in one place , protect by last - to - end encryption .

On the gaming front , Apple ’s raw Game Porting Toolkit 2 gives developers handy fresh tools to bring games to all Macs and iOS equipment . This is crucial as Apple has big design to bring more console and microcomputer game to the chopine .

Apple Intelligence

Although it ’s still in beta , Apple Intelligence is one of the more exciting feature coming to the Mac Mini . The AI - powered engineering science introduce a more conversational version of Siri that can pick up on linguistic context cues . That means you’re able to refer back to something you or Siri say in a recent request , and the digital help will respond in kind . My favourite part about the new , improved Siri is that it does n’t get trip up when you falter or have a case of brain freeze . And for questions that you ’d rather not ask out loud , you could typecast in your query .

Are you often at a loss for words on that important email or paper ? Writing Tools can add some razzle dazzle to your work , whether it ’s proofreading , summarizing , or rewriting . The characteristic is not limit to Apple puppet and can be accessed across third - party apps .

Apple Intelligence can also be found in the Mail and Messages apps and Notifications , summarise information down to its most salient point . The Smart Reply feature will craft an appropriate response in Messages and Mail . Apple Intelligence will make a glanceable summary if you get multiple notifications from the same app .

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©Sherri L. Smith / DreamSmith LLC

Apple is hoping to give Google a run for its money with its photo - editing lineament . Searching for images and videos is gentle than ever with support for natural lyric enquiry . find and enhancing your photos is easier than ever . Plus , you could research for specific spot in videos . The Clean Up characteristic can take objects and people from photos taken with an iPhone and DSLR images , exchangeable to Google ’s Magic Eraser .

The final feature to discuss is Reduce Interruptions . When it ’s time to initiate Focus mode , Apple Intelligence will only institutionalize apprisal that it deems authoritative . It understands the subject . If you activate the Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing pick on any Focus , your Mac will decide if the notification is important enough to get out through .

Apple Mac Mini 2024 Review: Performance

Another year , another Apple chip was designed to bollocks up the competition out of the body of water . This time , it ’s the M4 chip , which Apple claims is 1.8 clip loyal than the company ’s m1 chip with 2.2 times faster GPU public presentation and an NPU that ’s three times faster . I tried slow down down the Mac Mini by launching 60 tabs in Google Chrome with a intermixture of Docs , Presentations , and Sheets . The tabs also had several YouTube videos and social mass medium sites . I also worked on a 10 - minute video in DaVinci Resolve 18 , but I could n’t trip up the Mac Mini .

To see just how much better the unexampled Mac Mini is , I pitted it against last class ’s model , which has an M2 chip with an 8 - core CPU , a 10 - effect GPU with 8 GB of unified memory , and a 256 GB SSD . And the M4 Mac Mini perplex the brakes off its predecessor . I embark on with Geekbench 6 , which tests CPU performance , and make a mark of 3,822 on the single - substance share of the test and 14,622 on the multi - core part . liken that to the M2 Mac Mini , which posted results of 2,599 and 9,740 .

During the Blender trope rendering test , the M4 Mac Mini ’s CPU hold 2 minutes and 46 seconds to dispatch the chore , while the GPU polish off in 0:36 . The last - gen Mini CPU take much longer , at 4:28 , and the GPU make out the render in 1:27 .

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On the Cinebench 2024 test , the M4 Mini achieved 175 on the undivided - core bench mark and 974 on the multi - nub . Meanwhile , the M2 Mini only notch 588 and 122 , severally .

last , I represent through 10 minutes of “ Myst ” with the preferences on High at native solution ( 5120 x 2800 ) on the M4 Mini . The little powerhouse produced an average of 64 frame per second , while the M2 Mini only handle 42 fps on the same mise en scene .

Apple Mac Mini 2024 Review: Verdict

At this stage , I ’m not sure how Apple does it . Year after twelvemonth , it significantly improved on the former twelvemonth ’s profits . For the M4 Mac Mini , that means choke up the young M4 chipset into an even smaller example than last time . The resultant is a machine that swash its predecessor out of the water system . Apple even manage to put more interface on a corner with small property . And with macOS Sequoia , Apple land Apple Intelligence into the mix , bring a helpful mix of AI - powered features to the table . Plus , Apple added a horde of young feature design to better productiveness , security system , internet browsing , and TV conferencing .

The only flaw I can find with the newest Mac Mini is that bottom - mount index button . I do n’t wish what you say , Apple ; there had to be a near place to put that affair . But it ’s a minor concern in the grand dodging of things .

AppleMac Mini

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