Apple Mac mini M4 Launched: What You Need to Know

Apple has promised an ‘exciting week of announcements’ starting yesterday. Today is day two and so far, they have not disappointed. Apple has just released (via press release) the Mac mini M4 – their portable desktop computer that’s small but powerful and value for money, however, with some weird design choices. Here’s what you need to know about M4 Mac mini.

M4 and M4 Pro – Specifications and Price

You can buy the Mac mini in two different flavors – M4 and M4 Pro. Apple continues its tradition of comparing current-generation processors’ performance with 2 or 3 years old processors. M4 mini is 1.8x faster CPU performance and 2.2x faster GPU performance than the M1 model.

Mac mini M4’s base model comes with a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and 16GB RAM, which makes it quite a powerful and capable machine. However, that is not why we are impressed. It is the price, which begins at ₹59,900 or $599, that makes it a pretty solid buy.

The M4 Pro variant comes with 14 cores – 10 performance cores and four efficiency cores. You can configure it with up to 20 cores and 64GB of RAM. Storage capacity maxes out at 8TB – no change there. And for the first time ever, the mini gets hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Pricing for the M4 Pro variant begins at $1,399 or ₹1,49,900. The top model with maxed-out specs will cost $4,699 or ₹4,79,900 without software bundles (Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro).

The Cupertino giant has also worked on the thermals but we are waiting for our unit to arrive to test heat management under stress. Moreover, the M4 Pro model gets Thunderbolt 5 (up to 120 Gb/s data transfer speeds) for super quick file transfer.

Design and Ports

This is the smallest Mac mini Apple has ever launched. It is just 5 by 5 inches which means you can hold it in your palms. It is portable and should save space on your desk setup. For comparison, the M2 mini was 7.5 x 7.5 inches in size.

For a company that prides itself on excellent design, Apple does surprise us with its decisions sometimes. Remember the Magic Mouse? The lightning port was placed at the bottom and the new Magic Mouse they released yesterday with USBC port follows that tradition. And now, the mini M4 has been released with the power button on the bottom too. I don’t understand their design choice here.

Here is a list of all the ports Mac mini comes with:

• Headphone jack (front)
• Two front-facing USB-C ports with USB 3 (front)
• Three Thunderbolt 4 ports (back)
• 5 USB-C ports
• Gigabit Ethernet
• HDMI port
• Supports up to two 6K displays and up to one 5K display,

The M4 Pro comes with three Thunderbolt 5 ports on the back and supports up to three 6K displays at 60Hz for a total of over 60 million pixels

Apple Intelligence

You knew this was coming. M4 Mac mini comes with Apple Intelligence. However, do note that many AI features Apple promised are still not available. You will need to wait a few more weeks.

And that’s it, folks.

Gaurav Bidasaria

Gaurav is an editor here at TechWiser but also contributes as a writer. He has more than 10 years of experience as a writer and has written how-to guides, comparisons, listicles, and in-depth explainers on Windows, Android, web, and cloud apps, and the Apple ecosystem. He loves tinkering with new gadgets and learning about new happenings in the tech world. He has previously worked on Guiding Tech, Make Tech Easier, and other prominent tech blogs and has over 1000+ articles that have been read over 50 million times.