M4 Mac mini: Everything you need to know

Apple’s M3 chip has been available since the end of October 2023. It features in the MacBook Pro M3 and iMac and was recently added to the MacBook Air, but it is still absent from the Mac mini. How long will we have to wait for Apple to roll out the M3 to the rest of the range? Or will Apple skip it and decide to release a new Mac mini with an M4 chip?

This article is designed to help you figure out what’s coming in the new versions of the Mac mini. We’ll discuss whether Apple will skip the M3 and jump straight to the M4 series and well look at the rumors about a redesign and that really means. We’ve gathered all the information from rumors and reports in one spot and will provide insight as to what’s feasible and what’s not.

We’ll update this article whenever new information becomes available.

See our MacBook Pro M3 review and our MacBook Pro M3 Pro review. We also have an iMac M3 review and M3 MacBook Air review.

Apple released the M2 & M2 Pro Mac mini back in January 2023. Before that, the M1 Mac mini was released in November 2020. That’s over two years between the M1 and M2 Mac mini, but the Covid pandemic affected production. Now, as we approach another two years between updates the big question is when will Apple update the Mac mini?

The good news is that it looks like Apple will release the M4 Mac mini this fall, perhaps at an Apple Event in October.

On a number of occasions, Bloomberg’s Marc Gurman has reported that a M4 Mac mini will be released before the end of 2024. In August 2024, Gurman reported that the M4 Mac mini will be released in 2024.

It’s also suggested that the M4 chip will ship “immediately,” while the M4 Pro model won’t be available until late October.

In August, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that one of the Macs will get a “dramatic change” in its design along with its M4 update. Though Gurman didn’t specifically say that the Mac mini was going to be the Mac with the new design, the Mac mini has had its design for six years, leading to speculation that the M4 Mac mini could be the Mac being referenced.

The current Mac mini features a square-shaped external design that is just under 8 by 8 inches. Reports suggest that the new Mac mini could be a similar size to the Apple TV set top box which is almost half the size at just under 4 by 4 inches

If the new Mac mini shrinks to the size of the Apple TV the new dimensions could be:

• Apple TV: 3.7 by 3.7 by 1.2 inches (93 by 93 by 31 millimeters)
• Mac mini: 7.75-by-7.75-by-1.41 inch (19.7-by-19.7-by-3.6 centimeter)

The redesign could make the Mac mini more portable. It may also be inconvenient for those using Mac mini’s in supercomputer set ups, which Apple once told us was why they didn’t redesign the Mac mini sooner. Another disadvantage of a redesign is that it will likely mean fewer ports, including the loss of the USB-A ports currently a feature of the Mac mini.

While we don’t expect any price adjustments in the U.S. prices will likely be brought into line outside the U.S. Over the past couple of years Apple has been adjusting prices across its ranges following earlier price hikes. This is a good sign for U.K. shoppers hoping to purchase a new M4 Mac mini. Currently, the price starts at $599/£649, but we anticipate that the new model will start at $599/£599, which matches the complex equation Apple has recently been using for converting U.S. dollars to U.K. pounds.

Therefore we expect the following prices:

• M4 Mac mini, 256GB: $599/£599 (down from £649)
• M4 Mac mini, 512GB: $799/£799 (down from £849)
• M4 Pro Mac mini, 512GB: $1,299/£1,299 (down from £1,399)

In April 2024 Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman stated that Apple plans to skip the M3 and update the Mac mini with an AI-enhanced M4 chip in the second half of 2024.

Jason Cross / Foundry

Jason Cross / Foundry

Jason Cross / Foundry

The current Mac mini runs on either an M2 or M2 Pro chip. Since it’s launch, Apple has released the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, with all three chips arriving in October 2024 in the MacBook Pro. Other Macs, including the MacBook Air and iMac, run on M3 chips, but none of Apple’s other desktop Macs have been updated to use M3-series chips despite them being available.

Apple’s failure to update its desktop Macs, and Macs that have a pro-focus at that, with the new Pro and Max chips is a surprise that must surely indicate that something even better is coming to the Mac mini, Mac Studio and Mac Pro. Either that or the company has given up on desktops.

So what’s expected from the M4? Well we know what the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max offer. We have also seen the M4 in the 2024 iPad Pro, where Apple highlighted that the M4 included “next-generation ML accelerators”.

• M3: 3nm chip with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8GB unified memory (16GB and 24GB options)
• M3 Pro: 11 or 12 core CPU, 14 or 18 GPU cores, 18GB unified memory (36GB option)
• M3 Max: 14 or 16 core CPU, 30 or 40 GPU cores, 36GB or 48GB unified memory (64GB or 128GB option)
• M4 (iPad Pro): Up to 10 cores and 10-core GPU using “next generation GPU architecture” and “fastest Neural Engine ever”, according to Apple.

As for the M4, there will apparently be AI enhancements. But, it is possible that the M4 could have similar CPU and GPU specs as the M3, but with a larger Neural Engine and more unified memory.

Beyond that, there is a suggestion, from Mark Gurman, that the M4 Macs will feature 16GB as standard, rather than the 8GB option that’s been the baseline for years. There is up to 36GB of unified memory available for the M3 Pro, it’s not known if this will be improved in the M3 Pro.

The M4 will be made using the 3-nanometer process introduced with the M3. The 3nm process allows more transistors to fit on a chip, which should provide a performance boost. It also offers better power efficiency, so the temperature considerations required for the M1 or M2 Mac mini shouldn’t be the same because the newer chip should not get as hot.

There should be a big leap in graphics power compared to the M2 and M2 Pro. Even the M3 GPU is faster and more efficient and features Dynamic Caching, a new technology that brings features like hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading to the Mac.

For more information read about how the different generations of Mac processors compare.

If the rumors that the Mac mini will have a smaller size are correct, that could mean that the Mac mini won’t offer some of the ports the current Mac mini offers.

Apple

Apple

Apple

In September 2024, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that the M4 Mac mini will have five USB-C ports, two on the front and three on the back. However, there may only be three USB-C ports on the new models, as Gurman has also suggested that models being tested feature three USB-C ports, a power connector, an HDMI port and ethernet. One thing seems clear: the new Mac mini will not have USB-A ports.

The possibility of a five-port Mac mini was possibly confirmed on September 16, when a new 5-port Mac mini spotted in Apple’s macOS 15 code. Assuming the five ports are all USB-C that may mean there are five USB-C ports coming, but possibly at the expense of other ports.

When Apple released the M1 Mac mini in 2020, the company reconfigured the ports so that it had two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports instead of the four that were on the Intel-based Mac mini.

The M2 Mac mini already has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, but Apple could opt for Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-FI 7 after the Wi-Fi Alliance made the standard official at the beginning of January.