Mac mini: the small one that eats the big ones

At the height of World War II, the governments of the United States and Great Britain carried out a secret project to create machines to encode and decode messages between the presidents of both countries and their top military commanders. These were huge computers weighing 55 tons called SIGSALY, each of which took up an entire room. 80 years have passed since then, and the cutting edge of technology has brought the new Mac mini, which infinitely surpasses the processing power of these pioneering devices. Apple’s new product measures 12.7 x 12.7 cm on the sides (7 cm smaller than the previous generation) and 5 cm in height, weighs 700 grams (670 g for the M4 version and 730 g for the M4 Pro ) and fits easily in one hand. No one has concentrated a computer of such power. The brain of the machine is the M4 and M4 Pro chips.

Last June, Apple unveiled its M4 chip alongside the new iPad Pro, which is specifically prepared for Apple Intelligence’s AI capabilities, but until now we haven’t been able to test its performance on a machine with a ventilation system that could take it to the next level. limit. And the Cupertino company has created the ideal machine for the vast majority of users. Fast, compact, ready for the latest technology and very powerful. All this is very important, but it has a crucial ingredient that will bring it closer to the general public: its price. In the most affordable version it costs only 719 euros. Ridiculous price for a computer that can eat the vast majority of desktop modular PCs.

The statement may seem too bold, but the Mac mini is a computer of results and astonishment, because when you look at the monitor and see how it works, you can’t stop looking in wonder at this little device connected to the monitor to wonder , is it really a small box, relatively cheap, this is a computer behind the screen. Obviously, the price of the machine is not the only expense the user will have to incur, as a keyboard, mouse or trackpad, and monitor must be added. Apple also sells each of those components that have this almost magical connection between them, but which are not at the lower end of the price table, but many potential buyers already have a monitor, keyboard, mouse from other brands, or perhaps that’s why the Mac mini – a great option to bring them to life.

This analysis of the Mac mini is based on an Apple review unit with an M4 chip, a 10-core central processing unit (CPU), a 10-core GPU, 16GB of memory (perhaps a little underpowered), and 512GB of internal memory. , which in my case would not be enough to replicate the applications and files that I use on my personal computer. However, this starting configuration may be more than enough for many people. However, if you can pay a little more, it is always advisable to upgrade the specifications a little to prepare the machine for possible uses that are not currently considered and require more power. The difference in the price of Apple’s hard drive is large, so there is always the option of purchasing an external one.

This Mac mini is the first computer designed for Apple Silicon chips, after 14 years of using virtually the same design on the Intel processor platform. One of the advantages of Apple’s chips over them is that they combine a central processing unit, graphics processing unit, artificial intelligence neural unit (NPU) and memory into a single capsule, with everything interconnected and having high information transfer speeds. These are very efficient chips, at the forefront of smaller transistor sizes (3 nanometers), low power consumption and less heat. With these elements, Apple has designed a very practical box that no longer requires you to plug everything blindly into the back, since it has two USB-C ports and an audio jack at the front.

On the back, in addition to the power connector (braided cable only, since the power supply is internal), there is a direct Internet connection (Gigabit or 10 GB Ethernet), an HDMI jack and three Thunderbolt 4 ports, which are Thunderbolt 5 in the M4 Pro chip housing. The difference between Both high-speed data transfer protocols, from 40 GB/s to 120 GB/s, are of particular interest only to video professionals, but are unlikely to be needed by the vast majority of users such speed in everyday tasks. The M4 model can connect three screens at the same time. Two of them with resolutions up to 6K at 60Hz and another 5K at 60Hz. With just one you will achieve 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz.

In design we must highlight absence and strange presence. What’s missing are USB-A ports. Apple is usually a pioneer in eliminating elements that it believes are on the verge of extinction. He did the same with floppy drives, CD-ROM drives, and memory cards (though he restored them again for the MacBook Pro in its current four-year-old design). If the user has special needs, he can always purchase a dongle or adapter with these ports, but it is natural that he will never need them again.

The weirdest thing about the Mac mini is the placement of the power button in the bottom right corner, which forces you to hover your hand over it. It’s not a big problem. It is less common when the computer is left in limbo without turning it off completely. Either way, this isn’t the best design feature of the Mac mini. For some reason, Apple doesn’t show it in its official photos (it’s visible, almost hidden by the orange lines representing hot air in the image depicting the cooling system). Such an unusual place, without being something that has to be used constantly, seems to go beyond the design codes that characterize the brand.

Apple advertises that the Mac mini is 20 times smaller and 6 times faster than a desktop PC (Intel Core 7 with Windows 11) in the same price range. Such comparisons are not easy to objectify, especially if the person making them is an interested party. Based on my experience of using a Mac mini for several days, this may be true. None of the tested tasks or test applications were able to start the ventilation system. A sign that it is more than enough for the vast majority of tasks. The company also notes that this is its first zero-carbon computer. The entire supply chain uses renewable energy and 50% of the materials are recycled, including 100% of the shell.

The Mac mini will be 20 years old next January. Steve Jobs introduced the first model on January 11, 2005 in San Francisco. As he introduced it, he remembered that many people had complained that Apple didn’t make a cheap Mac. So he decided that from now on they would have no excuses. The cost of the first Mac mini in Spain started at 489 euros. Since then, it has been Apple’s most affordable desktop computer, always with some limitations compared to other models such as the iMac or Pro. The new generation with M4 chips changes something because no one will feel limited. This little one eats a lot of big ones.

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