Quick Summary
A new report says that the next Mac mini will launch later this year with an M4 processor and an even smaller case: expect it to look like a slightly taller Apple TV 4K.
The Mac mini is an incredibly capable computer in an incredibly small case: I bought the Mac mini (2023) M2 Pro for my Logic Pro X projects and I'm often amazed by how much power it's packing. But apparently mini isn't mini enough for Apple: the M4 version of the Mac mini is going to be even smaller.
The news comes via Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who quotes insiders telling him that it's "essentially an iPad Pro in a small box". The new version will apparently look more like the Apple TV 4K, although it'll stick with the current aluminium case rather than the black of Apple's TV streamer.
The big news isn't just the changed size, though. Gurman says Apple will have moved all of its Macs to the M4 in the next year, and that'll be the first time the entire Mac range will have had the same generations of M-series processors. That means we're in for a lot of new Macs in the months to come: new MacBook Pro and MacBook Airs, new iMacs, new Mac Studios and a new Mac Pro too.
M4 Mac mini: key features and changes
According to Gurman there will be two versions of the mini, one with the standard M4 chip and one with the even more powerful M4 Pro. Apple has been testing units with "at least" three USB-C ports, a power connector and an HDMI. Presumably there's also a gigabit ethernet port too.
The current Mac mini has gigabit ethernet, HDMI, a headphone socket, two 5GB/s USB-A connectors and either two or four USB-C ports. Those USB-Cs support USB 3.1 Gen 2 at up to 10Gb/s, USB 4 up to 40Gb/s, Thunderbolt 4 up to 40Gb/s and DisplayPort. There are two in the standard mini and four in the Pro. It's unlikely that Apple will want to reduce the available expansion ports on the Pro model for the M4 version.
Gurman's sources tell him that the new minis will start shipping to Apple later this month for a 2024 release, but the Pro model will be slightly behind and won't be ready until at least October.
