Mac Mini's radical redesign could make the Pro version a powerhouse

Apple's Mac mini is one of my favourite Macs, offering a lot of power for a relatively low price. And it looks like the imminent radical redesign, which we're expecting to see in October for November delivery, could make it quite the powerhouse.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who previously said that the new Mac mini was "essentially an iPad Pro in a small box", while Apple's smallest Mac is getting even smaller it's going to be considerably more expandable.

Writing in his Power On newsletter, Gurman says that there will be two versions of the mini, as now: a standard model and a Pro version that runs the pro version of Apple's M-series chip. The former will be shipping from China to warehouses in early September and the latter will follow a month later. Both Macs are likely to launch about a month after the iPhone 16, which we'll see on 9 September.

What's new in the M4 Mac Mini Pro

According to Gurman, the Pro version of the Mac mini is going to have a significantly different selection of ports compared to the current model. The USB-A ports are going from the Pro, and instead there will be five USB-C ports: three on the back and two on the front. It's likely that we'll start to see USB-A disappear from other Macs too; at the moment they also feature on the Studio and Pro Macs, both of which are expected to be refreshed next year.

The 3-back, 2-front configuration is something we've already seen on the Mac Studio and it makes sense: the rear ports are for your constantly connected accessories and the ones on the front stay free for whatever you happen to need right now.

In addition to the USB-C ports the mini will retain its current Ethernet port, HDMI output and headphone jack. And its power supply will remain inside so there's only a slim cable instead of a power brick - handy for moving your Mac mini around. However, as with the Mac Mini 2023 there's still no SD card slot for photographers.