We just had the announcement of the brand new Mac Mini with an M4 and M4 Pro inside of it, and we’ve also got a brand new design for it too. But how does this new Mac Mini compare with the M2 Mac Mini that we previously had? Well, today, I’m going to do it for you—an M4 Mac Mini vs. M2 Mac Mini review of specs and details.
Design and Dimensions
We have the M4 Mac Mini, the brand new one, on the left, and then we have the older one on the right. Let’s get started, first of all, with the actual dimensions. The new Mac Mini with the M4 is a brand new design and looks like a slimmed-down version of the Mac Studio. The new Mac Mini M4’s height is 5 cm with a width and depth of 12.7 cm. In conclusion, we’re talking about 2 inches tall and a 5×5 inch size for the Mac Mini M4. The previous generation had a bigger footprint by about 50% with a width and depth of 19.7 cm, so the M4 is a smaller and more compact Mac Mini.
Weight Comparison
The weight is where we’re seeing an incredible difference. The new Mac Mini is only 0.67 kg—super light for a mini PC and amazing to see. In comparison, the older generation was just under 1.2 kg (1.18 kg). We’re talking about half the weight of the Mac Mini M2, which is absolutely incredible to see here.
Monitor Support
Moving on, another big question you guys are probably wondering is about supported monitors. The Mac Mini with the M4 lets you plug in one cable directly to the HDMI port on the rear and connect up to two USB-C monitors simultaneously. However, this would only display at 60 Hz—you couldn’t get 8K across all three monitors at once, but you can plug in a single 8K monitor, which is great to know. For the Mac Mini M2, you could only plug in two monitors (one into HDMI and one into USB-C).
Power and Performance
The big question most of you probably have is about power. The great news is that the Mac Mini M4 has a full 10-core CPU and GPU, whereas the Mac Mini M2 had a standard 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU. With the M4, you get six efficiency cores and four performance cores. Benchmarks for Geekbench 6 show that the M4 delivers a multi-core score of about 15,280—over 50% better performance than the M2’s 9,814. This performance boost is impressive and clearly noticeable in everyday use.
RAM and Storage Options
The Mac Mini M4 starts at 16 GB of RAM and is configurable up to 64 GB—a welcome upgrade. In contrast, the Mac Mini M2 started at 8 GB with configurations up to 24 GB. For storage, both models start at 256 GB and are configurable up to 2 TB.
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Ports
The port setup has changed with the M4 model. It now includes five USB-C Thunderbolt ports and an HDMI and Ethernet port. The M2 model had four USB-C ports plus two USB-A ports, which are now absent in the M4 model. However, HDMI and Ethernet are included on both models.
Operating System and Apple Intelligence
Both models run macOS Sequoia without issues and support the latest versions, including Apple Intelligence features like 15.1 with Apple Intelligence tasks. More updates are expected to enhance these capabilities over time.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Technology
For Wi-Fi, the M4 includes Wi-Fi 7, an upgrade over the M2’s Wi-Fi 6E. Both models, however, share the same Bluetooth 5.3 technology.
Pricing
Surprisingly, Apple has kept the same starting price of $599 for the M4 model, offering 256 GB of storage and 16 GB of RAM. The previous M2 Mac Mini at this price came with 256 GB and only 8 GB of RAM—a fantastic improvement for the price.
Color Options
Finally, both models are available in silver with no new color options introduced, such as space black.
So there you have it! Are you excited about the new M4 Mac Mini? With its compact form factor, weight, and powerful M4 chip, I, for one, can’t wait to get my hands on it and test it out for you. The M2 Mac Mini is still a great machine, but the time has come for an upgrade. What are your thoughts on the new M4 Mac Mini? Are you planning to get one, or perhaps a different Mac?
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