Apple Mac Mini M4 Review

Introduction

The Apple Mac Mini M4 is a tiny desktop computer designed from the ground up for the M4 chipset.

Talk about a confident redesign. There have been a couple of Mac Mini models since the big switch from Intel to Apple silicon, but none have felt like they’ve been built for the chip. 

Instead, they have just been a redo – stick the new M-series for the year into an existing shell without really taking into account the benefits of the chip itself.

That all changes with the Mac Mini M4. This is a computer designed inside and out for M-series and it’s seriously striking. The design is reminiscent of the outgoing Mac Mini models, but it takes inspiration from the Mac Studio and shrinks everything down into a body that’s not too much bigger than an Apple TV 4K.

Is this the best Mac to get into the Apple ecosystem? I’ve spent the last month finding out.

Design

• Easy to access ports on the front
• Only 5cm tall
• Not much larger than an Apple TV

The size completely changes what the Mac Mini can be. Instead of being restricted to a desk, it can fit into a bag or hide behind a TV. When it is on a desk, it’s barely noticeable and makes for a very clean setup.

It’s a good looking machine, too. There’s an Apple logo on the top, three ports on the front and more connectors on the back. It only comes in a single silver colour, but I would love to see iMac-inspired colour choices arrive in future updates.

Even with the size reduction, Apple hasn’t ditched too many of the ports from previous Mac Mini models. Granted, there are no USB-A ports, instead it’s very much a USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 machine. The exact ports available vary a little depending on the model.

Plump for the Mac Mini with the M4 chip and there are two USB-C ports on the front alongside a headphone jack. Around the back, there are three Thunderbolt 4 ports (with USB-C connectors), HDMI and Gigabit Ethernet. That’s a good selection that’ll serve most people very well.

The M4 Pro model keeps the same number of ports, only swapping to the newer Thunderbolt 5 for the rear connectors.

I love having a couple of USB-C ports available without having to reach around the back, and having both Thunderbolt 4 and HDMI as ways of outputting video is nice to see too. My only gripe is the lack of an SD card reader. Although this is clearly kept away as a reason for someone to jump up to the Mac Studio.

Upon release, the positioning of the Mac Mini’s power button caused something of a stir. Rather oddly, it’s on the bottom – meaning you need to get your finger underneath the computer to turn it on. It’s a minor pain, although since the initial setup, I haven’t used the button at all, waking the device up instead via connected peripherals – so it’s far from a big deal.

The Mac Mini M4 is sold without any accessories. There’s no keyboard or mouse in the box, nor is there a cable for connecting to a monitor. Adding these will increase the cost unless this is being added to an existing system. See our best monitors, best keyboard and best mouse round-ups for top choices in each category.

The Mac Mini M4 can support output to three displays. That can be two 6K panels at 60Hz with another 60Hz 5K or 4K added. Or, it’ll support one 5K and one 8K over Thunderbolt or HDMI. The M4 Pro model can support three 6K panels at 60Hz.

Performance

• M4 or M4 Pro options
• 16GB memory is standard
• Performs well in all tests

There are two distinct versions of the Mac Mini available. The base variant packs an M4 chip, like the MacBook Pro M4, with a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine. Prices start at £599/$599 for 16GB memory and 256GB storage. For £799/$799 you get 512GB of storage, and £999/$999 gets you 512GB and 24GB memory.

The Mac Mini M4 chip can have up to 2TB of SSD, 32GB of memory and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. These upgrades must be made at the time of purchase and are expensive. 32GB of memory, for instance, is £400/$400. Ouch.

There’s an M4 Pro edition of the Mac Mini too. This is for someone who wants to perform more intensive multi core tasks, like video editing or 3D design. The M4 Pro chip has a 12-core CPU and 16-core GPU, 24GB of memory and 512GB of storage.

Another benefit of going for the M4 Pro is that it supports more memory and storage. SSD options go up to 8TB, and up to 64GB on memory. There’s even an option to increase the internal core count, with a 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU.

I have been reviewing the M4 model with all the base configurations. On paper, this £599/$599 machine looks like exceptional value. It’s the most tempting of the bunch – an easy and affordable way to get into the Apple Silicon ecosystem.

Even though it’s a base model, performance is very good. It can easily handle everyday tasks – browsing, work, basic 4K video editing. It can even game, with titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider hitting a comfortable 30fps.

AI performance is key to this chip, especially with Apple Intelligence now part of Sequoia and likely to become a bigger part of macOS over the coming years.

In our usual suite of benchmarking tests, the Mac Mini M4 pips machines running the M3, although the results are only marginally higher. As you might expect, it scores similarly to the MacBook Pro M4.

In both Geekbench 6 and CineBench R23 there are slight gains in performance especially in the multi-core tests, when compared to the M3.

Bigger improvements are felt is when the results are compared to older M-series chips. As you can see from the charts below, the Mac Mini M4 scores higher in Geekbench 6 than the Mac Studio M2 Ultra and the Studio M1 Max.

This might be in single core tests, but it’s still very impressive considering those machines have only been on the market for a few years. It’s the same story in Cinebench R23, where the M4 pips the M3 Max and M2 Ultra in the single core test.

In more stringent multi core tests where the results will be of more importance to those running higher-end apps for graphic design, video editing and the like, the results are a little different. In my tests, the M4 just outperforms the M1 Max in the Mac Studio but falls drastically short of the M2 Ultra and M3 Max.

Apple has rejiggered the thermal system inside the Mac Mini, ensuring that it’s quiet just about all of the time. The only time I got the fans to spin was during benchmarking, which is harldy a task anyone will be doing all that often.

Considering the price, it’s hard to argue with the performance of the Mac Mini M4. RAW editing in Lightroom works like a dream, as does some 4K video editing in Final Cut. There’s no doubt the Pro chip would shave a few seconds off, but it’s double the price.

Should you buy it?