Apple M4 Pro chip debuts in the redesigned Mac Mini with 14 cores and Thunderbolt 5

Highly anticipated: An upgraded Mac Mini is nan 2nd M4 Mac that Apple introduced this week, apt to beryllium followed by a caller MacBook Pro successful nan coming days. Marking nan first awesome Mac Mini revision successful almost 15 years, nan caller exemplary debuts pinch nan M4 Pro spot and is nan first Mac Mini to support Thunderbolt 5.

Pre-orders are now unfastened for 2 caller Mac Mini variants featuring nan M4 and M4 Pro processors, pinch shipments opening connected November 8. Prices commencement astatine $599 for nan M4 exemplary and $1,399 for nan M4 Pro variant, pinch students eligible for a $100 discount connected each model.

The guidelines exemplary features nan M4 chip, antecedently introduced successful nan latest iPads and successful nan upgraded iMac revealed earlier this week. Compared to past year's Mac Mini pinch nan M2 chip, nan M4 offers 2 further ratio cores, totaling 10 cores, and includes a 16-core neural motor tin of 38 TOPS for enhanced performance, peculiarly pinch Apple's caller generative AI toolchain.

Apple Intelligence, now disposable connected immoderate Mac aliases iPad pinch an M-series chip, arsenic good arsenic nan iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Pro, became publically disposable this week. Apple's GenAI can summarize matter selections, automatically shape notifications, edit images, proofread a user's writing, and more.

The caller Mac Mini besides follows Apple's caller inclination of starting devices pinch 16 GB of unified RAM alternatively of nan erstwhile 8 GB. Customers tin configure nan M4 exemplary pinch up to 32 GB of RAM, while nan M4 Pro type supports up to 64 GB. Storage options scope from 256 GB to 2 TB connected nan guidelines model, while nan M4 Pro offers betwixt 512 GB and 8 TB.

The Mini's M4 Pro version stands retired pinch 10 capacity cores, compared to nan M2 Pro's eight, bringing its full to 14 cores. Additionally, nan GPU now has 20 cores, up from 19, and includes hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Memory bandwidth has besides increased, from 200 GB/s to 273 GB/s.

Apple claims Logic Pro tin now support up to 1.8 times much audio effect plugins connected nan M4 Pro compared to nan M2 Pro, and that Blender renders tin beryllium completed astir 3 times faster.

Wired connectivity marks different important alteration for this year's Mac Mini. Both models now person 2 USB-C 3.0 ports and an audio jack positioned connected nan front. The M4 exemplary features 3 rear Thunderbolt 4 ports, while nan M4 Pro upgrades these to Thunderbolt 5, bringing nan 80 Gbps relationship protocol to nan lineup for nan first time.

Apple is marking nan juncture by trading a caller one-meter Thunderbolt 5 cable for $69. The Cupertino elephantine is known for charging a premium for accessories, but a cursory hunt done Newegg mostly digs up half-meter cables for astir $30, astir accordant pinch Apple's pricing.

However, OWC offers a one-meter Thunderbolt 5 cablegram for $40. As Thunderbolt 5 exertion becomes much widespread, pricing options are expected to expand.

The caller Mac Mini besides brings a awesome hardware redesign since nan 2010 M1 model. Measuring 2x5x5 inches, nan updated exemplary is somewhat taller but importantly shorter, thinner, and lighter, resembling an Apple TV.