Apple Mac Mini M4 review - Smaller, faster and louder

[Redaktion]

Apple's Mac Mini has been given a major update, as aside from featuring the new M4 processor generation, the new model has become a lot smaller. We have tested the base version with the M4 SoC as well as 16 GB RAM and a 256-GB SSD for $599.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-Mac-Mini-M4-review-Smaller-faster-and-louder.918832.0.html

[not wozniak]

for me the only usable variant would be 32gb ram and 1tb ssd, in my country it would cost 1670 euros :DDDDD, that is just insane amount of money, you can buy at least 3 more powerfull mini pc's (and still have plenty of upgrade options), on the whole in europe 16gb/256gb variant is 750 euros - insane amount only complete idiot (cult member) could by such mini pc...

[davidm]

As a peasant, the base model is a very good computer since Apple makes a great SoC and 16GB should be fine for most uses in the 2020s. We all know that Apple does arbitrary things to create price points, and this model could have been a lot more compelling with a design that better distributes heat. Unfortunately, there is no "sustainability" benchmark that measure the waste creating by artificially limiting designs, there's only Apple's vast cash reserves and the caste layers enforced by this strategy.

A lot of people are looking to Apple's current designs as a way to run local AI, which is fair since it's marketed with "Apple Intelligence," but it doesn't really make any sense past smaller AI models, which other company current products in this category can run at least as quickly, though not in such a nice low power package. Smaller models fit in Apple's proposed Apple Intelligence hybrid design, where some tasks and triaging can be done on-device and others run anonymized in the cloud.  But many people are buying the higher-RAM models so they can run larger models. The problem is those models will run, but the initial processing and generation will be very slow, and the system will constantly use its full power, leading to heat and as this article points out, noise. This might be useful for occasional background semantic indexing, but doesn't really make sense for constant use.

Of course, this doesn't prevent Apple from capitalizing on AI enthusiasts, who get drawn in by the low price and great performance and talk themselves into buying a higher $pec $ystem near the price of an actual workstation. which this is artificially limited (at least by cooling design) not to be. Of course, Apple is more than happy to take their money, even though the configuration doesn't really make sense.

Maybe they will come out with some great breakthrough that will be able to use so much RAM efficiently, but there's no real sign of that. Apple's behaviour is kind of shameful, absolutely a "dark pattern," but I guess the peasants will blame each other.

[asasd]

I'd say EU needs to step in to extend Apple products' warranty to 3 years. Most PC parts have warranties of 3 years, and 5 years if it's longer.

[JohnIL]

I cannot give much credit to Apple for basically doing a smaller form factor, and finally adding another 8Gb RAM to the base model. Still holding on to a 256 Gb drive seems like just trying to make money off of the pricy upgrades. Yes, you could just use the Thunderbolt port for an external drive but sort of defeats to small form factor of the Mac Mini. It is pretty clear that the M4 has reached a sort of pinnacle maturity where most buying a Mac Mini can be satisfied in its performance for some time. I have consider one myself since I have had several Mac Mini's dating back to the Power PC days. Those Mac Mini's were also pretty small if I remember correctly. The thing I like is that it is small and it still has a fan. Something I was loathing about the MacBook Air's and my rather warm at times M2 iPad Air. Sometimes you do still need some air circulation.