By Julie Clover
Today, the Mac mini got a major update: Apple introduced a lightweight design that reduces its size by more than two inches, so it takes up less space on your desk or in your rack. Despite the change in size, the Mac mini uses Apple’s most powerful M-series chips yet, including the new M4 Pro.
The combination of a smaller form factor and updated chips required a redesigned thermal architecture. The Mac mini’s foot allows it to draw air from the surrounding environment, allowing air to circulate throughout the enclosure before exiting back out the bottom foot.
Apple says that air is directed to every level of the system, and that when combined with the power efficiency of the M4 chips, the Mac mini can “easily handle intensive workloads at incredible speeds.”
The updated Mac mini measures five inches square and two inches tall. It's taller than the previous version, but 2.75 inches smaller. There were rumors that it could be as small as the Apple TV (which is 3.66 inches), but it ended up being slightly larger.
The M4 Pro hasn't been benchmarked yet, but it has a 14-core CPU and up to 20-core GPU, making it twice as powerful as the M4 GPU. 3D rendering in Blender is 2.9x faster than the M2 Pro, and motion graphics rendering is 2x faster.
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