Apple's Much Smaller M4 Mac Mini Has All-New Thermal Architecture to Maximize Speed
The Mac mini received a major update today, with Apple introducing a slimmed down design that shaves more than two inches off of the size so it takes up less space on a desktop or in a rack. Despite the size change, the Mac mini uses Apple's most powerful M-series chips, including the new M4 Pro.
Combining the smaller form factor and updated chips necessitated a redesigned thermal architecture. The foot of the Mac mini allows it to pull in air from the surrounding environment, and the air is able to circulate throughout before being vented back out through the bottom foot.
Apple says that air is guided to each level of the system, and that combined with the power efficiency of the M4 chips, the Mac mini can "breeze through intensive workloads at outrageous speeds."
The redesigned Mac mini measures in at five inches square and two inches tall. It's taller than the prior version, but it is 2.75 inches smaller. Rumors suggested that it could be as small as the Apple TV (which is 3.66 inches), but it ended up being a bit bigger than that.
The M4 Pro hasn't been benchmarked yet, but it has a 14-core CPU and up to a 20-core GPU, which is up to twice as powerful as the M4 GPU. 3D renders in Blender are up to 2.9x faster compared to the M2 Pro and motion graphics render up to 2x faster.
Popular Stories
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development.
Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag.
Timing
Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false.
The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 next month, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well....
In a research note with Hong Kong-based investment bank Haitong today, obtained by MacRumors, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said he agrees with a recent rumor claiming that the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" will be around 6mm thick.
"We agreed with the recent chatter of an 6mm thickness ultra-slim design of the iPhone 17 Slim model," he wrote.
If that measurement proves to be accurate, there would be ...
It appears that Apple is discontinuing the Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter that it released alongside the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in 2016.
The adapter was recently listed as "sold out" on Apple's online store in the U.S. and most other countries, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The adapter remains available from Apple in only a handful of countries, such as...
Between around 2009 and 2011, it was repeatedly rumored that Apple would be releasing a TV, but that obviously never happened.
Now, a decade-and-a-half later, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the idea is back on the table.
In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman briefly mentioned that Apple has been "evaluating" the "idea of making an Apple-branded TV set." He did not provide any further...
