Mighty But mini - Apple's REAL M4 Mac Redesign!

Gurman giveth, and Gurman taketh away…

After I made my triumphant return to Youtube a couple of days ago, Mark Gurman appeared from his Bloomberg hole to poop all over that video. So I guess, the Mac mini is getting a redesign. Not the iMac getting a big brother. Let’s talk.

I did point out that the Mac mini would make sense in fairness, as it is VERY old from a design standpoint. That said, the leaked design that’s mentioned in the report doesn’t really line up with the previous leaks that we’ve seen… so what’s on the horizon for Apple’s cutest Mac?

Smaller. That’s the headline. Like, maybe Apple TV small, or at least close to it. That’s cool, we like that. The first version was basically defined by the size of a CD ROM drive, with the second generation being flatter and wider, essentially borrowing the form of the AirPort router and Time Machine of the time, which also, coincidentally has the same footprint as the classic G4 Cube. Nice.

The chassis will still be aluminium, so we’ll still be able to tell it’s NOT an Apple TV, although one weakness of the current Mac mini is that it can have fairly unreliable wireless connections, and a big old metal shell probably isn’t improving that massively. It’s also possibly taller than the current Mac mini - but is there a chance the M4 Pro version is taller than the base M4 one? I’d be okay with that, especially as the description of the new device is being described by “individuals working on” it as “essentially an iPad Pro in a small box”.

Now, Thats even more interesting to me for one major reason… could this, like the iPad Pro be fanless? I’m not sure. We know that the iPad Pro is able to run M4 without a fan, and presumably it’ll be going into a MacBook Air without one too. So, maybe the Mac mini could have a passively cooled version with a bunch of heat-sinks in the base model version, and use that space for fans in the M4 Pro version - just like how the M1 iMac had a single fan for the binned version, and a dual fan version for the full performance version.

The new models apparently also have “at least 3 USB-C ports” along with a power connector and HDMI port, but there’s no mention of USB-A ports or ethernet, which will certainly reduce the utility for those who would be plugging in legacy peripherals or mechanical keyboards, or those with server rack needs - assuming that the reports are comprehensive of the ports - there’s also no mention of a headphone jack - which for a desktop with, right now a pretty horrendous little speaker inside which is more intended for accessibility during setup than daily use, so it may be that the audio is either connected via bluetooth or via HDMI to your monitor. I’m sure Apple will be more than happy to sell you a couple of HomePods too if you fancy that setup!

And - the base models are scheduled to ship from Apple’s manufacturing partners later this month, with the M4 Pro versions in October which, who could have guessed, lines up with the October event for Macs that we’re expecting.

So a little analysis - with a much smaller footprint, its possible that Apple shifts the power supply into an external brick a la iMac M1 and newer - but then who knows, that could also accommodate Ethernet too - still not ideal for anyone looking to stuff them into server racks though.

Also the smaller footprint COULD mean Apple has the option of dropping the price further though too, less aluminium being used, and a much smaller box for shipping all saves costs for Apple, plus, they don’t even give you stickers any more - that’s gotta save a couple of cents? But you know what doesn’t even cost that much? Dropping me a sub on the channel, but to me, it’s priceless. And I’ll cry otherwise.

So could the new Mac mini run double duty as a living room computer, streaming content to the biggest screen in your house, running hardware ray-traced games, using probably the best speakers in your home at the same time? Suddenly the lack of a headphone jack for speakers makes a bit more sense. Honestly though, I’d be skeptical - Apple TV only has to power a single display at any given time, but an A18 would make a LOT of sense - it would still have the ray-tracing GPU as well as Apple Silicon support and just maybe it could be a true hub for the home, with existing HomePods that have lower powered chips sending their Apple Intelligence requests to that for processing, without leaving your home. That’s taking the ecosystem to a whole other level.

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