Mac mini M4

Not that i am going to get one because mini is only 20 months old, but this new design is no doubt what they are going to use on Mac minis going forward.

What do people think of it? The power button on the bottom is a bit strange, but my problem would be the audio port being on the front. I use that on my Mac to go to an amp, it would look strange to have a cable coming from the front of the unit to the amp. I know it is possible to buy a splitter unit for the HDMI, so the audio goes elsewhere, but that is more money.

I must admit, apart from those two things, I like the look of it, but I would be worried about it being dragged off the desk with the cables, my Mac nini moves a fair bit as it is.

I think it’s a great piece of packaging / design overall. Especially when you consider they’ve shoe-horned a mains power supply in there too. I can’t think of any other PCs in that size class that do that, most use an external power brick (like the very original Mac Mini did!).

Position of the audio jack is personal preference. I can see why they’ve done it on the front for folks that want to connect headphones without having to reach and fumble around the back of the machine. Otherwise a good job with all the other selection of ports and Thunderbolt 5 on the Pro versions is great - getting near enough full PCIe4x4 speeds 8+ GBytes/sec from an external drive will be awesome in time.

The power button position is a bit weird. I think they’ve done that out of packaging necessity. But not a deal breaker in my opinion.

I agree, how they fitted all of that in such a small space is amazing. Chatting to some people last night online and one of then is thinking about the Mac mini M4, but the lack of USB A puts them off, I know you can get converters or hubs, but it is another thing. Saying that, for me the ports being on the back is a pain anyway and some sort of hub is required, which is I why I have one, also able to put more storage under the mac.

Not sure what I would do if I was looking at buying another Mac, maybe i would go for a Imac, I like the Mac mini, but I got it because it was a cheaper way of getting into the Mac world and to see if I liked it.

I can see why they left USB-A out of such a tight package. You can get more than what you want from the USB-C / Thunderbolt ports.

USB-A is ancient tech by comparison, and deservedly needs to get relegated now. It's 30 years old almost. USB-C / Thunderbolt comparatively serve more functions and throughput more than USB-A and are smaller. If they had real estate and space to burn then different matter. But I wouldn't get hung up on that.

If it is a deal-breaker then it's simply the wrong box for them. Gotta move on (at some point) and Apple are famously ruthless, when it comes to doing away what they think are 'old' / non-useful ports on new boxes. On this one I tend to agree.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

I agree, how they fitted all of that in such a small space is amazing.

Some exceptionally good CPU engineers work at Apple, and they have achieved things that only the Nuva outfit (bought by Qualcomm) can seemingly compete with.

Chatting to some people last night online and one of then is thinking about the Mac mini M4, but the lack of USB A puts them off

That's the same argument my friends had when their new iPhone SE 3, and similar came with USB-C to lightning cables. They wanted USB-A as they had chargers. I suggested they should "look forwards" as USB-C is amazing. I've moved my entire fleet over, selling older wall warts to friends or CEX as needed.

I know you can get converters or hubs, but it is another thing. Saying that, for me the ports being on the back is a pain anyway and some sort of hub is required, which is I why I have one, also able to put more storage under the mac.

At least the M4 Mini has ports on the front, like the Mac Studio, better than ANY model of Mac Mini before.

Not sure what I would do if I was looking at buying another Mac, maybe i would go for a Imac, I like the Mac mini, but I got it because it was a cheaper way of getting into the Mac world and to see if I liked it.

Depends if you want the screen, but remember screens last a lot longer than computers these days, this is the reason the 27" iMac is no longer made. The type of people whom bought that, would be annoyed having to replace the expensive screen to get a CPU upgrade.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

I can see why they left USB-A out of such a tight package. You can get more than what you want from the USB-C / Thunderbolt ports.

USB-A is ancient tech by comparison, and deservedly needs to get relegated now. It's 30 years old almost. USB-C / Thunderbolt comparatively serve more functions and throughput more than USB-A and are smaller. If they had real estate and space to burn then different matter. But I wouldn't get hung up on that.

If it is a deal-breaker then it's simply the wrong box for them. Gotta move on (at some point) and Apple are famously ruthless, when it comes to doing away what they think are 'old' / non-useful ports on new boxes. On this one I tend to agree.

the dongle that my keyboard and mouse uses is USB A, so is a lot of USB Thumb drives. Even I don't own any, I get people who do and may want to transfer stuff from my machine and vice versa. I am sure there are many other people in the same boat.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Some exceptionally good CPU engineers work at Apple, and they have achieved things that only the Nuva outfit (bought by Qualcomm) can seemingly compete with.

i have watched some videos about the M4 Mini and some of the temperatures it reaches when pushed to the max is a bit worrying.

That's the same argument my friends had when their new iPhone SE 3, and similar came with USB-C to lightning cables. They wanted USB-A as they had chargers. I suggested they should "look forwards" as USB-C is amazing. I've moved my entire fleet over, selling older wall warts to friends or CEX as needed.

The one advantage of USB C is not having to find the correct way to put the plug in. The majority of my stuff is USB A, sure I could buy cables for the external hard drives. that is only three items.

At least the M4 Mini has ports on the front, like the Mac Studio, better than ANY model of Mac Mini before.

True, but I would still need a hub for a SD card reader

Depends if you want the screen, but remember screens last a lot longer than computers these days, this is the reason the 27" iMac is no longer made. The type of people whom bought that, would be annoyed having to replace the expensive screen to get a CPU upgrade.

I presume you mean the technology, not the machine itself. Macs and other computers can keep going for years. A friend still uses a Mac pro, trash can version, but is now looking at a M4, she jjust have to decide which one to get.,

Those USB-A wireless keyboard and mouse dongles probably keep Logitech and the accessories division of Microsoft afloat - if the rate at which my wife loses and breaks hers is any indication. They could just use Bluetooth 5LE, and cut out a whole lot of needles e-waste but proprietary keeps the cash-cows I suppose.

As for thumb drives, it's probably a form factor thing and they are as disposable now (and frankly as useful) as paperclips. Dual or double ended versions - with USB-C and USB-A at either end, work just fine.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

the dongle that my keyboard and mouse uses is USB A, so is a lot of USB Thumb drives. Even I don't own any, I get people who do and may want to transfer stuff from my machine and vice versa. I am sure there are many other people in the same boat.

This was my argument that Apple back in 2016 should have slowly managed the transition from A to C instead of just dropping all A ports on the MacBooks. However its now 8 years later.

There are simple adaptors for small items, but there are a lot of multi-port adaptors. Almost every MacBook user at work has an Anker multi-port adaptor whereas our Windows colleagues have laptops with one A and one C at least. (Although many makes are moving away from this now).

example:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adapter-Charger-Connector-M...

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

i have watched some videos about the M4 Mini and some of the temperatures it reaches when pushed to the max is a bit worrying.

Temps on Apple silicon are quite different to intel, so I'm not sure there is enough public info yet. We know Apple silicon can and DOES throttle (slow down) when it gets too hot, so I don't think there is anything to worry about.

Not really the AMD Athlon that used to blow apart if the heat sink fell off.