Apple Mac mini M4 review

The MacBook series has been around for almost a decade now. However, not everyone can afford Apple’s premium laptops. For many, the pricing of a MacBook (especially in India) still put’s the brand’s machines out of a few people’s reach. But with many industries, including content creation and designing, increasingly relying on macOS, this quickly becomes a pain point. 

That said, not many know that you can get the ‘Mac‘ experience without the price tag of a MacBook, iMac or Mac Pro. Meet the Mac mini – a mini-PC, that’s essentially a tiny cabinet with all the essential elements packed inside. It doesn’t come with any accessories, but on the flip side, it lets you choose your own.

While it’s been around for a while, Apple’s done something truly magical with the latest iteration – the Mac mini M4. Thanks to a new design, this M4-powered piece of metal is now Apple’s smallest Mac. We took it for a spin to see if it can replace a MacBook, and here are our thoughts. 

Apple Mac mini M4 design

The Mac mini is a 5-inch by 5-inch square box that’s smaller than the length of an iPhone 16 Pro Max and weighs just about three times as much. In other words, it is compact and super-portable. It’s easy to slip into a bag and take with you to an office, a co-working space, or anything of the kind.

The product oozes minimalism from all six faces and yet gets all the essentials right. There are two USB Type C ports on the front, along with a headphone jack, while the back hosts three Thunderbolt 4 USB Type C ports, an HDMI port, an ethernet port and a proprietary power connector.

In fact, the only element you don’t spot in the first few seconds is the somewhat awkwardly placed power button which is on the bottom of the machine, and a little hard to reach – a pain if you’re someone who frequently shuts down and restarts your machine.

We appreciate the function over form approach of the Mac mini. It looks premium and can still manage to completely disappear on your desk when paired with a monitor, keyboard and mouse – all while offering most of the performance you would expect from a desktop.

Apple Mac mini M4 performance

All the talk around design is great, but just how powerful is the Mac mini? Where does it stand amidst the MacBook lineup? These are questions you may have if it’s your first time with the device.

Well, the Mac mini is a powerhouse for its size and for its price. It does have the new M4 chip yes, but the small chassis also manages to host a single fan on the bottom. While it is just one fan, that is one more than any MacBook Air you can pick up right now, and the thermal advantage allow the machine to go all out when it comes to sheer clocking speeds.

The result? Very quick day-to-day performance, and a powerful experience when it comes to intensive tasks like photo and video-editing, dealing with large file transfers and other similar use-cases.

We edited a bunch of photos on the Mac mini, and used DaVinci Resolve (a powerful, but free video editing software) for a quick cut of one of our videos on YouTube,and can vouch for the no-nonsense performance of the Mac mini. Everything from the tiniest of macOS animations to dragging and dropping large video files in Finder was seamless and stutter-free.

You can check out some benchmarks in our video review (embedded above), but the TL;DR is this – the Mac mini can take care of all your power-hungry needs without breaking a sweat.

Think of it this way. Yes, the iMac and Mac Pros of the world may beat it at performance, but if you’re someone who’s not sure if they need that extra bit of performance, we think a Mac mini should be just fine for you, if not more.

Apple Mac mini M4 I/O and accessory support

So, the design is great, and so is the performance. Now, it’s time to address the elephant in the room – what accessories do you get with a Mac mini, and does it justify the price? Let’s dig deeper.

The Mac mini does not come with crucial accessories, three of which are imperative for using a computer – a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse/trackpad. The lack of all three, basically means you can’t do anything with the Mac mini by itself, and it isn’t exactly a standalone device.

This is a double-edged sword. The negatives are that you will have to spend extra money on these bare minimum accessories, increasing your total cost. The positive is that you’re not tied down to Apple’s premium range of accessories.

The Mac mini can be used with just about any monitor, any keyboard that is optimised for Mac keyboard shortcuts (‘Command’ instead of ‘Ctrl’) and most wired and wireless mice.

This means you can save a ton of money by using affordable third-party accessories, or ones you already own. This way, even with the added costs, the Mac mini still remains more economical compared to even the MacBook Air series, let alone the Pro series.

Plus, you always have the option of upgrading to a better keyboard or a wider monitor tomorrow (check out the ultra-wide LG monitor we used with it in our video above).

The lack of any USB Type-A ports might be a pain for some, but it is a future-proof design choice that will only make more sense with time. For those who do need Type-A ports for accessories, a cheap USB-C hub will do the trick just fine.

Unboxed Take: Who should buy the Mac mini M4?

Despite all its portability, the Mac mini doesn’t exactly replace the MacBook experience for two major reasons – the lack of accessories and the lack of a battery.

While one can take the Mac mini home and back to the office everyday in a backpack, they still can’t use it on the way, or at other locations like an airport, due to the lack of a power outlet and basic accessories. A MacBook, being a more complete package, can be used in such scenarios.  

That said, the MacBooks do cost twice as much and much more for the Pro, which brings us to our original point. While Mac mini is not a MacBook replacement, it is a super-compact and affordable AIO (All-in-One) PC that you can carry between multiple desks, without using it anywhere in between.

This makes it great for people who could use some portability, but will prioritise sheer bang-for-buck value and performance over a completely portable experience. 

ALSO READ: MacBook Pro vs MacBook Air: Which Apple laptop should you get?

The Mac mini remains virtually unmatched when it comes to such a use-case and for anyone who prefers macOS over Windows, and thus we rate the machine 4.5/5.

If what the Mac mini offers isn’t for you though, and you prefer that extra portability of the laptop form, you can always get the new M3 MacBook Air, or the older M1 and M2 MacBook Air models if you want to save some cash.  

Stay tuned to Unboxed by Croma for more in-depth reviews.