Apple’s least expensive desktop laptop has had a worth lower and an influence improve – making it one of many smallest, least expensive and most adaptable Macs but.
The Mac mini begins at £649 ($599/A$999) – £50 lower than the 2020 mannequin – and has Apple’s newest M2 or M2 Professional chips as used within the MacBook Air and MacBook Professional to nice impact.
The tiny aluminium field is in regards to the dimension of a hardback e-book, measuring slightly below 20cm all sides and fewer than 4cm thick. It’s straightforward to suit nearly wherever: on a desk, mounted underneath one, in a TV cupboard, on the again of the monitor, caught to a wall – wherever you possibly can attain with an influence cable.
The facility button is on the again. It has a small speaker for fundamental sounds, however no microphones or cameras. {Photograph}: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Like a traditional desktop PC you merely plug the Mac mini right into a display screen, keyboard and mouse, all of which could be purchased with it at nice expense – or you should use your current gear. I related an Asus 4K monitor and Logitech Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to the mini to set it up, utilizing them throughout the size of the evaluation with out challenge.
It runs macOS 13.2 Ventura like all latest Macs and has the identical screen-sharing and proximity options because the MacBook laptops. Meaning you should use a latest iPad as a second display screen, use the connected mouse and keyboard to regulate an iPad or different Mac and use an iPhone as a wi-fi webcam, which works rather well.
Specs
Processor: Apple M2 or M2 Professional
RAM: 8GB, 16GB, 24GB or 32GB
Storage: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB or 8TB SSD
Working system: macOS 13.2 Ventura
Connectivity: wifi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, 2x USB-A, 2 or 4x USB 4/Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, headphones
Dimensions: 197mm x 197mm x 35.8mm
Weight: 1.18kg to 1.28kg
M2 energy and effectivity
A plastic foot stands proud of the bottom to barely carry the mini’s aluminium body. {Photograph}: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The brand new M2 and M2 Professional chips provide respectable efficiency features on the earlier M1 and M1 Professional chips, with a ten% to twenty% enchancment in CPU pace and as much as 25% sooner graphics. That places them on the prime of the pile alongside a few of Intel and AMD’s newest prime chips, however at a lot decrease energy consumption, and a large leap over earlier Intel-powered Macs.
With that degree of efficiency, the Mac mini has grow to be not only a small Apple laptop however one in every of its extra highly effective and adaptable choices. The M2 model might be greater than sufficient for many common computing duties, with the dearer M2 Professional choice and as much as 32GB of RAM obtainable for individuals who want extra energy. It sits beneath the Mac Studio, which is a beefed up model of the mini for individuals who want much more graphics or computing energy.
The great thing about the Mac mini is that it runs primarily silently. It has a fan you can really feel gently blowing out the again if you happen to put your arms over it, however you possibly can’t hear it underneath regular use. When pushed arduous whereas gaming or processing giant quantities of knowledge, the fan turns into solely nearly audible once you actively hear out for it.
It has a stable collection of ports, however they’re all on the again, making them extra awkward to entry for issues akin to plugging in USB flash drives. There may be ethernet, HDMI 2.1, headphones, two USB-A ports and two or 4 Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 ports relying on the model.
You possibly can join as much as two screens without delay to the M2 and as much as three to the M2 Professional, which might be greater than sufficient for even probably the most elaborate desk setups.
Sustainability
The solid-feeling physique of the Mac mini will get a little bit heat throughout intensive duties, however in any other case stays impressively cool. {Photograph}: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The Mac mini is fabricated from 40% recycled supplies, together with aluminium, uncommon earth components, tin, gold and plastic. Apple breaks down the pc’s environmental affect in its report. The M2 Professional model consumes lower than 0.5W when asleep, about 3W at idle, round 5W for mild work and as much as 50W when pushed, with a most rated draw of 185W.
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The pc is usually repairable. Apple publishes restore manuals for its computer systems and gives trade-in and free recycling schemes, together with for non-Apple merchandise.
Value
The Mac mini begins at £649 ($599/A$999) for an M2 chip with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Fashions with the M2 Professional begin at £1,399.
For comparability, the MacBook Air M2 begins at £1,249, the 14in MacBook Professional M2 Professional begins at £2,149, the 24in iMac prices £1,399,
Verdict
The Mac mini has lengthy been Apple’s smallest laptop, however a little bit of an outlier subsequent to its different fashionable client desktop, the iMac.
Moderately than an all-in-one, it’s a bring-your-own display screen and peripherals machine – a extra acquainted idea on the Home windows PC facet of the pc divide. However with the shrinking of the iMac line to only the 24in model from 2021, and with the relaunch of Apple’s personal show line, the Mac mini is poised as the brand new desktop Mac for all sizes and shapes.
The beginning M2 model has sufficient efficiency for many, whereas the M2 Professional gives extra energy than many will want outdoors computing intensive workloads. And all packed right into a tiny, power-sipping and quiet-running field that, relying on which model you purchase, is surprisingly good worth for a Mac. There’s little that may actually compete with the Mac mini outdoors just a few area of interest and costly small form-factor gaming containers or DIY computer systems.
It isn’t excellent as desktop computer systems go since you can not add extra RAM or storage after buy – although you should use an exterior drive. A scarcity of ports on the entrance makes plugging in flash drives and different short-term peripherals extra fiddly than it must be, the identical because the iMac. However it’s straightforward to dwell with, whether or not you might be utilizing Apple’s fancy shows, mice and keyboards or not.