Apple’s M3 chip has been accessible for the reason that finish of October 2023. It options within the MacBook Professional M3 and iMac and was not too long ago added to the MacBook Air, however it’s nonetheless absent from the Mac mini. How lengthy will we have now to attend for Apple to roll out the M3 to the remainder of the vary? Or will Apple skip it and resolve to launch a brand new Mac mini with an M4 chip?
This text is designed that will help you work out what’s occurring with the M3 and M3 Professional variations of the Mac mini–or if Apple skips the M3 sequence and goes straight to M4. We’ve gathered all the knowledge from rumors and stories in a single spot and can present perception as to what’s possible and what’s not.
We’ll replace this text each time new data turns into accessible.
Replace 6/24/24: Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman stories that the Mac schedule launch has not modified and an M4 Mac mini will not be launched till the top of 2024 or early 2025.
See our MacBook Professional M3 evaluation and our MacBook Professional M3 Professional evaluation. We even have an iMac M3 evaluation and M3 MacBook Air evaluation.
New Mac mini: Skipping the M3, straight to M4?
An April 11 report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman stated that Apple plans to replace the Mac mini with an AI-enhanced M4 chip within the second half of 2024. On Apple 21, Gurman said that Apple will possible skip an M3 replace for the Mac mini and go straight to M4 later this yr.
New Mac mini: Launch date
- M3 Mac mini: Might 7 occasion
- M4 Mac mini: Late 2024
Apple launched the M2 & M2 Professional Mac mini over a yr in the past in January 2023. Earlier than that, the M1 Mac mini was launched in November 2020. That’s over two years between the M1 and M2 Mac mini, however the Covid pandemic affected manufacturing. There ought to be no purpose for the launch of the M3 and M3 Professional Mac mini to be delayed, particularly for the reason that M3 and M3 Professional chips can be found in different fashions.
If Apple does proceed with an M3 Mac mini, we may see it at Apple’s spring occasion on Might 7, or at WWDC in June. In early August 2023, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple was performing preliminary exams on a M3 Mac mini, suggesting a brand new M3 mannequin is within the pipeline.
In June, Mark Gurman reported that the Mac launched schedule had not modified. The M4 Mac mini is just not anticipated till the top of 2024 or early 2025.
The M2 Professional Mac mini.
Jason Cross / Foundry
New Mac mini: Worth
- Worth drops exterior the U.S. are considerably possible.
Rumors concerning the M3/M4 Mac mini haven’t addressed costs and the value is unlikely to alter contained in the U.S. Nevertheless, we do hope that there can be value drops exterior the U.S. to reverse value hikes a couple of years in the past.
Apple has been adjusting costs following earlier value hikes. When Apple has up to date Macs and iPhones since late 2023 it lowered some costs in areas exterior the U.S. The U.Okay. costs of the M3 MacBook Air, for instance, ‘match’ the U.S. costs. For instance, the M2 MacBook Air now prices $999/£999. That’s a great signal for the M3 Mac mini–it may comply with the identical customary configuration costs of $599/£599 (at present £649) and $799/£799 (at present £849) when it’s lastly launched. In 2020, the M1 Mac mini had costs of $699/£699 and $899/£899.
New Mac mini: Processor and specs
- M3: 3nm chip with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8GB unified reminiscence (16GB and 24GB choices)
- M3 Professional: 11 or 12 core CPU, 14 or 18 GPU cores, 18GB unified reminiscence (36GB possibility)
- M4: AI enhancements
We have now a good concept of what to anticipate from the Mac mini M3 and M3 Professional as a result of we have now already seen these chips within the MacBook Professional, iMac, and MacBook Air. Apple is claimed to place an AI emphasis on the M4, so it may have related CPU and GPU specs because the M3, however with a bigger Neural Engine and extra unified reminiscence.
The brand new 3nm course of used for the M3 (and presumably for the M4) permits extra transistors to suit on a chip, which ought to present a efficiency enhance. The M3 may even provide higher energy effectivity, so the temperature concerns required for the M1 or M2 Mac mini aren’t the identical because the M3, which may permit it to run quicker as a result of it doesn’t get as sizzling.
As well as, the M3 GPU is quicker and extra environment friendly and options Dynamic Caching, which is a brand new expertise that brings options like hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading to the Mac.
As for the quantity of unified reminiscence, Apple nonetheless provides the usual configuration of 8GB for the M3 and choices for 16GB and 24GB, as with the M2. For the M3 Professional there’s as much as 36GB unified reminiscence accessible, however the usual configuration is now 18GB reminiscence (up from 16GB).
For extra data examine how the completely different generations of Mac processors evaluate.
New Mac mini: Ports/Connectivity
- Possible no change from the 2 Thunderbolt/USB-C configuration
When Apple launched the M1 Mac mini in 2020, the corporate reconfigured the ports in order that it had two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports as an alternative of the 4 that had been on the Intel-based Mac mini. Apple. Apple will possible persist with this port configuration with the M3 Mac mini, which additionally consists of two USB-A ports, a gigabit ethernet port, HDMI, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
The M2 Mac mini already has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, however Apple may go for Wi-FI 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.
![M3/M4 Mac mini: All the pieces you have to know - Uplaza 4 M1 Mac mini ports](https://b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/m1-mac-mini-ports-2020.jpg?quality=50&strip=all&w=1200)
Apple will possible not change the port configuration on the M3 Mac mini.
Apple
New Mac mini: Design
- Possible no change to the compact field regardless of rumors on the contrary from a couple of years in the past.
Rumors of the M3/M4 Mac mini concentrate on the M3 chip and lack details about the design. Apple will preserve the 7.75-by-7.75-by-1.41 inch (19.7-by-19.7-by-3.6 centimeter) exterior design. Due to the brand new 3nm M3, Apple might change how the internals are laid out, however customers received’t should be involved with that.