A Personal Take on the M4 Mac Mini: What Works and What Doesn't

When Apple dropped the M4 Mac mini, I was ready to upgrade. The new computer had great features—including its smaller-than-ever form factor—and I desperately needed one. My M1, despite only being about four years old, was struggling to handle everything I did on a given day.

So, I ordered the 10-Core M4 Mac mini with 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage. It's a small step up from the 8-Core M1 that I had, but that small step has made a huge difference. I'm not disappointed now that I've spent some time with the M4 Mac mini. But there are a few things that I wish were different.

The Best Quality of the M4 Mac Mini

The mini handles AI like a champ. (Which, I suppose, was the point in the M4 chip, right?) I can run the ChatGPT app, which queries to the cloud, Apple Intelligence which runs locally, and Google Gemini in a browser (which also queries to the cloud) without so much as a hiccup. Everything runs smoothly, and there doesn't appear to be any lag in the system, even when I'm working with all three simultaneously.

It's also very quiet. The few times I've noticed the fan kick in, I have barely noticed it, but I rarely heard the fan on the M1, either, so I'm not surprised by that.

I know a lot of folks have complained about the location of the power button, but honestly, it's not an issue for me. I stand the computer on its side, so the power button is easily accessible, and as far as I know, it doesn't affect the computer's performance at all.

The most impressive feature I've found so far, though, is the portability of this little machine. It's lightweight and small enough to throw in a backpack, so I connected it to a portable monitor, and sure enough, I can use that as a display. Combined with a lightweight keyboard and mouse, I can take my whole computer with me when I go somewhere.

Yes, that's what a laptop is for, and I don't plan on giving up my laptop anytime soon. But having the ability to take the whole computer with me means I have the full computer power of a desktop in my backpack. My laptop is good, but it's not M4 good. That chip makes all the difference when you're working on resource-consuming projects, which I often need to do when I'm traveling.

The one downfall to using the M4 Mac mini as a portable computer is the battery. Yes, you can connect it to a portable battery (something like the Andes 300 from Ampace), but that adds to what you have to carry around, and smaller batteries probably won't have enough juice to power the computer. So, you'll need to be able to connect to an outlet for the computer to be useful.

The Worst Quality of the M4 Mac Mini

My main complaint about the M4 Mac mini is the lack of ports. I've always held a grudge against Apple's insistence on fewer connections on its computers, and the mini is no exception. It has three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port on the back, two USB-C ports, and a headphone jack on the front.

I'm not surprised; after all, Apple got handed its 'proprietary port' behind by the EU. But seriously? The rest of the world is not yet completely free of USB-A, which means I have to keep a USB hub connected to the machine all the time. It's not a huge issue, but it's yet another way to clutter my workspace, which stays relatively cluttered all on its own.

I guess I'm fortunate that I already have a USB-C hub, so I was able to plug everything in, but it's frustrating nonetheless.

Is the M4 Mac Mini Worth It?

I paid $799 for my M4 Mac mini. (I should also mention that I got a $300 trade-in for the M1, which brought the price down to $499). For that, I got the M4 chip with the 10-Core CPU, which Apple says is up to 50 percent faster than the M2. The difference is noticeable since I had the M1, and all the lags I experienced with the old machine are gone.

The smaller form factor is (in theory) less noticeable on the desktop and more portable. But the lack of ports negates the 'less noticeable' aspect since I have to keep a USB hub attached. Still, I would say that small annoyance aside, I'm happy with my purchase.

Scratch that. I'm way more than happy with it; I'm impressed. And grateful to have a computer that will handle the workload I subject it to.