Apple announces new M1 Mac Mini, starting at $699

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  • Behold, the new Mac Mini.
  • Here’s a useful slide full of specs that were hand-picked by Apple for easy consumption.
  • The ports you’ll need for average desktop use. Hey, a 3.5mm jack!
  • Exploded to show off its industrial design, including a fan that seems to take up a huge percentage of the new Mac Mini’s diminutive size.
  • For work: Apple says this version of the Mac Mini compiles in Xcode “up to three times faster” than the last base model.
  • For play: Apple says the new M1 Mac Mini will “play a graphics-intensive game like Shadow of the Tomb Raider with up to 4x higher frame rates.”

Apple’s M1-filled announcement flurry on Tuesday included a serious surprise for Mac enthusiasts: a brand-new Mac Mini model, starting at $699. Orders begin today, with Mac Minis being available “next week.”

The tiny new desktop model comes packed with an eight-core M1 chip, which Apple says will deliver three times the CPU performance compared to the prior quad-core base Mac Mini model. (How that compares to the last model’s upgrade option to a 6-core processor remains to be seen.) Apple’s representatives say it’s one-tenth the size of a comparable PC in its price range, while also running “five times faster” than the same PC in question. (What PC model or manufacturer are you talking about, Apple?)

All Mac Mini M1 models will include Wi-Fi 6, GigaBit Ethernet, an HDMI 2.0 jack, two USB Type-A ports, and two ports that double as Thunderbolt and USB Type-C 4.0 connections. You’ll need the latter to max out the new Mac Mini’s maximum resolution threshold of “up to two displays, including Apple’s Pro Display XDR in full 6K resolution.” (Oh, and will you look at that: there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack for your favorite desktop speakers.) The model’s base $699 price includes 256GB of onboard SSD storage and 8GB of memory. That price jumps quite a bit when upgrading to 16GB of maximum memory (much smaller than the last generation’s 64GB memory maximum) or 2TB of maximum SSD storage: $1,699.

Listing image by Apple

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1722077