For the first time in 14 years, Apple has redesigned the new Mac Mini specifically for Apple AI

Apple introduced a smaller new Mac Mini on Tuesday, the first redesign since 2010. The all-new Mac Mini from Apple is more powerful, palm-sized, designed for Apple Intelligence, and is also the first carbon-neutral Mac, achieving an important environmental milestone.

In addition to the redesign, the main upgrade of the new Mac Mini is the inclusion of Apple's latest chips, including the M4 and the more powerful M4 Pro version.

Apple stated that the M4 Pro is manufactured based on second-generation 3-nanometer technology, with up to 14 CPU cores, including 10 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. The GPU can have up to 20 cores, and the neural engine has 16 cores. The base model M4 is equipped with up to 10 CPU cores, with 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores, along with up to 10 GPU cores and 16 neural engine cores.

Apple claims that the CPU excels in single-threaded performance tests, while the GPU doubles the speed of the system's ray tracing engine, marking Apple's latest move to turn the Mac into a powerful gaming machine.

Apple stated that the improved neural engine is twice as fast as the previous generation. As Apple's intelligent features were first made available to the public on Monday, this engine will increasingly become a core part of the Mac experience.

The Mac Mini is Apple's most affordable Mac model, starting at $599, while the version with M4 Pro is priced at $1399. The product line was first introduced in 2008, with the selling point of making it easy for Windows users to switch to Apple computers by simply connecting their existing keyboard, mouse, and monitor to the silver small box that serves as the body.

Analysis suggests that although the Mac Mini may not be Apple's highest-selling computer in terms of volume, it holds an important position in Apple's product lineup, especially favored by iPhone and other Apple platform app developers. Many iPhone developers like to use the Mac Mini as a personal development server for coordinating uploads and code management.

Another improvement in the new design is that all USB ports on this model are USB-C, consistent with the modern ports on Apple laptops. There are three Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports at the back of the computer, with two additional ports at the front, making it convenient for users to plug and unplug accessories on the desktop

Among them, the M4 Pro chip is also the first Apple chip to support Thunderbolt 5. Compared to its predecessor, the data transfer speed of Thunderbolt 5 has more than doubled, increasing from 120 GB/s to 273 GB/s. This means that the M4 Pro is equipped with five Thunderbolt 5 ports, while the M4 model still uses Thunderbolt 4.

Apple positions the new Mac Mini (as well as all new products launched this year) as "designed for Apple Intelligence," which is the artificial intelligence system released by the company this week. Apple stated that in the future, ChatGPT will be integrated into word processing applications like Word, allowing users to generate and rewrite text and emails using the system.

Unlike iPhones that only support Apple Intelligence on models released in the past two years, all Apple computers with M1 chips and higher versions can run this AI system.

Furthermore, the new Mac Mini is Apple's first carbon-neutral Mac, marking an important milestone for Apple's "2030 Apple" initiative. Apple's goal is to achieve carbon neutrality for its entire product footprint by the end of this century. The Mac Mini uses over 50% recycled materials overall, including a 100% recycled aluminum enclosure, 100% recycled gold plating on all Apple-designed circuit boards, and 100% recycled rare earth elements in all magnets.

Although the Mac business segment is not as important to Apple as the iPhone, it is still a significant part of Apple's business. In the quarterly report for June, Apple reported Mac sales of $7 billion, representing a year-on-year growth of about 2%.

Apple's Chief Marketing Officer had previously hinted at a "week of new product announcements" this week. Apple had already launched the new iMac computer on Monday, so there is likely to be more announcements. It is expected that this new Mac will be Apple's last major hardware release of the year