Is the new M4 Mac mini worth it? The latest models come with impressive power in the tiniest packaging yet. Even if you bought the M1 model, the new version may be a huge boost in performance.
Is it worthwhile to upgrade? We have a guide below with helpful charts and a video to help you decide.
Is the new M4 Mac mini worth it?
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
It’s time to upgrade off of Intel
With the M4 generation, the time has really come to move away from Intel, no matter which Mac you have. A few of the Intel Mac minis were real stinkers, and are positively ancient by modern computing standards. The new Mac mini performs up to 2.8× faster in Logic Pro and a whopping 33× faster in image upscaling with Photomator.
Hearty upgrade from the M1, if you can
If you have the original M1 Mac mini, you probably have many more years left of use.
But if you can afford to upgrade, you’ll appreciate the huge jump in capabilities. The new base model Mac mini comes with 16 GB of memory, which was previously the maximum amount of memory on the old one — and you can jump all the way up to 64 GB.
The M1 model didn’t have a Pro version. The higher-end Mac mini comes with a significantly faster processor, three times the Neural Engine performance, Thunderbolt 5 for the latest generation of connectivity and much more.
If you have an M2, wait it out
As impressive as the latest Mac mini is, don’t feel pressured to upgrade if you have an M2 or M2 Pro model. While your GPU doesn’t support ray tracing or mesh shading and you don’t yet have Thunderbolt 5, your Mac can do all the same things the new one can. The M2 and M2 Pro are plenty fast — and will be for some time to come.
More upgrade guides
The holidays are coming up — check out our other upgrade guides if you’re considering new Apple products for you or your family this year.
