Apple’s next Mac mini is reportedly as small as an Apple TV

The Mac mini is small, but Apple plans to use the recently released M4 chip to make it even smaller. According to a report from Bloomberg, the M4 Mac mini the company is planning on releasing later this year could be the smallest computer the company has ever sold thanks to a new compact design.

Efficiency and power is the name of the game with Apple’s M-series chips, and it’s allowed for all sorts of sleek and fan-less redesigns of the company’s popular products over the last few years. The iMac essentially became a giant iPad on a stand with the introduction of the M1, the MacBook Air was able to stay more or less the same size but get even more powerful with the M2, and most recently, a new OLED display and the M4 made the 13-inch iPad Pro the thinnest device Apple’s ever sold. Now it’s apparently the Mac mini’s turn.

A desktop computer the size of a streaming box

The Apple TV is apparently a good comparison

Apple plans on updating several Macs with the new M4 chip later this year, according to Bloomberg, including the iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. These updates will presumably be accompanied by the introduction of more powerful versions of the M4 chip, likely the M4 Pro and possibly even the M4 Max, the Apple could save that for a new Mac Pro. Specs upgrades are great, and should help future-proof these new Macs for whatever Apple Intelligence features Apple wants to roll out for the next few years, but when it comes to the Mac mini, the company isn’t stopping there.

The new Mac mini will not only continue to be Apple’s cheapest Mac, it’ll also reportedly be its smallest. The desktop will be “far smaller than its predecessor,” Bloomberg writes, “approaching the size of an Apple TV set-top box.” The current Mac mini is slim, and designed to be stacked in a server rack if need be, but this new Mac mini sounds like it’s going to trade some of that slimness for a more compact aluminum body overall. That means it might not fit on or under the shelves and monitor stands that the current M2 Mac mini does, but it should be even easier to throw in a backpack and carry around.

According to Bloomberg, the new computer is “essentially an iPad Pro in a small box,” though unlike an iPad, it should have a few more ports to choose from. Apple has reportedly tested a version with at least three USB-C ports, an HDMI port, and a power connector, and hopefully, there will be an Ethernet option for wired internet connections, too.

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Why Apple’s making a smaller Mac mini

While Apple’s renewed interest in making products thinner isn’t necessarily a good thing, I don’t think that applies to the Mac mini. Unless you’re looking for a laptop, the Mac mini is the easiest way into Apple’s ecosystem. It’s for PC converts who already have their own monitor, keyboard, and mouse, tinkerers who want to make their own media server, and anyone who needs a second computer. These computers are sold on how discrete and flexible they are. It only makes sense that Apple would also want to make them smaller.

Apple usually updates its Macs in October, so there are a few more months until we know just how much the Mac mini is going to change, but based on what’s been released so far, it certainly seems like moving to the M4 is going to be good for all the company’s devices.