the best Apple computer of the year?

The Mac Mini M4 is undoubtedly the most anticipated of the three products announced by Apple this past week. With its new, even more “Mini” design, even crazier announced performances and a very attractive starting price, the firm is hitting hard for the end of the year.

While waiting to offer you our own test of the machine, in M4 and M4 Pro versions, we offer you a review of French and international tests in order to have a first glimpse of the press’ feedback on this highly anticipated (mini) product.

A design that makes a splash

If there is one element that everyone agrees on this Mac Mini M4, it is its design. Apple’s computer is placed in size between an Apple TV 4K and a Mac Studio (12.7 cm in length and 5 cm in height), taking up terribly less space than its predecessor on the M2 chip.

For our colleagues at Les Numériques, this miniaturization further demonstrates “the black magic with which the brand’s engineers operate”.

Pour Numeramaits design is simply “terribly endearing” while it makes “a very beautiful device on the desk”. American media Tom’s Hardware is of the same opinion, even finding it “adorable”.

The connectivity offer is not left out. If the Mac Mini M4 no longer includes a USB-A port, that ultimately doesn’t seem to bother anyone. However, according to the site, it is the absence of a possible port for SD cards that is missing. The Verge and content creator MKBHD.

Note that if the USB-C ports on the back are Thunderbolt 4 (USB4) and not Thunberbolt 5. But for Dave2D, “Thunderbolt 5 has no use at the moment” beyond screens while the Thunderbolt 4 remains “more than sufficient for storage media.

The discord button

And what about this button? Placed on the bottom of the Mac Mini M4, it is already the subject of debate and numerous memes online. In fact, the consensus seems to be the following: its location is not practical, but it is ultimately not that disturbing.

Indeed, for Numerama and Dave2D, the Mac Mini is so light “that you only need to lift it slightly to turn it on or off”. For Chris Welch of The Verge, the situation can be summed up as: “It’s silly, but it didn’t negatively impact my experience.”

Perhaps a point of improvement for the Mac Mini M5? When we know that Apple continues to place the Magic Mouse charging port under the mouse, there is no hope.

Small, but (very) powerful

Has Apple succeeded in making its new Mac Mini the expected powerhouse? According to the first benchmarks, the machine impresses the press.

Our colleagues Les Numériques measured CPU performance almost doubled compared to the M2 chip and was even on par with the Ryzen AI 9 370 HX on the recent Asus TUF Gaming A16. Dave2D judges it “incredibly fast”, particularly in terms of multi-core performance. It’s very simple, they are now similar to that of the Mac Studio M1 Ultra in multi-core according to Numerama.

To gain a little perspective, the Mac Mini is therefore very comfortable for all medium-load work tasks without flinching too much, including when many applications are open (thanks to the 16 GB of RAM).

But for MKBHD, it is starting to show its limits on “more demanding tasks” such as “heavy video editing” and “GPU-intensive video games”.

On this point, however, few media outlets have tested it in game. For Les Numériques, “the M4 shows good performance on the benchmark of Shadow of the Tomb Raider » with almost 40 frames per second on the Very High preset. The machine can lend itself to “a few occasional sessions on less demanding titles”.

But for Dave2D, Apple still needs a larger games library to compete with the PC and consoles: “it is not a gaming machine, but a machine capable of running games “. The distinction is important.

Finally, the Mac Mini M4 turns out to be a silent machine in many circumstances, but can be noisy when its GPU is in high demand, according to Numerma. Dave2D particularly praises its unique ventilation grille located below the chassis for an even cleaner design.

The best quality/price ratio on the market?

The Mac Mini M4 is sold at 699 euros for its base model with 16 GB of unified memory and 256 GB of storage. For Digital, “ the Cupertino company has here one of its best value for money » while MKBHD outbids that this is perhaps “ the best deal on the tech market right now« .

However, Apple remaining Apple, the situation is obviously positive at all levels. The price of the upgrades is unanimously described as “excessive” when it is necessary to pay 460 euros to increase the storage of your Mac mini to 1 TB. And let’s not talk about the unified memory. The Verge then denounces the firm’s “greed and greed” for a machine which nevertheless seems intended for small wallets.

The fact remains that it is an excellent machine, “ perfect for teleworkers » according to Numerama. Tom’s Hardware also imagines the machine in a context ” familial » whose monitor could change more flexibly than an iMac (which only offers a diagonal of 24.5 inches).