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Apple announces a Mac Mini with the M2 and M2 Pro

Apple announces a Mac Mini with the M2 and M2 Pro

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The BYO keyboard, mouse, and monitor machine got the press release treatment. A new M2-ified model is now here.

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Photo of a designer at a desk editing a picture using a Mac mini and Apple display.
Mac Mini with M2 and M2 Pro
Image: Apple

The Mac Mini is Apple’s next computer to get the bump up to the M2 chip — and this time around, it’s being offered with the Pro version of Apple’s processor, too. The new model was announced this morning in a press release, with a starting price of $599, and is available to order today, with availability beginning Tuesday, January 24th.

The Mac Mini’s baseline configuration includes the M2 chip, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. It features an HDMI port, gigabit ethernet, and a standard headphone jack, alongside two USB-A ports and two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports on the rear of the device — an upgrade from the Thunderbolt 3 ports on the previous generation.

The M2 Pro configuration of the new Mac Mini features 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, and an additional two Thunderbolt 4 ports alongside the ports already available on the standard M2 model. This configuration will set you back $1,299, more than double the price of the baseline model. You can also configure it to add an additional 16GB of RAM (for a total of 32GB) for $400 and bump the M2 Pro’s 10‑core CPU / 16-core GPU processor up to a 12‑core CPU / 19-core GPU variant for an additional $300.

Apple claims the new M2 Pro Mac Mini is faster than its M1-powered predecessor in contexts like graphical performance in Affinity Photo (2.5x faster) and rendering a complex timeline in Final Cut Pro (4.2x faster). But like usual, Apple hasn’t given specifics in terms of overall performance gains, and it’s worth noting these comparisons are against the M1 and not the M1 Pro or even the M2.

The rear of the M2 Mac Mini
On the rear of the M2 Mac Mini, you’ll find an HDMI port, gigabit ethernet, a headphone jack, two USB-A ports, and two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports. The M2 Pro variant also provides two additional Thunderbolt 4 ports.
Image: Apple

The standard M2 Mac Mini can support up to two displays (one display of up to 6K / 60Hz over a Thunderbolt connection and a second display of up to 5K / 60Hz over Thunderbolt or a 4K / 60Hz over HDMI), while the M2 Pro variant can support either three displays (two displays up to 6K / 60Hz over Thunderbolt, and one 4K / 60Hz display over HDMI) or a single 8K display, making it the first Mac Mini to do so.

As usual, the new Mac Mini lacks user-replaceable RAM, so if you know you’ll need more than the base configurations, you’ll need to add it from the moment of purchase. For wireless connectivity, both versions of the new Mac Mini support Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

This is the first time Apple has brought Pro-tier chips to the Mini. The Mini was previously only offered with the entry-level M1 chip — the same one used in MacBook Air. This time, it’s being offered with one of Apple’s more powerful chip series. The M2 Max, however, is so far only being offered in the MacBook Pro.

Apple last revised the Mac Mini in 2020, but it skipped out on bumping its specs when the M1 Pro and M1 Pro Max debuted in late 2021. The M2 chip debuted in June 2022 on the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro and later expanded to the iPad Pro; this is the first time it’s come to a desktop.