Apple never discounts its products directly so third-party retailer deals are especially noteworthy for anyone looking to save on premium hardware. Amazon just kicked off Black Friday pricing for several Apple devices including AirTags, MacBook Air models, and the brand-new Mac Mini with M4 chip. The 2024 Mac Mini is Apple’s more affordable desktop computer, and the 256GB model is now available for $499 instead of its usual $599 price. That’s a $100 discount and an all-time low for a machine that’s only been on the market for roughly a year now.
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Desktop Power in a Small Package
The M4 is among the latest generations of Apple silicon and brings impressive boosts in performance from what was a breathtakingly remarkable M2 that powered the last Mac Mini. The processor houses 10 CPU cores-again, a mix of performance and efficiency cores-allowing the system to handle tasks dynamically, depending on their computational demands.
The GPU here is an integrated 10-core GPU on the same chip as the CPU for all graphical processing. It does away with discrete graphics cards while still offering high-end visual performance. This unified architecture allows the GPU to share the same 16GB of unified memory as the CPU, meaning that in graphics-intensive applications, data access is way quicker than in systems where the GPU has separate video memory that constantly needs data transfers.
Speaking of memory, the 16GB of unified RAM is a significant upgrade from the base 8GB configuration Apple used in previous entry-level Macs. You can run many applications simultaneously without the slowdowns that occur when systems begin swapping data to storage. You can keep dozens of browser tabs open while working in productivity apps, editing photos, and listening to music without the frustrating lag that comes from too little RAM.
The 256GB SSD will provide fast storage for your operating system, applications, and files. Solid-state drives allow for near-instant boot times and app launches compared to traditional hard drives, while Apple’s custom controllers push read and write speeds even further than standard SSDs. This capacity works well if you primarily use cloud storage services or external drives for large media libraries, though heavy users who store extensive local file collections might want to consider external storage solutions or the higher-capacity models.
The Gigabit Ethernet is built into the Mac Mini for wired network connectivity, thus offering more stable and faster internet in many situations than Wi-Fi. It proves very helpful when transferring huge files across your local network, streaming high-bitrate video content, or keeping reliable connections during video calls and remote work. Inclusion of Ethernet at the base price level means you don’t need to purchase adapters or sacrifice USB ports for network connectivity; wired connections eliminate the interference issues that sometimes plague wireless networks.
Apple Intelligence offers advanced machine learning on the desktop and automates a range of tasks from intelligent writing assistance and image generation to enhanced Siri capabilities. Because these features are local on the M4 chip and run without using the cloud, execution is faster and more private, since your data never has to leave the device.
Its compact design measures 5 inches square and 2 inches tall, and occupies only a minimum of desk space but delivering full desktop performance. That small footprint makes the Mac Mini perfect for tight workspaces, minimal desk sets, or whenever you need powerful computing in a configuration without the bulk of a tower.
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