Latest news with #Macmini
Tom's Guide
4 days ago
- Business
- Tom's Guide
The Mac mini M4 is my go-to Mac and it's selling at its lowest price to date
I've been using my Mac mini M4 since late November. Not only is it my favorite Mac of all time, but we named this Editor's Choice machine the best mini PC for just about anyone. Memorial Day may be over, but right now you can score the amazing Mac mini M4 for just $499 at Amazon. (Make sure to click the on-page digital coupon to get this price). That's the lowest price I've seen for the base configuration, which offers more than enough power for most people. No more running away from Apple's base model Mac mini. The M4 Mac mini packs an awesome M4 chip along with a doubling of RAM to 16GB and a 256GB SSD. Port array continues to be impressive with Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, Ethernet, and more. In our Apple Mac mini M4 review we said the Editor's Choice machine is as close to perfect as it gets. Note: Click the on-page digital coupon to get this price. This deal is for the base model with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage. However, the more powerful Mac mini M4 Pro is also on sale for $1,237 at Amazon. Just keep in mind that the M4 Pro model has been as cheap as $1,173 in the past, so while you're saving $162 right now, it's the base model that's the better value. The Mac mini M4 is one of our favorite mini PCs thanks to Apple's powerful M4 chipset, along with the fact that the base model Mac mini now comes with 16GB of RAM. At 5 inches wide, 5 inches deep and 2 inches tall this is Apple's smallest Mac yet — which makes it perfect for any desk setup, especially when you're short on space. The biggest change besides the new M4 chip and RAM upgrade is that you now have two USB-C ports along with a headphone jack on the front of the device. This means you won't have to pull your computer out every time you want to plug in a new device or listen to music with wired headphones. In our Mac mini M4 review, we said the base model is an absolute powerhouse with a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine for Apple Intelligence and other AI-related tasks. We got it working with three external displays and even when driving all those extra pixels, it didn't miss a beat. Back to school season is right around the corner, but this is one deal I don't recommend waiting on.
Tom's Guide
05-05-2025
- Business
- Tom's Guide
Hurry! Mac mini M4 just fell to lowest price ever — save $100 right now
Spring is in the air, and if you're thinking about downsizing from a big desktop PC or maybe the battery in your MacBook just doesn't cut it anymore you can grab one of the best mini PCs around at its lowest price ever. Amazon has slashed the price of the small but mighty Mac mini M4 which means you can get Apple's cheapest computer for even less. You can pick up the Mac mini M4 for $492 at Amazon right now, which is over $100 off its normal price and the lowest we've seen the latest Mac mini on offer for yet. The base model Mac mini M4 is a big step up from its predecessor and likely enough for most people without any expensive upgrades. It comes with Apple's awesome M4 chip, double the memory with 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. You also get plenty of ports in a tiny package with three Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-C ports, HDMI and Ethernet. This deal is for the base model with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage. However, the more powerful Mac mini M4 Pro is also on sale for $169 off along with other versions of the standard Mac mini M4 with additional memory and storage The Mac mini M4 is one of my favorite mini PCs I've reviewed yet thanks to the addition of Apple's powerful M4 chips, along with the fact that the base model Mac mini now comes with 16GB of RAM. At 5 inches wide, 5 inches deep and 2 inches tall this is Apple's smallest Mac yet—which makes it perfect for any desk setup, especially when you're short on space. Unlike with previous versions of the Mac mini, Apple completely redesigned this one from scratch. The biggest change besides the new M4 chip and RAM upgrade is that you now have two USB-C ports along with a headphone jack on the front of the device. This means you won't have to pull your computer out every time you want to plug in a new device or listen to music with wired headphones. As someone who has reviewed a ton of mini PCs over the past few years, I really like how the Mac mini M4 doesn't have a bulky power brick. Instead, it has an internal power supply and uses a standard power cable. plus, the Mac mini M4 is small enough that it can easily fit into a backpack if you want to travel with it doesn't ship with Wi-Fi 7, it does come with Wi-Fi 6E on board which means you'll be able to use the faster 6GHz band on one of the best Wi-Fi 7 routers or a Wi-Fi 6E router. The Mac mini M4 is also a good choice for multi-monitor setups since along with the HDMI port you also get three Thunderbolt 4 ports around back. In my Mac mini M4 review, I got it working with three external displays and even when driving all those extra pixels, it didn't miss a beat. The Mac mini M4 is a huge step up over the Mac mini M2, but it isn't perfect. It offers just 256GB of storage on the base model and its power button is placed on the underside of the device, which means you have to lift up the computer to turn it on. Fortunately though, you can fix both these issues and add some USB-A ports with a USB hub like the (currently also on sale) Satechi Mac Mini M4 hub, which I'm currently using with my own Mac mini. Designed to perfectly match your Mac mini M4, this aluminum hub and stand adds three USB-A ports, an SD card reader and there's even a slot on the bottom for a M.2 NVMe drive to boost your Mac's storage. If you're considering ditching Windows for Mac but still want to use your existing monitor, mouse and maybe even your keyboard, the Mac mini M4 is the easiest (and the least expensive) way to give macOS a try for yourself.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Apple races to surpass rivals in quest to eliminate carbon pollution
Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon are all locked in a race to see who can zero out their carbon pollution first. Apple reported on Wednesday that it is more than halfway there. Since 2015, the company says it has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by around 60%. That covers everything from manufacturing and marketing to corporate operations and customer use. Many companies have successfully eliminated the carbon footprint of their core operations. Cheap solar and wind, and increasingly affordable grid-scale batteries, have made that relatively simple — and even advantageous — from a cost perspective. But Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft have all pledged to eliminate not just their own carbon emissions, but also those of their suppliers and the energy use of their customers. These so-called Scope 3 emissions are the hardest to tackle because they fall outside of a company's direct control. In that regard, Apple has taken some pioneering steps. When the company announced the Apple Watch Series 9, it also said that it would be buying renewable power on behalf of its customers. A year later, it did the same for buyers of the new M4 Mac mini. The Mac mini announcement also inadvertently highlighted the outsize role that semiconductors play in the carbon footprint of electronic goods. The base model Mac mini with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage generates 32 kg of carbon pollution over its lifetime, while the top spec version, which has 64GB of RAM and 8TB of storage, carries a footprint of 121 kg. The greater number of chips is largely responsible for nearly quadrupling the figure. Apple said on Wednesday that it has been working with its semiconductor suppliers to address the issue, with 26 of them having already pledged to abate at least 90% of fluorinated greenhouse gases in their operations. Fluorinated greenhouse gases are widely used in semiconductor manufacturing today for etching features into chips and cleaning the equipment. But fluorinated compounds are some of the most potent greenhouse gases. For example, hexafluoroethane generates 9,200 times as much warming as an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. Apple is aiming to eliminate at least 75% of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, which means it's well over halfway to its target, with five years remaining. The company has said that it will offset the remaining 25% through carbon-removal programs. That's similar to how other companies are tackling the hardest emissions to abate, though they differ in their details. Microsoft, for example, is investing in technological solutions like direct air capture alongside nature-based solutions like reforestation. Apple has decided that nature-based solutions offer the best chance at reducing emissions in the near term. Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
16-04-2025
- Forbes
Apple Just Added One Of The Best-Selling iPhones To Its Vintage List
iPhone 6s is now a vintage Apple product Apple / Prakhar Khanna Apple has updated its vintage product list by adding the iPhone 6s and the 2018 Mac mini. For context, Apple considers products 'vintage' five years after they are no longer distributed for sale. These products will now receive limited service and repairs worldwide. The iPhone 6s was launched alongside the iPhone 6s Plus in 2015, but Apple continued selling the base model as an affordable option until 2018. While the iPhone 6s Plus was added to Apple's vintage list late last year, the standard model is only now joining its larger sibling (via MacRumors). The current list of vintage iPhones includes: iPhone 4, iPhone 5, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE (1st gen), iPhone 8 Red, iPhone 8 Plus Red, iPhone X, and iPhone XS Max. The iPhone 6s was one of the best-selling smartphones in the world. According to reports ahead of the iPhone 7 launch, the iPhone 6s shipped 14.2 million units and accounted for 4% of all smartphones shipped globally in Q2 2016. It was reportedly the most popular smartphone in the world at the time, followed by the iPhone 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The iPhone 6s was the first Apple smartphone to feature 3D Touch—a feature that, in my opinion, deserves a comeback. It was also the last flagship iPhone to include a headphone jack, as Apple removed the 3.5mm port with the iPhone 7. The iPhone 6s was powered by the A9 chip and fixed iPhone 6's 'bendgate' flaw with a reinforced aluminum chassis. As for the 2018 Mac mini, it was the last Mac mini to feature Intel chips. As a result, all Intel-based Mac minis are now considered either vintage or obsolete. The 2018 model housed Intel's Coffee Lake processors, offering 4-core and 6-core configurations with Intel UHD Graphics 630. If you're still holding on to one of these products, be aware that Apple no longer guarantees the availability of parts for repairs. They'll move to the obsolete category at the seven-year mark (from the last availability date), after which Apple Stores will stop offering repairs for the iPhone 6s and the 2018 Mac mini altogether.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Yahoo
I'd love to get the Mac Studio for gaming, but one thing is holding me back
These days, I often feel like I'm one of those rare breeds: a gamer who also loves Macs. My home office work is split between my M1 Mac mini and my small-form-factor Windows PC, and to be honest it's annoying to have to switch between the two all the time. Unfortunately, my love of gaming — and Apple's relative inexperience here — means that I've had to stick with both macOS and Windows for some time now. Sure, I'd love to drop Windows once and for all, but it just doesn't feel as though the Mac is quite there yet in terms of gaming performance. That said, Apple's M4 chips have made gaming much more viable on a Mac. As we saw in our Mac Studio review, the M4 Max chip is very capable when it comes to gaming performance. I've previously talked about how the Mac mini's gaming performance has made it difficult to resist ditching my Windows PC and going all-in on macOS. Now, the Mac Studio is making the whole situation even more confusing. Pricing-wise, the Mac mini and the Mac Studio seem to be fairly far apart, even when you boost the former's chip for better gaming output. Get a Mac mini with M4 Pro chip and you'll pay around $1,399 — for the mac Studio with M4 Max chip, you're looking at starting price of $1,999. That $600 difference is sizeable. But things get a bit more interesting when gaming becomes a more serious consideration. Because there's no discrete GPU in these Macs, and because the M4 Pro is far from Apple's strongest chip, you'll probably want the beefiest M4 Pro you can get. Upgrade to the version with a 14-core CPU and a 20-core GPU and you're looking at a $1,599 price — a more reasonable $400 less than the Mac Studio. That's important because the M4 Max is much better for gaming than the M4 Pro. In our Mac Studio review, the M4 Max hit 114fps in Civilization VI and managed smooth frame rates when running Baldur's Gate 3 at 4K resolution, for example. It also outdid the M3 Ultra in gaming performance, which we were not expecting. When we tested the Mac mini, it performed worse than the previous-generation M3 Max chip. While we don't have a direct comparison of the M4 Pro and M4 Max yet, it's clear that the latter should be way ahead. This has upended things a bit for me. When the M4 Mac mini came out, I was so taken by its dinky size and so impressed by its overall performance (despite it lacking a little in gaming) that I was almost ready to get rid of my M1 Mac mini and my Windows PC together and replace them with Apple's tiny desktop machine. Now that the Mac Studio with M4 Max is here, it's looking like the more attractive option for gamers. Sure, you'll have to pay more, but it offers more reliable gaming performance while simultaneously outdoing even the M3 Ultra in terms of frame rates. That's obviously pretty confusing, but if it means I don't have to spend $4,000 and up for an M3 Ultra Mac Studio, that's fine by me. So, does that mean that the Mac Studio is the best option for Apple gamers in search of a desktop machine? Maybe, but Apple still hasn't solved the biggest problem here: a lack of native games. The recent addition of Cyberpunk 2077 was a big win for Mac gamers, but it really feels like the exception that proves the rule. Illustrating the gulf with Windows, there's still no native support for Grand Theft Auto V, Call of Duty, Elden Ring and other AAA games and franchises on the Mac. Sure, you could supplement your Mac with Nvidia GeForce Now, and that's something I've considered before. But that can get expensive and doesn't cover every game. And really, I'd like to game natively rather than relying on another pricey subscription that drains my bank account every month. It's a shame that you have to spend Mac Studio money to get decent gaming performance within Apple's ecosystem. Considering current GPU prices for Windows machines, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. But I'd still rather not have to sell a kidney to enjoy a spot of Mac gaming at smooth, stable frame rates. Still, I can't deny that we're seeing progress. That the M4 Max can offer solid gaming performance at all is a welcome improvement over previous years. Hopefully 2025 will be the year of top-tier games coming to the Mac — and of Apple solving the biggest problem Mac gamers are currently facing.
