Apple Mac mini M4 Silver 2024

The Apple Mac mini M4 is a tiny, incredibly fast desktop with a best-in-class integrated GPU and dead-silent cooling. The $549 starting price is tempting, but the base 256GB SSD is its biggest flaw, forcing you to plan for external storage. If you're an Apple fan who doesn't game much, buy it—you won't regret it.

The M4's 10-core chip delivers near-instant app launches and snappy multitasking across dozens of tabs and windows. Our benchmarks place its integrated GPU at the 95th percentile, meaning it's one of the best integrated graphics setups on the market, easily handling 4K video editing and photo work. The CPU is about average in the desktop world, but that's still plenty for most people and stays whisper-quiet under load. Gaming is where this mini stumbles, scoring a weak 44.5, so don't expect to play AAA titles at high settings. The 16GB of unified memory is fine for now, but the real bottleneck is that 256GB SSD—it's stingy even by budget standards, so you'll almost certainly need an external drive.

Stack the Mac mini against gaming towers like the Lenovo Legion Tower 5a Gen 10 or Dell Area-51, and it's a completely different animal. Those PCs have dedicated GPUs and will run circles around it in games and 3D rendering, but they're loud, bulky, and power-hungry. The ASUS ROG GM700 is also aimed at gamers and costs more. If you need a quiet, efficient desktop for creative work, office tasks, or running your Apple devices in harmony, the Mac mini is the clear winner. But if you ever want to play modern games at decent frame rates, skip the Mac mini and go for a Windows PC with a real graphics card. And if you need serious pro-level power, the Apple Mac Studio M4 Max sits above it in Apple's own lineup, but at a much higher price.

For $549, this mini delivers exceptional value if you're already in the Apple ecosystem. You're getting the same M4 chip found in pricier Macs, 16GB of RAM as standard, and a silent, compact design that outclasses most Windows mini PCs at this price. The storage is the only real pain point, but you can easily add a fast external SSD and still come out ahead. Just know that higher configurations climb fast, up to $1250, which puts it in a different conversation entirely. Compared to building a small PC with similar quietness and build quality, the base Mac mini is a steal. Just don't buy it thinking you'll upgrade the internals later, everything is soldered.

The 2024 Mac mini with the M4 chip is Apple's smallest desktop yet, starting at $549. It's a 5-inch square box that packs a surprising punch, with a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU that chew through everyday tasks like nothing.

But that tiny footprint hides a couple of trade-offs. The base 256GB SSD is stingy, and you'll need to bring your own keyboard, mouse, and monitor. For Apple ecosystem fans, though, the seamless integration with iPhones and iPads is a massive draw.

Skip the Mac mini if gaming is a priority, because the integrated GPU struggles with modern titles. Also, if you keep huge media libraries or need a lot of internal storage without external drives, that 256GB base SSD will drive you crazy—look at a desktop with user-upgradeable storage instead.

The M4 Mac mini is a no-brainer for anyone living in Apple's world who wants a compact, powerful, and dead-silent desktop. It's perfect as a home office hub, a media server, or a light creative workstation. You'll love how it disappears under your monitor and never makes a peep. However, if gaming is even a small part of your routine, or if you need terabytes of internal storage without external clutter, this isn't your machine. Also, budget-conscious buyers who don't care about macOS can find cheaper mini PCs with more storage. But for the right person, it's fantastic.