It’s got to have an Ethernet port, right?
Last week, Mark Gurman at Bloomberg reported that the Mac mini is getting its first major redesign in 14 years. This would be only the third Mac mini design. This year, I deployed Mac minis in most of our Zoom Rooms. Changes to the product line are very interesting.
Gurman reports that the M4 Mac mini will have a significantly smaller footprint than the current design. The M4 mini is rumored to come in M4 and M4 Pro models, with 3 USB-C (Thunderbolt, surely) ports, HDMI, and power.
As reported, this has the vibes of two things from the 2010s: the 2016 MacBook Pro redesign that dropped ports in pursuit of a smaller form factor and the “thermal corner” problem of the 2013 Mac Pro.
I hope there is more to this, and I think there will be. I don’t expect Apple to make either mistake here. The 2010 Mac mini design is now space-inefficient, internally and in the layout of ports. The Mac mini was originally a $499 Mac to entice switching from PC, but has become one of the most versatile Macs due to its ports, options, and many price points. And it found a home in data centers. (Some of them run by a startup named Amazon.) Until I started researching for this post, I would have probably said that the fact that 2 Mac minis fit neatly in a 1U 19″ rack shelf is a happy accident. But I no longer think so.
By 2009, Apple released a server SKU of the Mac mini. But at 2 inches tall, it didn’t fit in 1U (1.75 inches) and only filled 57% of the height in 2U (3.5 inches). In 2010, Apple revised the Mac mini to the design we’re still using: 7.7″ x 7.7″ x 1.4″. If Apple wants to keep a 1U shelf as a design constraint, it would only make sense to redesign the Mac mini when one can fit three or four units in the same width as two of the 7.7″ wide models.
This brings us back to Gurman’s reporting. He describes the M4 Mac mini as “approaching the size of an Apple TV”. In fact, you can put four Apple TVs on a 19″ rack shelf where the usable space is more like 17.6″, and have plenty of room to spare. 3.66″ x 4 = 14.64″. You could design a 4.15″ wide device and still have an inch to spare in the same shelf.
The current Apple TV 4K has ports for power, HDMI, and, optionally, Ethernet. (An earlier model had a USB-C service port too.) If the M4 Mac mini is up to a half inch wider than the Apple TV, and is taller than the M2 Mac mini, it’s possible to have power, Ethernet, HDMI, and some Thunderbolt ports in a space-efficient layout. I can imagine that the least expensive model may not have Ethernet, but it’s hard to conceive of a high-end M4 Pro configuration without Ethernet. (Would I sacrifice the USB-A ports for Ethernet? You bet I would.)
A Mac mini this small would be so much easier to mount behind large 4K TVs in our conference rooms.
Could Apple be making two new Mac minis?
Before you dismiss the idea, take a look at the differences between the M2 and M2 Pro Mac minis, aside from the chip/core count:
| M2 | M2 Pro | |
| Memory bandwidth | 100 GB/s | 200 GB/s |
| Maximum RAM | 24 GB | 32 GB |
| Maximum SSD | 2 TB | 8 TB |
| External Displays | 2 | 3 |
| HDMI version | 2.0 | 2.1 |
| Maximum resolution HDMI | 4K | 8K |
| Thunderbolt 4 ports | 2 | 4 |
| Price range | $599-$1,899 | $1,299-$4,499 |
If you look at the specs, capabilities, and price (and not the physical appearance), the M2 Pro Mac mini looks like a different computer with a different target market. Now, consider that the M2 Pro logic board is a bit larger than M2. It fills more of the space in that 2010 design. 8 TB of flash has to go somewhere. If an M4 Pro board does not fit in a case with roughly 27% of the current surface area, maybe there’s a bigger one that’s still significantly smaller than the 2010 design.
Power
Before I wrap up, I’ll mention two novel possibilities for power supplies: USB PD, and Power-over-Ethernet. The M4 and M4 Pro are chips that will run in the 14″ MacBook Pro. USB can power those. (It has issues, but imagine a Studio Display powering a Mac mini.) As for PoE, there are already kits that channel PoE to power the M4 iPad Pros.
I’m looking forward to seeing the M4 Mac mini. I hope it continues to be relevant in the enterprise, the datacenter, and the classroom.
macadmin.fraserhess.com 
Leave a comment