According to Bloomberg News’ Mark Gurman, Apple will hold an event in October that will primarily focus on the debut of Macs featuring the M4 processor. Building on the success of the M4-powered iPad Pro, Gurman expects new MacBook Pro models with both standard M4 and more powerful M4 Pro and M4 Max options. Additionally, a refreshed 24-inch iMac with an M4 chip is anticipated.
However, the most intriguing announcement could be the redesigned Mac mini. This compact desktop has remained largely unchanged since 2010 and is due for a significant update with the M4 processor.
Andrew Cunningham for Ars Technica:
This Mac mini is said to be closer in size to the Apple TV than the current mini, but still uses an internal power supply so that owners won’t have to wrangle a power brick. At least some of the current device’s ports will be replaced by USB-C and/or Thunderbolt ports, something that MacRumors apparently confirmed earlier today when they found a reference to an “Apple silicon Mac mini (5 ports)” in an Apple software update (some of those ports are reportedly on the front of the device, a nice Mac Studio design upgrade that I’d like to see on a new Mac mini).
The “five port” descriptor does imply that there will be another model with either more or fewer ports—Apple used similar terminology to distinguish the two- and four-port versions of some MacBook Pro models in the Intel days. The current M2 Mac mini models have fewer ports than the models with the M2 Pro chip, because the more powerful processor also has more I/O capabilities—assuming we get one Mac mini with an M4 and an upgraded model with an M4 Pro, we’d expect the Pro version to have more ports.
MacDailyNews Take: Here’s the rear of the current M2 Mac mini with fewer ports than the M2 Pro model:
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I really don’t understand why Apple fought the USB C connector all of these years. I DO understand their compulsion to call it some version of “Thunderbolt.” However, if we go back to the credo of User Friendly? “User Friendly” actually means not calling “spam” “junk,” and not calling USB, “Thunderbolt.”
USB C actually feels better and more resilient than “Lightning.” Granted, the latter is a cooler name, but I think Apple should pick and choose its battles differently now that they are bigger than Gawd, and have triumphed as an underdog. They’re the OverDog now. 😅
But seriously, USB C feels more solid and secure on my iPhone 15Pro. And at least the USB Consortium finally got the memo and gave up the dumb only-one-way-in approach. You can plug stuff in as you please now.
I get that Apple doesn’t like the government telling it what to do. However, fanboy I may be, it got tiring and expensive to keep changing all of my SCSI, and then my Firewire 400, and then Firewire 800, and mixing all of the crazy USB adventures in there as well. The only really good reason to throw away a cord is because it has failed.
I’m also really glad that Apple has not given up on the Mac Mini form factor. It truly makes sense and it will be interesting to see if they, or some 3rd party solution, start finding ways to chain these together and harness all of that bad ass Taiwan Semi power inside.
Keep in mind that a European Union mandate is the only reason Apple caved on USB-C on iPhones. I’m against most government regulation but the state of affairs brought about by Apple was extremely anti-consumer. In my experience USB-C hasn’t been the panacea it was heralded to be, more of a modest improvement. I am sure to use specific cables for specific devices to get the results I want. You’d think that Apple’s own Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) Pro cable would be as close to a universal cable as you can ask for but it’s not, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. So far my plain white braided Apple USB-C cable that I bought from Amazon Warehouse has worked the best.
Yeah, agreed for the most part, and the subtext of my post was the EU forcing this. And like you, I don’t like it when government orgs tell private corporations what to do, but I also don’t believe private corporations should be allowed to do whatever they wish in the name of profits.
Consumer protection is a real thing and has saved lives, while also increasing odious red tape. Yeah, I get it. It ain’t either/or but rather both/and.
And Apple should pick and choose its battles better and stop calling it “Thunderbolt.”
More concerning is the EU’s interest in giving 3rd party access to iOS.
I think that would be a terrible idea for consumers.