Apple on Tuesday announced a major update to the Mac mini, the company’s smallest desktop Mac. The new computer is even smaller than before, features the M4 or M4 Pro chip, and starts with 16GB of unified memory. It still starts at $599 but Apple has doubled the RAM. These are four standard configurations of the Mac mini Apple is offering:

The M4 Pro version of the Mac mini that Apple introduced today uses the latest Thunderbolt 5 technology with transfer speeds of up to 120Gb/s,

When it was introduced during the white plastic heyday of peak iPod-era Apple, the Mac mini was pitched as the cheapest way to buy into the Mac ecosystem. It was $499. And despite some fluctuation (as high as $799 for the entry-level 2018 mini, $599 for this year's refresh), the Mac mini has stayed the cheapest entry-level Mac ever since.

The new M4 Mac mini has several new features. This is everything you need to know about Apple's cheapest computer available.

With the M4 Pro Mac mini, as well as the higher end MacBook Pros, Apple introduced Thunderbolt 5 – allowing for speeds of up to 120Gb/s, triple the theoretical maximum of Thunderbolt 4. Apple will likely introduce Thunderbolt 5 ports on the Mac Studio as well.

We've been covering the best deals and lowest prices on Apple's Mac mini range for quite some time now, starting with the best Mac mini (M1) deals, followed by the lowest Mac mini M2 prices. But now there's been a leap in performance with the addition of the latest Mac mini M4 (and M4 Pro) model.