It’s usually felt just like the Mac mini has been probably the most underrated member of Apple’s Mac lineup, with common units just like the MacBook Air and the MacBook Professional hogging way more of the limelight.
However for all its quiet humility, Apple’s dinkiest laptop is without doubt one of the finest Macs you should purchase, providing wonderful energy and excellent worth in a miniature kind issue that no various can match. It actually is without doubt one of the finest mini PCs available on the market.
The M4 Mac mini sums this reality up completely, with its means to pack an astonishing quantity of energy into its tiny footprint. In order for you a desktop laptop that doesn’t overwhelm your workspace, the Mac mini is the apparent selection.
But it wouldn’t be the place it’s as we speak had been it not for the first-ever aluminum Mac mini, which launched 15 years in the past as we speak. That machine set the usual for small-form-factor PCs and outlined the blueprint that Apple continues to make use of to at the present time.
Introduced simply after the Worldwide Builders Convention (WWDC) in June 2010, this Mac mini boasted an aluminum unibody design that relaunched the Mac mini as a smooth, highly effective machine that didn’t compromise on the within or out. Wanting again, it’s clear to see how far its affect has prolonged into the trendy age – and continues to impression the newest Mac fashions from Apple.
A high-spec new design
Earlier than 2010, all of Apple’s Mac mini computer systems had been made with a mixture of aluminum across the sides and polycarbonate plastic on the highest. This created a two-tone white-and-silver look that matched the stylings of Apple’s iMac. But it was a design that had been established with the iMac G4 in 2002, and by 2010 it was beginning to put on somewhat skinny. A change was wanted.
That change arrived within the type of the third-generation Mac mini, which featured an all-aluminum physique crafted from a single piece of steel. This unibody design adopted the pattern established by Apple’s different Macs and helped sign that the Mac mini had entered a brand new period – one expressed by means of the category, craft and solidity of steel. Gone was the cheap-feeling plastic: Apple meant enterprise now.
And there was a extra sensible component to this new design: longevity. A pc as titchy because the Mac mini could possibly be simply moved round and tossed right into a backpack when wanted, and an aluminum shell would stand as much as way more abuse than one that includes a plastic prime floor. In that small means, it mirrored Apple’s long-standing perception that design ought to be purposeful in addition to aesthetic.
Wanting towards the longer term
The 2010 Mac mini wasn’t nearly a recent face, although – it introduced tangible advantages to its customers as nicely.
Proper off the bat, it was a lot slimmer than the mannequin it changed. As a substitute of the 51mm top that Mac mini followers had seen from 2006 to 2009, the 2010 version was chopped all the way down to a mere 36mm – a determine that lasted 14 years till 2024, when the M4 version reconfigured the appear and feel as soon as once more, proving simply how well-regarded the 2010 design was.
Again after we reviewed the server version of the 2010 Mac mini, we had this to say about its shrunken construct: “The brand new Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server has absolutely been taking ideas from Physician Who’s TARDIS – regardless of being lower from a single block of aluminum, it should by some means be larger on the within – how else may one shoehorn that quantity of {hardware} into such a small form-factor?”
Regardless of the reward, nevertheless, there have been design compromises to be made, primarily within the footprint. As a substitute of the 170x170mm body of the previous mannequin, the 2010 model expanded its measurements to 196x196mm. However contemplating the extra slimline form its decrease top afforded, the brand new mannequin nonetheless got here in a fantastically compact kind.
Apple additionally managed to include the facility provide into the within of the Mac mini, which means there was much less bulk to haul round and conceal in your workplace. The truth is, Apple mentioned this decreased the general quantity of the machine by 20%.
On the within, you bought a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, Nvidia GeForce 320M built-in graphics that Apple mentioned provided “twice the graphics efficiency” of its predecessor, 2GB of reminiscence (with a detachable panel for reminiscence upgrades), and a base 320GB of storage. For the primary time, the Mac mini additionally got here with an SD card slot and an HDMI port, serving to to convey extra up-to-date connectivity choices to its demanding customers.
Apparently, whereas the entry-level mannequin had an 8x slot-loading SuperDrive for CD and DVD playback, all different fashions lacked this characteristic. That was formalized when the Mac mini was up to date in 2011, with all fashions seeing the SuperDrive eliminated. As a substitute, Apple went all-in on wi-fi connectivity, with Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n Wi-Fi pushing customers in the direction of getting their media over the web.
And that summed up the Mac mini’s ethos on the time: forward-thinking design and performance, even when it meant a couple of sacrifices. Apple had at all times been keen about adopting the newest applied sciences and dropping these it thought would quickly be out of date – the iMac G3’s lack of a floppy drive being one other instance – and that helped the Mac mini undertake fashionable ports and cast off CDs at a time when web streaming was coming into its personal. As a substitute of being caught up to now, each its design and options regarded towards the longer term.
Computing by yourself phrases
M1 Mac mini was launched in 2020. I’ve at all times been somebody who likes utilizing a pc alone phrases – meaning pairing my PC with my very own selection of monitor, keyboard and mouse. For the reason that iMac comes with these items bundled in, that put it out of competition for me.
However I didn’t choose the Mac mini just because it was the one choice left – there have been loads of elements that leapt out to me. Major amongst them was its compact form, which meant I may carry it round with me on my travels, pairing it with a transportable show and peripherals to work on the go.
Plus, this allowed me to keep away from over-reliance on a laptop computer, which, a number of years earlier than, had prompted me extreme again ache after too many late nights hunched over its low-angle body. No, if I used to be to have a Mac, it wanted to be each customizable and comfy. It’s a distinct segment that the Mac mini has at all times stuffed with aplomb.
Today, the 2010 mannequin’s low-and-wide chassis feels somewhat outdated, at the very least in comparison with the even tinier M4 Mac mini. But the truth that the M4 mannequin has saved so lots of the 2010 model’s options, from its miniature footprint to its all-metal development – demonstrates the debt of gratitude it owes to the 2010 Mac mini. It actually was a Mac that stood the check of time.
Oh, and yet another factor: the 2010 Mac mini was priced at $699 on launch. That simply goes to indicate what an incredible cut price the M4 Mac mini is – 15 years of inflation later and it’s really cheaper, beginning at $599. The Mac mini has lengthy been probably the most reasonably priced means into the Mac ecosystem, and that’s a torch that the 2010 version helped to hold. It’s a legacy the Mac mini’s fashionable incarnation helps to maintain alive.