Mac Mini: The cheapest Mac is now three times faster

The new Mac Mini is here! Well… sorta. Apple has announced its “most versatile computer” yet, powered by the 8-core M1 chip which supposedly offers three times faster performance compared to the previous generation. This is pretty much the headliner of Apple’s latest Mac—the first Apple Silicon chip, the same one you’ll see on the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13.

Apple says that the M1 also enables the Mac Mini to handle graphic-heavy tasks—with a graphics performance increase of six times. This should be particularly handy for users who plan to use Apple’s latest computer for performance-intensive tasks, such as 3D rendering (which the Apple promises it will handle “with ease”).

Meanwhile, Apple also says that ML (machine learning) performance has been improved, with 15 times the speed of the previous generation.

Apple also makes a pretty bold claim with the Mac Mini: it delivers “five times faster performance” compared to the “best-selling Windows desktop in its price range”. Of course, Apple didn’t actually name any of these Windows competitors, although they mention (in the fine print) that testing was done in October 2020, compared to Intel Core i7-based PC systems with discrete GPUs.

You should also be able to render complex timelines Final Cut Pro at up to six times the speed, along with triple the speed in Logic Pro.

Finally, the Mac Mini comes with support for two displays (including Apple’s incredibly expensive Pro Display XDR monitor) in 6k resolution, while you get Apple’s Secure Enclave for security and WiFi 6. You should also be pretty much covered for ports, with two USB-C (Thunderbolt/USB 4) ports, two USB-A ports, HDMI 2.0, and Gigabit Ethernet.

Plus, the Mac Mini is now cheaper. Apple released the previous generation Mac Mini back in 2018 at a price of RM3,449 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage (and an 8th gen Intel Core i3 processor). Now, the new Mac Mini is priced from RM2,999, and you can upgrade to a 512GB SSD at a price of RM3,799.

At the moment, Apple hasn’t confirmed when the Mac Mini will be in Malaysia. However, official pricing has already been revealed, and availability should begin soon. In the meantime, head down to the related reading section to read about Apple’s other M1-powered new devices.

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