In three days this week Apple upgraded nearly the entire Mac line-up to the latest Apple Silicon, the M4. iMacs and MacBook Pros pretty much stay the same externally while the new Mac Mini has a new smaller form factor closer to an Apple TV in size.
Apple also updated the Magic Trackpad, Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse to USB-C charging thus effectively eliminating the lightning cable for almost all Apple products.
Apple increased the base memory configuration on the MacBook Air to 16GB which now means all Macs start with that minimum memory. This is undoubedly due to the projected memory requirements to support Apple Intelligence features that will be Apple’s focus going forward.
It started on Monday when Apple introduced the latest 24-inch iMac featuring the latest Apple Silicon the M4. These iMacs are the fastest yet and are set to take advantage of AI. This new chip makes the IMac 5 or 6 times faster than a comparable Intel-based iMac, a couple times faster than an M1 iMac and Apple claims it is 4.5 times faster than the most popular Windows all-in-one.
These new iMacs come in new shades of green, yellow, pink, orange, purple and blue as well as the borlng silver iMac. Color matched accessories will use USB-C for charging. The iMac feature up to 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports, a new nano-texture class option and an upgraded 12MP Center Stage camera.
I was worried that my M3 iMac was suddenly going to be obsolete but the changes were relatively minor although I would have liked more Thunderbolt ports. If you are running an Intel-based iMac, however, I would definitely consider upgrading if just for the Apple Intelligence support.
Next up on Tuesday was the long-awaited upgrade to the Mac Mini. This upgrade was a bit more than the internals as the Mac Mini shrunk! It is now just a bit larger than an Apple TV, measuring 5 x 5 inches!
The new Mac Mini is available with either the M$ or M4 Pro chip with up to 12-core CPU and 16-core GPU with the M4 Pro chip. That high-end Mac Mini can support a mighty 64GB of memory and up to 8TB of storage!
The M4 Mac Mini can support up to three displays, two over Thunderbolt and one over HDMI or Thunderbolt with slightly lower resolution. The Mac Mini has two USB-C ports and a headphone jack on the front and gigabit ethernet, HDMI and three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports on the rear. The Mac Mini with the M4 Pro upgrades that to three Thunderbolt 5 ports which have the potential to boost throughput up to 120Gb/s.
This new Mac Mini is a great upgrade especially for those still sporting Intel-based Macs but even if you are moving from the M2 Mac Mini this new form factor, faster chips and better ports all are compelling. The Mac Mini now has the power button on the bottom and while most people leave their Mac on all the time it is a bit inconvenient. Already there are 3D printer files available to make an extension to the power button.
Wednesday brought us new MacBook Pros. Apple introduced M4 MacBook Pro 14 and 16- inch models with your choice of M4, M4 Pro or M4 Max chips. If you get the M4 Pro or M4 Max you also get Thunderbolt 5 for faster transfer speeds. There is a new nano-texture display, a 12 MP Center Stage camera and Apple claims a 24-hour battery life, longest yet for any Mac! Apple also introduced a Space Black option for the only noticeable external change.
The new MacBook Pros support two external 6k displays even with the lid open, giving you three displays.
It was a great week of upgrades that are mostly internal and very compelling if you are upgrading from an Intel- Mac but not so much if you already have Apple silicon. Incremental changes are good but wait, where is my holographic display, my replicator and neuro control?