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Mac Mini / Apple

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The Mac Mini sells you the computer and nothing else: no screen, no keyboard, no mouse. In a market of all-in-ones, that restraint is itself the position. The current M4 model is the first real redesign since 2010, shrunk to a 127mm aluminium square about 50mm tall, roughly the footprint of an Apple TV and light at around 670 grams. Ports sit on both the front and the back, and the M4 inside performs at a level that would have seemed implausible from a box this size a few years ago. It is finished in plain silver and meant to disappear, tucked under a monitor or out of sight, doing the work while something else occupies the desk.

Design intent

Separating the computer from the display lets each be chosen and replaced on its own schedule, which for anyone who already owns a monitor is more economical and less wasteful than an all-in-one.
The 2024 redesign shrank the footprint to five inches square and moved some ports to the front, accepting a slightly taller body in exchange for far less desk presence.

Trade-offs

The headline price buys only the box. Add a display, keyboard and mouse and the real cost, and the setup effort, are higher than an all-in-one's.
The compact thermal envelope means sustained maximum load will throttle sooner than a larger desktop with more room to shed heat.