Mac mini (2023)

Apple's most affordable Mac goes Pro - and about time too

- Rob Mead-Green

From £649 (model tested £1,899) FROM apple.com/uk FEATURES M2 chip with 8–core CPU, 10–core GPU, 8GB unified memory (16GB/24GB available), 256GB storage (512GB/1TB/2TB available), two Thunderbolt 4 ports, M2 Pro chip with 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU (12-core CPU, 19-core GPU available), 16GB of unified memory (32GB available), 512GB storage (1TB/2TB/4TB/8TB available), four Thunderbolt 4 ports; HDMI port, Gigabit Ethernet port (10Gb Ethernet available), 3.5mm headphone jack, Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.3, built-in speaker, 3.58x19.7x19.7cm

With prices starting at £649, the new Mac mini is an even more affordable way to buy into the Mac – whether you’re looking to make a first-time purchase, buy a second computer for your home or office, or as an upgrade to an older machine. That’s because not only is the new Mac mini £50 cheaper than before, it’s now been upgraded in a couple of significant ways. The first is that it’s now powered by the same M2 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) found in the MacBook Pro 13-inch and the MacBook Air; the second is that Apple’s now appealing to those of us who want ‘pro’ level desktop Mac features, but don’t want to pay for a ‘pro’ Mac Studio.

To that end, there’s a new option available on the Mac mini, and that’s to kit it out with an M2 Pro, the same powerhouse chip used in the MacBook Pro 14– and 16-inch (see p78). Not only does the M2 Pro Mac mini have more power, it also gets more memory, more storage and more ports – although those added extras do come at a cost, as you’ll soon see.