Apple could unveil a pair of hotly anticipated upgrades for its consumer-oriented desktops this week. The Mac mini and iMac are both likely to get enhanced with the powerful M4 processor, plus there’s supposedly a major design change coming to the mini.
Here’s what rumors reveal about these two.
Bring on new Mac desktops
Although MacBooks make up 90% of U.S. Mac sales, Apple hasn’t given up on desktops. And it’s no surprise — there are still millions of people who prefer a traditional desktop over a notebook.
Apple makes a range of them, including the high-end Mac Studio and Mac Pro. But it’s two cheaper models that are expected to get updates this week.
M4 iMac on the way
Photo: Apple
The good news is that an iMac with an Apple M4 processor should launch any day now. The slightly less good news is that it’ll supposedly be a “speed boost” update with no other significant changes to the all-in-one design.
The current iMac uses an Apple M3 chip. That’s allegedly going to be switched out with an M4. That chip is already on the market — it launched in the M4 iPad Pro back in the spring. And a MacBook Pro running it got benchmarked on video showing the chip offers a 32% improvement over the M3. The boost comes from two additional CPU cores, a higher clock speed and architectural improvements.
But the rest of the 2024 iMac should be unchanged. That’s no surprise, as it’s what happened in 2023 when Apple dropped the M3 chip into what had been the M1 iMac. And there really no reason for a design update now because the all-in-one desktop got a dramatic revamp several years ago, so it still looks great.
Therefore, expect the M4 iMac to include a 24-inch LED-backlit display with 4.5K resolution and 500 nits of brightness. There’ll be a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, complemented by the six-speaker setup and three studio-quality microphones.
The current base model starts at 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There have been no rumors that the 2024 version will change that.
As of now, the price starts at $1,299. It’s not known if the M4 iMac price will change.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac
The shrinking M4 Mac mini
Just because the M4 iMac isn’t getting a redesign doesn’t mean the M4 Mac mini won’t. Quite the opposite — it’s rumored to be in for the most significant design revamp since 2010.
The macOS desktop will reportedly shrink to be roughly the size of an Apple TV: 3.7-inch square. For reference, the current Mac mini is 7.8-inch square. But the Mac could end up slightly taller than it now. There’ll still be room for a useful number of ports. Exactly how many will supposedly depend on the configuration, though.
Like the 2024 iMac, the upcoming Mac mini will benefit from the performance boost that comes from Apple’s latest processor. Rumors point to versions with either the base M4 or an enhanced M4 Pro chip.
The Pro variant will allegedly sport five USB-C ports, an Ethernet port, an HDMI connector and a headphone jack. The cheaper version with the base M4 should include fewer USB-C ports. Neither is expected to include USB-A ports.
Currently, the base M3 Mac mini sells for $599, while an M3 Pro variant starts at $1,299. There have, as yet, been no rumors that the M4 upgrade will change that.
M4 Mac desktops and more in under two weeks
We might not need to wait long for the M4-enhanced Mac mini and iMac. An unconfirmed report says the replacements will reach buyers on Friday, November 1. And a new MacBook Pro version with the M4 chip is expected at the same time.
So some day before then, either Apple will hold a glitzy launch event, or all these Macs will be announced more quietly via press release. Whichever option Cupertino chooses, Cult of Mac will be there to cover the news.