Apple Mac mini (2018)

So whether you’re running a live concert sound engine or testing your latest iOS or iPadOS app, Mac mini is the shortest distance between a great idea and a great result.Packing this much power into the same enclosure required an all-new thermal architecture — including all-flash storage, a bigger fan, expanded vents, and a redesigned power supply.Mac mini features high-performance 2666MHz DDR4 SO-DIMM memory for faster rendering, working with massive files, or running multiple virtual machines.

As noted earlier, Apple has implemented the memory now as SO-DIMMs, rather than soldered-down, so upgradability is an option, though it's officially not sanctioned as a user upgrade. I didn't note a rush of air around the edges of the Mac mini during ordinary use or high-stress benchmarking. The Intel "Hades Canyon" NUC kit was tested with 16GB of RAM and an M.2 SSD installed, and the Intel/AMD hybrid CPU inside is one of the processors I mentioned earlier that I regretted not seeing in the Mac mini as an option. Top-notch pre-installed software. And now with eighth-generation Intel quad-core and 6-core processors and Intel UHD Graphics 630, Mac mini has even more compute power for industrial-grade tasks. Storage 1. The feel of the all-aluminum chassis is stolid and inflexible, the same rigid-enough-to-support-an-elephant build as ever.Turn the Mac mini over to view the underside, and you'll see a plastic disk of a base that elevates the metal of the chassis from the desk surface. Payments are based on the received device matching the description you provided when your estimate was made. That should, to an extent, help boost the performance of the integrated graphics processor (IGP). That said, a couple of Apple reps we spoke to suggested usual-suspect memory retailers (I'm thinking folks like Crucial and OWC) might be able to produce memory upgrade kits with instructions. Intel has dialed back support for the thread-doubling technology in its late-model desktop chips (in the 9th Generation Cores we have seen so far, Hyper-Threading has only been the province of chips like the elite What does this mean? Here, we task the test system to apply 10 demanding filters, in sequence, to a standard test image, timing each process and adding up the lot...The Mac mini, though last of the three systems here that completed the test, performed admirably, especially against the Hades Canyon NUC and its 16GB of RAM. Like on its MacBooks, Apple has gone all-in on USB Type-C ports. Memory is SO-DIMM, not soldered. Here’s how it compares to the previous generation.With a variety of ports, Mac mini is ready for a variety of workflow configurations. You can always use the HDMI for a monitor up to 4K native resolution, alongside one or two of the Thunderbolt 3 ports; you can connect one panel at up to a 60Hz refresh rate on the HDMI, and either one 5K display on a Thunderbolt or two up-to-4K panels on two of the Thunderbolts.Legacy monitors with other interfaces will work under certain situations, with dongles. On the laptops, that has pushed users to adapt with compliant peripherals or dongles. A chromed Apple logo is up top. The HP Z2 Mini G4 Cinebench, as ever, well illustrates relative performance with software that is efficiently multithreaded and takes advantage of all available cores and threads on the CPU...Here, the Mac mini falls just where we would expect: between the lightweight Pentium in the ECS machine and behind the four-core/eight-thread chip in the Hades Canyon NUC.Adobe's Photoshop CC is the latest version of the software.

The company doesn't deem this a user-accessible upgrade, though it says authorized service centers and Apple Stores will be able to perform memory upgrades. Some stores may have additional requirements. So the comparison systems are an eclectic mix of compact desktops that illustrate the low and high ends of mini PCs we've tested of late...I didn't have very long with the Mac mini on the test bench, as I received the sample only a few days before this review launch. New storage (2TB) and RAM (64GB) ceilings. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. Given that the Mac mini employs only Intel integrated graphics and multiplier-locked desktop chips, that seems a reasonable ceiling—and the reason Apple was able to keep the supply compact enough to fit in the friendly confines of the Mac mini's case.I talked about the Thunderbolt 3 and HDMI ports earlier, but should point out that the multi-display capabilities that these ports afford are possible thanks to the Intel UHD Graphics 630 acceleration that powers all configurations of the 2018 Mac mini, up and down the line. Apple's iconic Mac mini compact desktop delivers more core-processing, storage, and memory potential than ever, in a polished box brimming with cutting-edge connectivity.The new Mac mini doesn't look much different from its elder siblings unless you flip it around 180 degrees. Windows 10, of course, has some of the same, but considering the ease and speed of the setup process, the Mac mini stands in a class of its own in terms of hitting the ground running, and fast.Apple's iconic Mac mini compact desktop delivers more core-processing, storage, and memory potential than ever, in a polished box brimming with cutting-edge connectivity.PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. I didn't have adequate time to investigate these very specific scenarios, but know that if that kind of encoding is a big part of your workflow, that may be an added boon. The perforations in the bottom half of the case under the plastic disk are clearly inlets to the directed active airflow inside.In its physical connectivity, the Mac mini has seen a complete teardown, for the better.