I Got to Play With Apple's New M4 Mac Mini, iMac and MacBook Pro

In a trendy corner of Los Angeles, I got to try the new Mac Mini, iMac and MacBook Pro machines Apple just announced, which are powered by the company's new M4 chips with Apple Intelligence AI. 

These updated desktops and laptops offer a range of improvements, some of which are minimal, like the MacBook Pro's additional Thunderbolt port and the Mac Mini's smaller size. But the biggest advancement is the introduction of Apple-designed M4 chips in all models, which enable more AI features, capabilities and gaming performance. I saw some of these on display in Apple's Los Angeles showcase, including demos of audio creation, video editing and gaming -- and I came away impressed. 

Watch this: Apple's New M4 Macs Up Close: 2024 MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, iMac Details

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A few caveats: I wasn't able to run any sort of benchmark tests or try anything beyond what was available as part of Apple's demos. Please stay tuned for our full reviews coming soon, which will show exactly how Apple's lineup of M4 Mac Mini, iMac and MacBook Pro models stack up to their predecessors and the growing competition of Microsoft's AI-powered Copilot Plus PCs. 

M4 iMac colors are lovely, but not too bright

Despite the surprisingly simple list of colors -- Apple typically attaches some hyperbolic descriptor to its hue names -- the rainbow of M4 iMacs was too visually arresting to ignore. The M4 iMacs come in blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow, green and silver, all in subtle two-tone schemes. The back of the computer has the bolder version of the hue, while the metallic stand and front panel below the display are slightly more subdued versions of the same color. 

This makes them more attractive than ever, and they're just as thin as last year's iMac M3 models. What's new are the Thunderbolt 4 ports (two on the cheaper configuration with two USB-C ports, or four on the pricier end), sharper 12-megapixel camera enabling Center Stage and the optional nano-texture display that cuts down on glare -- useful for office workers with lighting at unfortunate angles. 

I saw the new Desk View feature of the camera, too, which captures video of what's on your actual desk beneath the iMac's display. While this felt gimmicky, it could conceivably be helpful for streamers working with their hands-on crafts or instructors writing math equations in longhand over Zoom, for instance. 

The adorably small but powerful Mac Mini

I'm a huge fan of small gadgets, so I found the new Mac Mini to be as visually delightful as it is powerful. Just like with clamshell foldable phones, additional thickness is a worthwhile tradeoff if it means reducing the device's overall footprint. Apple helpfully placed an older Mac Mini alongside the new one, and while the former is still impressively sized, the new Mini can be palmed in one hand. This is an M4-powered computer you could throw in a purse.

Yes, Apple has made another immediately infamous design choice in putting the power button on the bottom, but it's easier to tilt the new Mini up to turn it on (if people switch their computers off anymore). The USB-C ports on the front are a nice addition for accessories that don't need the 40-gigabits-per-second bandwidth of the three Thunderbolt 4 ports on the back. There's a 3.5mm headphone jack in the front along with an HDMI out and Ethernet port in the back -- all your basics covered. 

One of the Mac Mini demos showed how it can run Logic audio editing software, within which the AI Music Maker can add AI-created music tracks to videos. These can be constructed piecemeal, adding layer by layer of drums, bass, keyboards and other musical elements -- each of which can be tweaked with broad controls -- no music theory knowledge necessary. 

For instance, our demonstrator added a kick drum and hi-hat cymbals just by tapping a few icons to add complexity to the track (in this case, more frequent and varied drums between the major beats). Melodic instruments can go up and down octave scales, while piano keyboards can select one or both "hands" to add high, low or both ranges of chord scales to audio. All of this is created on the fly by AI and is usable royalty-free. 

MacBook Pro is a Siri, ChatGPT and gaming machine

The new MacBook Pro models didn't add anything to the layout or design over last year's M3 models, though the lower-end M4 14-inch MacBook Pro now comes with three USB-C ports instead of two. In fact, all of this year's models feature three Thunderbolt 4 ports (upgrading to a M4 Pro or M4 Max offers Thunderbolt 5, which delivers up to 120Gbps of data transfer speeds).

On a maximum-specced MacBook Pro 16-inch model with an M4 Max chip and 128GB of RAM, I saw a demonstrator ask Siri AI to perform a few tasks, including offering advice on how to combine PDFs. Through Apple's partnership with ChatGPT, I saw the AI chatbot answer a more complicated search query asking for things to do in Malibu. The system took a couple of seconds to respond on both occasions, which was about the same time it took the iMac a few tables away to perform the same task. The laptops could also turn photos into AI-generated cartoons, taking about the same elapsed time -- somewhat similar to the image generator feature showcased on Microsoft Copilot Plus PCs released earlier this year.

The most impressive feat I saw the M4 chips perform was pushing pixels to play Remedy Entertainment's 2019 game Control. Apple chose a section of the third-person shooter set in dark, murky caves lit with bright flashes to show off the M4's ray-tracing capabilities. As I stomped through puddles of water to shoot enemies, I was able to see accurate reflections of my surroundings. Granted, this was running on a fully specced MacBook Pro with an M4 Max chip and 128GB of RAM, so I'm curious about how the more modest configurations would handle such a graphical workload. 

Overall, the Los Angeles demo session was a brief and controlled yet tantalizing peek at Apple's new lineup of computers. Some will charm with their looks, others with their modest upgrades, but all promise the performance upgrades that enable AI capabilities. However, it's worth noting that we won't know how indispensable these tools will be until Apple Intelligence rolls out and software companies integrate the next-generation tech.