5 Reasons the Mac Mini Is a Top Mini PC, Even for PC Users

Key Takeaways

• The $599 M4 Mac Mini offers impressive performance in a tiny package, enough to rival many small form factor Windows PCs.
• The Mac Mini is great for everyday computing, office work, or photo and video editing tasks, and it also works well as a compact media center, file or media server or gaming hub for emulators and Mac-native titles.
• Get cheap access to a smooth macOS experience with the flexibility to run Windows or Linux if you need them.

Looking for a compact office machine, media center, file, and media server, or even something on which to play a few games and edit some video? Look no further than Apple’s Mac Mini.

A Lot of Computer for the Money

Starting at $599, few Windows or Linux mini PCs can rival the Mac Mini’s raw performance at this price point. For your money, you’ll get an M4 Apple silicon chip with an 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16GB of unified RAM, and a 256GB solid-state drive. Alternatively, you can go for the M4 Pro version with up to a 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU, 512GB of storage at the low end, and 64GB of RAM if you have deep pockets.

To keep costs down, the Mac Mini doesn’t come with any peripherals (you can grab some USB-C Magic accessories, or go the mechanical keyboard route instead). You also don’t get a monitor.

The Mac Mini is ideal for the majority of everyday computing tasks. For context, a $599 Mac Mini is comparable to a 14-inch base spec $1,599 M4 MacBook Pro (though the MacBook has an extra 256GB of storage). If you don’t need the laptop form factor, have a display you can use (particularly since Apple has slim pickings in this regard), and can BYO peripherals, the Mac Mini a great way to save money on a performant pocket-sized PC rival.

Just remember that you can’t upgrade the internal drive (or anything else), so it’s important to buy enough storage and RAM up-front.

Upgrading to 512GB of storage or adding another 16GB of RAM adds $200 to the purchase price. While the value proposition isn’t quite so good when you start customizing things, a souped-up M4 Pro Mac Mini with a 14-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 24GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage will set you back $1,799 can fly through more demanding tasks.

The Mac Mini is the cheapest Mac, period. That also makes it a good jumping-on point for anyone who wants to give macOS a shot without dropping MacBook levels of money. You can save even more money by opting for a last-gen M1 or M2 Mac Mini.

Does (Almost) Everything You Want It To

With Apple’s M4 chip (or better) at the helm, the Mac Mini (even the older model) is a force to be reckoned with in most common tasks. It’s plenty powerful enough for browsing the web, word processing and other office tasks, some web and app development, and even more demanding tasks like photo and video editing.

Apple has included dedicated video encode and decode engines since the M2, with AV1 decode now a feature in the new chips. Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW playback means Apple has dedicated space on the chip to handle these tasks for better performance.

If you’re going to be doing a lot of video editing, you might want to spring for an M4 Pro Mac Mini over an Apple Studio which uses the older M2 architecture. The Mac Mini makes for a highly capable media center PC, chewing through high-bitrate 4K HDR video and remaining quiet while doing so. The Neural Engine helps with machine learning tasks and even the older M1 and M2 models are compatible with Apple Intelligence.

While it’s hard to recommend a Mac if gaming is your number one priority, Apple specifically called out ray tracing performance in the M4 announcement (now all we need are some games). Fortunately, Apple Silicon processors are emulation powerhouses that can comfortably emulate relatively modern systems like the Xbox, Wii, and PlayStation 3 as well as arcade classics and early home consoles.

You can also run Steam and 64-bit Mac-native games, play classic source ports, and Apple Arcade titles.

The Case for Using macOS

If you’re thinking “but I don’t use macOS,” that’s a valid concern. But consider that Apple’s operating system might not be the nightmare you’re envisioning, and you might even prefer it. The most important thing to remember is that macOS and Apple’s Mac lineup aren’t locked down in the same way that mobile platforms like the iPhone and iPad are.

macOS is a proper desktop operating system. Initially based on NeXT, the UNIX base at its core delivers Linux levels of stability in an arguably more user-friendly package than Windows. You can still get your hands dirty if you know what you’re doing. Terminal is there for using the command-line, Automator lets you build complex workflows, and Shortcuts can do all sorts of things if you’re willing to learn,

iCloud for Windows suite can help sync data between devices, including saved credentials for Apple’s standalone password manager. Windows mainstays like Office, Edge, and most popular third-party apps like Discord and Spotify have Mac versions available. There are also heaps of Mac apps that you might fall in love with including everyday must-haves, apps to improve productivity, apps designed with a single-purpose in mind, and some of the best Adobe-alternatives.

macOS is indeed a little more restrictive thanks to features like System Integrity Protection, but this also improves security. Mac malware still exists, but you probably don’t need an antivirus.

You’ll get yearly upgrades to the core operating system, which means you’ll get a new version of macOS each fall. Your Mac will be supported for at least five years, often longer. Failing this you can go your own way and install unsupported versions of macOS regardless of what Apple says.

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is that you may never even see the base operating system, depending on what you’re using your computer for. This may be the case if your Mac Mini is powering a media center, stuck in a cupboard running a media server like Plex or free alternative Jellyfin, handling torrent downloads, or running an emulator front-end like RetroArch.

You Can Run Windows and Linux Too

Thanks to Microsoft’s Windows on ARM project, it’s possible to run Windows on your Apple Silicon Mac at near-native speed. Since Microsoft added 64-bit app support to the ARM flavor of Windows, the vast majority of Windows apps run on Apple hardware with an M1 or better processor. The easiest way to do this is using Parallels Desktop, but there are other ways of running Windows on your Mac.

Virtualization can also be used to run other operating systems including ARM-native versions of Linux like Ubuntu, Fedora, and Kali which can be easily installed in free virtualization software like UTM. Alternatively, it’s now possible to run Linux natively on Apple Silicon thanks to the Asahi Linux project. Work continues on the product, though at the time of writing there’s no support for M4 chips (since there are no M4 chips in the wild yet).

Native Linux support is possible because Apple allows the booting of unsigned kernels on its Apple Silicon processors. This is not the case on devices like the iPhone and iPad, which are restricted to Apple’s own operating system releases. You don’t need to jailbreak your Mac to run non-Apple operating systems, though there is a fair bit of reverse engineering involved.

It’s possible that Windows for ARM could run natively on Apple Silicon, but Microsoft currently only supports two methods: Windows 365 Cloud PC streaming and Parallels Desktop.

Small, Flexible and Efficient

There’s a lot to like about the Mac Mini, right down to the form factor. You can easily mount a Mac Mini on the back of a monitor but it looks so good you might not mind having it sitting on your desk. The M4 refresh measures 5 inches (12.7 cm) by 5 inches, at only 2 inches (5 cm) high. Your input and output (I/O) options are also plentiful, even on the base model.

While the base M4 chip can handle two 6K displays and up to one 5K display, the M4 Pro can drive three 6K displays at 60Hz. The M4 has three Thunderbolt 4 ports (at 40Gb/sec), while the M4 Pro has three Thunderbolt 5 ports (at 120Gb/sec). Both models now have two USB-C ports on the front, an HDMI 2.1 port on the back, and the option of 10Gb Ethernet (with 1Gb included in the price).

Thunderbolt is especially useful for expanding your storage options with hubs or even a dedicated RAID enclosure.

The Mac Mini will work with the vast majority of existing peripherals, including keyboards and mice designed with Windows in mind. Use most standard game controllers including Xbox and PlayStation pads to control emulators or media centers like Kodi.

On top of this, Apple’s ARM-based chips are highly efficient. This makes the Mac Mini cheap to run and ideal as an always-on server for files and media or as a roll-your-own cloud storage solution. In addition to sipping power, heat output is minimal except during intensive operations like exporting video or 3D rendering.

The Best Mini PC Might Not Be a PC at All

The irony of recommending the Mac Mini to most “mini PC” shoppers is that the Mac isn’t considered a PC at all. There are some drawbacks you need to mull over if this is your first Mac, like whether Apple’s operating system (or virtualization) works for you, whether upgradeability is important, and whether you even need all the power of a Mac Mini in the first place.

Take a look at our best mini PC roundup for more information, including budget options, and mini PCs designed with gamers in mind. Still wondering what you’d use a mini PC for? Find out if the mini PC format is for you.