Apple Unveils New Mac mini with M2 and M2 Pro

Image: Apple

Apple today announced the long-rumoured 2023 Mac mini, powered by the tech giant’s M2 and all-new M2 Pro chips.

According to the company, the refreshed Mac mini is even more powerful and capable than before, and it comes with a price cut to make it more affordable. The M2 Pro chip brings pro-level performance to Mac mini for the first time, Apple said.

“With incredible capabilities and a wide array of connectivity in its compact design, Mac mini is used in so many places, in so many different ways. Today, we’re excited to take it even further with M2 and M2 Pro,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

“Bringing even more performance and a lower starting price, Mac mini with M2 is a tremendous value. And for users who need powerful pro performance, Mac mini with M2 Pro is unlike any other desktop in its class.”

While the new Mac mini comes in the same, compact physical form factor as its predecessor from 2020, some of the improvements Apple has made include more unified memory (up to 32GB with 200GB/s of bandwidth on M2 Pro, 24GB with 100GB/s of bandwidth on M2), ProRes acceleration, better connectivity (Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3), an upgraded headphone jack compatible with high-impedance headphones, and support for up to three displays (two on configurations with the M2 chip).

Apple claims that compared to the 2020 Mac mini with M1, the base model M2 Mac mini delivers:

  • Up to 2.4x faster ProRes transcode in Final Cut Pro.
  • Up to 50 percent faster filter and function performance in Adobe Photoshop.
  • Up to 35 percent faster gameplay in Resident Evil Village

The 2023 Mac mini with M2 Pro, meanwhile, goes even further and offers:

  • Up to 2.5x faster graphics performance in Affinity Photo.
  • Up to 4.2x faster ProRes transcode in Final Cut Pro.
  • Up to 2.8x faster gameplay in Resident Evil Village.

Even the base M2 model is capable of playing back up to two streams of 8K ProRes 422 video at 30 fps and 12 streams of 4K ProRes 422 video at 30 fps. The M2 Pro chip, meanwhile, adds an even more powerful video engine for better playback and encoding, and can even drive one 8K display — a first for the Mac.

2023 Mac mini Pricing in Canada

Apple says the new 2023 Mac mini is available to order today, with an official launch slated for Tuesday, January 24.

Alongside the new Mac mini, Apple also unveiled its much-anticipated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro refresh with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips.

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