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Mac Mini vs. Mac Studio Buyer's Guide: 20+ Differences Compared

In 2023, Apple updated the Mac Studio with the M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips. Apple has now refreshed the Mac mini with the M4 and M4 Pro chips, meaning...

The ‌Mac mini‌ and the ‌Mac Studio‌ share some fundamental features, including a familiar, boxy silver aluminum design, two front-facing USB-C ports along with HDMI and ethernet on the rear, and Apple silicon chipsets. ‌Mac mini‌ (2024)‌Mac Studio‌ (2023)M4 or M4 Pro chip (made with TSMC's enhanced 3nm(N3E) process)‌M2‌ Max or ‌M2‌ Ultra chip (made with TSMC's enhanced 5nm (N5P) process)4.30 GHz maximum CPU clock speed3.50 GHz maximum CPU clock speed M4: 10-core CPU (4 perform­ance cores + 6 efficiency cores) M4 Pro: 12- or 14-core CPU (8 or 10 perform­ance cores + 4 efficiency cores) M2 Max: 12-core CPU (8 performance cores + 4 efficiency cores) M2 Ultra: 24-core CPU (16 performance cores + 8 efficiency cores) M4: 10-core GPU M4 Pro: 16- or 20‑core GPU M2 Max: 30- or 38-core GPU M2 Ultra: 60‑ or 76-core GPU Updated GPU architecture with improved efficiencyHardware-accelerated ray-tracingDynamic cachingLPDDR5X memoryLPDDR5 memory M4: 120GB/s memory bandwidth M4 Pro: 273GB/s memory bandwidth M2 Max: 400GB/s memory bandwidth M2 Ultra: 800GB/s memory bandwidth M4: 16GB, 24GB, or 32GB unified memory M4 Pro: 24GB, 48GB, or 64GB unified memory M2 Max: 32GB, 64GB, or 96GB unified memory M2 Ultra: 64GB, 128GB, or 192GB unified memory M4: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB storage M4 Pro: 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB storage M2 Max: 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB storage M2 Ultra: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB storage16-core Neural Engine, 38 trillion operations per second M2 Max: 16-core Neural Engine, 15.8 trillion operations per second M2 Ultra: 32-core Neural Engine, 31.6 trillion operations per secondVideo decode engine, video encode engine, and ProRes encode and decode engine M2 Max: Video decode engine, two video encode engines, and two ProRes encode and decode engines M2 Ultra: Two video decode engines, four video encode engines, and four ProRes encode and decode enginesAV1 decodeDedicated display engineSupport for up to three external displays M2 Max: Support for up to five external displays M2 Ultra: Support for up to eight external displays M4: Three rear Thunderbolt 4 ports M4 Pro: Three rear Thunderbolt 5 portsFour rear Thunderbolt 4 portsTwo front USB-C ports M2 Max: Two front USB-C ports M2 Ultra: Two front Thunderbolt 4 portsTwo rear USB-A portsGigabit Ethernet or 10Gb Ethernet port10Gb Ethernet portSDXC card slot (UHS-II)Bottom power buttonRear power button M4: Starts at $599 M4 Pro: Starts at $1,399 M2 Max: Starts at $1,999 M2 Ultra: Starts at $3,999Following the ‌Mac mini‌'s redesign this year, the dimensions of the two devices are now radically different, with the ‌Mac Studio‌ dwarfing the ‌Mac mini‌ in every way. The ‌Mac mini‌ is also a better choice for most users at the current time since its chip technology is two generations ahead of the ‌Mac Studio‌, offering higher clock speeds, much faster single-core performance, a redesigned GPU architecture, AV1 decode, a markedly more powerful Neural Engine, and more.

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