Apple’s Mac Mini M4 is Truly a Compact Powerhouse That Fits Right In at $479 for Black Friday

In the midst of the wrapping paper frenzy and tight shipping schedules, one compact machine quietly demands our attention: Apple’s Mac Mini M4. Apple first released it a while back, but now you can snag one for $479 ahead of Black Friday, which feels like a value at this time of year when everything else appears to be inflated. This time around, the Mac Mini M4 comes equipped with 16GB of RAM standard, instead of just 8GB like its predecessor.

During the holidays, families congregate around the screen to look at old photos or stream seasonal classics, and the Mac Mini M4 is right there to help. Its 10 core CPU and GPU can easily handle such tasks, transforming a basic slideshow into a delightful little show to behold. Plug in your preferred monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and you’ll be set up in less than an hour, all without having to deal with a large tower that will only fit in a corner of your desk. Just a sleek small aluminum box, around the size of two stacked paperbacks, that you can easily plop on a shelf or hide behind the T.V. People will really appreciate how it just makes their routine a bit more enjoyable, without having to go and buy all new gear.

Portability is also important, even if it’s a desktop computer. At under three pounds, the Mac Mini M4 is an ideal companion for students returning home for the holidays or distant workers visiting family. Simply plug it into any monitor with an HDMI or Thunderbolt port, and you’re ready to go. Battery life is irrelevant because it only pulls power from a regular socket, but the true winner here is how quiet it is when not in use. You get a pleasant quiet whisper of air movement instead of the din of an old machine. And if you plug in an AirPod or two, you can have crystal-clear talks with no background noise.

Creative pursuits tend to fall by the wayside during the holidays, thanks to all the food and fun. However, for anyone with a desire to be creative, whether through photography or casual video production, the Mac Mini M4 is a willing partner in crime. That M4 CPU features a clever neural engine that accelerates photo processing in software like Lightroom, delivering results considerably faster than many computers that cost twice as much. Video calls with family turn into impromptu editing sessions, where you can just throw some clips together and voila, an instant holiday video. You get a great 256GB SSD for storage, which is more than enough for thousands of photographs or hours of footage, and there is enough RAM to keep many apps running well at the same time. When you give this to pals, you know they’ll discover all kinds of interesting new ways to create memories, all powered by hardware that knows just what they need.