M4 Pro chip boosts performance with up to 64 GB RAM and Thunderbolt 5 support in new Mac mini

The just-announced Mac mini includes the unveiling of the M4 Pro chip for the first time. The new upscale chip features 14-CPU cores (10 performance and 4 high-efficiency), up to 20 core GPU, and support for up to 64 GB RAM.

Like the M4 iMac, both the M4 and the M4 Pro configurations of Mac mini also start at 16 GB RAM as the new baseline. And the M4 Pro chip brings Thunderbolt 5 for the fastest I/O yet on the Mac.

The highest-spec M4 Pro in the Mac mini features 10 performance and 4 efficiency CPU cores, compared to 6 performance and 6 efficiency cores in its predecessor M3 Pro. As well as each core likely being about ~10% faster, there are significantly more performance cores with this generation, which should result in a disproportionate speed boost under heavy load.

With Thunderbolt 5, you can now get up to 120 Gbps data transfer speeds using the new Thunderbolt 5 cable on the Mac mini. That’s up from the theoretical maximum 40 Gbps speeds of Thunderbolt 4.