The M1 chip may be a couple of years old, but it’s still capable of running everything you’ll find on the Mac App Store, and plenty more that you’ll find elsewhere. There’s a Retina display, the machine weighs less than 10 pounds, and it’s still the slimmest Apple laptop thanks to its tapered front. That disappointment aside, you can find plenty to admire for a laptop under $800. If those limitations don't bother you, the Mac Mini M1 could be a great replacement for your aging desktop.įollow on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.The MacBook Air M1 may not look as nice as it’s newer, M2-sporting successor, but there’s something to be said for its more classic design – although, yes, it still has a 720p webcam. RAM is arguably more crucial than storage here, since you can always connect an external SSD to the Mini M1 if you need to offload important files. The biggest issue we have with the desktop is its lack of upgradeability - its RAM and storage are soldered in place, so you're stuck with the amount that you initially purchase. Apple didn't change much from the Intel version, keeping the machine a sleek, square box interrupted only by a couple of ports: two Thunderbolt ports, two USB-A connectors, an Ethernet port, one HDMI port and a headphone jack. While the Mac Mini M1's design isn't anything to write home about, that almost works to its advantage. While we haven't given the Mini M1 the full review treatment, you can expect it to run similarly to the MacBook Air M1, which is speedily and efficiently. The desktop is powered by an eight-core CPU and eight-core GPU, plus a 16-core Neural Engine. The Mac Mini M1 remains the most affordable way to get an M1 device in your home, too, as the latest iPad Pros that share the same processor start at around $799.

Yes, we're on M2 machines at this point, but only a couple of Apple computers run on that updated processor (and only the M2 MacBook Pro is even available right now).

That's the lowest price we've seen on the desktop that runs on Apple's M1 chipset, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The machine is back on sale at Amazon right now for $570 thanks to a coupon that knocks $99 off its price. If you're looking to upgrade to a speedy, compact desktop, Apple's Mac Mini M1 is a good option.

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