Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024) vs MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024)

Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024)¹MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024)²

Quick look

Quick look: Mac mini M4 Pro against MacBook Air M3
Figure	Mac mini M4 Pro¹	MacBook Air M3²
Price	£1,399³launch price	£1,099⁴launch price
Chip	M4 Prochip	M3chip
CPU	12-coreCPU	8-coreCPU
GPU	16-coreGPU	8-coreGPU
Memory	24GBunified memory, base	8GB⁵unified memory, base
Storage	512GBstorage, base	256GBstorage, base
Battery life	Not available⁶No battery	Up to18 hrsvideo playback, claimed
Released	8 November 2024³ReleasedIn Apple Stores; pre-order from 29 October 2024.	8 March 2024⁴ReleasedIn Apple Stores; orderable online from 4 March 2024.
Security updates	Not available⁷Security updates	Not available⁸Security updates

Price: The Mac mini M4 Pro is £1,399 at launch, per Apple Newsroom (UK); the MacBook Air M3 is £1,099 at launch, per Apple Newsroom (UK).
Kind of Mac: The Mac mini M4 Pro is a desktop; the MacBook Air M3 is a laptop. The MacBook Air M3 has a built-in 13.6-inch display, a camera and a battery, whereas the Mac mini M4 Pro has none of them.

True to scale

Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024) · 127 × 50 mm frontMacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024) · 304.1 × 215 mm footprint

A desktop and a laptop are different shapes, so they stand side by side rather than superposed: the front face of one and the footprint of the other, from Apple’s published dimensions, at one scale. Corner rounding is our drawing convention, not a measurement.

Specifications

Each figure is from the source marked by its Mac’s name unless it carries its own small number, which links to where that figure was read.

Body

Body: Apple Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024) against Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024)
Specification	Mac mini M4 Pro¹	MacBook Air M3²
Dimensions	50 x 127 x 127 mm	11.3 x 304.1 x 215 mm
Weight	0.73 kg	1.24 kg
Colours	Silver	Silver, Starlight, Space Grey, Midnight
Ports	Front: two USB-C ports with support for USB 3 (up to 10Gb/s), 3.5mm headphone jack. Back (M4 Pro): Gigabit Ethernet port (configurable to 10Gb Ethernet), HDMI port, three Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports	Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, MagSafe 3 charging port, 3.5mm headphone jack
Thunderbolt ports⁹	3	2
Thunderbolt version	Thunderbolt 5	Thunderbolt 3
USB-A ports	No USB-A ports.¹⁰	No USB-A ports.¹¹
HDMI	HDMI port	No HDMI port.¹²
SD card slot	No SD card slot.¹³	No SD card slot.¹²
Headphone jack	Yes	Yes
MagSafe	Not available¹⁴	Yes
Keyboard	Not available¹⁵	Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
Touch ID	Not available¹⁶	Yes

Display

Display: Apple Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024) against Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024)
Specification	Mac mini M4 Pro¹	MacBook Air M3²
Display size	Not available¹⁷	13.6 in
Resolution	Not available¹⁷	2560 x 1664
Pixel density	Not available¹⁷	224 ppi
Display type	Not available¹⁷	Liquid Retina display
Brightness	Not available¹⁷	500 nits
Wide colour (P3)	Not available¹⁷	Yes
Nano-texture option	Not available¹⁷	No nano-texture display option.¹²

Chip and memory

Chip and memory: Apple Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024) against Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024)
Specification	Mac mini M4 Pro¹	MacBook Air M3²
Chip	Apple M4 Pro chip	Apple M3 chip
Apple silicon	Yes	Yes
CPU cores	12	8
Performance cores	8	4
Efficiency cores	4	4
GPU cores	16	8
Neural Engine cores	16	16
Chip options	M4 Pro with 12-core CPU and 16-core GPU, or M4 Pro with 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU	M3 with 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU or 10-core GPU
Memory (base)	24GB	8GB⁵
Memory (maximum)	64GB	24GB⁵
Memory options	24GB, 48GB or 64GB	8GB, 16GB or 24GB⁵
Memory upgradeable by user	No, as Apple documents¹⁸	No, as Apple documents¹⁹
Memory bandwidth	273 GB/s	100 GB/s
Storage (base)	512GB	256GB
Storage (maximum)	8TB	2TB
Storage options	512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB or 8TB	256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB
Media engine	Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAWvideo decode enginevideo encode engineProRes encode and decode engineAV1 decode	Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAWvideo decode enginevideo encode engineProRes encode and decode engineAV1 decode engine

Battery and power

Battery and power: Apple Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024) against Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024)
Specification	Mac mini M4 Pro¹	MacBook Air M3²
Battery capacity	Not available⁶	52.6 Wh
Rated charge cycles	Not available⁶	1,000 cycles²⁰
Video playback (claimed)	Not available⁶	18 h
Wireless web (claimed)	Not available⁶	15 h
Included power adapter	Not available²¹	30 W
Fast charging	Not available⁶	Yes
Maximum continuous power	155 W	Not available²²

Connectivity

Connectivity: Apple Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024) against Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024)
Specification	Mac mini M4 Pro¹	MacBook Air M3²
Wi-Fi	Wi‑Fi 6E (802.11ax)	Wi‑Fi 6E (802.11ax)
Bluetooth	5.3	5.3
Ethernet	Gigabit Ethernet (configurable to 10Gb Ethernet)	No Ethernet port.¹²
External displays (base)	3	1²³

Camera and audio

Camera and audio: Apple Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024) against Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024)
Specification	Mac mini M4 Pro¹	MacBook Air M3²
Camera	Not available²⁴	1080p FaceTime HD camera
Speakers	Built-in speaker²⁵	Four-speaker sound system
Microphones	Not available²⁶	Three-mic array with directional beamforming

Platform

Platform: Apple Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024) against Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024)
Specification	Mac mini M4 Pro¹	MacBook Air M3²
Newest macOS	macOS 27 Golden Gate²⁷	macOS 27 Golden Gate²⁸
Model identifier	Mac16,10, Mac16,11²⁹	Mac15,12³⁰
Model year	2024	2024

Sources

Apple Support (UK) — Mac mini (2024) - Tech Specs · Default for Mac mini M4 Pro · Apple’s figure · read 30 Sep 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024) - Tech Specs · Default for MacBook Air M3 · Apple’s figure · read 14 Sep 2026
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Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple’s new Mac mini is more mighty, more mini, and built for Apple Intelligence · Apple’s figure · read 30 Sep 2026
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Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils the new 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air with the powerful M3 chip · Apple’s figure · read 14 Sep 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024) - Tech Specs · Apple’s figure · read 2 Oct 2026
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Doesn’t apply: no battery
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Security updates: no end date published. Checked: endoflife.date. Read 30 Sep 2026
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Security updates: no end date published. Checked: endoflife.date. Read 22 Sep 2026
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Different Thunderbolt generations. Mac mini M4 Pro: Thunderbolt 5. MacBook Air M3: Thunderbolt 3.
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Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024): No USB-A ports. Checked: Apple Support (UK) — Mac mini (2024) - Tech Specs. Read 30 Sep 2026
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MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024): No USB-A ports. Checked: Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024) - Tech Specs. Read 14 Sep 2026
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MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024): No HDMI port. No SD card slot. No nano-texture display option. No Ethernet port. Checked: Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024) - Tech Specs. Read 9 Oct 2026
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Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024): No SD card slot. Checked: Apple Support (UK) — Mac mini (2024) - Tech Specs. Read 9 Oct 2026
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Doesn’t apply: MagSafe is a notebook charging port
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Doesn’t apply: no built-in keyboard
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Doesn’t apply: no built-in keyboard, and Touch ID is a keyboard feature
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Doesn’t apply: no built-in display
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Apple Support (UK) — Upgrade or install memory in your Mac mini · Apple’s figure · read 18 Oct 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro: how to remove or install memory · Apple’s figure · read 18 Oct 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — Determine battery cycle count for Mac laptops · Apple’s figure · read 15 Oct 2026
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Doesn’t apply: internal power supply, no power adapter in the box
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Doesn’t apply: a notebook lists its power adapter, not a maximum continuous power
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Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024) - Tech Specs · Apple’s figure · read 11 Oct 2026
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Doesn’t apply: no built-in camera
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Apple Support (UK) — Mac mini (2024) - Tech Specs · Apple’s figure · read 9 Oct 2026
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Not published by Apple. Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — Mac mini (2024) - Tech Specs; Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac mini model; Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple’s new Mac mini is more mighty, more mini, and built for Apple Intelligence. Read 9 Oct 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers · Apple’s figure · read 30 Sep 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers · Apple’s figure · read 22 Sep 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac mini model · Apple’s figure · read 11 Oct 2026
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Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Air model · Apple’s figure · read 14 Sep 2026
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Not published by Apple

Mac mini M4 Pro. Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: storage upgradeable by user, the macOS it shipped with. Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — Mac mini (2024) - Tech Specs; Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac mini model; Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple’s new Mac mini is more mighty, more mini, and built for Apple Intelligence, read 9 Oct 2026.

MacBook Air M3. Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: refresh rate, storage upgradeable by user, the macOS it shipped with. Geekbench 7: the Mac chart has no entry for this Mac, so no figures are shown (chart read 10 Oct 2026). Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (13-inch, M3, 2024) - Tech Specs; Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Air model; Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils the new 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air with the powerful M3 chip; Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers, read 9 Oct 2026.

If you own one of them

Whether to move is a different question from which is better. Each Mac has a page on it: what its successor changes (the newest Mac in its line where Apple sells one, otherwise the Mac this site treats as its replacement, which can be in another line), what it fetches and whether it still gets updates. Should I upgrade my Mac mini M4 Pro (2024)? · Should I upgrade my MacBook Air M3 (13-inch, 2024)?

The pairs a buyer of either Mac would also weigh. Any two Macs in the catalogue can be compared from the chooser.