Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024) vs MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024)
Quick look
| Figure | Mac mini M4 Pro1 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £1,3993launch price | £1,5994launch price |
| Chip | M4 Prochip | M4chip |
| CPU | 12-coreCPU | 10-coreCPU |
| GPU | 16-coreGPU | 10-coreGPU |
| Memory | 24GBunified memory, base | 16GBunified memory, base |
| Storage | 512GBstorage, base | 512GBstorage, base |
| Battery life | Not available5No battery | Up to24 hrsvideo playback, claimed |
| Released | 8 November 20243ReleasedIn Apple Stores; pre-order from 29 October 2024. | 8 November 20244ReleasedIn Apple Stores; pre-order from 30 October 2024. |
| Security updates | Not available6Security updates | Not available7Security updates |
- Price
- The Mac mini M4 Pro is £1,399 at launch, per Apple Newsroom (UK); the MacBook Pro M4 is £1,599 at launch, per Apple Newsroom (UK).
- Kind of Mac
- The Mac mini M4 Pro is a desktop; the MacBook Pro M4 is a laptop. The MacBook Pro M4 has a built-in 14.2-inch display, a camera and a battery, whereas the Mac mini M4 Pro has none of them.
True to scale
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
| Specification | Mac mini M4 Pro1 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 50 x 127 x 127 mm | 15.5 x 312.6 x 221.2 mm |
| Weight | 0.73 kg | 1.55 kg |
| Colours | Silver | Space Black, Silver |
| 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 | Three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, MagSafe 3 port, 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Thunderbolt ports8 | 3 | 3 |
| Thunderbolt version | Thunderbolt 5 | Thunderbolt 4 |
| USB-A ports | No USB-A ports.9 | No USB-A ports.10 |
| HDMI | HDMI port | HDMI port |
| SD card slot | No SD card slot.11 | Yes |
| Headphone jack | Yes | Yes |
| MagSafe | Not available12 | Yes |
| Keyboard | Not available13 | Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID |
| Touch ID | Not available14 | Yes |
| Touch Bar | Not available15 | No Touch Bar.16 |
Display
| Specification | Mac mini M4 Pro1 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Display size | Not available17 | 14.2 in |
| Resolution | Not available17 | 3024 x 1964 |
| Pixel density | Not available17 | 254 ppi |
| Display type | Not available17 | Liquid Retina XDR display |
| Brightness (SDR, outdoor) | Not available17 | 1,000 nits18 |
| Peak brightness (HDR) | Not available17 | 1,600 nits |
| Refresh rate | Not available17 | 120 Hz |
| Wide colour (P3) | Not available17 | Yes |
| Nano-texture option | Not available17 | Yes |
Chip and memory
| Specification | Mac mini M4 Pro1 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Chip | Apple M4 Pro chip | Apple M4 chip |
| Apple silicon | Yes | Yes |
| CPU cores | 12 | 10 |
| Performance cores | 8 | 4 |
| Efficiency cores | 4 | 6 |
| GPU cores | 16 | 10 |
| 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 | M4 with 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU19 |
| Memory (base) | 24GB | 16GB |
| Memory (maximum) | 64GB | 32GB |
| Memory options | 24GB, 48GB or 64GB | 16GB, 24GB or 32GB |
| Memory upgradeable by user | No, as Apple documents20 | No, as Apple documents21 |
| Memory bandwidth | 273 GB/s | 120 GB/s |
| Storage (base) | 512GB | 512GB |
| Storage (maximum) | 8TB | 2TB |
| Storage options | 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB or 8TB | 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 |
Battery and power
| Specification | Mac mini M4 Pro1 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Battery capacity | Not available5 | 72.4 Wh |
| Rated charge cycles | Not available5 | 1,000 cycles22 |
| Video playback (claimed) | Not available5 | 24 h |
| Wireless web (claimed) | Not available5 | 16 h |
| Included power adapter | Not available23 | 70 W |
| Fast charging | Not available5 | Yes |
| Maximum continuous power | 155 W | Not available24 |
Connectivity
| Specification | Mac mini M4 Pro1 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| 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.16 |
| External displays (base) | 3 | 2 |
Camera and audio
| Specification | Mac mini M4 Pro1 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Camera | Not available25 | 12MP Center Stage camera with support for Desk View |
| Camera resolution | Not available25 | 12 MP |
| Speakers | Built-in speaker26 | High-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers |
| Microphones | Not available27 | Studio-quality three-mic array with high signal-to-noise ratio and directional beamforming28 |
Sources
Apple Support (UK) — Mac mini (2024) - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024) - Tech Specs ·
↩- ↩
Apple Newsroom (UK) — New MacBook Pro features M4 family of chips and Apple Intelligence ·
↩Doesn’t apply: no battery
↩Security updates: no end date published.
↩Security updates: no end date published.
↩Different Thunderbolt generations. Mac mini M4 Pro: Thunderbolt 5. MacBook Pro M4: Thunderbolt 4.
↩Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024): No USB-A ports.
↩MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024): No USB-A ports.
↩Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024): No SD card slot.
↩Doesn’t apply: MagSafe is a notebook charging port
↩Doesn’t apply: no built-in keyboard
↩Doesn’t apply: no built-in keyboard, and Touch ID is a keyboard feature
↩Doesn’t apply: the Touch Bar was only fitted to MacBook Pro
↩MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024): No Touch Bar. No Ethernet port.
↩Doesn’t apply: no built-in display
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024) - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024) - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Upgrade or install memory in your Mac mini ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro: how to remove or install memory ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Determine battery cycle count for Mac laptops ·
↩Doesn’t apply: internal power supply, no power adapter in the box
↩Doesn’t apply: a notebook lists its power adapter, not a maximum continuous power
↩Doesn’t apply: no built-in camera
↩Apple Support (UK) — Mac mini (2024) - Tech Specs ·
↩Not published by Apple.
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024) - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac mini model ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Pro model ·
↩Geekbench Browser (Primate Labs) — Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024) ·
↩Geekbench Browser (Primate Labs) ·
↩
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 Pro M4. Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: storage upgradeable by user, the macOS it shipped with. Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024) - Tech Specs; Apple Newsroom (UK) — New MacBook Pro features M4 family of chips and Apple Intelligence; Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Pro model, 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 Pro M4 (14-inch, 2024)?
Other comparisons
The pairs a buyer of either Mac would also weigh. Any two Macs in the catalogue can be compared from the chooser.