Mac mini with M4 Pro review: 🚀

In partnership with

What’s the best deal in computing right now?

It is -- by far — the new M4 Mac mini. But you already knew that, right?

For example, the high-end Mac mini with an M4 Pro chip costs just $1,400. But in some benchmarks, this tiny little machine outperforms the mighty Mac Pro — a genuine pro-level workstation that costs a cool $7,000.

That’s similar performance for just one-fifth the price. And it’s all thanks to rapidly improving Apple silicon.

See our hands-on review of the M4 Pro Mac mini, plus today’s featured setups post, which features a base-model mini.

Also in today’s newsletter:

• Yesterday we published a post about Apple releasing a smart home security camera, which was a bit of a head-scratcher. The latest rumor about Apple’s next big push helps make sense of it.

• We have a sale on Function101’s Button Remote for Apple TV. It’s a great alternative to the fiddly Siri remote: See our review.

• If you have $350 to drop on a fancy band for your Apple Watch, Apple’s exquisitely machined Gold Link Bracelet is finally available.

• The first reader comment on yesterday’s poll made me LOL. See below.

— Leander Kahney, EIC.

^{A message from Ryse}

RYSE and Shine: Don’t Sleep On This Smart Home Company

Ring 一 Acquired by Amazon for $1.2B.
Nest 一 Acquired by Google for $3.2B.

Smart home companies have seen some spectacular exits, yielding massive returns for early investors, yet one category in this burgeoning industry has eluded adoption - Smart Shades. High prices and complex installation procedures have prevented the mass adoption of smart shades despite their benefits, and one company is set to change that.

RYSE is the tech firm poised to dominate this category (growing at an astonishing 55% annually), and their public offering of shares priced at just $1.75 has opened. Existing shareholders have seen their shares grow by over 20X, and their products have just launched in over 100 Best Buy stores.

Retail distribution was the main driver behind the acquisitions of both Ring and

Nest, and RYSE’s exclusive deal with Best Buy resembles that which led Ring and Nest to their billion-dollar buyouts.

Invest Now before the round closes.

^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

Tweets of the day

Wallpaper of the day

One more thing ...

Today’s poll

Results from yesterday’s poll: Are you going to buy the Apple Music best albums book?

Best reader comments

Subscribe to The Weekender — Get the week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.