Apple iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) vs Apple Mac mini (M4 or M4 Pro)

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iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) compared with Mac mini (M4 or M4 Pro)

	AppleiMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020)	AppleMac mini (M4 or M4 Pro)
Overview
Released
Released	August 2020	November 2024
Performance
Processor
Processor	Intel Core i5-10500, Intel Core i5-10600, Intel Core i9-10910 or Intel Core i7-10700K	Apple M4 or Apple M4 Pro
CPU cores
CPU cores	6, 8 or 10	10, 12 or 14
CPU threads
CPU threads	12, 16 or 20	–
Graphics
Graphics	Radeon Pro 5300 (4 GB GDDR6), Radeon Pro 5500 XT (8 GB GDDR6), Radeon Pro 5700 (8 GB GDDR6) or Radeon Pro 5700 XT (16 GB GDDR6)	10-core GPU, 16-core GPU or 20-core GPU
AI engine (NPU)
AI engine (NPU)	–	38 TOPS
Memory
Memory	8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB (better)	16 GB, 24 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB
Storage
Storage	256 GB to 8 TB	256 GB to 8 TB
CPU
CPU	Six-core Core i5 at 3.1 GHz (Turbo Boost 4.5 GHz) or 3.3 GHz (4.8 GHz), or eight-core Core i7 at 3.8 GHz (5.0 GHz). Upper two bases configurable to 3.6 GHz ten-core Core i9 (5.0 GHz). Exact CPU identities follow Geekbench. Apple specifies a 5.0 GHz Core i7 limit in this iMac, while Intel lists 5.1 GHz for the chip itself.	M4: 10-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores; M4 Pro: 12-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, or 14-core CPU with 10 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
GPU
GPU	Radeon Pro 5300 with 4 GB GDDR6 on the two Core i5 bases. Upper base has Radeon Pro 5500 XT with 8 GB GDDR6, optionally Radeon Pro 5700 with 8 GB or 5700 XT with 16 GB GDDR6.	M4: 10-core GPU; M4 Pro: 16-core or 20-core GPU; hardware-accelerated ray tracing
AI engine
AI engine	–	16-core Neural Engine
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	–	M4: 120GB/s; M4 Pro: 273GB/s
Memory type
Memory type	2666 MHz DDR4; 8 GB standard as two 4 GB modules. Four user-accessible SO-DIMM slots; configurable to 16/32/64/128 GB on every base.	–
Storage type
Storage type	Lower base: fixed 256 GB SSD. Middle base: 512 GB/1/2 TB SSD. Upper base: 512 GB/1/2/4/8 TB SSD.	SSD
Media engine
Media engine	–	Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW; video decode engine; video encode engine; ProRes encode and decode engine; AV1 decode
Display
Screen size
Screen size	27″	None built in
Resolution
Resolution	5120 × 2880	–
Panel
Panel	IPS LCD	–
Brightness
Brightness	500 nits	–
Display type
Display type	LED-backlit Retina 5K display; IPS panel confirmed by EveryMac. Apple does not publish native refresh rate in the specification sheet.	–
Display features
Display features	Wide colour (P3), one billion colours and True Tone; standard glass or optional nano-texture glass	–
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × Thunderbolt 3, 4 × USB-A, SD card slot, Ethernet, headphone jack	3 × Thunderbolt 4, 2 × USB-C, HDMI, Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	1 Gb/s	1 Gb/s
External displays
External displays	Up to 2	Up to 3 (better)
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	802.11ac	Wi-Fi 6E
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	5.0	5.3
Front ports
Front ports	–	2 × USB-C with USB 3 (up to 10Gb/s); 3.5 mm headphone jack with advanced support for high-impedance headphones
Camera
Camera	1080p FaceTime HD	–
Back ports
Back ports	Four USB-A ports; two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports with DisplayPort, Thunderbolt up to 40 Gb/s and USB 3.1 Gen 2 up to 10 Gb/s; UHS-II SDXC, Gigabit Ethernet and 3.5 mm headphone jack; Kensington lock slot. Optional 10Gb Ethernet supports 1/2.5/5/10Gb connections. Thunderbolt 2, HDMI, DVI and VGA require adapters.	M4: 3 × Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) with Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s) and DisplayPort; M4 Pro: 3 × Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) with Thunderbolt 5 (up to 120Gb/s), USB 4 and DisplayPort; HDMI with multichannel audio output; Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45), configurable to 10Gb Ethernet
External displays
External displays	One 6K or 5K external display, or two 4K displays; two 6K displays require Radeon Pro 5700 or 5700 XT. All listed external modes run at 60 Hz.	M4: up to three (two at up to 6K 60Hz over Thunderbolt, plus one at up to 5K 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K 60Hz over HDMI), or two (one at up to 5K 60Hz plus one at up to 8K 60Hz or 4K 240Hz); M4 Pro: up to three at up to 6K 60Hz over Thunderbolt or HDMI, or two (one at up to 6K 60Hz plus one at up to 8K 60Hz or 4K 240Hz)
Speakers
Speakers	Stereo speakers	Built-in speaker
Microphones
Microphones	Three-mic array with directional beamforming; supports Hey Siri	None built in
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Rechargeable Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse 2; optional numeric keyboard and Magic Trackpad	–
Design and power
Type
Type	All-in-one	Compact
Weight
Weight	8.92 kg	0.67 kg (better)
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	650 × 203 × 516 mm	127 × 127 × 50 mm
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	Dimensions include the stand; weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process. A built-in VESA mount version was also available.	–
Power supply
Power supply	100–240 V AC, 50–60 Hz, single phase	Built-in; 100–240V AC; 155W maximum continuous power
Power use
Power use	–	M4 with 16GB and 256GB: 4W idle, 65W maximum; M4 Pro with 64GB and 8TB: 5W idle, 140W maximum
Noise
Noise	–	5 dBA sound pressure at idle (operator position)
Colours
Colours	–	Silver
Materials
Materials	Recyclable, low-carbon aluminium enclosure; arsenic-free glass and mercury-free LED backlight	–
In the box
In the box	iMac, Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse 2, power lead, Lightning to USB cable and polishing cloth	Mac mini, power lead (1.8 m)