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Apple Mac mini (M4 or M4 Pro) vs Apple Macintosh II

Every spec side by side, from each maker's published figures.

Better figure, where one is clearly better

AppleMac mini (M4 or M4 Pro)AppleMacintosh II
Overview
ReleasedNovember 2024May 1987
Performance
ProcessorApple M4 or Apple M4 Pro68020 16 MHz (Macintosh II)
CPU cores10, 12 or 141
Graphics10-core GPU, 16-core GPU or 20-core GPU–
AI engine (NPU)38 TOPS–
Memory16 GB, 24 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB1 MB
Storage256 GB to 8 TB40 MB
CPUM4: 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 coresNominal 16 MHz 68020 with 68881 floating-point coprocessor and optional 68851 paged memory management unit; 0.25 KB L1 cache, no L2 cache or second processor
GPUM4: 10-core GPU; M4 Pro: 16-core or 20-core GPU; hardware-accelerated ray tracingNo integrated video output; one NuBus video card is needed for a display. Apple offered colour or monochrome cards and monitors separately
Memory type–Eight 30-pin SIMM slots in banks of four, 120 ns or faster; Apple lists 1–20 MB across revisions, using 256 KB, 1 MB or 4 MB modules. A 4 MB module cannot go in Bank A without the SuperDrive upgrade; 256 KB ROM
AI engine16-core Neural Engine–
Memory bandwidthM4: 120GB/s; M4 Pro: 273GB/s–
Storage typeSSDOne or two 800 KB floppy drives; Apple lists 40–80 MB internal SCSI hard drives. The two configurations represent the independently documented 1 MB floppy-only and 1 MB/40 MB factory systems; no RAM and 80 MB drive pairing inferred
Expansion slots–Six 32-bit NuBus slots, one occupied when a display video card is installed
Media engineHardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW; video decode engine; video encode engine; ProRes encode and decode engine; AV1 decode–
Display
ScreenNone built inNone built in
Connections
Ports3 × Thunderbolt 4, 2 × USB-C, HDMI, Ethernet, headphone jackHeadphone jack
Ethernet1 Gb/s–
External displaysUp to 3–
Wi-FiWi-Fi 6E–
Bluetooth5.3–
Front ports2 × USB-C with USB 3 (up to 10Gb/s); 3.5 mm headphone jack with advanced support for high-impedance headphones–
Back portsM4: 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 EthernetTwo Apple Desktop Bus ports, DB-25 SCSI, printer and modem serial ports and stereo sound output; no built-in Ethernet or video socket
External displaysM4: 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)Requires a separately purchased NuBus video card; supported resolution and colour depth depend on that card, so no fixed display capability is asserted
SpeakersBuilt-in speakerBuilt-in speaker and stereo 8-bit sound output
MicrophonesNone built in–
Design and power
TypeCompactCompact
Weight0.67 kg10.9 kg
Width × depth × height127 × 127 × 50 mm475 × 366 × 140 mm
Operating systemmacOSmacOS
Size and weight detail–Apple's reference dimensions are 5.5 × 18.7 × 14.4 inches and 24 lb; metric fields are rounded conversions
Power supplyBuilt-in; 100–240V AC; 155W maximum continuous powerMaximum 230 W; 90–270 V AC, 48–62 Hz, 1.9 A; soft power and monitor power pass-through
Power useM4 with 16GB and 256GB: 4W idle, 65W maximum; M4 Pro with 64GB and 8TB: 5W idle, 140W maximum–
Noise5 dBA sound pressure at idle (operator position)–
ColoursSilver–
In the boxMac mini, power lead (1.8 m)Original System Software 2.0. Apple introduced the Macintosh II on 2 March 1987; contemporary reporting expected May shipments, and Wikipedia cites an 8 May Wall Street Journal report of their start

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