Apple Mac mini (M4 or M4 Pro) vs Apple Power Mac G5 (Late 2004)

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Mac mini (M4 or M4 Pro) compared with Power Mac G5 (Late 2004)

	AppleMac mini (M4 or M4 Pro)	ApplePower Mac G5 (Late 2004)
Overview
Released
Released	November 2024	October 2004
Performance
Processor
Processor	Apple M4 or Apple M4 Pro	PowerPC G5 1800 MHz (Power Mac Late 2004)
CPU cores
CPU cores	10, 12 or 14	1
Graphics
Graphics	10-core GPU, 16-core GPU or 20-core GPU	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (64 MB)
AI engine (NPU)
AI engine (NPU)	38 TOPS	–
Memory
Memory	16 GB, 24 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB (better)	256 MB or 4 GB
Storage
Storage	256 GB to 8 TB (better)	80 GB
CPU
CPU	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	One 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5 with 512 KB L2 cache and a 600 MHz front-side bus. This is the new single-processor model; the dual-processor models also listed on the retained sheet are June 2004 carryovers.
GPU
GPU	M4: 10-core GPU; M4 Pro: 16-core or 20-core GPU; hardware-accelerated ray tracing	Stock NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64 MB DDR in AGP 8x Pro. Optional ATI Radeon 9600 XT 128 MB, Radeon 9800 XT 256 MB, NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT DDL 256 MB or 6800 Ultra DDL 256 MB. The 9800 XT and 6800 cards also occupy the adjacent PCI slot.
Memory type
Memory type	–	Stock 256 MB PC3200 DDR400 in matched pairs; four DIMM slots support up to 4 GB. Configuration rows keep the stock graphics and drive at base and maximum supported memory.
AI engine
AI engine	16-core Neural Engine	–
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	M4: 120GB/s; M4 Pro: 273GB/s	–
Storage type
Storage type	SSD	Stock 80 GB 7200 rpm Serial ATA drive. Two 3.5-inch bays, each with a 150 MB/s interface. Optional 160 or 250 GB drives, including two 250 GB drives. One optical bay with 8x DVD-R SuperDrive; Combo drive is optional.
Expansion slots
Expansion slots	–	Three open full-length 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots and occupied AGP 8x Pro graphics slot; no PCI-X on this single-processor model.
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
Screen	None built in	None built in
Connections
Ports
Ports	3 × Thunderbolt 4, 2 × USB-C, HDMI, Ethernet, headphone jack	3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	1 Gb/s	1 Gb/s
External displays
External displays	Up to 3 (better)	Up to 2
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E	–
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	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	USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and headphone minijack.
Back ports
Back ports	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	Two USB 2.0, FireWire 800, FireWire 400, Gigabit Ethernet, V.92 modem, optical Toslink input/output and analogue audio line-in/out. Three chassis USB ports in total, plus two keyboard USB 1.1 ports. AirPort Extreme 54 Mbps and Bluetooth 1.1 are optional.
External displays
External displays	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)	Stock ADC and DVI with included DVI-to-VGA adapter, supporting two displays. Optional 6800 GT/Ultra DDL cards have two dual-link DVI connectors and support two 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Displays; a second ADC display on the stock card needs an adapter.
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in speaker	Built-in speaker; optical and analogue connections for external audio.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	–	Apple Keyboard, Apple Mouse, USB extension cable, DVI-to-VGA adapter, modem cable and AirPort antenna.
Microphones
Microphones	None built in	–
Design and power
Type
Type	Compact	Tower
Weight
Weight	0.67 kg (better)	16.4 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	127 × 127 × 50 mm	206 × 475 × 511 mm
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	–	Maker height 51.1 cm, width 20.6 cm, depth 47.5 cm. Published reference weight for the single 1.8 GHz model is 16.4 kg, distinct from the carryover dual-processor models; weight varies with configuration.
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure.
Power supply
Power supply	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	–
In the box
In the box	Mac mini, power lead (1.8 m)	The October 2004 release includes Mac OS X Panther and iLife ’04. Apple’s retained specification sheet later lists iLife ’05; that later software listing does not change the hardware’s October 2004 first sale.