Apple Mac mini (2020)

And it's simply mind-blowing that you can now buy one for as low as $650 brand new or $550 renewed with this level of performance and reliability duri...

But that internal speaker is really the only thing that's truly disappointing about this machine.

Apple can optimize the M1 to the three chassis it is currently in - the MBA, MBP, and Mac mini - and can thus set their hardware to much more precise and tighter tolerances that AMD and Intel can only dream of doing. And their uarch clearly optimizes power savings by strongly idling cores not in use, or using efficiency cores when required. TL;DR: Apple has an impressive piece of hardware and their optimizations show.

For the money, it’s hard to find a compact desktop on any platform that outdoes it on performance potential, sheer elegance of hardware and software design, and user experience. With a new lower starting price and Apple's straining-at-the-leash M1 CPU, the Mac mini is far and away the most polished, potent tiny desktop in its class. Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox

After waiting a few months and then realizing that 1) the chip shortage is going to keep prices absurd on just about everything at least through the end of the year and 2) realizing that I was gaming far more on my PS5 than on the computer anyway I decided "fuck it" and replaced it with a Mac mini. There just wasn't anything compelling keeping me on the PC side.

Spending a few days with the 2020 Mac mini has shown me that it’s a barnburner of a miniature desktop PC. It outperforms most Intel Macs in several benchmarks, runs apps reliably, and offers a fantastic day-to-day experience whether you’re using it for web browsing and email or for creative editing and professional work.

And unlike in most other desktops, the Mac Mini's RAM is not user-upgradable. Apple's M1 system-on-a-chip integrates the CPU, GPU, RAM and other components for greater power and efficiency, but the downside of this integration is the lack of DIMM slots that would allow you to add additional RAM after purchase.

And unlike in most other desktops, the Mac Mini's RAM is not user-upgradable. Apple's M1 system-on-a-chip integrates the CPU, GPU, RAM and other components for greater power and efficiency, but the downside of this integration is the lack of DIMM slots that would allow you to add additional RAM after purchase.