The new Apple M4 Macs are finally here.

Like many who were waiting for the latest Apple devices before making a purchase, you may be thinking about getting the new M4 MacBook Pro. It is a very powerful laptop and would definitely be a great purchase.

But what if I told you you could get all that power for more than half the price? This is possible with the new M4 Mac mini.

The case for the Mac mini: price

This week, Apple announced a slew of new Macs powered by its latest silicon chipset, the M4. All Macs powered by M4, from the new iMac to the Mac mini and the MacBook Pro, will be very powerful computers.

M4 Mac Mini
Credit: Apple

However, there is a huge price difference between the Mac mini and MacBook Pro based solely on portability.

Do you often travel around with your computer? No? Will you mainly use your Mac in a stationary environment, for example at your desk or in your home office? Yes? Then consider purchasing the new M4 Mac mini and save a lot of money.

The new base model MacBook Pro, powered by the M4 chip, starts at $1,599. This M4 MacBook Pro model comes with a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU, 16 GB of memory and 512 GB of SSD storage.

M4 MacBook Pro
Credit: Apple

The new base model M4 Mac mini has exactly the same specifications, but comes with a slightly smaller 256 GB SSD drive. The costs for the Mac mini? $599. That is thousand dollars of savings.

If you want the exact same specs, you can upgrade the M4 Mac mini drive to 512GB of storage, bringing the total price to $799. That’s still a savings of $800 and gets you the exact same computer spec-wise.

Put those extra savings into upgrades and you can get an M4 Mac mini that’s much more powerful than the M4 MacBook Pro you were going to buy, at no extra cost than what you initially wanted to spend.

If you’re looking at the more powerful M4 Pro chip, choosing the Mac mini over the MacBook Pro with the exact same specs will still save you $600.

Credit: Apple

The additional cost for the MacBook Pro is solely for portability. So, if you don’t regularly travel with your computer, why get a laptop?

Yes, the MacBook Pro also comes with a built-in keyboard, mouse pad and display. If you don’t have these at home, these are all additional costs on top of the final cost of the Mac mini. But many people already have all of these peripherals. And if you don’t, you can purchase them all once and use them for subsequent Mac minis if you want to upgrade in the future.

AppleCare+ is less burdensome on your wallet

There’s another potential for additional savings if you choose the Mac mini over the MacBook Pro, and that’s AppleCare. AppleCare+ covers damage, technical issues and support for your new Apple device for one year. For your MacBook Pro it costs $99.99 per year. For the Mac mini it costs $34.99 per year.

Credit: Apple

Furthermore, I would recommend that you don’t even need AppleCare coverage for their Mac mini, while for the MacBook Pro it is a must-buy. As a desktop computer, the Mac mini sits quietly on your desk. You probably won’t drop it or spill anything on it, like when you carry your MacBook Pro with you to set up a temporary workstation in different locations.

There are situations where you might choose the MacBook Pro over the Mac mini. If you know you’ll be traveling frequently and this is the computer you want to use, then the M4 MacBook Pro is for you. If you need the most powerful Mac on the market, the new MacBook Pro is currently the only device equipped with an upgrade to the M4 Max chip – at least until Apple releases the new Mac Studio M4 computers.

So if you’re looking for a fixed setup and a more cost-effective system, the M4 Mac mini is for you.