Mac mini (Late 2018)
EDITORS’ CHOICE
APPLE HASN’T TAMPERED WITH THE OVERALL LOOK, RETAINING THE CURVED CORNERS AND SMALL STATURE OF THE PREVIOUS MODEL
From $799 From Apple, apple.com
Features 3.6GHz quad–core Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB 2,666MHz memory, 128GB storage (256GB tested), Intel UHD Graphics 630, 4x Thunderbolt 3 ports, 2x USB–A ports
After a four–year gap since the last model, there’s a new Mac mini in town — and it’s a more significant update than it might look at first sight. The first thing that leaps out, though, is the cosmetic change to Apple’s increasingly familiar and darker space gray — the only shade in which the mini is now currently available in.
Turn the computer around and you start to get an idea of the more meaningful changes, which are only to be expected after so long in the silicon wilderness. This is the first mini with USB–C ports — four of them, and they’re not limited to USB 3.1 transfer rates. Instead, all offer Thunderbolt 3’s 40Gbps bandwidth.
This brings powerful new expansion opportunities to the Mac mini. Arguably one of the most important is support for external graphics processing units (eGPUs), which we’ll come back to. And if you don’t have graphically demanding uses in mind, you can buy adapters to turn the ports into the USB–A type, though Apple’s own adapter will set you back an irksome $19 per port.
Got an old wired keyboard and mouse set? Don’t worry: the move to USB–C doesn’t mean buying adapters to keep using them. After all, it has
