A Mac Pro Mini, At Last?

Apple will release a new Mac mini in the relatively near future, according to reports this week. This would be a bit of a shock, given the timing of the release of the otherwise most recent release of a Mac mini – just this most recent December. The Mac mini M1 could potentially be joined this year by a tentatively-titled "Mac Pro mini" with a shape slightly more cube-like.

If you take a peek back at the February release of information on a new Mac Pro mini, it appeared with a design that was taller than its most recent predecessor. This new device would effectively be the most powerful Mac computer without a display but smaller than the Mac Pro, if it were released here in the present.

SEE TOO: Our Mac Mini M1 Review (December 2020)

We're a long way from the age in which Apple's big business was in desktop machines. Now the majority of Apple devices sold each year have their own display attached, be they laptop, iMac (all-in-one), smartphone, or tablet. It may be time for Apple to fill the gap left between the Mac mini and Mac Pro, at long last.

The MacBook Pro leak in April revealed a pair of Mac mini units in manufacturing tests. Given the details of said leak, and subsequent disappearance of said leaked information at the source, it would seem more likely than ever that Apple has at least one, if not two new Mac mini units in testing now.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is working on a new Mac mini with "the same chip as the next MacBook Pro." This new Mac mini is tipped to work with twice the ports included with the standard Mac mini, and this new machine may replace the Intel version soon, as Apple aims to move Intel machines out the door and Apple-designed M1 chips in for all.