William Gallagher
Countering the chief criticism of the original M1 Mac mini, the new M2 Pro model has improved connectivity with four Thunderbolt ports, at least on parity with the 2018 Intel model.
Despite all of the radical improvements that moving to Apple Silicon brought to the Mac mini, AppleInsider argued that its connectivity was potentially a reason to hold off buying. Specifically, where the 2018 Intel Mac mini had four Thunderbolt 3 ports, the 2020 M1 model had a pair of USB4 ports, which are compatible with Thunderbolt 3.
"For those 'Pro' folks driving a 2018 Mac mini, we say wait," said the review. "[Wait] until the first inevitable chassis redesign ... and you'll get a bit more maturity in the hardware."
Obviously, there isn't yet a chassis redesign, but the maturity remark stands.
Now the new M2 Mac mini comes in an M2 Pro configuration that restores four ports — and each is Thunderbolt 4. And, that model supports three monitors, with two on the Thunderbolt ports, and one on HDMI.
The previous limitation is one of the reasons why there are countless Mac mini docks, like the Satechi Thunderbolt 4 Dock. At least for M2 Pro Mac mini users, there should be little to no need for such accessories.
Andrew Orr
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Wesley Hilliard
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4 Comments
Dammit, Apple. Sneaking this out while I wasn't paying attention.
Just ordered one of these, the lack of ports on the M1 has been causing me some problems, but I've struggled by so far. I'm more excited about seeing what the M2 Pro can do.
I'd also say having 4 TB 4 ports doesn't really remove the need for hubs and docks. I still have more USB peripherals than there are ports on this thing, especially taking into account that I need one of the TB ports for my second monitor, and the other one for TB storage. Anyway, I have at least until the 8th of February (I upped it to 32GB RAM) to force Time Machine to back up the M1 before it arrives.
I plan to use this m2 pro mini velcroed to the back of my Dell Ultrasharp 4K 27 inch display. It has ports galore in a built in dock which combined with this should be more than I need (dangerous statement I admit) but keep everything tidy.