The Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock gives your computer great legacy connectivity, two SSD slots, and uses Thunderbolt. For once, an affordable M4 Mac mini dock that isn't bandwidth starved.
We do a lot of dock reviews here, for good reason. There are a lot of them, and a lot of recommendations from you, the user.
We've had multiple requests for one in particular — the Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock.
It's an interesting concept. Just a bit larger than the M4 Mac mini, the "dock" contains the Mac mini and wraps it in a well-ventilated aluminum shell that's clad in ports.
Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock review - assembly, and Mac mini insertion
The Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock could operate without a Mac mini inserted. That defeats the purpose of the product, though.
A Torx screwdriver is included to disassemble the unit, which is a nice touch. We're ready for Philips head screws to go extinct on products like this.
The side door contains a pair of M.2 slots for the SSDs, and there are thermal pads included in the package.
Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock review: Accessing storage
Toss your own SSDs in there, put on the thermal pads, and fasten the door back on. Simple.
Don't do what I did initially — instead of removing the top four screws, remove the bottom four. The Mac mini inserts from the bottom of the unit.
Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock review: Where the Mac mini goes
Once in, the bottom feet screw back in, and you're good to go, with a power button now on a sane side of the unit. A short cable is included, which connects from any rear Thunderbolt port to the host port on the dock.
Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock review - ports and connectivity
Three USB-A 10Gbps ports handle external drives, audio gear, and peripherals. Each provides up to 4.5W of power.
Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock review: Front ports
The performance of these three ports varies a bit, depending on what you're asking of them. They provide 4.5W of power, which is a little low for some external peripherals, but keyboards, mice, and external SSDs should be fine.
Still, we recommend external power for drives connected to a hub, regardless of manufacturer. If you have a bandwidth-crucial drive, connect it directly to the Mac mini.
Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock review: Rear ports
Two DisplayPort outputs will drive up to 4K 144Hz refresh with one display connected, or two 4K with a 60Hz refresh rate. A third monitor can be connected directly through the Mac mini HDMI or a USB-C port, as needed.
The top of the unit has SD/TF 4.0 slots with transfer speeds up to 312 megabytes per second, streamlining photo and video workflows. I didn't quite hit that, with max speeds topping out at 220 megabytes per second.
I didn't see any attenuation of Wi-Fi while testing. It's under a metal mesh, but that's far more radio-permeable than a slab of metal next to the Wi-Fi antenna.
ACASIS 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock review - storage
The main selling point for the Acasis Mac mini M4 dock is the storage slots. The package contains everything you need, with thermal pads, screws, and so forth to connect the drives.
Each slot is capable of 20 gigabits per second, supporting RAID 0, RAID 1, JBOD, or single-drive configurations, all selected in software. The company says that RAID 0 can hit up to 40Gbps throughput, which would make it ideal for 4K editing and 3D rendering.
Without displays connected, we managed 2,400 megabytes per second read and write to a pair of 1TB M.2 drives. It's not quite so speedy when displays are connected through the dock.
When running dual monitors via DisplayPort, we found that RAID 0 array speeds slowed to about 1,500 megabytes per second read and write. This is the nature of a 40-gigabit connection, and is expected.
Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock review - Nice but not great with connectivity
If you absolutely need a Mac Studio, you've already bought one. The M4 Mac mini, pro or not, is an excellent machine, but it lacks the robust I/O of the larger cousin.
The Acasis Mac mini M4 Dock is a bit more than a hub — it's a Mac mini-based workstation enhancer. Between RAID storage, triple-display capability, and good legacy connectivity, it's tailored for video editors, designers, streamers, and anyone needing Mac Studio-like expansion at a fraction of the cost.
For the cost of one Thunderbolt port, you get DisplayPort, well faster than 10 gigabit per second SSD speed, another USB-C port, card readers, and three USB-A ports.
The only tradeoff is minor bandwidth balancing under heavy dual-monitor and RAID loads. But for most users with Pro workflows and a Mac mini budget, it's a top-tier upgrade that costs less than most Thunderbolt docks, and has slots for storage to boot.
We'd like to be able to remove the Mac Pro styling without a hacksaw and just use it as a metal box, but it's attractive enough to sit on your desk, or under your TV as a media server.
Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock review — Pros
- Good balance of cost and features
- Two SSD slots
- Simple installation, without Philips head screws
Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock review — Cons
- Expected speed drops from the SSD when you're slamming the dock with IO
- Mac Pro design nods are cute, but unnecessary and not removable
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
For not much more money than a 10-gigabit USB-C hub and dock with SSD storage, you can get the Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock. It's faster, it has more ports, and those SSD slots are very nice.
And, it slips in a travel bag pretty well, without needing an external power supply like most Thunderbolt docks. I highly recommend this one.
Where to buy the Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock
The Acasis 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock is available from Acasis directly, priced at $169. It's also available from Amazon for $169.99.
