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Apple · Local AI machineOlder

Apple Mac mini (M4, 24 GB)

Apple machine: Apple M4 (10-core CPU, 10-core GPU), 24 GB memory, 18 GB for the GPU, 120 GB/s memory speed.

80.0Score

  • #33 of 67 ranked
  • #7 of 11 Apple machines

Why this score

The score adds up these parts. Each part has a weight. A part counts as the average of its sources, pulled toward 80 when there are few sources.

  1. AI power

    50% weightcounts as 76.0

    Average of 2 sources: 74.0

  2. Experts

    30% weightcounts as 86.4

    Average of 3 sources: 88.5

  3. Users

    20% weightcounts as 80.7

    Average of 1 source: 81.4

Good: 4 reviews and buyer ratings.

80 is the field average. A part counts as 80 + (average − 80) × N ÷ (N + 1), where N is its number of sources. One source counts half of the gap from 80. No sources count as 80.

Price

€1420 at e-tec.at · Austrian shop

Apple Mac mini M4 10-core CPU / 10-core GPU, 24 GB, 512 GB SSD (MCYT4D/A), Gigabit Ethernet; page structured data: price 1420, NewCondition, InStock, ships in 2-3 working days. Cheaper but not deliverable now: MediaMarkt.at EUR 1,249 (Geizhals shows 'Lieferung in 31 Tagen'; search summary of the MediaMarkt page says out of stock). 24 GB exists only with a 512 GB SSD. Apple AT no longer sells the M4 mini (buy page lists M6 and M5 Pro only). Over the cap and dropped: M4 Pro 24 GB / 512 GB from EUR 1,713.28 and M4 32 GB / 512 GB EUR 1,789.88 (Geizhals).

Prices checked 9 Oct 2026.

Specs

Chip
Apple M4 (10-core CPU, 10-core GPU)
CPU
10 cores (4 performance + 6 efficiency)
Memory
24 GB
GPU memory
18 GBmacOS default Metal GPU memory cap of about 75% of unified memory (community-documented in devnote-override-macos-metal-vram-cap; Apple publishes no share). 75% x 24 GB = 18 GB. That page lists only 32, 64 and 128 GB machines, so the real default on 24 GB may be slightly under 18 GB. Raising the cap with sysctl iogpu.wired_limit_mb works but is unsupported by Apple, so it is not applied.
Memory speed
120 GB/s
FP16 TFLOPS
—
NPU
38 TOPS
OS
macOS
Software
MLX
Ethernet
1 Gbit/s
Thunderbolt / USB4
TB4
QSFP port
No
Idle power
2.7 W
Load power
62.5 W
Noise
45.1 dB(A)
Volume
0.8 L
Weight
0.7 kg
SSD
512 GB
Release
2024-11

Measured

No measured results found yet.

Notes

Previous-generation Mac mini that Austrian shops still sell new: 24 GB gives about 18 GB to the GPU but only 120 GB/s, so large models decode slowly. Near-silent at idle (24 dB(A) at 15 cm) but loud in a stress test (45 dB(A)), and Gigabit Ethernet only unless 10 GbE is chosen.

Notebookcheck tested a 16 GB / 256 GB unit (LPDDR5X-7500), not the 24 GB build; its idle range was 2.6-2.7 W (the table uses 2.7), load maximum 62.5 W settling near 57-58 W, noise 45.1 dB(A) at 15 cm in the stress test (24.1 idle, 30.3 maximum CPU load). Apple's own idle claim is 5 dBA sound pressure. TechRadar 5/5 and Tom's Guide 4.5/5 were read from search excerpts of the reviews, page not opened to the star block (TechRadar review dated 7 Nov 2024). An Engadget score of 90/100 appears only in a search summary of a newsletter and is not used. Geizhals user rating: 4.3 of 5 from 7 votes on this exact listing (the whole Mac mini M4 2024 variant group shows 4.8 of 5 from 81 votes). No LLM speeds measured on a Mac mini M4 24 GB were found; oMLX/Will-It-Run pages are 16 GB/32 GB community runs or estimates. Memory speed source: Apple support spec page: 120GB/s memory bandwidth for M4.

More reading:golem.denotebookcheck.comtrustedreviews.com

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