The tiny Apple Mac mini may be small and unassuming, but Apple's M1 chip (the first Apple Silicon processor for the Mac) marks a significant change for the small desktop Mac.

At an event on November 10, Apple announced three new Macs with the latest Apple-designed M1 chip, but for desktop users, the Mac mini was the star of the show.

This should not have been a surprising move, as Apple was already using the Mac mini as a development kit to introduce new hardware for developers, but Apple's latest innovation, the M1 processor, the first Mac in the Apple Silicon family updated Mac mini with a dedicated processor.

Unusually for Apple, the Mac mini is actually priced lower, with the new Mac mini with M1 selling for $699.

The Mac mini is available for order now and will begin shipping next week.

Externally, the Mac mini appears to be similar to previous compact desktops, with an overall square, unibody aluminum enclosure with rounded corners and a relatively thin design that has largely defined the mini PC category.

Apple briefly mentioned that the Mac mini's aluminum enclosure is made from 100% recycled aluminum.

The bottom of the Mac mini typically has a plastic hatch that provides access to the interior. The last Mac mini showed off the ability to upgrade the RAM inside, but upon closer inspection it was clear that Apple had not made this feature particularly accessible.

With the switch to new Apple hardware, nothing was said about the upgradeability of the new Mac mini.

On the connectivity front, the new Mac mini has dual USB-C ports, supporting both Thunderbolt and USB 4 connectivity standards.

Apple touts the new M1 chip as a quantum leap in overall capability: the eight-core M1 processor is a system-on-chip (SOC), combining functional chips such as the processor, memory controller, and T2 security chip in one integrated package.

It is also advertised as a "system-on-chip" (SOC).

The M1 chip also uses a 5-nanometer manufacturing process, which packs 16 billion processors onto the chip surface. This chip design is designed to squeeze more performance out of the processor without sacrificing battery life in portable machines like the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. Early performance leaks suggest a significant increase in capability, but it remains unclear what this will mean for battery-free stationary systems like the Mac mini.

Apple also touted the graphics capabilities of the new chip, comparing the m1 processor's integrated graphics to discrete GPU solutions used in other laptops. The chip incorporates an 8-core GPU capable of handling 25,000 processing threads at a time, which Apple claims doubles the graphics capability compared to comparable PC integrated graphics chips such as Intel HD Graphics

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The performance gains claimed by Apple range from improved graphics performance to a 15x increase in machine learning capabilities, making it ideal for math, science, and computer science applications. We will have to wait for actual testing to provide a clearer idea of what that actually means.

The Mac mini has a small built-in fan for cooling, and Apple promises that it will run nearly silent, even under heavy load. However, unlike the fanless design of the new MacBook Air, the M1 processor should benefit in performance from the presence of a cooling fan, making the Mac mini the most promising new Mac in terms of raw capability.

Early benchmarks show the new Mac Mini topping Apple's new silicon Macs, its M1 chip beating the Intel processors in other Mac machines, including the powerful iMac with its 10-core Core i9 CPU. Thus, the performance of the M1 chip looks very promising.

The Mac mini may not be the most high-profile product, but it may be the most exciting announcement in the new Apple silicon-powered Mac lineup. The desktop design is more powerful than the MacBook Air and promises at least as much performance as the new MacBook Pro.

Apple's Big Sur OS, which will be announced along with the new M1 chip, is the first Apple operating system tailored for the new Apple Silicon hardware. Big Sur includes all the usual Apple Mac applications optimized for Apple Silicon hardware.

Older applications designed for the older system's Intel hardware will work fine on Big Sur, thanks to Apple's Rosetta compatibility software. According to Apple, older apps may work even better on the new hardware than on the Intel processors for which they were designed.

But the biggest change introduced with the Big Sur and M1 processors is native support for iPad and iPhone apps on the Mac mini. While not all apps will immediately guarantee cross-compatibility, it is the new default for Apple apps and one of the more exciting features introduced with the new chip.

We look forward to getting our hands on a Mac mini as soon as possible to test and review it. But if even some of these claims are true, Apple's smallest Mac has made some major improvements.