Apple’s Redesigned Mac mini Has An Aesthetically-Pleasing Power Supply, With Components Aligned Horizontally To Save Space, Tiny Cable Power Entire Computer

There is now a multitude of content related to the teardown of Apple’s redesigned Mac mini, with a closer look showing that the compact powerhouse features a spiraling heatsink with a large metal plate, along with a separate tiny motherboard to house the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip. While examining these parts, we ignored the part that drives power to the entire computer; the PSU. The latest images show how Apple meticulously designed the components while also placing them horizontally to save on internal space. Additionally, the M4’s efficiency is such that the new Mac mini logic board only needs a tiny cable running through the power supply to fuel its innards.

In total, the Mac mini can receive around 150W of power from the unit, with additional juice coming from the bus bars

A teardown of the Mac mini was performed by YouTuber Quinn Nelson, who runs the channel Snazzy Labs. On his X profile, he posted two images of the device’s power supply unit below, and it is one of the most impressive circuit designs made by Apple. To make the machine as compact as possible, some incredible engineering went into the components’ configuration, with the YouTuber showing that the horizontal placement of the parts helps to reduce space.

You might have also noticed that the Mac mini’s power button is at the bottom, which can be difficult to reach. However, Apple’s executives, Greg Joswiak and John Ternus, revealed that this position was chosen to reduce the Mac mini’s footprint and that its placement is not difficult to reach as all it takes is the tucking of the finger. In a separate teardown performed by the YouTube channel Max Tech, we noticed that the entire Mac mini logic board is connected to a small power connector with a thin cable running to the power supply unit.

It is likely that the M4’s efficiency negates the need for such a beefy power supply, but Quinn Nelson rectifies that it is not just the thin cable doing the job but the bus bars on the Mac mini’s motherboard. In total, the power supply unit can deliver around 150W, which is considerably low compared to what other parts require to deliver more or less the same performance.

Another area that Apple nailed is the price. With the recent price cut on Amazon, you can get a Mac mini armed with an M4, 16GB unified RAM, and 256GB of storage for just $549. As for the 512GB version, you can get that for $744, with the M4 Pro version with 24GB RAM and 512GB storage available for $1,349.99 after a $50 discount.