I've seen the M1 Mac Mini teardown, and this new model has retained the same footprint as its Intel predecessor despite it looking like much less space was needed. I really look forward to a much smaller mac mini version in the future.
Eh...why make it smaller when you can give it room for extra storage? In the 'old days' I'd have also mentioned giving it room for extra memory too. :(
So yeah, if we're in the universe where there's zero expandability, and their silicon is super powerful with low heat requirements, I guess they may as well make it smaller.
I say that not to excuse Apple, but perhaps some others are like me and are surprised at how fast the portable models have gotten.
Storage has been external for years now. None of the upgradable internals need a large footprint.
Cooling though. Give me a bigass heatsink and a fan.
Benchmarks for things I care about like large compiles haven't really come out yet, so I'm waiting for final judgment.
https://twitter.com/panzer/status/1328700636926332928 https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/17/yeah-apples-m1-macbook-pro...
Also, I'd far rather they added an M.2 storage slot (or 2!) rather than making their already small device even smaller.
That said... a fanless, USB-C powered mini of any size would also be A+ as well.
or, maybe they've got a 'Mac Mini Pro' coming using whatever chip they're cooking up for the high-end Mac Book Pro and iMac Pro.. or maybe even more than one of those chips. So in that eventuality they want to maintain the bigger case footprint and much-bigger-than-needed power supply.