[Pre Order] Apple Mac Mini M4 from $815.10 Delivered @ Apple On Campus (e.g. Australian Education Union)

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[Pre Order] Apple Mac Mini M4 from $815.10 Delivered @ Apple On Campus (e.g. Australian Education Union)
Go to Deal
Cashback
lordra on 30/10/2024 - 05:25 apple.com (9970 clicks)
Last edited 30/10/2024 - 05:30

10-core CPU
10-Core GPU
16GB Unified Memory
256GB SSD Storage
16-core Neural Engine
Front: Two USB-C ports, headphone jack
Back: Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI port, Gigabit Ethernet port

Variations
The 512GB SSD Storage is $1,103.30
The 24GB Unified Memory + 512GB SSD Storage is $1,391

The Mini M4 PRO with
12-Core CPU
16-Core GPU
24GB Unified Memory
512GB SSD Storage costs $1,967
This variation comes with Thunderbolt 5.

This is the Apple Education store for AOC AU Australian Education Union.
Price is cheaper than your regular Apple EPP.
You do not have to provide student ID or anything related to AOC, just check out normally.

Pick up in store or delivery on 8 Nov.

Computing Apple Mini PC

Related Stores

Apple
Apple

Comments

  • littlesoldier on 30/10/2024 - 08:53
    +2

    WoW… thats so good price
    tempted even I already have a Mac Mini M2 Pro…

  • kungfuman on 30/10/2024 - 08:58
    +5

    FINALLY THEY UPDATED THE MAC MINI!!!!! its about time.

  • kaikor on 30/10/2024 - 09:00
    +4

    Thos who paid $795 and bought the M2 mini must be very pissed off … For just $20 more this M4 is way better!

    • nzcoops on 30/10/2024 - 10:40

      Yeah, I got a 512Gb M2 ~5 months ago, ~$250 more than the better specced version of this.
      Criminal.

  • kungfuman on 30/10/2024 - 09:02

    when are they going to take 50% off the M2 model? :D

    • kaikor on 30/10/2024 - 10:29

      Only if they do the M2 for under $400, with the new smaller size, much faster speed & 16gb ram standard, of coz will take the M4, this will last for another 15 yrs !!!

  • kungfuman on 30/10/2024 - 09:04

    i noticed the event isn't going to happen they are just quietly releasing macs lol.

  • mr_me450 on 30/10/2024 - 09:13
    +4

    Just be careful ordering through the AEU portal; this idea that they never check eligibility is not true. It doesn't happen often but I've been ordering through the AEU site for 15 years and Apple have asked to verify my eligibility with AEU membership details three times so far.

    • kungfuman on 30/10/2024 - 09:22
      +9

      i remember last time all I needed to do was send them a letter saying I was enrolled in a uni so I took my letter from 20 years ago and changed the date :D

      • Soled Out on 30/10/2024 - 09:37
        +10

        My man. Once a scholar always a scholar

      • axyh on 30/10/2024 - 12:05

        I'd be reluctant to do something like that. It seems a bit iffy.

        I'll probably give this a go, and if they want to verify eligibility, I'll just tell them to cancel the order.

      • entropysbane on 30/10/2024 - 16:55
        +6

        Technically that is fraud. Not recommended.
        The police would have no choice to charge you, and you will have to go to court even though the DPP probably won’t want to provide any evidence to the court and you will get off.

        May or may not be personal experience

        • kungfuman on 30/10/2024 - 16:57
          +1

          I don't know how to tell you this but Australia was settled by convicts. If we can get away with something we will.

    • ironworthy on 30/10/2024 - 13:30
      +1

      I'm guessing if they get a sudden influx of orders they might look to verify eligibility. Or maybe they get too many orders that the profits are worth it

      • becku on 30/10/2024 - 18:10

        They got a sudden influx of orders because they released a new product

        • ironworthy on 30/10/2024 - 18:40

          But influx from the edu store will raise suspicions

          • DingoBlue on 30/10/2024 - 18:45
            +3

            @ironworthy: Oh no! Too much revenue!

          • becku on 30/10/2024 - 20:18

            @ironworthy: I mean when you released a new product you would expect students and faculties also buy them no? If they want to crack down on this they will do it much earlier

    • TightLikeThisx on 30/10/2024 - 19:52

      How did they do this?

      It says the offer is valid for parents of uni students. How are they supposed to verify this?

    • Eeples on 30/10/2024 - 09:20

      Isn’t it?

        • Eeples on 30/10/2024 - 09:40
          +6

          It’s not about feelings it’s about value for money. I would invite you to check out the specs.

          • The Almighty Dollar on 30/10/2024 - 09:47
            -2

            @Eeples: I did, and with 256gb on a desktop with no user upgradability I'd feel very ripped off. It's a shame, because everything else is excellent value for money, especially when compared to the 24inch desktop.

            • littlesoldier on 30/10/2024 - 09:55
              +5

              @The Almighty Dollar: no upgradability on storage used to be an issue for the early days
              but now with the super fast storage speed (using nvme SSD and USB 4.0 / Thunderbolt 4 interface)
              external storage speed can easily reach 1000MB/s read / write
              making it even working on files directly in external drive wont feels much bottleneck on speed

              Mac Mini series (M1/M2) worst spec were having the base model only comes with 8GB ram
              while in M4 it increased the base to 16GB which brings massive improvement

              • PennyPincher11 on 30/10/2024 - 10:11
                +1

                @littlesoldier: the storage might be a concern for laptop but desktop? Yeah nah you hook up and external nvme enclosure and get good speeds from 40gbps enclosures (Still not perfect) but with thunderbolt 5 it opens up more doors.

            • MrMoo on 30/10/2024 - 10:04

              @The Almighty Dollar: Can't you just connect an external hard drive to one of the ports and use that permanently?

        • littlesoldier on 30/10/2024 - 09:41
          +6

          Depends on your use case
          for example, If you are using it for video editing
          getting a Intel / AMD chip with similar CPU processing power (i7 / ryzen 7)
          and a mid-tier graphic card
          will easily cost you the same price or even more

        • kaikor on 30/10/2024 - 10:31
          +1

          For $800 i can bet this new mac mini will last me over 15 yrs, as good as my 2012 macbook pro I m still using right now, only thing is everything I got all usb-A, so need to have a lot of adaptors or hubs …

          • MikeKulls on 30/10/2024 - 11:00
            -5

            @kaikor: I bought 1 Mac computer, a Mac mini many years ago. It didn't last a year before I sold it and swore off Mac for ever. I can't imagine how you'd use any Mac product for 15 years. You really must be using email and a web browser. My 10 year old PC I can run a bunch of VMs, newish games etc.

            • axyh on 30/10/2024 - 11:40

              @MikeKulls: I'm typing this on a 2012 Mac mini.

              It's perfectly good for anything undemanding (web browsing email, general photo editing, document editing). In fact, it's the computer I use most.

              I have a nice gaming PC with a 4070, but it's loud and uses a lot of energy, so I only use it when it's time for gaming. I have a new laptop, but it's usually in a laptop bag. The Mac mini just sits here, ready for when I want to do web browsing, print some documents, check email, etc… it does that just fine, and as a result, it's the computer that gets the most use.

              • MikeKulls on 30/10/2024 - 23:41

                @axyh: I wouldn't say it's a full functioning computer. My 10 year old PC I'm not restricted with, I've run multiple VMs at once, kubernetes, video editing, recent games etc. My Mac mini was getting slow frame rate years ago just minimising a window. You won't be on the latest OS and no longer getting updates.

                • axyh on 31/10/2024 - 09:37

                  @MikeKulls: My 2012 Mac mini (2.3GHz i7, and upgraded with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD) is entirely functional and not slow at all. And it's running Sonoma via OCLP.

                  In terms of general, web, email, document and casual photo editing, it feels no different to my M2 Macbook Air.

                  Of course, it's 12 years old now, so it starts to slow down as soon as I fire up Affinity and open up a high-res image with multiple layers, and I'm not going to try to play any kind of demanding game on it. But I have other PCs for that. The main advantage of the Mac mini is that it uses very little power, is basically silent, and I can just keep it running, ready to wake up when I want to casually browse the web, print a document, or import some photos.

                  • MikeKulls on 31/10/2024 - 18:45

                    @axyh: I'd have to try it out, I think you guys exaggerate. My Mac was pathetically slow after only 12 months and I did all the upgrades I could at the time. There's no way apple would allow you to use a 12 year old Mac without some serious penalties. I'm guessing you don't have the latest OS and upgrades have stopped.

                    • axyh on 31/10/2024 - 19:20

                      @MikeKulls: I'm running Sonoma using OCLP. The exact same OS release as on my wife's M2 Macbook Air.

                      I've been running the latest OS this way for many years:
                      https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/

                      MacOS Sequoia works too, and I'll probably get around to upgrading both Macs to it over Christmas.

                      It all works fine. It really does. I'm not imagining it! And it's remarkable that a 12 year old computer (that has rarely ever been shut down) is running this well.

    • MikeKulls on 30/10/2024 - 10:53
      +3

      I hate apple with a passion and will never give them my money every again, but the price is ok. The issue I have is the poor ram and disk which can't be upgraded.

        • Eeples on 30/10/2024 - 17:27

          Did you check out the specs?

        • GregRust on 30/10/2024 - 18:38
          +4

          You’re being downvoted because you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.

  • mecusherb on 30/10/2024 - 09:24

    I have one of these - https://www.m-audio.com/legacy/profire-2626.html

    I'm not particularly savvy but can you convert firewire into thunderbolt and would this unit still work?

  • congo on 30/10/2024 - 09:28

    How much is the normal price?

    • JC1986 on 30/10/2024 - 09:32

      $999

      • congo on 30/10/2024 - 09:44
        -2

        Thanks, so around 20% discount.

    • Eeples on 30/10/2024 - 09:32

      $599USD.

      • Kanjus on 30/10/2024 - 10:07
        +2

        When you factor in GST thats the same net cost

    • AccessMax on 30/10/2024 - 09:44
      +2

      Normally if you go to Apple Store and walk out without paying it is zero dollars.

  • Gary Gary Gary on 30/10/2024 - 09:49

    I play Dota and rocket league, and need a work computer.
    This or the 4060 Techfast build?

    • almotions on 30/10/2024 - 10:18
      +8

      4060 all the way.

      I bought this 3.5k macbook pro at the start of the year and it still sucked to play dota on, I'd get stutter around 20-30% of the time and there didn't seem to be any fixes. Combined with other odd things that were uncommon but annoying like left clicking inputting as right clicking 1/20 games (so everything would be a ping) resulted in a lot of closing dota and restarting mid game. I also found steam to be, quite rubbish on Mac, the window can't be minimized and will always be in front of other fullscreen applications so I had to always remember to start steam when I was in the desktop window.

      Then I got this techfast 4060 build and I've had no problems at all playing dota and deadlock on it, + can run at higher graphics settings. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/838120

      There's ways to get windows and microsoft office for free via https://massgrave.dev - note, I'm not supporting or condoning this.

    • nicolascage on 30/10/2024 - 10:27

      4060 generally. m4 could be different this time

      • ezym0ney6 on 30/10/2024 - 10:57

        im sure you can find YTber reviewing this soon after it's released

    • mavis30551 on 30/10/2024 - 10:55

      Like the other comment I too spent a fair bit on a macbook pro for Uni, splashing out on a higher end model with extra GPU cores hoping I could use it for some light dota or other low GPU intensive games. Still runs pretty average tbh, and theres weird finicky issues as well like key bindings etc.

      Mac is great, but not great for gaming.

      Between this and the mini ITX build , 4060 will smash it for gaming.

      Form factor on this mac mini is tiny though, if that's your thing, for a similar price you could get an integrated Minsforum AMD box about this size with windows and should be better for gaming. Saying tha, the micro itx builds arent too big, but still tower over the NUC sizing. Something like this: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/868493

      Note - I havnt tried the AMD IGPU for gaming but have tried a mac for Dota specifically

      • jrowls on 30/10/2024 - 11:30
        +2

        Mac is great, but not great for gaming.

        totally depends what games we're talking about, tbf. 'mac bad gaming' is too broad for my liking.

        i run ckiii, civ, cities skylines, and football manager on my macbook pro and they run flawlessly and i get way more battery life out of it than i ever have running my games on windows laptops in the past.

        i know these might not be what people may think of when they read 'gaming', but i'm not alone in never playing anything like dota or whatever the kids are playing that might not run natively on mac.

  • BennyHe2018 on 30/10/2024 - 10:11
    +10

    Can stack with the Apple Gift Card at Coles right now:
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/872978

    Literally 10% back to your Flybuys account.

    The new Mac Mini base spec is priced well this time.

  • ezym0ney6 on 30/10/2024 - 10:13

    for $300 to upgrade from 256GB to 512GB HDD storage, i need to find a solid external 1TB for (about $150 for Samsung that i can see).

    Any other good external SSD recommendations?

    • pr3ggas on 30/10/2024 - 10:22

      Verify the differences in read and write speeds from internal to external if that matters to you.

      • ezym0ney6 on 30/10/2024 - 10:34

        Good point and will look out. Gut feeling tells me that $300 can be spent smartly elsewhere to get a better bang for buck if i want more storage.

    • littlesoldier on 30/10/2024 - 10:33

      Haven't tried it myself
      but you may find a USB4 enclosure and get a 1TB/2TB Nvme PCIe gen 4 SSD
      https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005007184834998.html

    • Caped Baldy on 30/10/2024 - 11:14

      Consider one of the Satechi hubs which are made for the mac minis and include extra IO.

      https://www.amazon.com.au/Satechi-Stand-Enclosure-10Gbps-Stu…

      • samba on 30/10/2024 - 13:02
        +1

        Link when they have a redesign that works with M4. That wont work here because the M4 has air intake on the bottom/different shape/etc.

        • Caped Baldy on 30/10/2024 - 16:55

          thanks for the correction. They've made it a lot smaller too.

    • mr_me450 on 30/10/2024 - 11:22
      +2

      Never had a Mac that didn't last me at least 6 years, and I work in film and graphic design so definitely not light use.

  • ostud on 30/10/2024 - 10:58

    Can anyone recommend a good monitor around $500 with inbuilt speakers to go work this??

  • djsteve00 on 30/10/2024 - 11:12

    This vs M2 Max Mac Studio is the Mac mini m4 a better buy?

    • littlesoldier on 30/10/2024 - 11:58

      Probably more comparable with a M4 Pro Mini vs M2 Max Mac Studio
      I will go with the M4 Pro Mini

  • Kontiki on 30/10/2024 - 11:22
    +2

    As always, idiotic price intervals between disc space options. 256GB extra? That will be $300 Sir!

    Of course this will be super special magical Apple-certified storage which warrants the price!

    • basketcase86 on 30/10/2024 - 20:15
      -1

      I bought my wife the base for personal and work use. The key is the M4, ports and 16GB. The storage inside is fine… use a tb4/usb4 external. This is insane value for 90% of people. If you “need” more you can afford an upgrade.

      It’s an easy “Apple is expensive” but this isn’t a windows box. If I was to upgrade the storage in a PC yes it’s easy. Now I’m 4 years deep into my gaming build and it have to replace the mobo, cpu and gpu for 2k gaming. The whole upgrading a PC is a bit flawed now imo you basically need a whole
      New system minus a storage and maybe ram. Maybe a PSU. Those new GPUs could maybe need bigger PSUs now. Each to their own but the internal IMO is a who cares thing now. You buy this for the ecosystem you get with the product and that insanely small form factor!!

  • jackthefrost on 30/10/2024 - 11:27

    Enough for Minecraft?

  • eddieaus on 30/10/2024 - 11:35

    No WIFI 7, deal breaker

      • dreamykitten on 30/10/2024 - 15:35

        No it doesn't.

        • littlesoldier on 30/10/2024 - 15:38

          oh yes, weird I saw a youtube earlier saying its WiFi 7 for the Pros

    • basketcase86 on 30/10/2024 - 20:16

      6E. Meanwhile 99% of users would only ever want straight 6.

  • kawara888 on 30/10/2024 - 12:03
    -1

    I wish it has some USB(A) port

  • rowdywabbid on 30/10/2024 - 12:19

    I had a lot of success running most of my stuff off an external nvme ssd. The most important thing is to disable Finder from scanning it and format it to apples drive system made for ssd's.

  • pull the lever on 30/10/2024 - 12:19

    Entry level Mac seems to be the best bang for the buck to performance. The top tier is getting into Studio territory (which will probably get updated tomorrow anyway).

    • aeon on 30/10/2024 - 12:35
      +1

      Rumours suggest MacBook Pro update tomorrow, no Mac Studio update till next year.

  • congo on 30/10/2024 - 12:32
    -5

    What is the % performance improvement of M4 over M1 and M2?
    Thanks

    • samba on 30/10/2024 - 12:47
      +4

      Are you confused about this comment box being the google search box, or chatGPT prompt…? Why expect people to do your research for you?

      • congo on 30/10/2024 - 12:53
        -2

        Can you trust the online reviews?

        • samba on 30/10/2024 - 12:55
          +1

          You do realise that this is a pre-order, and that any information that someone here gives you, they read online… right?

        • axyh on 30/10/2024 - 14:04
          +1

          I'd certainly trust a credible tech site over someone posting on a forum.

          • congo on 30/10/2024 - 15:46

            @axyh: You might be surprised, don't underestimate the people on OzBargain!
            Many tech websites could potentially have biases or provide misleading information. Which tech site do you trust and recommend?

    • netsurfer on 30/10/2024 - 13:16
      +3

      It is application dependent. Single core performance improvement is 60% better in Geekbench 6 (M1 vs M4), but drops to 22% in Passmark. So it is possible to manipulate the results. Obviously, if you have a 1Gbps NBN with M1 and someone else has 100Mbps NBN with M4, then will M4 actually be faster in Web browsing? Really need to know what apps you will be using.

      M4 iPad Pros have been around for some time now so some tests had been conducted. You can check them out to get a basic feel.

      There are also quality of life improvements. Thunderbolt 4 vs Thunderbolt 3 type of USB4 in M1, more external displays support (and higher res support), WiFi 6E (though it would have been better for M4 Mac Mini to include WiFi 7, guessing without needing a GPS chip, Apple has elected not to upgrade WiFi7). Front USB-C ports are handy as well.

      • congo on 30/10/2024 - 13:33

        I appreciate your insights. I currently have the M1 and M2 models and am considering whether the upgrade would be worthwhile. A 50% improvement sounds promising. The applications I use are standard ones like Office, Safari, Zoom, and Python.

        • netsurfer on 30/10/2024 - 14:57
          +1

          If your M1 and M2 are base models, then it is enticing to get M4. Double of RAM, AV1 encoding / decoding, no base model SSD bandwidth issue (M2). If your Python usage includes AI, then 2X RAM does help. On the other hand, if you have 16GB RAM models, most of the apps listed aren't exactly that demanding (and honestly M1 is already overkill for those apps (except python AI work)).

          It will come down to whether you are able to resist the temptation to upgrade.

          • congo on 30/10/2024 - 15:45

            @netsurfer: Thanks, yeah they are based model 8GB. I also use Python with AI. Thanks.

  • Brrrrt on 30/10/2024 - 13:43

    Might be day dreaming here. Just wished if there's an equivalent x86 rig (in price and hopefully performance) to these with a local retailer (well, amazon would also do) for a well known brand name.

    Wanting to replace the family desktop, I just couldn't take the chances with those random chinese nuc alikes esp since I'm buying it for me parents. cheaper big brand nucs looks too weakly equipped and ROGs too much of a premium.

    I don't hate apple except my parents sure don't know how to work a mac but they've been on windows since 20 years back so that's not an issue there.

    • netsurfer on 30/10/2024 - 15:15
      +1

      If your parents can benefit from a fully integrated Apple ecosystem, then Mac Mini certainly is a good buy.

      My parents hardly use a computer nowadays (they normally just use iPhones, iPads). They weren't impressed when I upgraded the family PC to use SSD 3 years ago (because they were used to iPhone, iPad's solid state storage speed). I bought an N100 el cheapo Mini PC for less than $200. It includes 2.5Gbps LAN, 512GB SSD, WiFi 6E (could be upgraded to WiFi 7) and can be powered by an USB-C charger. It even has AV1 decoding support.

      • Brrrrt on 31/10/2024 - 09:29

        Gotcha.

        So my parents (and I, really) jumped on the Apple train right round when iPod Touch 4 came out, so we do love our iPhones and iPads and use it to this day like yours. Just that for their work they've always had a windows (almost exclusively Thinkpads) and was happy with them. They are still working (in their 50s) so they still do need a 'proper PC' for WfH (mostly my mum).

        M4 is an overkill but definitely something snappy haha. I will see if they are interesting in learning something new (aha!) but dont think they would pivot their way towards a mac now, its probably too different compared to what they are used to.

    • snep on 30/10/2024 - 15:36
      +1

      Perhaps something like this? It's a barebones kit but pricing will quickly swing the way of the PC if you need more than 16gb/256gb. Performance looks somewhat behind the m4 but in a similar ballpark, likely ample for family desktop duties.

      • Brrrrt on 31/10/2024 - 09:22

        Looks good, cheers! Will now wait for a d5 ram sale haha

  • AliKay on 30/10/2024 - 13:48

    I want to understand when would someone buy a desktop Mac over a MacBook?

    Isn't it convenient to plug in the MacBook to a monitor when needed and then also use it on the go from anywhere in the house or outside? Curious to know as I need one for my highschool son so not sure which one to pick

    • SabreTooth23 on 30/10/2024 - 14:13
      +1

      It all boils down to your budget and USE CASE. Do you require a powerful machine and you need to work on a delicate pigment specific tasks for hours at the comfort of your home? With xdr display, then desktop mac will generally work better in that scenario. You probably dont want to regularly zoom in/out in your mere 16 inches screen macbook pro for 5-8 continuous hours of intricate photo editing. I'm not in that category but I know people who require these specific piece of machines.

    • axyh on 30/10/2024 - 14:13
      +4

      I have both. Constantly plugging and unplugging a laptop is a pain, especially if you have quite a lot of files on attached external storage. You need to unmount the external drives every time you want to take the laptop anywhere, and when it's plugged in, it takes up a whole lot more desk space than a small desktop computer like the Mac mini.

      With a desktop device, you can just leave it plugged in, attach storage, and use it as a primary machine at home. Then the laptop just gets used when you need portability.

      But for school work, a laptop makes a whole lot of sense. It can be used anywhere. That's one use-case where a laptop seems like a no-brainer.

      • AliKay on 30/10/2024 - 14:57
        +1

        Yes thank you. I think at school age a laptop is better. Desktop probably will make more sense when in uni for advanced assignments or if work related

      • skittlebrau on 30/10/2024 - 15:22

        I have both. Constantly plugging and unplugging a laptop is a pain
        If you have a USB-C or Thunderbolt dock, then you can reduce the cables down to a single one at least — the Macbook does need to get charged at some point anyway.

        I have all of my projects hosted on a NAS, so file access is over 10Gb ethernet and it seamlessly falls back to WiFi when unplugged without needing to unmount network shares. If I'm leaving the house, then I just need to make sure I either sync my working folders to internal disk if they're large (by default I work this way for better disk latency) or use cloud sync while offsite.

        If I had the budget, I'd have a Mac Studio and a MacBook Pro M* Max like you described however.

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