The Mac mini seems to be the Mac that Apple forgets about for years between updates. The 2014 model came out two years after the 2012, and the 2018 a whole four years after the 2014. It may have been a long wait, but the new model is a huge step forward from the Late 2014 Mac mini – in part indicated by it shipping in Space Gray instead of brushed aluminum.

There are two base models. The “entry level” model has a quad-core 3.6 GHz 8th generation Intel i3-8100B CPU, and the “better” model has a 3.0 GHz 6-core 8th generation Intel i5-8500B CPU, with Turbo Boost to 4.1 GHz. To support the extra power, the Late 2018 Mac mini has a 150W power supply, up from 85W on the 2014 model.

Where the 2014 Mac mini started at a very economical (for Apple) $499 with 4 GB of system memory and a 500 GB hard drive, the price of entry has jumped by $300 to $799. For that you get two more CPU cores (albeit without hyper-threading), a much higher clock speed, double the amount of system memory, and 128 GB of fast SSD storage. All 2014 models have hyper-threading, whereas only the i7 has it in the Late 2018.

The previous top end model had a 2.8 GHz dual-core i7 CPU, 8 GB of system memory, and a 1 TB Fusion Drive for $999. The replacement is just $100 more and has an i7-8700B 6-core CPU with hyper-threading, the same 8 GB of RAM, and a 256 GB SSD. The old Fusion Drive, which combined an SSD with a hard drive, is history.

Late 2018 Mac mini ports

The Late 2018 Minis ship with OS X 10.14 Mojave, support monitor resolutions to 5120 x 2880, have HDMI 2.0 output, include four USB-C 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 3/10 Gbps USB 3.1 ports plus two old style USB 3.0 ports with 5 Gbps throughput. The SDXC slot and FireWire 800 port on previous models is gone. For connectivity, there’s Gigabit ethernet (plus a 10 Gigabit option) and 802.11ac WiFi, along with Bluetooth 5.0.

Build-to-Order Options

Build-to-order options include doubling system memory from 8 GB to 16 GB for $200, to 32 GB for $600, and to a whopping 64 GB or $1,400, although third-party memory will be a whole lot less costly (with the previous model, memory could not be upgraded after purchase). 10 Gigabit ethernet is a $100 upgrade.

The entry level model can be ordered with 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB SSDs for $200, $400, $800, and $1,600 respectively. The better model has 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB SSD options at $200, $600, and $1,400 respectively.

For those who want more power, either model can be ordered with a 6-core 3.2 GHz 8th generation Intel i7 CPU with 4.6 GHz Turbo Boost. On the entry-level model, that costs $300, but it’s only $200 additional on the “better” Mac mini.

Other Details

This is the first Mac mini with Thunderbolt 3, which has twice the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 2 and four times that of the original Thunderbolt standard.

The Mac mini doesn’t include a keyboard or mouse. Apple says buyers can plug in their favorite USB keyboard and mouse – or buy Apple’s offerings. Mac OS X includes support for remapping the Windows Alt and Option keys to Option and Cmd respectively.

Details

• Announced October 30th, 2018
  .
• Apple model number: A1993 (EMC 3213)
  .
• Model ID: Macmini8,1
  .
• Order: MRTR2LL/A (i3, 128 GB SSD, up to March 18th, 2020)
  • MXNF2LL/A (i3, 256 GB SSD, after March 18th, 2020)
  • MRTT2LL/A (i5, 256 GB SSD, up to March 18th, 2020)
  • MXNG2LL/A (i5, 512 GB SSD, after March 18th, 2020)
  • BTO/CTO (i7, 256 GB SSD)
    .
• i3 model Discontinued November 10th, 2020
  • i5/i7 models Discontinued January 17th, 2023.

• Geekbench 4 Performance:
  • 64-bit single-core: 4684 (i3), 5155 (i5), 5682 (i7)
  • 64-bit multicore: 13971 (i3), 20291 (i5), 24254 (i7)

Mac OS

• Requires Mac OS X 10.14 Mojave (Build 18A2063) or later, is currently supported.

Core System

This Mac mini shipped with Quad-Core and Hexa-Core FCBGA1440 Coffee Lake 14nm CPUs. Only the i7 has hyper threading.

• Legend: L1i = L1 Instruction Cache, L1d = L1 Data cache
  .
• Chipset: Intel 300 Series
  .
• PCIe Revision and lane count: v3.0, 16 available on all CPUs
  .
• Intel Core i3-8100B ($799): 3.6 Ghz, 4 Cores, 4 Threads, No Turbo
  65W TDP, 14nm, Per-Core: 32KB L1i/32KB L1d, 256K L2, Shared: 6 MB L3
  Comes with: MMX, SSE 4.2, AVX 2, AES, EPT, VT-x, VT-d, MPX, SGX, SIP
  • Max dynamic iGPU UHD 630 clock: 1.05 GHz
    .
• Intel Core i5-8500B ($1099): 3.0 Ghz, 6 Cores, 6 Threads, 4.1 GHz Turbo
  65W TDP, 14nm, Per-Core: 32KB L1i/32KB L1d, 1 MB L2, Shared: 9 MB L3
  Comes with: MMX, SSE 4.2, AVX 2, AES, EPT, VT-x, VT-d, MPX, SGX, SIP
  • Max dynamic iGPU UHD 630 clock: 1.10 GHz
    .
• Intel Core i7-8700B ($1299): 3.2 Ghz, 6 Cores, 12 Threads, 4.6 GHz Turbo
  65W TDP, 14nm, Per-Core: 32KB L1i/32KB L1d, 1 MB L2, Shared: 12 MB L3
  Comes with: MMX, SSE 4.2, AVX 2, AES, EPT, VT-x, VT-d, MPX, SGX, SIP
  • Max dynamic iGPU UHD 630 clock: 1.20 GHz

Memory

• RAM can be swapped by the user. There are 2x 260-pin DDR4 sodimm slots.

• Default: 8 GB 2666 MHz PC4-21300 DDR4 SDRAM SDRAM
  • 16 / 32 / 64 GB options available

Video

• Intel UHD 630 1536 MB Graphics: 350 MHz Base (all).
  • Max Dynamic Frequency: 1.05 GHz (i3), 1.10 Ghz (i5), 1.20 Ghz (i7)
  • Max resolution on non-Apple hardware: 4096 x 2304@60Hz
  • Max number of displays supported: 3
  • 64 GB Max VRAM allocation, DX12, OpenGL 4.5
  • Dev ID: 0x3E9B
    .
• Display support on a Mac mini using the UHD 630:
  • 2 displays: 1x 5120 x 2880 @ 60 Hz + 1x 4096 x 2160 @ 60 Hz via HDMI
  • 3 displays: 2x 4096 x 2304 @ 60 Hz + 1x 4096 x 2160 @ 60 Hz via HDMI
    .
• External graphics cards (eGPUs) supported via Thunderbolt 3.
  • Avoid XFX GPUs as there are hit or miss reports the BIOS causes compatibility issues.

Drives

• 128 GB Hardware-Serialized (T2) Apple NVMExpress PCIe v3.0-based Solid State Drive
  • Link speed: 8.0 GT/s
  • Link width: x4 lanes, (4 GB/s theoretical, 2.5-2.9 GB/s real-world tested)
    .
• Available as configure to order options:
  • 256 GB (+$200), 512 GB (+$400), 1 TB (+$800), 2 TB (+$1600)

Expansion

• 4x USB-C style Thunderbolt 3 ports (up to 40 Gb/s)
  • Support for: USB 3.1, 3.0, 2.0, etc;
• 2x USB-A style USB 3.0 ports (up to 10 Gb/s)
• 3.5 mm Headphone Jack
• 1x HDMI 2.0 port
• Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 style connector)
  • Optional (+$99): 10 Gb/s Ethernet
• Bluetooth 5.0 (Broadcom)
• Wifi 5.0 (801.11ac)
• Power supply: 150W internal power supply
• PRAM battery: 3V CR2032 lithium

Physical

• Size: 1.4 x 7.7 x 7.7 in / 36 x 197 x 197 mm
• Weight: 2.9 lb./1.3 kg
• Colors available: Silver, Space Gray

Online Resources

• See: Online resources and links for the Mac mini (Late 2018)