While theMac Miniis nice to have for its small form factor and easy portability when you need it, it’s no secret it’s leaving a lot of functionality on the table. For example, the currentMac mini model has a pair of USB-C ports, a headphone jack, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, and an Ethernet port.
This means owners don’t have access to USB-A or a way to add more storage space. That’s whereSatechi’s Mac Mini stand and hubcomes into play.
Mac Mini M4 Stand & Hub
Satechi’s Mac Mini Stand and Hub is compatible with the 2024 M4 Mac Mini and adds three USB-A slots and allows NVMe storage expansion up to 4 TB.
Yes, the M4 Mac mini’s power button is on the bottom
Why is the new Mac mini’s power button on its base? Your guess is as good as mine.
Save some money as well
This little accessorysits directly under the Mac Mini, so it hardly takes up any more space than your device currently does. The Satechi stand is designed specifically for the 2024 M4 Mac Mini, the current model being sold, and it adds a slew of versatility. The front of the stand boasts three USB-A slots for your legacy devices, and there’s an SD card slot that allows for speeds up to 10 Gbps. More importantly, all the ports are on the front of the device, so connecting your phone charger won’t be much of an issue. The build quality boasts the same design as the Mac Mini, so it won’t look like you’re mismatching devices either.
Perhaps the biggest addition here is the ability to add an NVMe solid-state drive. Even if you spend $1399.99 on the most expensive Mac Mini, you still get a paltry 512GB of storage with it. The Satechi Mac Mini stand lets you add a whopping 4TB of extra storage. With the Mac Mini having such little space to begin with, this is a big upgrade for anybody who does demanding tasks on their computer like video editing. That’s what I would argue is the main selling point here, but it doesn’t hurt to get the additional USB ports either. Depending on the price, it could be worth a pickup even if you don’t add more storage.
Satechi’s stand comes out in spring 2025, so there’s still a lot of waiting to do.
Apple Mac Mini (M4, 2024)
Apple’s new Mac mini has been upgraded to the M4 and M4 Pro chipset. It also features a new, smaller design.
A price like that would be very nice if your main thing is increasing the storage space. To give an example, going from 256 GB to 512 GB is $200 on theApple website. If Satechi’s stand costs $100, you may pick up a 1 TB NVMe SSDfor under $100and get a lot more bang for your buck on top of the additional ports the hub adds. Keep in mind this won’t give your Mac Mini any additional power, so you’ll need to splurge for a more expensive model for an upgrade like that.
If you don’t have the newest Mac Mini but are still interested in the device, you can pick one of the older models up from Satechi’s website.This standis compatible with the 2023 M2 and M2 Pro Mac Mini as well as the 2020 M1 model. It costs $100 and has the same features as the one designed for the M4 model. The downside is that you’d have to buy a whole new hub if you get a new M4 Mac Mini in the future.
The M4 Mac mini is one of the best devices Apple has released in years
Thanks to its new sleek, small design and the M4 chip, the Mac mini is nearly perfect.
