The Mac mini remains the only true “small” Mac desktop. Design: A Familiar Face, an Amped-Up Core Apple’s own highly integrated system-on-a-chip (SoC), the M1 brings the Mac mini to new performance highs, and while a few fundamentals have changed, the peppy performance, the reasonable mix of connectivity, and a new lower $699 starting price combine to make it one of the best values in compact computers, period. The real update of this iconic little desktop is this one, and it's a big-band extravaganza. A slight variation on the same sheet music, played with little fanfare earlier this year, pumped up the two base models’ SSD capacity. The 2018 Mac mini was a PCMag Editors’ Choice pick for its pep, connectivity, build quality, and limited upgradability. The Mac mini doesn’t get upgraded often, but when it does, it makes an impact well out of proportion to its trim dimensions. Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security Software.