Apple executives explain why the new Mac mini has its power button on the bottom, while also mentioning that users don't always have to turn it off

It took clever engineering to reduce the footprint of the redesigned Mac mini while packing it with some incredibly powerful internal components. Nevertheless, critics will quickly point the finger at Apple for certain decisions, such as moving the power button to the bottom of the case. While it can be inconvenient to power the machine, two Apple executives explain why this position exists and why it's not a big deal to the people who raised the issue in the first place.

Most Mac mini owners would never turn off their device, preferring to put it to sleep; Apple executives say the placement of the bottom power button was also chosen because of its smaller size

A content creator on Bilibili with the machine translated name “Film and Television Hurricane” discovered by ITHome spoke to Apple executives Greg Joswiak and John Ternus, who were asked why the Mac mini's power button was at the bottom. They replied that the reduced size forced the company to change its position, making it the ideal location. In a recent teardown video of the compact computer that shows a spiral-shaped heatsink, we noticed a separate tiny motherboard with a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, probably because it would take up a lot of space in the rest of the case.

Given that a second motherboard had to be added to the configuration, it's clear to see how much Apple and its engineers focused on making the Mac mini as compact as possible without compromising on performance. Apple executives also said that despite the changed location, the power button is easily accessible and users only need to insert their finger into it. Additionally, given the way Apple's software is designed, most Mac mini owners would choose to use the power button to put the hardware to sleep rather than shutting it down completely.

Waking a Mac mini from sleep is much quicker than performing a power cycle, but most critics probably like to blow these things out of proportion. Luckily, they can't blame Apple because of the $599 price tag for the base M4 Mac mini, which comes with 16GB of unified RAM and 256GB SSD. Even better is the deal on Amazon, which shaved $50 off this configuration and now starts at $549. The 512GB storage model is also discounted by $50 and is available for $749. The top-of-the-line M4 Pro option is also $1,355 instead of $1,399.

News source: Bilibili