Apple is planning a brand new mannequin of the Mac Mini that can substitute the pro-focused Intel-based mannequin it nonetheless sells, in keeping with Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman’s Power On e-newsletter. A “high-end, M1X Mac Mini” is predicted “in the next several months,” and is alleged to have “an updated design and more ports than the current model.”

Apple launched a Mac Mini with its personal M1 processor late final 12 months, however that mannequin was supposed as a alternative for the entry-level machines, and consequently had fewer ports than the higher-end Intel model launched in 2018. The M1 Mini has two fewer Thunderbolt ports, solely one in all which can be utilized for an exterior show, though a second monitor can nonetheless be attached over HDMI.

If the “M1X” nomenclature is correct, it might recommend that the brand new mannequin makes use of the identical era CPU cores because the M1 (and the A14 Bionic chip used within the iPhone 12), however achieves higher efficiency by having extra CPU and GPU cores throughout a bigger chip. That was Apple’s method to designing the “X” processors for earlier iPad fashions.

The present M1 Mac Mini is a superb laptop, nevertheless it does have its limitations for professional use, and there’s a way that its design — just about unchanged since 2010 — might use an overhaul. Gurman has talked about the prospect of a brand new Mac Mini earlier than, and he now appears surer than ever that it’s truly occurring.