Apple Explains Why the Power Button for the Mac Mini (2024) Is on the Bottom: You Hardly Need to Use It Anyway

The new Mac Mini, powered by the Apple M4 chip, has undergone a design overhaul. Compared to its predecessor, the latest Mac Mini is smaller in size and has ditched the USB-A ports entirely for USB-C connections, yet it surprisingly retains the 3.5mm headphone jack, placed conveniently at the front.

Unexpectedly, Apple has moved the power button to the very bottom of the device, meaning users might need to lift the Mac Mini to press the power button.

This unusual design choice sparked controversy, to which Apple actually responded. In an interview with Hurricane Film, John Ternus, Apple's Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, and Greg “Joz” Joswiak, Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, shared their reasons.

They explained that the new Mac Mini's reduced size necessitated finding the most suitable place for the power button, which turned out to be the bottom. Given the device's compactness, reaching under to press the button is quite convenient. More importantly, they argued, you almost never need to use the power button on a Mac.

This rationale aligns with previous speculations. MacBook users, for instance, are accustomed to simply closing their devices without shutting them down. The Mac Mini operates on the same principle; it automatically enters sleep mode after a period of inactivity, eliminating the need for manual shutdowns.

From this perspective, positioning the power button at the bottom doesn't pose much of an issue, especially if the device is set to automatically sleep when used as a primary machine or as a soft router, which would not require shutting down at all.

Moreover, for those who find lifting the device to power it on cumbersome, the option of Wake on LAN (WOL) is available. By installing a compatible app on a smartphone, users can remotely wake the Mac Mini with a magic packet if it's been shut down.