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Thunderbolt ports can optionally provide power, up to 100 watts.

Does the Mac mini (2018) provide any power over any of its four Thunderbolt ports? If so, how many watts? On which of the 4 ports?

The Apple specifications page does not provide this important detail.

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  • Just a quick comment since I'm only on my iPhone, but yes they do provide power. Not 100% sure on the specific watts for the Mac mini, so will have to check on that when I get a chance.
    – Monomeeth ♦
    Commented Sep 4, 2019 at 6:15
  • What Thunderbolt device are you looking to power? The max power draw of the Mini is 150W. The previous model drew 85W, and the difference is due to the CPU. So you're not going to get anything close to 100W. I'd guess it would be around the 10W mark, which is what the USB-C uses to charge an iPhone.
    – benwiggy
    Commented Sep 4, 2019 at 6:40

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The Thunderbolt 3 standard distinguish between two types of supplying power over the connection - either for "charging" or for "bus-powered devices".

The standard supports up to 100 watts for charging, which is it what you refer to. This is usually only supported by dedicated chargers or docking stations meant to charge laptops.

The minimum requirement of the Thunderbolt 3 standard however is that the computer must be able to provide 15 watts of power to "bus-powered devices". As far as I know, this is exactly what is supported by the Mac Mini.

If you're interested in a specific device connected to your Mac Mini, you can open up System Report where it is reported exactly how much power (in mA) that is provided to the device, and how much is available for that device.

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