Apple has launched its updated Mac mini lineup featuring the new M6 chip, with the base model starting at $899, a notable increase from the $599 starting price of the previous generation model reviewed in 2024. The new lineup retains the same compact five-inch by five-inch case design as its predecessor, weighing just 1.5 pounds, while introducing significant performance upgrades across both CPU and GPU capabilities.
The Mac mini M6 lineup offers two distinct chip options: the new M6 chip, featuring a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU, and the more powerful M5 Pro, which includes up to 18 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores. The two chips also differ substantially in memory capabilities, with the M6 supporting up to 32GB of RAM at 170 GB/s of bandwidth, while the M5 Pro extends up to 64GB of RAM with 307 GB/s of bandwidth. For users requiring even greater performance, Apple’s $2,499 Mac Studio sits above the Mac mini lineup, having replaced the older Mac Pro desktop line entirely.
According to Apple, the most significant upgrade in the new hardware relates to local AI processing capabilities. The company states the M6 model is 13.5 times faster than the M1 chip for LLM prompt processing in LM Studio, while the M5 Pro system delivers a 22.3 times improvement over the same baseline. Beyond AI specific workloads, Apple also reports general performance gains, with the M6 offering 2.3 times faster Excel spreadsheet processing compared to the M1 Mac mini, and the M5 Pro delivering 4.6 times faster performance in the same task.
On connectivity, the Mac mini includes two USB-C USB 3.0 ports on the front, along with an HDMI connection, a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet jack, a power port, and three USB-C Thunderbolt ports on the rear. The M6 model features Thunderbolt 4 connectivity supporting up to 40 Gb/s, while the M5 Pro configuration steps up to Thunderbolt 5, supporting speeds up to 120 Gb/s for faster connections to external storage and accessories. The power button remains positioned at the bottom of the unit near the rear ports, a design choice carried over from the previous generation. Independent testing found the M6 model to be measurably faster than the previous generation M4 Pro Mac mini in single-threaded performance benchmarks, alongside notable improvements in graphics performance compared to Apple’s own M5 MacBook Pro, reflecting continued generational gains in Apple’s custom silicon architecture six years into the Apple Silicon transition.
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