Apple launches new Mac mini with M6 chip at $899, ending its budget-friendly reputation
Apple's latest Mac mini, equipped with an M6 processor, starts at $899 and offers modest performance gains, but its higher price marks a shift away from the model's previous value positioning.
Apple introduced an updated Mac mini that ships with its new M6 system-on-chip and a starting price of $899, up from the $599 baseline of the previous generation. The compact desktop retains the five-inch square chassis and a weight of about 1.5 pounds, but the price increase has reduced its appeal as a low-cost option for casual users and small-scale servers.
The M6 model features a 12-core CPU and GPU and supports up to 32 GB of RAM with 170 GB/s bandwidth. A higher-end M5 Pro variant is also available, offering up to 18 CPU cores, 20 GPU cores, 64 GB of RAM and 307 GB/s bandwidth, but at a substantially higher cost. Apple says the M6 delivers 13.5 times faster large-language-model prompt processing than the original M1, while the M5 Pro is 22.3 times faster. In more conventional workloads, the company claims a 2.3-fold speed increase for spreadsheet tasks on the M6 and a 4.6-fold increase for the M5 Pro.
The device provides two front-facing USB-C ports, an HDMI output, a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet jack, a power connector and three rear Thunderbolt ports. The M6 uses Thunderbolt 4 (up to 40 Gb/s), whereas the M5 Pro employs Thunderbolt 5 (up to 120 Gb/s). Review testing showed the M6-equipped unit was about 16.5 % faster than the prior M4 Pro Mac mini in single-threaded Geekbench 6 scores, and roughly on par with the M5 MacBook Pro in multi-threaded performance.
In everyday use, the reviewer noted smooth operation with multiple browser tabs, video calls, and photo editing, and reported no audible fan noise during typical tasks. Gaming benchmarks recorded 55 fps at 1080p in Cyberpunk 2077 and 70 fps at 1440p in Lies of P on default settings. Video transcoding of a 4K clip to 1080p took 18 seconds, marginally faster than comparable Apple laptops and faster than some high-end Windows workstations.
While the new Mac mini continues to offer strong performance in a tiny form factor, its higher entry price and the removal of lower-cost configurations mean it no longer serves as the budget-oriented desktop it once was.