Apple Launches Mac mini With M6 and M5 Pro, Starting at $899

Apple has introduced a new Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro chip options, faster storage, upgraded networking, and new support for genlock. Preorders begin today, with availability starting September 22.

The M6 model starts at $899, while Mac mini with M5 Pro starts at $1,699. Both retain the compact enclosure introduced with the previous generation.

Mac mini With M6

The M6 configuration features a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU, adding two CPU cores and two GPU cores over the previous base model. Neural Accelerators are integrated into every GPU core, alongside two 16-core Neural Engines.


Apple claims up to four times faster AI performance, twice the graphics performance, and 40% faster CPU performance than Mac mini with M4. Storage performance is also rated up to twice as fast.

The M6 model includes 16GB of unified memory as standard and can be configured with up to 32GB. Memory bandwidth increases to 170GB/s.



Apple's testing includes up to 4.8 times faster LLM prompt processing in LM Studio than M4, up to 1.5 times faster spreadsheet calculations in Microsoft Excel, and up to twice the ray-traced gaming performance in Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition.

Mac mini With M5 Pro

The higher-end model can be configured with up to an 18-core CPU and 20-core GPU. It supports up to 64GB of unified memory and provides 307GB/s of memory bandwidth for larger local AI models, complex 3D scenes, ProRes RAW editing, and scientific datasets.


Apple says the M5 Pro model delivers up to four times faster LLM prompt processing than Mac mini with M4 Pro, up to 1.4 times faster ray-traced Blender rendering, and up to 1.5 times faster image processing in Affinity.

Connectivity

Both models add Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and 2.5Gb Ethernet, with 10Gb Ethernet available as an option. The front includes two USB-C ports supporting USB 3 and a headphone jack with high-impedance headphone support.

Mac mini with M6 has three Thunderbolt 4 ports on the rear, while the M5 Pro model has three Thunderbolt 5 ports. Both also include HDMI and Ethernet. Thunderbolt 5 can be used to cluster multiple M5 Pro systems for large on-device AI models.

USB-C genlock support is new, allowing a display and camera, including iPhone 17 Pro, to be synchronized.

Pricing and Availability

Mac mini with M6 starts at $899, or $799 with education pricing. Mac mini with M5 Pro starts at $1,699, or $1,599 for education. Both models can be preordered today in 30 countries and regions and will begin arriving September 22. Full configuration details are available on Apple's Mac mini page.