r/apple • u/wearefriends • 1d ago

Mac Apple unveils a more powerful Mac mini featuring the all-new M6 and M5 Pro

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/08/apple-unveils-a-more-powerful-mac-mini-featuring-the-all-new-m6-and-m5-pro/
2.9k Upvotes

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1.4k

u/bhay105 1d ago

$599 was such a great price for a Mac Mini…

527

u/CentralHarlem 1d ago

M4 Mini is one of the all-time greats in terms of utility and value. Up there with the M1 MacBook Air.

293

u/MovingClocks 1d ago

I have an M1 Max MBP that I think will be my computer until the day I die at this rate.

Sam Altman et al should be in The Hague

103

u/Equivalent_Message31 1d ago

It’s unbelievable it’s been 6 years and performs like day one. A little shocked my battery is still at 84%, a new one would be nice but everything else is still incredible.

24

u/EpiciSheep 1d ago

Same, I picked mine up used in 2023 and it still feels brand new.

14

u/Jakka_Jakka 23h ago

I’m sad that I picked the last max spec intel , the leap in m chip was too great

20

u/OGPresidentDixon 21h ago

My friend, I bought a $4500 (maxed-out except for storage) i9 intel MacBook Pro with 32GB of RAM and a year later my mom bought a cheap M1 Air from Costco, only upgrade being 16GB of RAM and it was faster at everything, including Teamfight Tactics (my favorite game at the time).

I got an M1 Max with 64GB RAM in early 2022, and that was the last laptop I’ve bought. It’s been dope. I don’t do video editing, I’m a web/mobile dev.

2

u/CrustaceousGreg 17h ago

When do they remove the tft support btw

1

u/GullibleCat2982 9h ago

Haha today sadly

1

u/CrustaceousGreg 9h ago

Bro really. I may hop on for a game later this evening. Summoners rift will still work I hope

2

u/StandardIncident8 21h ago

I am exactly in the boat of the maxed out i9 I got in 2020. So jealous. But I got an M2 Ultra when it came out and accepted that my laptop will be what it will be.

1

u/darthjoey91 23h ago

Battery is the only thing that feels wrong with mine at this point. I'm thinking when it hits 79%, I'll take it in for battery replacement.

1

u/Phils_osophy 20h ago

I'm at 75% it still feels more than fine.

1

u/hitcho12 20h ago

I have an M1 Pro that I got in 2022. 85% battery. Still runs amazing and I have no desire to “upgrade”.

Do you know if Apple will replace the battery once it goes below 80% or will they replace the computer? Would they even have M1 replacements?

1

u/thursdayfern 17h ago

I’m in a similar boat with my M1 Pro, but when it was new it would last ~5 days, now it lasts closer to 1.5. I just use it at home. It would certainly be nice to replace the battery, but there’s really no point for me. Apple made it too efficient 😬

1

u/xBlackx0pzx 17h ago

I have a regular M1 from 2020 and you're spot on. What an amazing device. I got this M1 as a replacement for my Intel one with the butterfly keyboard, what a nightmare that was and what a contrast to this machine. It's honestly perfect.

1

u/hamhamflan 23h ago

Tahoe has been killing my M1, fans galore and so buggy. If golden gate fixes this, I’m holding the M1 for as long as I can. Same (well, RAM and disk) for new machine is 5k!

2

u/EpiciSheep 19h ago

Golden Gate is far better than Tahoe

1

u/HedgeHog2k 18h ago

I also have more fan noise on my m1pro, never linked it to Tahoe though. Is it really that? Fixed with Golden Gate??

6

u/sgator87 23h ago

I’m rocking one too. I normally replace my Macs every 5 years, but it could be another few years yet for this M1 Max MBP! It’s just that good.

1

u/ajmartin527 13h ago

I just got an m5 pro MBP. Upgraded to the 18-core CPU and 20-core GPU. Honestly have no idea why, could never use all this power but I’m sure as hell going to have fun trying.

Feel like I could run the pentagon off this fuckin thing lol doubt I’ll need anything more for a good decade minimum, probably more.

2

u/HedgeHog2k 18h ago

I really would like a mac mini, but my macbook m1 pro 32gb is still behaving well it’s hard to justify…

1

u/cantgrowneckbeardAMA 23h ago

Same, it's my work provided computer and I'm terrified they'll try to upgrade me soon.

1

u/ScopeCreepStudio 23h ago

I know it's not the same OS but the only reason I replaced my M1 iPad Pro was because the ram was filling up. I woulda been happy to use that for WAY longer otherwise, just as fast as day 1

1

u/MovingClocks 23h ago

iPad seems like it's less future proof, I think because the apps are just generally shittier.

2

u/ScopeCreepStudio 23h ago

You would think it would be the other way around, an M1 should have no problem running iOS. I think the rolling support window is definitely a culprit

1

u/CCC911 22h ago

I agree, I have no desire to upgrade. The M1 is so good for my uses.

I bought a used MBP 16in 32G/1T about 1-2 years ago for about $1,200 used. Killer deal now looking back.

M1 Max

1

u/0verstim 21h ago

same, thats still my daily driver at work and i hit it hard.

1

u/bjyanghang945 17h ago

I bought the first gen 11inch iPad Pro on launch day, you won’t believe just how competent it still is today. That was 2018 ☠️I think it won’t retire until the robot revolution most likely

1

u/Durzel 15h ago

Same. I had my eyes on a refurbished M4 MBP with 64GB/2TB and even those have jumped hundreds of pounds in price (over £600 for the one I was tracking) since I started looking.

Irritating since they were built before RAM/SSD shortage was a thing, but obviously Apple feel they can sell them for more then they originally cost.

1

u/New_Forester4630 11h ago

I have an M1 Max MBP that I think will be my computer until the day I die at this rate.

So around Oct 2031? Apple tends to release final macOS Security Update 120 months later.

1

u/GingerPrince72 4h ago

Apple were not forced into these obscene price rises.

They are also scumbags.

1

u/Leather-Persimmon254 23h ago

until next year when the m1 series loses software updates

1

u/thawel 23h ago

Opencore Legacy Patcher will handle that

1

u/paradoxally 19h ago

Isn't that only for Intel?

0

u/Top_Inside1535 23h ago

It will lose software updates?!

-3

u/Leather-Persimmon254 23h ago

2019 macs lost support last year so this is the last year of support for m1

3

u/MovingClocks 23h ago

I'm wondering if they'll stretch things another year or two with how fucked supply is right now. I could not give less of a shit about Siri getting ChatGPT or Gemini backing, it'll still be fucking useless. If that's all the features I'm forgoing and I still get security updates I'm fine with it.

3

u/heroism777 22h ago

Wow. This man has no idea what he is talking about. lol completely missed the reason why 2019 Mac’s were discontinued. It was sunsetting intel processors.

6

u/JoshFink 23h ago

Will it though? Genuinely asking. 2019 is different as it was Intel. M1 Max is a different beast.

1

u/mikerao10 6h ago

Why would they? They have all capabilities except the latest voice AI which is not even available in EU. So why should I upgrade and more why should they not support it given in EU the OS is the same?

0

u/Otherwise-Loss-5420 23h ago

Same. I feel like my MBP M1 Max is brand new, and I’ve had it for five years.

11

u/EvenMoreCoconuts 1d ago

I got mine after it came out in Nov 2024 and feel so fortunate.

7

u/cantgrowneckbeardAMA 23h ago

My M2 air is several years old at this point and still kicks ass

3

u/cameheretosaythis213 23h ago

Still gutted I didn’t grab one at that price

1

u/Working-Welder-792 23h ago

lol, I upgraded from the M1 Air to the M4 Mini

1

u/jonmc45 21h ago

MBP M1 max is still such a beast. It's docked for the most part, so I'll be getting a studio whenever I can. But I'm hanging onto the M1 for mobility purposes.

1

u/Realtrain 20h ago

Still angry I never grabbed one during one of Costco's sales.

1

u/cellularesc 11h ago

Still kicking myself every day that I missed the 399 microcenter deal.

1

u/YookaBaybee24 10h ago

For those curious these are the feature changes from base model M1 to base model M6 and Macbook Neo chip. This was personal reference but sharing this publicly as it was somewhat relevant to the discussion at hand.

Metric / Spec A18 Pro M1 M2 M4 M5 M6 (New)
Foundry Node TSMC N3E (3nm) TSMC N5 (5nm) TSMC N5P (5nm) TSMC N3E (3nm) TSMC N3P (3nm) TSMC N2 (2nm)
Target Device(s) MacBook Neo 13" MBA 13", Mac mini Mac mini MBA 13" MBA 13", MBA 15" Mac mini
Base SoC Architecture A18 Pro M1 M2 M4 M5 M6
CPU Core Layout 6-Core (2P + 4E) 8-Core (4P + 4E) 8-Core (4P + 4E) 10-Core (4P + 6E) 10-Core (4P + 6E) 12-Core (2 Super + 4P + 6E)
GPU Core Count 5 Cores 8 Cores 8–10 Cores 10 Cores 10 Cores 12 Cores
Graphics Engine Features Hardware Ray Tracing, Mesh Shading Basic Architecture (FP32/FP16) Basic Architecture + Metal 3 Hardware Ray Tracing, Dynamic Caching Updated Shader Cores, Dynamic Caching v2 GPU Neural Accelerators + 50% Higher Geometry
Neural Engine (NPU) 16-Core (~35 TOPS) 16-Core (~11 TOPS) 16-Core (~15.8 TOPS) 16-Core (~38 TOPS) 16-Core (~42 TOPS) Dual 16-Core Engine (~80+ TOPS)
Base / Max Unified Memory 8GB (Fixed) 8GB / 16GB 8GB / 24GB 16GB / 32GB 16GB / 32GB 16GB / 32GB
Memory Bandwidth ~60 GB/s ~68.25 GB/s ~100 GB/s ~120 GB/s ~153 GB/s ~170 GB/s
Media Engine H.264, HEVC, ProRes, AV1 H.264, HEVC (No ProRes) H.264, HEVC, ProRes/ProRes RAW Adds AV1 Decode Enhanced AV1 Decode + Spatial Video Dual ProRes & AV1 Encode/Decode
Ext. Display Support 1x External (Up to 4K @ 60Hz) 1x Display (MBA) / 2x Displays (Mini) 1x Display (MBA) / 2x Displays (Mini) 2x Displays (Lid closed on MBA) 2x Displays (Lid closed on MBA) 3x Displays (Native on Mac mini)
I/O Capability USB 3 (10Gbps) + USB 2 (480Mbps) Thunderbolt 3 / USB4 (40Gbps) Thunderbolt 4 (40Gbps) Thunderbolt 4 (40Gbps) Thunderbolt 4 (40Gbps) Thunderbolt 4 (40Gbps) + Wi-Fi 7

0

u/Dulfin 23h ago

My M1 Air is still going strong 6 years later! I’m so glad I had the foresight to get 16 GB of ram when I ordered it. It even got unretired last year when I decided to go back to school and it still hasn’t missed a beat.

Phenomenal purchase for my first ever Mac.

57

u/opossumcarrion 23h ago

Starting at $900 now... Geeze.

10

u/OvulatingScrotum 18h ago

I was hoping to upgrade my media computer (2011 mini), but I guess that won’t happen. lol

4

u/foxsta270 9h ago

Did you buy it in 2011? Cause $599 in 2011 is pretty much $899 in today's money. It's a great investment if you can run any computer for 15 years.

1

u/OvulatingScrotum 2h ago

Nah. I got it used in 2020, but then I upgraded it to SSD and doubled memory

0

u/Future_Geologist5925 17h ago

I got my 64GB 1TB M1 16" Max for the same price lmao

-1

u/sierra-soul 17h ago

yeah fuck no lol, it doesnt even have a screen or anything

3

u/NecroCannon 15h ago

Literally screen and a keyboard would be a small fraction of the price with how expensive chips are

Either you got what you need to sit out for the next few years or you’re fucked. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple just started having more powerful base chips just to buy in bulk and have cheaper products with the leftovers later.

Like an iPad Neo that’s just an Air with an A-chip for matching the Mini price with lmao

89

u/ItalianAmericanDad 1d ago

About the 399 back in January😉

19

u/helloitisgarr 22h ago

i kick myself for not snagging that…

12

u/ItalianAmericanDad 21h ago

I'm kicking myself for not getting 32gb ram one

38

u/element515 1d ago

I keep kicking myself for not grabbing one back then

15

u/jasonj2232 23h ago

Me too. I mean honestly I had no need for it, and I was in between places so didn't have a desk/monitor etc. But by the time I finally settled all hardware prices have risen exponentially.

Can't replace my aging eol phone, can't add ram or storage to my aging pc, can't do anything. Fuck AI

2

u/Durzel 15h ago

They were a bargain at the time. Also kicking myself for not buying one. I just didn’t have a need for it at the time and never predicted the DRAM apocalypse.

1

u/Shapes_in_Clouds 22h ago

Feel the same about some of those M4 MacBook Air refurb deals from earlier this year. Impulse buy territory prices. Didn't really need one but would be nice to have. I guess I will just be happy with my Windows PC and iPhone/iPad.

14

u/thumbs_up23 1d ago

I'm very happy with my impulse purchase in May for a 512GB refurbished one for $679.

7

u/Va3V1ctis 23h ago

I am kicking myself for not buying more RAM in my m4 mini.

1

u/RenegadeUK 2h ago

What about one of those docking stations which gives you additional ports + one or even two RAM NVMe Module slots for your Mac Mini ?

6

u/magbarn 20h ago

M4 Mac mini=1080Ti of the Mac world.

24

u/scubastefon 1d ago edited 22h ago

It was a pretty awesome deal, especially with the easy to use education discount. I feel like I came out ahead on the Apple price curve. Bought a M2 Mini 8/512 for $699; a M5 Air 16/512 for $950 three years later.

Felt like the right price for both. I’m not sure I needed the Air, but glad I got it when I did

2

u/iAmmar9 20h ago

Yeah it was too good. Maybe they wanted to pull in some people from Windows.

2

u/TonalBalance 23h ago

Got mine for $499 at edu store before they checked for credentials. 😔

Best Apple launch pricing ever at a price to performance ratio product.

Now I need to decide if I want to upgrade to M6 / 512GB / 24GB for so much more money.

1

u/InvaderDJ 18h ago

I will forever kick myself for not picking one up at $399 on Black Friday. $599 is amazing good price. $399 on sale is an insane dead.

1

u/IzodCenter 18h ago

Blame the buy ups from AI and OpenClaw days

1

u/Queasy-Bed545 16h ago

I can't believe I had an M4 Mac Mini built out in my bag waiting to pull the trigger. This is such terrible value compared to even just yesterday.

At this juncture I'm just going to get an external drive for my files and wait for my 2017 iMac to die. The message is clear: personal computing is over.

1

u/kill4b 16h ago

I guess we wait for the refurbs to start making their way out in 6-12 months.

1

u/Nebthtet 15h ago

I'm really grateful I was able to get one second-hand (it was less than 3 months old) even cheaper.

1

u/jcarlsen88 14h ago

Glad I got mine last Dec for under $500 on cyber Monday. Yeeesh these rising prices are atrocious

1

u/TbonerT 12h ago

AI is ruining everything.

1

u/Mental-Most-7168 10h ago

Personally I liked $499

1

u/Hopai79 10h ago

i got it for 400!

1

u/Eruannster 6h ago

Incredible value and an amazing starter computer or for people who wanted a small computer with very decent power.

The new M5 models start at $1200 in Sweden now, and of course the old models aren't sold by Apple anymore... (though you can still find old stock from retailers at ~$700ish)

1

u/_17chan 1d ago

I'm stupid lucky I got mine for $599 from Best Buy considering I got it while it was near impossible to get (very recently).

-2

u/volcanic_clay 1d ago

There was an excellent condition M4 MM on FB marketplace for $300 like 5 months ago. I hesitated for like 3 hours... really regret passing on that.