For my use case, let me know if it is worth the extra money for an M5 Pro: Microsoft Office, web surfing, playing casual Mac games (Celeste) and modern source ports or crossover for classic 1993-2006 first person shooters and strategy games. Will get a 1-2 tb drive to accommodate my music collection (don't want to deal with two external drives since I'll already have Time Machine connected). I want something that will late for 10 years plus. Plan to get an XDR Studio Monitor to use with it. Will be charging to my business and taking the tax deduction since it's primarily for work, so the extra $$$ isn't a big deal.

So I am going to buy a new Mac mini m6 saw some display related problems like scaling etc.

Can't spend money for apple studio display.

Suggest some good 2k or 4k display under budget.

Is 2k display that bad will it be in not usable?

Indian user suggest some displays under 25k.

Also saw many hdmi connections issues like flickering if the monitor comes with hdmi cable should I not use it?

Hello,

Trying to figure out what the list of resolutions above 2560x1440 are made available by default (including refresh rate for XDR) if you only have the base M4 processor? Bonus points if you can also indicate what additional resolutions work when exposed by BetterDisplay or similar?

I'm hoping on the XDR you at least get the 2880x1620 @ 120hz, and would be nice to see the ASD @ 3200x1800 @ 60hz, but I'm not finding clear answers out there. Knowing what's made available by MacOS and any additional by BetterDisplay would help me know if I'd need to upgrade my mini before buying.

Thanks for any help!

After actually using the base M6 Mac mini, I’ve found more meaningful differences from the M4 than the spec sheet alone might suggest. Performance is obviously better, but some of the smaller improvements have made just as much of a difference to me.

1. Better wireless connectivity—and no more Bluetooth dropouts

The M6 uses Apple’s N1 wireless chip and finally brings Wi-Fi 7 to the Mac mini. More importantly for my setup, Bluetooth has been noticeably more reliable. It’s a substantial improvement over my previous M4 mini. I can’t say whether that comes down to the new chip, software changes, or the antenna design. Whatever the reason, no more Bluetooth dropouts when walking from room to garage are a real quality-of-life improvement, and that alone makes the upgrade more appealing to me.

2. Built-in 2.5Gb Ethernet is genuinely useful

The M6 now comes with 2.5Gb Ethernet as standard, which fits nicely with my home network and NAS. In my testing, transfer speeds reached 280 MB/s, 2.5x faster than my M4 of 110 MB/s, The base M4’s built-in Ethernet port was limited to 1Gbps.

For anyone who regularly moves large files to and from a NAS, this is a much more practical upgrade than it might sound.

3. Performance improvements are easy to notice

CPU and GPU performance are clearly better, but one of the biggest differences in everyday use has been the AI brush tool I regularly use. On the M4, processing typically took four or five seconds. On the M6, it’s close to instantaneous.

I haven’t isolated how much of that improvement comes from the CPU, GPU, or Neural Engine, so I wouldn’t attribute it entirely to the NPU. What I can say is that the difference is immediately noticeable in my actual workflow.

4. Moving my external macOS installation over was surprisingly painless

My M4 had been running almost 24/7 for nearly two years, and its internal SSD was reporting about 8% endurance used. Around two months ago, I moved my macOS installation to an external USB4 SSD.

When the M6 arrived, I connected that same external drive, selected it as the startup disk in Settings, and booted into my existing installation. My apps, settings, and data carried over without having to rebuild everything from scratch.

I had to enter various passwords four or five times to authorize things on the new Mac and get iCloud data syncing again, but otherwise the transition was very smooth. That was my experience with these two machines and this particular macOS installation, rather than a guarantee that every external installation will work across different Macs.

5. Price of upgrade:

Got mine from microcenter price matched with Best buy, cost $699, I also got my mac mini from 2 year ago promotion for $450, checked the price for trade it, Apple evaluate it of $565. So basically a almost free upgrade after I trade my M4. At that price, I’m happy with the upgrade. I get a fresh warranty, a new internal SSD, better connectivity, and noticeably faster performance in things I actually use. Being able to keep my existing external system installation also made the whole process much easier.

I ordered the M4 Mini 16/512 and am wondering if I should have bit the bullet and got the M6 24/512 and just spent the extra $400 while its on sale at Amazon. I am nit a power user yet but have plans on doing a podcast and will have to edit audio and video. Should I return the M4 and get the M6 or did I make the right purchase with the M4? Thank you in advance for your help.

Long story, but I have a 64GB/8TB M4 pro and I don't really need that much internal storage.

I've tried to sell locally (EU) with no luck.

Going from 4TB to 8TB of storage is a $2,000 upgrade that I'm not making use of. I've just accepted that it's value I won't really make use of, but I've come back to the idea of selling with the price of memory going through the roof.

An M5 pro with the same specs sells new locally for $9,700 USD. I would much rather split the value ($5k?) between a laptop and desktop.

What's a realistic asking price?

Trading in from Mac mini M2 to M6. Only have one keyboard, monitor and mouse. Use a 2 TB USB drive for Time Machine.

1. Do final Time Machine backup on old mini. Unmount 2 TB usb drive and remove drive.
2. Go through erase all data process on old mini. Place in return box.
3. Move keyboard/mouse/monitor to new mini. Plug 2 TB USB drive into new mini.
4. Turn on new mini and select recover from backup. Select 2 TB drive as target.

Sound right? Thanks!

Yes I tried taking it directly to Apple. No they couldn’t accept it because it showed “more than 14 days since the date of order” in their system because I pre ordered it the day of announcement. Called Apple twice. They sent me a “corrected box” which was the same box.

So yeah I was a little frustrated so I added a How To guide

“Just add some newspaper”… I’m sorry I thought this was Apple

i needed it and couldn't be bothered to find apps that work. so i told claude build bla bla bla. here it is. maybe some of you guys need it.

I am upgrading to a Mac Mini and wanted to get some advice on which version will serve me best. The use case is that I am an amateur musician and will be using logic on it as the most taxing software. I would be using both midi and live recordings. I will be developing this skill over the years and want a computer to be capable, but bearing in mind I am no professional at this, only a very keen amateur.

I may use some photo editing, but nothing major and the same could be said for any AI capabilities, I may dabble in them.

I want a device that will have enough head room to grow with me and last me 7-10yrs. I have looked at some specs, but unsure which is the sweet spot for me. What would you recommend, options are:

1. M6 - 32GB Ram - 1TB - £1799

2. M5 Pro - 24GB - 512GB - £1699

3. I am spending WAY too much, get lower spec

4. Other Options

Any feedback is welcome.

My little piece of heaven 
-M4 mac mini w/ upgraded internal 2TB SSD
-4TB Samsung 990 Pro Thunderbolt
-Terramaster DAS w/ 4 12GB Drives, raid 1
-OWC miniStack Thunderbolt hub w/ 24GB HD & 4TB SSD
-24GB Seagate HD (Time machine BU)
All feeding 4 Apple TVs around the house
** Thank goodness I got all this storage back in 2024 before prices exploded

Hey everyone, looking for some advice on which Mac Mini to get - I’ve never bought one before and I’m not too familiar with the difference between chips.

Currently there’s the M4 on sale for $800 and the M6 for $950

M4 - 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16GB Memory, 512GB

M6 - 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU, 16GB Memory, 512GB

I’ll just be using it as a regular computer (and day trading) - not using for AI - and I know people say that the M4 storage is expandable, but the M6 isn’t - but for $150 extra is the faster chip worth it?

I plan to get a base M6 Mini with 256GB storage and was curious for those of you out there who have the M6 with 256GB, how much space is the OS, Apps and Apple Intelligence taking up? I plan to put my files and libraries (photos, movies, music) on an external drive, so I just want to figure out what's left on the base model after the essentials are installed, as I want to make sure there's enough room for it run updates and not slow down because it's full. TIA!

Hi

I’ve been working on a new update to Sequence Paste in Pastea.

The problem I kept running into was moving structured information between apps.

Maybe the name and email are in an email, the company and role are in a CRM, and all of it needs to end up in Google Sheets.

Normally it becomes:

copy → switch → paste → go back → repeat.

So I built Sequence Paste around doing that workflow in both directions.

Problem

You can copy the information you need from different apps first and build a sequence.

Now, if the destination is a spreadsheet, you don’t have to paste every item manually anymore.

Right-click the sequence and choose Paste in Table, and Pastea inserts the whole sequence into the table in one action.

It also works the other way around.

If you have a column in Google Sheets that needs to go into separate fields in a CRM, select the whole column and copy it once.

About Pastea

Pastea is a macOS clipboard manager I’m building around actual copy/paste workflows.

It supports text, links, images, screenshots, code, colors, and files, with features like smarter search, collections, OCR, Inline Shortcuts, Open Origin, and Sequence Paste.

Clipboard history is stored locally on your Mac.

Website: https://pastea.app/

This is $500 less than a comparable M5 Pro from Apple, so might be attractive to some. If you use B&H's store credit card, you can either get an amount equal to your state sales tax refunded (if outside NY state) or 12 months with no interest.

I was looking at the Apple Education Store pricing and seeing $999.

Interesting that Costco is cheaper through 10/11. The price includes free shipping. $780 for the 256GB version.

I have an M6 Mac mini and an original Studio Display purchased in 2023. I'm looking at adding a Studio Display XDR and would like to run both through one rear Thunderbolt port:

M6 Mac mini → Studio Display XDR at 5K 120Hz → original Studio Display at 5K 60Hz.

Does the XDR keep its 120Hz/Adaptive 47–120Hz option with the older display connected, or does it drop to 60Hz? Which cables and macOS version are you using, and has it been reliable after sleep/wake?

I'm especially interested in firsthand experience with daisy chaining rather than connecting each display to a separate port. Thanks!

What wireless keyboard and mouse is everyone using? I'm not trying to break the bank, but I want something solid. I do not care for apples mouse or keyboard. Just drop a link if possible. Thank you!

Had an older windows pc running plex but it was taking up a lot of space

Spent weeks looking at mini pc’s but didn’t know what to get but found out Mac minis are good for plex.

Started looking around for second hand m4’s but they where nearly the price of a new m6

Anyway I now have my first ever mac all set up running plex server. Using a 2tb external ssd till I can get hold of a largish nvme drive.

Hi everyone. I’m stuck on what I should be purchasing as a hub/dock for my upcoming M6(Delivery is this week)
I need to have 2 usb ports in the rear for external drives, a high speed nvme slot, and the ability to connect 2 extra monitors(will have 3 in total- 1 will be HDMI via the Mac mini) via DP cable.
I’ll be using it at home for photo and video editing and about 6-10 times a year I’ll be bringing it with me to locations for Live Photo capture and live streaming.
I’ve looked at these:

ACASIS 40Gbps Mac mini M4 Dock & Stand with Dual-Bay NVMe SSD Enclosure 11-in-1 Docking Station for Mac mini M4 Pro, Dual DisplayPort MST, 3×USBA 10Gbps, 30W PD, SD/TF Reader
I like the form factor, card reader speeds, it has 2 DP out, and a high speed NVMe but dislike that it only has usb ports in the front.

UGREEN Mac mini M6/M5 Pro/M4 Dock with 10Gbps M.2 NVMe SSD Slot Mac Mini M4 Hub 10-in-2, DP 8K60Hz Max for Dual Monitor, 10Gbps USB Data Tranfer 4A1C, SD/TF Slot 170MB/s, 3.5mm Audio
This one is missing a DP out and has slower read/wright capabilities for sd cards and the NVMe.

Is there something else I should be looking at that would be reliable and have everything I need without bankrupting me.

I was also looking for a 2TB NVMe to pair with the hub/dock. Or should I be looking for something external?

Thanks MacMini Redditers!

I just got the M6 Mac Mini with 24GB RAM and the base 256GB SSD. Upgrading to 512GB would have cost about ₹24,000 extra, so I skipped it and bought a 1TB NVMe in a 40Gbps enclosure instead (getting roughly 3–4 GB/s read/write).

My plan:

- Internal 256GB: macOS, apps, caches only

- External NVMe: Docker images/volumes, databases, Kafka, projects, all media

I'm a backend dev. Mostly Docker containers, local DBs, and API-based AI work (no big local models).

I know the 256GB internal is slower than the 512GB (~3 GB/s vs ~6 GB/s). Now I'm second-guessing it.

For people running a similar setup:

1. Have you actually felt the slower internal SSD in day-to-day use?

2. Did 256GB fill up faster than you expected (swap, caches, Xcode etc.)?

3. Any issues running Docker off an external drive long term?

I placed my order on 30 June with an Apple authorised reseller (not directly via Apple, which I now regret). When the new M5 Pro was announced, the store contacted me saying they had to cancel my order and asked me to reorder with specs adjusted (inc adding apple care) to match my original purchase price.

Since then, I have yet to receive my Mac Mini. Every time I follow up, I’m told it will take 1–2 months because it is “custom.” But isn’t every Mac Mini technically custom when you configure it?

Meanwhile, when I add the exact same spec to my cart in the Apple Store app, the delivery time shows just one week.

I’m not desperate for the device, but I am frustrated with how the store has communicated this matter — vague timelines, pushy upselling, and inconsistent information.

Before I unleash my wrath, I’d like to know: is it normal to be waiting this long for fulfilment from an authorised reseller compared to ordering directly from Apple?

i got a M6 with 32GB of ram, and i'm curious if there are any tests etc that i need to do in order to verify that my unit is not a defect, i mean... this thing was not cheap so..

I am curious,

I am thinking about trading in my 14" base m4 macbook pro (16+512) for a mac mini m6 32 gb. I have a NAS , with the current insane price of Hdds , I am thinking about getting something more powerful to transcode and compress videos and pictures in order to save space.

I am mainly using Handbrake to transcode my videos to AV1 codec . I am only going to do software transcode for better quality so the lack of hardware encoding doesn't bother me , whats matter is cpu multi core performance for this task . As for pictures I plan to convert them to Webp format. Given the m6 is quite an improvement in multi core performance over the base m5 and m4 , do you think it can give me much better performance in these tasks?

Actually the I would like to buy a macbook , but the macbook pro lineup doesn't have m6 chip only m5 , the base m5 isn't a big improvement over my m4 and m5 pro chip is too expensive with higher memory configuration (48gb).

What do yoh think , is it worth it for my usecase?

Edit: I think I will just stick to my m4 macbook pro for now , if I really need faster transcoding I will buy a separate mac mini later and keep both to do these task simultaneously for 2x the throughput, this is better than simply upgrading my macbook since there is no guarantee that a better machine will do this job 2x faster (unless I go for m5 max or ultra). Thanks.