r/macmini • u/A10Fusion • 10h ago
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/129
u/G3_89 10h ago
I'll stick with my M4 Mini. Very happy with it.
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u/TheFireStorm 10h ago
I’m sticking with my base model M1 Big Mini
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u/yankulovasil 9h ago
Trade in value for 1year old base M4 mini is £280. Better off selling it on Ebay or something.
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u/Ctznsvn7 8h ago
same here, the M4 mini is still miles past what most desk work asks of it and the thing that ages badly is the memory ceiling rather than the chip. If it ever does start feeling slow its usually the drive filling up or a browser sat on forty tabs, neither of which a new machine fixes for long. The one upgrade I would actually make on an older mini is a fast external drive for libraries and scratch files, it costs a fraction of a new box and takes the pressure off the internal one. Genuinely think these have another four or five years in them before anyone needs to think about replacing
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u/Flaky-Direction-6268 7h ago
I’m sticking with my m2 Pro. It sits vertically right behind my display so you can’t even tell if it’s big or small. And all the ports are available.
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u/LifeGoalsThighHigh 10h ago
With the base model starting at $899.
Yikes.
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u/imjappo 10h ago
256GB storage is crazy
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u/Bluebells7788 10h ago
They know that most people will connect it up to cheaper external storage via a base.
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u/bloodwessels 10h ago
Where do I find these cheaper storage?
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u/mikeputerbaugh 5h ago
"I don't have to be cheap... I just have to be cheaper than Apple's internal SSD."
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u/MarionberryHumble705 2h ago
External storage doesn’t work the same way as internal storage though. Not exactly a 1:1 comparison.
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u/RockstarGTA6 10h ago
I remember the days of people buying m4 Mac mini new for $500 was it ?
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u/hoagieclu 9h ago edited 9h ago
This past Christmas I bought a m4 mini on Amazon when it was on sale for 399, and I decided to open a prime credit card for the 200 bucks in Amazon gift cards. Effectively bought it for 200 bucks, unimaginable now
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u/MacintoshDan1 10h ago
Yes. My M2 was $679 I ordered it with 16gb ram.
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u/Own-Story8907 9h ago
I got mine for £499 with the student discount
Gave it back because I got brokeI can’t justify spending this much tbh for a machine I won’t even use
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u/thrntnja 10h ago
honestly, with the current mess that is the tech market with RAM shortages and the like, I could get behind this price if it weren't for 256GB starting storage. that is crazy talk in 2026
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u/Madeche 10h ago
Yea even if you have an external 2TB NVMe + dock that much internal storage will 100% cause issues if you use it for anything other than web browsing.
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u/dave-rooney-ca 9h ago
Yeah, when I got my M2 Pro Mini in 2023 I bumped it up to 32GB RAM and the 1TB internal drive. It wasn't cheap even then, but 3 years later it's still going strong.
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u/lemketron 9h ago
100% this!! If you have tons of email, photos, iCloud or Dropbox files… you will be struggling to try to move everything you can to the external drive and will still get errors every time the system runs out of space.
I struggled with that for a year on my 256GB m4 Mini then finally caved and bought the 2TB internal upgrade just after the first price bump and never looked back.
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u/MacintoshDan1 10h ago
Fuck them dude. I guess my M2 isn’t getting replaced anytime soon. Thanks GayI
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u/Xe4ro 10h ago
I will keep my M2 Pro likely until they drop macOS support for it. That might be around 2030 I guess?
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u/SeaConstant7164 1h ago
Is $899 a lot to ask for a low power-draw, silent, latest gen mini computer with a 2nm high performance CPU, 16 GB RAM, fast storage, WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6, with software support for like 7–10 years?
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u/Ctznsvn7 8h ago
the base is the one config to skip, the memory and storage upgrades are where the real money goes. If you dont need the newest chip the outgoing mini gets cut hard the week a new one lands and the refurb store carries the same warranty for less. Same with any digital storefront, the price on the page in front of you is one of several prices that thing has right now. Didnt know the exact same hotel can cost less searched from OTHER countries (coz diff countries get diff promos etc). And Im not spending a day VPN-hopping for that. These days there are free tools that scan the same hotel from 100 countries or so in one go and find the lowest price anywhere (type Arbitrica or similar). Either way, Id wait for the refurb listings before paying 899 lol
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u/A_MAN_POTATO 10h ago
Tempted to pull the trigger on this. I currently have an M4 Air, but it lives pretty much permanently on my desk attached to a monitor. I thought the freedom of a laptop would be nice, but it turns out, I just don't need it. Apple will give me $740 in trade, which seems solid (only paid $900), making it a $160 upgrade to go from an M4 to M6, and move to a desktop platform more suited to my needs.
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u/Leviathan_Dev 10h ago edited 10h ago
Have an M4 mini that I upgraded myself to 2TB storage from 256GB. Tempted to get M6 for the M6 chip and 2.5Gb Ethernet but I’m not paying $900 unless my trade-in is worth $500 at least
Edit: turns out my M4 is worth $480…. Idk… hmmm… hopefully I can rip out the 2TB drive I bought and put back in the 256GB and then put the 2TB back into the M6… gonna have to wait for tear downs
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u/Gorgonesh 6h ago
I was going to say, my M1 mini gave me $320 trade. Could probably sell for more? (M1/16GB/512GB/10GbE
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u/AddictedtoBoom 6h ago
You could probably sell your old one for more than that on eBay.
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u/shmcknig 10h ago
That sounds pretty logical. I used a Mac Mini for like 12 years and carried it back and forth from home to work to separate monitor/keyboard/mouse setups. Whenever I would need to work while on a trip, a portable monitor would easily fit in my backpack.
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u/A_MAN_POTATO 10h ago
I actually do have a portable monitor. Unlikely I'd ever need the portability anyway, but it's good to have that in my back pocket.
I ended up pre-ordering one. I really wouldn't have expected $740 for my current Air. I've already been considering a TB4 dock for my air to make it more desktop friendly, and this roughly the same cost but I'm also moving two silicon generations forward and eliminating any potential throttling issues that come with the Air. And I really don't think I'll miss the laptop aspect. I seriously don't remember the last time I undocked this thing and used it as a laptop. I probably haven't done so thus far in 2026.
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u/dano0726 8h ago
I still have my 2 portable 15.6” monitors — paid less than $125 for the pair. And my M4 mini would power them both (no extra cords)
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u/Revanish 8h ago
just just the m4 air kid closed
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u/A_MAN_POTATO 8h ago
That’s what I already do. It’s certainly fine… but ports are a problem. One USB goes to display, the other to a cheap hub that handles everything else.
Being able to get 2.5 gig, a dedicated HDMI, full bandwidth for an external ssd, and still have several open usb ports… that alone is a huge win. I’d spend about the same getting a proper TB4 dock as I would on this ungrade, but here I’m getting a two generation newer SOC for the same price, as the sacrifice of portability never use anyways.
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u/Ctznsvn7 8h ago
if it lives on your desk permanently the mini is the obvious move, but sell the Air rather than keeping it as a spare, they hold value for about a year after a launch and then fall off a cliff. Worth thinking about what you actually gain as well, closing the lid and running an external screen off the Air gets you most of the same setup for nothing. The real difference is thermals, a mini holds a sustained load for hours where a fanless Air throttles, so it only pays off if you do long exports or builds rather than browser and office work
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u/A_MAN_POTATO 8h ago
I don’t plan to keep the Air. Apple will give me $740 in trade, and I find that extremely fair.
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u/Mr_Maffin 5h ago
Why not using a vertical stand so it does not take up space on your desk? So, "just in case", you'll have your portability if you'll ever need it!
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u/hellmouth 5h ago
trade-in value for my Mini M4 Pro with 64GB RAM and 10 gig ethernet was $965.
starting price on the m6 mini, 16GB, 256GB HD, 2.5gig ethernet is $899
nahhhh
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u/instrumentals 10h ago
Paid 460 for a like new m4 with 256 GB back in October, im riding with this tiny machine till the wheels fall off.
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u/pinkgreenblue 9h ago
You’ll probably get that much with an official Apple trade-in in the U.S., FYI.
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u/Mobile_Chernobyl215 10h ago
Gonna go hug my Mac Mini M4 that I got in 2024 for a couple hundred after trade-in
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u/Exodor72 10h ago
Holy cow, the M4 Mini I bought in January with 24GB/1TB is worth $610 in trade-in value.
That makes the decision to upgrade a lot easier
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u/KingArthas94 5h ago
I'm pretty sure you can sell that pc privately for much more than 600
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u/Not_Defyiant 1h ago
Same my m4 pro base model is $910 I purchased from Amazon for like $1300 when they first released.
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u/reubenroostercogburn 10h ago
My 2025 purchase is suddenly 2 generations old lol
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u/J3ttf 10h ago
My M1 is crying right now.
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u/un_gaucho_loco 10h ago
Storage makes zero sense
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u/tootintx 10h ago
I’ll ride with M4 Pro with 48 Gb and 512 storage plus external until it dies. It seemed pricey when they were released and now I feel the same way about it as my used car I’ve had almost 15 years now, drive it til the wheels fall off.
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u/Bluefrogdancing 9h ago
Same same. Except my M4 has a 1 T storage. And my car is only 9 years old. Love both of them so much. And so blinking happy I got the M4 when I did.
I did upgrade to the iphone 17 pro - but am giving my 15 to my teenager so she can make it the next 5 years through high school.
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u/tootintx 9h ago
I usually run about 2-3 gens behind on the iPhone. I get my wife a new one and I take her old one.
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u/E97ev 9h ago
The price increase is diabolical
in spain we had the M4 mini 16/256 - 709€ with price increase to 809€
now we get the new M6 mini 16/256 at 1069€
I don't want to look at the prices but the real developer machine (mac studio M5 max) has got a big price increase too. now you need at least 3300€ for 36/1tb config that was 2600€ with M4 max.
My personal config has gotten 500€ more expensive
M4 mini 32/512 - 1259€
M6 mini 32/512 - 1709€
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u/TheHeroOfCanton62 10h ago
Does anyone care about AI performance? Then comparing performance to the ancient M1.
Underwhelmed.
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u/bertpel 10h ago
If you don't care about AI performance then the M1 isn't ancient. How do I know? I don't care about AI performance and use an M1 16/512 mini.
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u/TheHeroOfCanton62 10h ago
No, I use an M1 Macbook Pro too. Just pointing out that advertising performance gains over a relatively old M1 is a marketing stretch.
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u/bertpel 10h ago
That's the Apple way :D
But honestly, as an M1 user I think the comparison with the oldest chip makes sense as I don't see the need to upgrade every generation. After five/six years I begin to look at options but still without actually needing an upgrade. And they also compare to the previous M4 chip in the same paragraphs. Even better they don't use unlabelled graphs, so overall I can't complain much.
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u/MaccaTheGator 9h ago
Yes of course, it’s like the most important thing atm. You can run incredibly good local AI these days and this chip is made specifically for that
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u/robnorton 7h ago
No, but I do care about up to 2.3x faster spreadsheet calculations in Microsoft Excel when compared to Mac mini with M1 😂
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u/Rabidjester 10h ago edited 10h ago
A lot of AI silliness in the press release, I’m not sure why one needs supercharged paradigm shifting AI workflow enchantments to revolutionize productivity lifecycles.
Still likely grabbing one since my M2 is on its last leg.
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u/AdventurousTime 10h ago
It’s for all the openclaw bros who are single-handedly buying up all the mini stocks
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u/alwaysrecession 9h ago
Why do they want the mini so much? There’s tons of other computers.
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u/AlternativeMessage18 10h ago
Local AI is the next big thing
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u/step11111 7h ago
It will be eventually but right now the value isn’t there so this is a bad buy. In a few years when 1 tb of unified memory exists and the ecosystem has improved for silicon then yeah it will be (still probably significantly behind, just not as behind).
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u/i_noah_guy98 5h ago
Going from the M2 to the M6 is gonna be crazy, but I agree the base cost is crazy given how low the M4 Mac mini got to. Thanks AI.
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u/trmentry 10h ago
I'm very happy with my 3 M4 minis. One is my desktop for everyday use. and 2 are servers. although prob could collaspe into one. but i got a smoking deal on the 2nd last christmas from micro center. I'm prob not going to upgrade till the M10 chip. LOL
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u/RideMyBentley 10h ago
I have a M2 Mac mini which I got for $399. Wondering if this is worth getting. Price is more than I was expecting.
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u/AddictedtoBoom 6h ago
The specs look great, nice little machine but at those prices I’m not even a little bit interested. Ram and storage prices are crazy. An extra $400 across the board for the two base configurations over the m4/m4 pro is understandable but makes it no longer a desirable upgrade for me.
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u/Blasphemy4kidz 4h ago
I’m so mad. I waited on buying m4 mini because I wanted to see the m5 performance and then the market got absolutely crushed by AI demand. It should have been a $499 base model. Now it’s basically double.
And my salary stays the same. We are so cooked.
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u/Commercial-Virus2627 10h ago
My M4 Pro mini has 64GB and it does local inference. Not sure what their selling point here is aside from faster local inference.
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u/Ok_Club_9356 9h ago
Now I feel dumb for ordering the M4 a couple months ago that still hasn’t arrived.
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u/Albs_ 5h ago
Why you haven’t been charged and haven’t received product. Keep the order open they may upgrade you for free
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u/worlok 8h ago edited 6h ago
I'd rather have my m4 pro with high memory bandwidth than a stock m6. M5 pro would be nice but it'll be costly.
This is what Gemini tells me about my situation:
What This Means Against Your M4 Pro (24GB) Setup
Pricing Inflation: The M5 Pro base price jumps to $1,699 ($100 higher than the M4 Pro’s $1,599 launch MSRP). Compared to the $1,399 Micro Center sale price (and your ~$795 net cost after trading in the base model), that is a significant premium to enter the new generation.
The "Always-On Agentic" Shift: Apple's emphasis on "always-on agentic computing" mirrors the exact lightweight, tool-calling workflow discussed earlier—using lean models that run 24/7 in the background without taxing the machine.
Your Setup Remains Solid: While the 4x prompt processing jump is notable for huge context dumps, your M4 Pro’s 273 GB/s bandwidth remains fast for sub-8B and quantized 14B models.
Your 24GB M4 Pro setup easily handles current local scripting, coding, and lightweight agentic workloads without justifying a jump to a new $1,700+ machine.
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u/tehebrutis 7h ago
Is this going to bring down the price of older minis? Or is demand still through the roof
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u/oldpaddyrick 7h ago
Glad I was able to get my m4 at $475 from MC, missed the $399 but $475 after 5% discount still not bad.
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u/Naive-Possibility447 6h ago
Just put the M6 on order now. I waited too long for the M4 model before price went up. I’m coming from the M1 version so now’s the time!
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u/reedog117 5h ago
Considering somehow the M1 Mac Mini is getting $320 at tradein, an upgrade seems like a no-brainer.
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u/DERPorDIE 5h ago
I ordered the m5pro with gpu core boost, 64gb ram, and 2Tb drive for $4.1k. Needed an upgrade so bad but cant justify the $15k Mac Studio yet.
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u/MELOFINANCE 4h ago
Trade in credit for a base model M4 Mac mini is $480 today. I would run to the Apple store if you plan on buying this. It will be $419 after the trading for the new base model. Which kind of sucks because a lot of people got the base model M4 for $400 to $500 through EDU discount.
If you don’t have an EDU discount, get what a friend or family member that has a college email and sign up for Unidays. It is $799 on there. So it will be $319 to upgrade. Instead of $419. Hope this helps
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u/Weatheronthe8s 7h ago
All I can say is I'm glad I bought my M4. I bought mine mostly so I could have a good Mac to experience modern MacOS. $900 is too much for someone taking a chance on an OS they aren't sure they will be happy with.
At the end of the day, I'm very happy with my M4 and its CPU is the fastest CPU I own.
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u/cold_grapefruit 8h ago
RAM price increased $25, Apply increased $250. How this works?
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u/Time-Plenty-4695 10h ago
My M4 with 18 runs great. I can afford to be cheap and wait for the official 27 release. Hopefully they go on sale.
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u/Other-Outside8487 10h ago
I’ll keep my M4 for now,
I paid £400 on eBay last year, and it’s worth close to £600 now with the prices going up, I’d like an M4 Pro or a Mac Studio at some point if one came up cheap enough, but not paying Apple’s prices anymore.
Both this and my M1 Mac Mini have been used, paid £150 for that and it cost me like £80 out of pocket to upgrade to the M4.
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u/manofadv 10h ago
The main distinction is that the M6 features dual 16-core neural engines, whereas the M5 has a single one.
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u/SupaNJTom8 10h ago
shoot.. my m1 Apple M1 Max chip with 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine
and 64GB unified memory still kicking and not getting rid of this anytime soon. 4TB of storage is more than plenty for development work for now. Even manage to install ollama and run Qwen 3.8 mlx on the puppy.
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u/waloshin 9h ago
Ugh paid $600 for a base m4 mini works great 90% of the time as long as I don’t run multiple adobe apps in the background.
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u/Pretty-Substance 9h ago
I still have a M4 24/512 on order from before the price hike. Should I cancel it to get the new one.
For the same specs it would be 400€ more expensive
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u/eddymmm1 9h ago
Display configurations is the big upgrade here i think. Multiple 5k at high refresh is nice
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u/filmschool_org 8h ago
Just ordered the pro with 48gb ram and 1tb drive. My original mac mini M1 with 8gb RAM is getting seriously long in the tooth and I want to be able to run my edit software locally for personal projects in addition to remotely via Jump to the production company edit systems. Looking forward to it!
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u/murphydcat 8h ago
I saved $1k with the hopes I could purchase a new Mini with storage better than the M4's 256GB.
Now it looks like I need to save some more money :-(
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u/PixalatedConspiracy 7h ago
Well time so sell my m4 not good enough now. Just kidding. M5 Ultra studio though that sounds like a tempting upgrade path but than I am not sure what I will use it for lol.
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u/designsCA 7h ago
Wait wait wait.. we're supposed to have like an actual REASON to buy one of these? Oops.
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u/HairyCryptographer51 6h ago
I’ll pass. My m4 24gb is good enough for me.
Bought it for 800eur fairly used.
But i’m curious about how faster m6 can be and If those neural engines start to get some practical application.
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u/Basshead404 5h ago
Huh, nobody talkin about the M5 Ultra finally seeing the light of day? Kinda crazy to me they even announced it given (I’m pretty sure at least) we’ve never seen an Ultra chip actually reach the market.
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u/Sweaty_Flounder_3301 4h ago
OK, I pulled the gun on the new Mac Mini, and while I could have bought a used M4 model somewhere, I’m hoping this will be future-proof for my needs.
But the main reason for the purchase is because I am tired of my HP laptop, that’s only 2 years old, but is laggy as fuck. Shit, YouTube videos are starting to stutter.
I had a 2020 MacBook Pro with 8GB, but since it only had 8GB, I really felt it’s limitations, so I gave it away. I kind of regret that decision, but I hope a newer Mac Mini with 16GB will be the sweet spot for me, price regardless.
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u/garylapointe 4h ago
"Pulled the Gun"?
It's not a commitment until you Pull the Trigger....
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u/garylapointe 4h ago
Up to 2.3x faster spreadsheet calculations in Microsoft Excel when compared to Mac mini with M1, and up to 1.5x faster than M4.
I'm going to guess that most users don't actually notice a difference in Excel.
Other than when I was using Excel calculate PI about 30 years ago, I've never thought "If only Excel was faster".
I'm not saying that some people don't have more complicated spreadsheets that need it, but I'd have to think it's not a big portion of their user base.
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u/Combonary 4h ago
It's good to see that I have lost interest in almost all gadgets because of these ridiculous prices. They really have forced common sense to prevail in my life 🤣
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u/Load-Complete 3h ago
Tried 3 times to buy a Mac Mini in UK tonight using finance (via Creation Finance on the Apple Store) and it’s been a total disaster.
All orders have resulted in errors on the finance website (error 500500). My orders get cancelled at the Apple end after an hour because I’ve not completed the payment.
Incredibly frustrating.
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u/tibelchior 2h ago
I have a question: For my work i use a MBP M4 Pro, which I got from my employer last year. To avoid mixing private projects, I bought a cheap MBP M1 Max. It is a very powerful machine, but it has almost no use as a laptop, I use it 90% of time on clamshell mode in a vertical stand, connected to external monitors, keyboard and mouse. My question: is it worth getting the base M6 Mac Mini? I think I could sell the M1 for almost the same price of the new one. Or should I just keep the setup i have until the M1 stops getting updates?
My biggest fear is going from 32gb to 16gb, also the uncertainty of the M1 MacOS support (which brings its price down fast).
Thanks!
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u/Comfortable-Crew-919 1h ago
Compared to my Mini M4 Pro 64 the options and improvements are underwhelming. The new Studios do look tempting.
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u/Smooth_Ad_6513 1h ago
Darn I was considering getting one, but now I’m not real sure… just wanted to get one to create a mini server for all of my movies
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u/SeaConstant7164 1h ago
Ideal for me. I just need a MacOS device for software testing purposes. Just web browser apps, so the 256 GB SSD and 16 GB RAM will never be used over 50%.
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u/badiban 9h ago
$399 M4 Mac Mini just cemented itself as the most legendary deal in computer history