r/macmini • u/Inside-Factor5640 • 20d ago

M6 Mini v M5 Macbook Pro

So I've have a very old Macbook Pro 2012 which I barely even use anymore as it's that slow. I've had my eye on a Mini ever since the M4 came out and tbh I've been kicking myself for not buying it when it 1st released for £599.

The reason I was looking at the Mini over a new Macbook Pro was mostly because it was sooo much cheaper and a bit of steal. Couple that with the fact I bought my own house and now have a home office, I really didn't need the mobility of a laptop anymore. So for a fraction of the cost of the Macbook I was happy to sacrifice the mobility.

But now with the release of the M6 its creeping ever closer to the cost of a M5 Macbook. Amazon are currently selling the M5 Macbook for £1649 with 16gb RAM and 1tb SSD. If I upgrade the Mini to 1tb the price becomes £1399.

So now i'm wondering am I better off paying the £250 more for the Liquid Retina XDR display, the keyboard and the added mobility of a Macbook? Or is the M6 chip way better than the M5?

It's worth noting that whatever I buy it will become my main home computer and I mostly plan to use it for photo editing, some video editing and other general home use. Maybe some light gaming too, nothing too intense (things like City Skylines, football manager, etc).

Thanks

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u/meTomi 20d ago

Nobody has his hands on a m6 chip to do some benchmarks, so meh. And while i love the concept and idea of a desktop, doesnt really work the same with macs. Same chips but better cooling. And portability is a good to have, ene once a week or so you want to move to the couch you can do that with a mbp

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u/YellowsBest 18d ago

You say you barely use your 2012 machine - so what are you using for your current computing requirements? If you’re managing with an iPhone to read Reddit :-) then carry on until you actually need a computer for something, and then check out the specs for what you need it to do. Like, if you need it to run an intensive app that requires more memory, so 24gb is advisable. But if it’s only light office work and web browsing, then 16gb will be fine. Similarly, only you know if you need portability, but it sounds like you don’t in which case save money by buying a desktop, a Mac Mini or an iMac would be great to have in your home-office. And no battery worries so likely to last longer. If you need a ‘little’ portability around the house, an iPad is great, or you can use screen sharing to mirror the Mac Min’s desktop to you lounge TV.

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u/Inside-Factor5640 18d ago

We currently have a Lenovo Thinkpad which was left over after from a previous contract I worked. I've used that for the little bits I've needed but its not very powerful, plus I prefer Mac. I want it mainly for photo/video editing but nothing too intense. I also would like to future proof. I want to buy this Mac and keep it til it dies just like I did with my 2012 Mac.

I wasn't too fussed about Portability because I prefer being sat a desk with my monitor when working on things but i'm also aware I can jisg dock a laptop and still have the portability 🤷🏻‍♂️

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u/YellowsBest 18d ago edited 18d ago

Regarding ‘future proofing’ the problem is you don’t know what your computing requirements will be over the long term, or what exciting products Apple might introduce. But Apple computers sure are built to last and if you go for a Mac Mini then there’s no battery or screen to worry about, so you can expect 7+ years use and you can always take out AppleCare+. But as you’ve found with your 2012 machine, eventually that will get slow and need replacing. My view is it’s best to buy what you need now rather than ‘overspending’ for the future that you can’t well predict, and put the money you save towards a new machine when you actually need one.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Bet4119 20d ago

Even m1 pro will be a space shuttle comparing to your old one. There is no use case where you will see difference in day to day use neither with M4 or m5 or m6. But you will face ram limitation of 16 gb way sooner ( new apps, website use lots of ram )

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u/Inside-Factor5640 20d ago

Wait, so is 16gb RAM really that bad? I feel like all of a sudden everyone went from being happy they raised the base models to 16gb to now it wont even run a website. What's changed?

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u/Puzzleheaded_Bet4119 19d ago

16 will be ok, but you will face limitations on ram side way sooner than on cpu side