Last month, Apple announced a new Mac mini built around the all-new M6 chip and the M5 Pro, replacing the M4 and M4 Pro models that had been on sale since October 2024. Pre-orders are open now, with the machines arriving to customers and in stores on September 22. The M6 model starts at $899 and the M5 Pro model at $1,699, each $100 above what its predecessor was selling for by the end of its run and $300 above what their predecessors launched at. The Mac mini rose from $599 to $799 in May, and the M4 Pro configuration went from $1,399 to $1,599 in June, both as a consequence of the memory shortage driven by AI demand. Education pricing brings the new models down to $799 and $1,599 respectively.

A number of upgrades apply equally to the standard and Pro configurations, regardless of which chip you choose: Neural Accelerators in each GPU core, variable refresh rate and HDR support, Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, Apple N1 wireless networking chip, Bluetooth 6, Thread networking technology, and configurable Gigabit Ethernet or 10Gb Ethernet. Comparing the M4 and M6 versions, the M6 features a 12-core CPU with two super cores, four performance cores, and six efficiency cores, a 12-core GPU, and a Dual 16-core Neural Engine with 153GB/s memory bandwidth. The M5 Pro offers a base 15-core CPU configurable to 18-core, enhanced shader core and third-generation ray tracing, and 307GB/s memory bandwidth. Both Pro models support three external displays, with the M5 Pro capable of driving a second display at 5K at 120Hz.