The Mac mini is a compact desktop computer developed by Apple. It’s designed to offer powerful performance in a small form factor, making it suitable for a range of users, from casual consumers to professionals.
It uses Apple’s custom silicon chips, such as the M4, M4 Pro, and potentially newer versions. These chips integrate CPU, GPU, and machine learning capabilities for excellent performance and efficiency.
The Mac mini runs on macOS, Apple’s operating system, providing access to apps like Safari, iWork, iMovie, Final Cut Pro, and a wide range of third-party software. macOS is optimized for Apple’s silicon, ensuring seamless performance.
The base model is among Apple’s most affordable Mac computers, typically starting around $599. Higher configurations with the M4 Pro or larger memory/storage capacities increase the price.
The new M6 Mac mini costs considerably more than its predecessor. But owners of an M4 model could find that upgrading to the new version cheaper than they expect thanks to the high trade-in value of their current computer.
A post on social media showing Apple offering a customer nearly the full original price for a used Mac mini ought to raise a few eyebrows.
Apple solders the storage chip on the M6 and M5 Pro Mac mini, making third-party storage upgrades impossible. This is a regression from the M4 Mac mini, which shipped with a removable storage module.
So, if you plan to buy a Mac mini, configure it with enough storage from the start, as future upgrades — even from third-party vendors — will not be possible.
In case it slipped your mind, Apple is about to launch a pair of new Mac desktops. Speed-boosted versions of the Mac mini and Mac Studio were announced weeks ago, but they are just now about to reach customers.
That means Tuesday marks the real-world launch of two significantly upgraded macOS models, with the Mac mini getting Apple’s new M6 processor or the M5 Pro, while the Mac Studio moves to M5 Max or M5 Ultra chips.
UPDATE: The wait is over! These Macs are available now from the Apple Store and other retailers.
Both machines put a particular emphasis on AI performance, reflecting Apple’s growing push to make its desktop Macs powerful platforms for running AI models locally.
The first Geekbench scores for the Apple processors inside the M6 Mac mini and M5 Ultra Mac Studio surfaced online, giving us a glimpse of their expected performance when the new computers hit stores next week.
Based on the scores, it looks like Apple’s new high-end and entry-level Apple silicon chips will set new standards in their respective categories.
Surprise! You can get deal prices on an M6 Mac mini even though Apple only unveiled it last week, and the tiny desktop won’t launch until near the end of this month. Admittedly, the deals aren’t amazing, dropping the base model to $879.99, but there’s no reason to pay more than you have to.
Or you can save on the new M5 Pro Mac mini with faster performance. An Amazon deal drops the base configuration for this variant to $1,669.99.
Perplexity Hybrid Compute is now live on Mac. The feature splits a single AI task between the cloud and the local model, so all your sensitive files stay on the machine.
“In the newest release of the Perplexity for Mac app, users can now add a compact local model post-trained for Perplexity Computer and choose to run tasks on device on their Mac,” said Perplexity in a press release Tuesday.
Cloud models handle the research and heavy reasoning, while a compact, local AI model on your Mac handles any step that touches private data.
Apple’s latest Mac mini and Mac Studio computers don’t just come with faster M-series chips. They also pack certain underlying upgrades that make them even more capable and appealing than their predecessors.
That includes faster storage, better connectivity and boosted memory bandwidth. Here are five important Mac mini and Mac Studio upgrades you might have missed.
The Mac mini and Mac Studio are apparently a huge hit among AI companies. OpenAI reportedly purchased tens of thousands of Macs from Apple for reinforcement learning and “computer-use” AI agents.
Anthropic, which offers Claude AI, is renting Mac minis through Amazon Web Services (AWS) for similar reasons.
This heavy demand helps explain why Apple launched new versions of the Mac mini and Mac Studio last week, months before the usual fall release window.
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: Apple sent out invites for its Surprise and Shine event this week, and the big question is, will there actually be any surprises on September 9?
The invite itself doesn’t reveal much, naturally. And a crazy deluge of rumors and leaks already painted a pretty thorough picture of what to expect from the iPhone 18 Pro, the first folding iPhone and more.
Still, it’ll be incoming Apple CEO John Ternus‘ first time running an event, and surely he’ll want to make it special. We discuss how he might make the event shine.
Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:
Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video version, embedded below.
Apple’s just-launched Mac mini looks exactly the same on the outside as the previous model. But an M6 Mac mini versus M4 Mac mini comparison reveals a very different machine inside.
The all-new M6 chip is one option for the tiny desktop, and it’s the one designed for students and casual users. The Mac can also be configured with an M5 Pro processor, but that is for professionals and was discussed in a separate article. This one focuses on the benefits the M6 brings to consumers.
With the latest Mac mini, Apple launched its first 2nm chip: the M6. It stands out for several reasons, including enhanced single-core performance and dual Neural Engines for better AI performance.
But that does not automatically make it better than the M5 Pro, which trumps the M6 in some key areas.
Both are available in the new Mac mini, so it’s up to buyers to choose which is the better option for them. To help with the decision, here’s how the two stack up.
Apple just gave its smallest Mac an outsized performance upgrade. The company on Tuesday launched new Mac mini versions powered by either the all-new M6 chip or the more powerful M5 Pro, bringing substantially faster performance and a major focus on local AI workloads to the tiny desktop.
“Whether it’s being used as a home computer, powering a professional studio, or as an always-on agentic device, it’s the little Mac that can do it all,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s chief hardware officer. “Today, we’re taking this versatility even further.”
Update: As predicted, Apple released a Mac mini upgraded with M6 and M5 Pro chips on Tuesday, saying the tiny desktop computer “delivers up to 4x faster AI performance, up to 2x faster graphics and storage, along with enhanced connectivity.”
Apple’s next-gen Mac mini may debut in the coming days, possibly even ahead of Apple’s September iPhone event, according to an unconfirmed report published on Monday. The miniature desktop could debut with an Apple M5 or an M6 processor.
The new model should do well — Mac mini demand has exploded in recent months due to the AI boom.
Apple’s smallest desktop could get an unusual processor upgrade this fall. The 2026 Mac mini is reportedly moving to the basic M6 processor, but not the M6 Pro as would be expected.
Here’s everything the rumor mill says about Apple’s next Mac mini.
The Mac mini shortage isn’t over. Three months after Apple CEO Tim Cook admitted that the company was caught off guard by demand, buyers are still stuck waiting.
Base models are easier to find now than they were in the spring, but bump up the memory, and you could wait months. Prices have climbed, too, thanks to the ongoing global memory chip shortage.
Missing a payment on your newly leased iPhone won’t nerf your device. Despite recent rumors, Apple confirmed that there’s no Apple Upgrade restricted mode.
The clarification caps a week of speculation over hidden iOS 27 code that described a system for restricting financed devices when payments went unpaid.
Apple reportedly wants to source memory from two Chinese suppliers — CXMT and YMTC — for its products. Previous rumors suggested Apple lobbying for CMXT’s approval from the US government.
However, a new report from Bloomberg suggests the company is also looking to secure DRAM from YMTC.
Apple CEO Tim Cook says the iPhone maker must raise its prices to offset the impact of the rising memory and storage chip prices. According to one estimate, this year’s iPhone 18 Pro could cost as much as $1,299!
“Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” Cook said Wednesday in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.”
Not everyone has a spacious home office, a purpose-built studio or a spare room to dedicate to a dream workstation. The Cult of Mac Setups archive is full of people working in bedrooms, studio apartments, shared living spaces, dorm-adjacent Manhattan rooms and any other constraint that life in a city tends to impose. But space limitation, it turns out, is one of the great engines of creative thinking in a setup. The best compact Mac setups, below, find ways to thrive in tight spaces.
There’s a moment, familiar to anyone who has experienced it, when you move from a dual-monitor setup to a single ultrawide and realize the bezels were never doing you any favors. One seamless, curving (or not) expanse of glass — from 34 inches to 49 inches and beyond — that wraps gently around the periphery of your vision, eliminating the dead stripe down the middle of your workspace where two screens met. We found the best ultrawide Mac setups from years of Cult of Mac coverage.
Apple recently nixed the $599 Mac mini from its product lineup. And the most affordable version of the MacBook Pro also got cut.
This raises serious questions about how much longer Apple can keep offering the cheapest versions of the MacBook Air and MacBook Neo.
Apple finally found a software fix for one of the most mocked Mac design decisions in years. In macOS 26.5 Tahoe, released Monday, Apple added a new option that allows M4 Mac mini owners to turn on their machines without picking them up.
In some ways, iPad is the most versatile computer Apple makes — which makes it an unusually rich ingredient in a Mac workstation. And as iPadOS grows ever more capable, more users find new, smarter roles for their tablet. The following 10 examples drawn from the Cult of Mac Setups archive represent the best uses of iPad in Mac setups. They show just how many ways the tablet can earn its place on a desk.
If you’ve been on the fence about buying a Mac, you might want to stop waiting. A growing DRAM and NAND shortage is about to make all kinds of computers more expensive and harder to find.
Right now, Apple is still (somewhat) ahead of that curve. But that window is closing fast. So, if you need to buy a Mac, now’s the best time to pull the trigger.
Apple no longer offers the M4 Mac mini with 256GB of storage at a $599 price. Instead, the base model now comes with 512GB of storage and a higher $799 price tag.
Here’s why.