Apple today announced new M6 and M5 Pro Mac mini models and M5 Max and M5 Ultra Mac Studio models. We've covered all of the announcements in-depth, but wanted to highlight some interesting tidbits about the new machines.
- Price Increases - The Mac mini now starts at $899, $300 over the original starting price of the M4 Mac mini when it launched in October 2024. Mac Studio pricing starts at $2,499, $500 more than the original price of the M4 Max model when it came out in March 2025.
- Connectivity - Apple upgraded the new Macs with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, so they are on par with the connectivity standards in the latest iPhone models. Wi-Fi 7 offers faster data speeds in the 6GHz band, lower latency, and an option to connect across 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz networks at once for reliability improvements.
- Genlock - The Mac mini and Mac Studio support genlock over USB-C, so there's no need for a separate sync box. Genlock is used in multi-camera shoots and virtual production to lock timing to a shared reference signal. The Mac's display and the camera filming it are synchronized, preventing flickering and tearing from a mismatch between the display refresh rate and camera shutter. Apple previously added genlock support to the iPhone 17 Pro models, so now an iPhone 17 Pro and one of the new Macs can work in tandem for pros who need the feature.
- Ethernet - The Mac mini now starts with 2.5Gb Ethernet instead of 1Gb. There's an option to upgrade to 10Gb, which is what the Mac Studio starts with (same as the prior-generation model).
- Neural Engine - The M6 chip has an upgraded Neural Engine with two 16-core engines instead of just one. Apple says the new Neural Engine offers 2x more peak compute so AI workflows run faster.
- GPU - The M6 Mac mini's 12-core GPU has Neural Accelerators in each core, offering up to 4x faster AI performance and 2x faster graphics than the M4 Mac mini. The Mac Studio's M5 Ultra is also the first Ultra chip with Neural Accelerators. Peak AI compute performance is 4.3x the M3 Ultra's performance.
- SSD - Mac Studio storage is twice as fast with new SSD architecture built on PCIe Gen 6.
- SSD Pricing - As Daring Fireball points out, upgrading a Mac mini with a 2TB SSD costs $1,000, which is more than the $899 base price of the machine. Upgrading to the 4TB SSD for the M5 Pro costs $1,800, which is $100 over the price of the base machine.
- Thunderbolt - The M6 Mac mini continues to have Thunderbolt 4, not Thunderbolt 5. The M5 Pro model does have Thunderbolt 5.
- Current Max Pricing - An M5 Pro Mac mini with 18-core CPU, 64GB RAM, an 8TB SSD, and 10GbE is $6,799. The M5 Ultra Mac Studio with 36-core CPU, 256GB RAM, and 16TB SSD is $18,299.
- 512GB RAM - You can only buy the M5 Ultra with 96GB or 256GB of RAM right now, but a 512GB option is coming in late October. Since upgrading from 96GB RAM to 256GB RAM costs $4,000, the 512GB option will likely cost at least $6,000.
- Announcement Timing - This is the first time Apple has announced new Macs in August since the 27-inch iMac debuted in August 2020.
- macOS Golden Gate - When the new machines launch on September 22, they will likely have macOS Golden Gate installed. The software update is probably going to come out the week of September 14.
The new Mac Studio and Mac mini models can be pre-ordered starting today, and will be available on September 22.
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