Apple just dropped a massive surprise launch with zero leaks: the brand-new Mac mini M6, Mac mini M5 Pro, and the redesigned Mac Studio powered by M5 Max and M5 Ultra.
In this video, we break down everything Apple announced today, including the debut of Apple’s first 2-nanometer M6 chip, Thunderbolt 5 speeds, the massive push for Apple Intelligence and local AI workflows, and one huge mistake Apple made on the base configuration that you need to know before buying.
Whether you’re looking at the budget-friendly Mac mini M6 or considering the powerhouse Mac Studio M5 Max/Ultra, here is your complete buyer’s guide and upgrade breakdown.
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Timestamps:
0:00 – Apple’s Surprise Launch (M6 & M5 Lineup)
0:36 – Official Pricing & Release Date
1:10 – Mac mini M6: The 2nm Leap
2:17 – The 256GB Storage & Thunderbolt 4 Mistake
3:30 – Should You Upgrade to M6? (M1, M2, M3, M4)
3:57 – Mac mini M5 Pro: The Thunderbolt 5 Powerhouse
5:09 – Mac Studio M5 Max: Best Value Pro Desktop?
6:49 – Mac Studio M5 Ultra: Extreme On-Device AI Monster
7:59 – Conclusion
8:15 – Final Verdict: Which One Should You Buy?
***Some product links are affiliate links, meaning we’ll receive a small commission if you buy something.
#MacminiM6 #MacStudioM5 #applelaunch #M6Chip #appleintelligence #MacminiM5Pro #MacStudioM5Max #techreview
Apple really caught everyone off guard today! 🤯 What do you think of Apple sticking with 256GB and Thunderbolt 4 on the base $899 Mac mini? Are you pre-ordering the M6 or the M5 Pro, or holding onto your current setup? Let me know below! 👇
I pre ordered my Mac Studio with the M5 Max and 64gb of Unified memory…..this will be the fastest computer i have ever owned and I am stocked to build out my LLMs and use Davinci Resolve 🙂
Apple comparing it relative to the M1 basically means there is probably barely any difference with the M4 MAX
any suggestion on the dock for M6 incorporating and SSD? SSD of 1TB/2TB is the same as adding 256 GB…
Love. Those. Glasses!
Why on earth would they ship the M6 with Thunderbolt 4??? What is the rationale here? Does anyone know?
thanks
It's a strategice move by Apple to upsale there products. They create comfort and discomfort. 256 gig hard drive on the entery level Mac mini at cost of 899. Apple know what they are doing. They are loyal to the share holders. M6 Chip is there to entice us to spend that extra for the Hard drive, extra cash for Apple win win for them because it already cost 899 lost for us because we need the extra storage. That 256 gig shouldn't even exist. That is discomfort. Same goes for the Mac Studios but worse. 128 Gig of ram on the studio is sweet but the discomfort, memory bandwidth 614 High memory with low memory bandwidth. The ultra has 96 gigs of ram and has the 1.2tb/s memory bandwidth lower memory at a high price. See the parttern with apple.
I am sorry but apple are picking and choosing comparison data, not previous gen. Comparing a studio max m1 to m5 is a joke. Truth is like phones, these are just incremental upgrades with poor starting specs – 256GB storage in 2027, really. You wont fit half your ai models on that! Fine pieces of tech, but compare all models to last gen please and the jumps will be less impressive.
Why should I care? I spend most of my time waiting for Fable 5 Max and ChatGPT 5/6 Sol Pro. Would such a computer – say the top-of-the-line one – save me even one second a day?
oh yeah they made a surprise … the price….
Everything cost more for consumers. Price hikes, tariffs, credit card transaction fees, and gas. Now, Apple computers. I will put everything on hold until 2028 to buy new computers.
jesus christ dude are you trying to look like an Oompa-Loompa? COLOR GRADING!
Buy old Apple hardware and install Linux!
Sticking with my RTX 4090 machine for local LLM. It still smokes the M6 Mac Mini.
Witch will be better valeu for money? Top M6 Mac pro or base Mac Studio m5 Max?
256gb mac mini isn't a mistake by Apple and it was very intensional by design. There are two main reasons. First is the massive "normie" users who barely uses internal storage and don't even move their photos from their phone and just needs a web browser machine. Gift for parents or young nephews etc. This is a giant market than most tech nerds realize. Second is the educational / institution customers. These people don't want high storage in many cases, because in many cases these people want their machine 'reset' everytime their boot-up by security softwares, or hooked to the company network under strict security control, and these big institution buyers are very minimum-price sensitive. Apple have lost a big portion of this market for the longest time because of their long time high-price point policy and Intel processor's heat architecture & high price. They have been trying to regain this part of the market share since the M1 introduction, which they have lost almost all by chromebooks and mini-pcs. So the starting price under $900 is more important than any other 'reasonable spec' and thunderbolt 4 configuration must be part of that low-price point architecture.
Disappointing that the base Mac mini M5 Pro still doesn't come with 1TB of storage
The REAL QUESTION- are these NEW Mac Mini’s UPGRADEABLE like the M-4’s?
Why does the base M5 pro Mini out perform the M5 pro MacBook Pro which has all the same ram, chip and T5 plus internal fans? The core look the same too. I just got one for the old price of £2k with an extended warranty. Given it has 1tb fast storage, by the time you add that onto the base mini M5 pro spec here in the U.K. it’s the same price. The MBP has a state of the art screen, good web cam, great keyboard, excellent mics and speakers and a large trackpad. Even at the full U.K. price of £2500 that’s a lot of useful stuff for an extra £500. I just plug it into my Studio display and a second Dell 4K and it performs superbly. Did you mean to reference the M3 you were holding up?
I did buy then send back an M4 max studio which was £1900 with my educational discount back in March as I was expecting the new M5 Max Studio to be launched back then. However the latest price hikes make the M5 Max extremely expensive for a desktop and to save a few minutes rendering.
If I'm running always-on, local agents, do I go with the a high-end M5 Pro Mini or the base M5 Max Studio?
We are being scammed on RAM and storage, its a fugazi.
The problem with the Mac today is extreme security. I bought an M4 last year and I have been struggling to circumvent the system too many times. So my next computer will run Linus. likely not on my Mac because Asahi keeps struggling to build a Linux version for it, So I am forced to move to a PC system. But that is just a different box. I barely use all the stuff they added since High Sierra so I won't be missing much.
It was a bad mistake to only have 512 Gb of Unified RAM on the Mac Studio Ultra
I'll keep my Mac Mini M4 Pro with 512SSD and 24g memory
Me, watching this with a Mac Mini M2 Pro (32GB RAM / 1TB SSD / 10 (6 Performance and 4 Efficiency) CPU Cores and 16 GPU cores), 😬
Base price is insane
512 should not be the baseline. 2TB should be. Possibly 1TB but that sounds like 6 years ago.
Not sure apple wants you to pay or they just let you add external ssd to 256.
So I am moving to get a desktop mac mini for editing photos. My images from camera are 45megs each. I shoot a lot on events. Have the latest macbook pro. Thinking of the basic mac mini studio. Hopefully that should keep me happy for a little bit.. Unless you have an other suggestion.
Would a 64GB M5 Pro Mac Mini (512GB, 15-core CPU, 16 GPU) let me run a local open-source AI agent via LM Studio for unlimited, tokenless prompting, while simultaneously running the usual full load of apps simultaneously including Excel, Word, Mail, 15 Safari tabs, Music, Notes, and OneDrive syncing on top of system OS memory requirements?
Getting less than 64GB seems to miss the idea that, alongside normal work, you get unlimited tokens/free AI instead of £20/month subscriptions where you run out of tokens in days (realistically £200/month so saving £2,400/year).
Plus, the local AI model will perserve confidentiality and will RAG your instructions from a folder and web-search every prompt instantly, avoiding the forgetting issues of paid/free tiers. 64GB feels like the sweet spot for using a Qwen 2.5 32B model during the day with the other apps or a Quen 2.5 72B overnight on its own via agent. Models not frontier but should still have 90%+ accuracy?
Can the IT pros tell me if this logic holds to use the local agents to help build and update financial models, etc and do personal admin with no lag/crashes? Finance guy here so all guesses for now so appreciate your feedback?
One unique selling point of mac mini was due to affordability, which clearly gone, i am sure these new mac mini will not sell as its predecessor
Great video, thanks. I am sticking with my Mac Mini M4 16GB RAM and 512GB on board storage. I have many terabytes of connected storage, – it is a great for what i need. Keep the reviews coming!
I do agree that 256GB of storage should be retired and 512GB the baseline amount. I also think 16GB of RAM is ridiculous.
i grabbed the m6 512gb ssd 32 gb ram for music production
Everyone focuses on the price. After a $910 trade in for my M4 Pro, my M6 with 32GB of RAM and 512GB of storage I owe only $689!!!! That’s less than the base M6! So figure in the trade in. The price is a tough pill if you’re doing it without trading in your previous Mac Mini.
I'm currently running a Macbook Air M4. Not sure which one to get to run local AI.
Me too… ordered… 910us for my mini on trade…. insane
With the trump economy here in the US I can't afford to upgrade any of my Apple gear. Will be sticking with my M2 Studio for at least another year.
Great video!! I ordered the Studio M5 Max (18/40/16), 64GB RAM, 2TB storage. Upgrading from Mac Mini M4 Pro 12/16/16), 24GB RAM, 512GB storage. Should be a significant improvement for video and music workflows
Crazy prices !
I wouldn't have minded the price if they continued to have the storage at 512GB base. Man… So disappointing, but I'm afraid of prices going much higher later and my work is itching for an upgrade from M1.
I ordered an M5 Ultra 80 GPU, 256GB for playnig Baldur's Gate smoothly. And for some AI stuff…
А в твою «гениальную» голову не приходила мысль, что базовый Mac mini нет TB5 по причине что никто на таком компьютере не гоняет терабайты файлов от профессиональных камер, максимум apple Log с айфона, где ограничение будет скорость самого диска или айфона (и оно тоже не ограничиться портом TB4😂)?🤷🏻♂️ Никто не берет к Mac mini Apple один studio XDR, тем более несколько штук и не соединяет это все через TB5. TB5 как раз в Mac mini с М5 pro, простому что это уже проф машина на которой зарабатывают деньги или делают проекты. Такой мысли у тебя не было?
I'm still running an M1 iMac, I stream on twitch and game, but the M1 can't handle gaming and streaming at the same time, so I need to use my PS5. Been trying to decide between the M6 and M5 Pro, I know the M6 specced out to what I would want is about $1300 so it wouldn't be much more to go to the M5 Pro. The Mac Studio would be a dream, but it's just that for me, it's way too expensive for me.
Holding off as the Studio is still M5 and also the 512GB is delayed.