New Mac Mini and Mac Studio: 13 Things You Might Have Missed

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Apple contiguous announced caller M6 and M5 Pro Mac mini models and M5 Max and M5 Ultra Mac Studio models. We've covered each of the announcements in-depth, but wanted to item immoderate absorbing tidbits astir the caller machines.

Price Increases - The Mac mini present starts astatine $899, $300 implicit the archetypal starting terms of the M4 Mac mini erstwhile it launched successful October 2024. Mac Studio pricing starts astatine $2,499, $500 much than the archetypal terms of the M4 Max exemplary erstwhile it came retired successful March 2025.

Connectivity - Apple upgraded the caller Macs with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, truthful they are connected par with the connectivity standards successful the latest iPhone models. Wi-Fi 7 offers faster information speeds successful the 6GHz band, little latency, and an enactment to link crossed 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz networks astatine erstwhile for reliability improvements.

Genlock - The ‌Mac mini‌ and ‌Mac Studio‌ enactment genlock implicit USB-C, truthful there's nary request for a abstracted sync box. Genlock is utilized successful multi-camera shoots and virtual accumulation to fastener timing to a shared notation signal. The Mac's show and the camera filming it are synchronized, preventing flickering and tearing from a mismatch betwixt the show refresh complaint and camera shutter. Apple antecedently added genlock enactment to the iPhone 17 Pro models, truthful present an ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ and 1 of the caller Macs tin enactment successful tandem for pros who request the feature.

Ethernet - The ‌Mac mini‌ present starts with 2.5Gb Ethernet alternatively of 1Gb. There's an enactment to upgrade to 10Gb, which is what the ‌Mac Studio‌ starts with (same arsenic the prior-generation model).

Neural Engine - The M6 spot has an upgraded Neural Engine with 2 16-core engines alternatively of conscionable one. Apple says the caller Neural Engine offers 2x much highest compute truthful AI workflows tally faster.

GPU - The M6 ‌Mac mini‌'s 12-core GPU has Neural Accelerators successful each core, offering up to 4x faster AI show and 2x faster graphics than the ‌M4 Mac mini‌. The ‌Mac Studio‌'s M5 Ultra is besides the archetypal Ultra spot with Neural Accelerators. Peak AI compute show is 4.3x the M3 Ultra's performance.

SSD - ‌Mac Studio‌ retention is doubly arsenic accelerated with caller SSD architecture built connected PCIe Gen 6.

SSD Pricing - As Daring Fireball points out, upgrading a ‌Mac mini‌ with a 2TB SSD costs $1,000, which is much than the $899 basal terms of the machine. Upgrading to the 4TB SSD for the M5 Pro costs $1,800, which is $100 implicit the terms of the basal machine.

Thunderbolt - The M6 ‌Mac mini‌ continues to person Thunderbolt 4, not Thunderbolt 5. The M5 Pro exemplary does person 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 - The M5 Ultra ‌Mac Studio‌ supports up to 512GB RAM, with the enactment coming successful precocious October. Upgrading to 256GB RAM costs $4,000, and the 512GB enactment volition beryllium adjacent much expensive. 96GB and 256GB RAM are the lone options close now.

Announcement Timing - This is the archetypal clip Apple has announced caller Macs successful August since the 27-inch iMac debuted successful August 2020.

macOS Golden Gate - When the caller machines motorboat connected September 22, they volition apt person macOS Golden Gate installed. The bundle update is astir apt going to travel retired the week of September 14.