The Mac mini and Mac Studio both have such strong reputations as local AI computers that they faced months-long shortages, but both mini PCs just received fresh upgrades—and price hikes.Apple has introduced a new Mac mini as its first computer with an M6 chip, and a Mac Studio with an equally fresh M5 Ultra billed as its "most powerful chip ever." Mac mini M6: Better for modest AI computing If you're willing to pay more The revised version of the Mac mini looks familiar, but centers on an M6 that includes a dual 16-core Neural Engine promising "up to 2X" the AI computing power of previous chips.It's built on a cutting-edge 2-nanometer (2nm) process that allows greater overall power and efficiency, including a 12-core CPU (up from 10 cores in the base M5) with up to 20 percent faster multithreaded performance over the M5, a 12-core GPU with "nearly" 30 percent more computing speed, and 10 percent more memory bandwidth.
The upgrades are "significantly" better for on-device AI models, Apple claims.You also get 50 percent higher geometry rates, which should help with gaming and 3D rendering.The M6 is capped at 32GB of unified memory, limiting it to smaller AI systems, but it finally supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and 2.5Gbps Ethernet.
Three Thunderbolt 4 ports are on the back as well as HDMI.Apple Mac mini (M6) The Mac mini with an M6 (M5 Pro is also available) promises big strides forward in AI and graphics computing power while sticking to a small, energy-efficiient design.$899 at Apple Expand Collapse For more demanding users, the M5 Pro is now available with a peak 64GB of RAM.
It's billed at "up to 4X" faster than the M4 Pro for AI prompt processing, 40 percent faster in Blender 3D rendering, and 50 percent faster in Affinity image processing.You can also expect an upgrade to Thunderbolt 5 that lets you cluster Mac mini systems to handle even very large AI models.Mac mini M6 price and release date The desktop is facing yet another price increase.
Apple is taking preorders for the new Mac mini starting at $899 (up from $799, or $599 at launch)) for an M6 model with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of speedier storage.The M5 Pro model begins at $1,699 (up from $1,599, and originally $1,399) with 24GB of RAM and a 512GB drive.Both will ship with macOS 27 Golden Gate, making clear the OS will be ready in the next few weeks.
Mac Studio M5 Ultra: The most powerful mini PC for AI? Apple touts power for frontier models The newly updated Mac Studio, meanwhile, revolves around a jump from the M3 Ultra to the new M5 Ultra in higher-end models.The new processor has up to a 36-core CPU and an 80-core GPU, and brings Neural Accelerators to an Ultra part for the first time.Apple boasts as much as 4.3X the AI performance as well as 80 percent faster graphics that help with 3D rendering.
While Apple is still offering 'just' 512GB of maximum unified RAM, memory bandwidth has jumped 50 percent to 1.2TB.Along with support for Thunderbolt 5 and remote direct memory access (RDMA), Apple says a cluster of Mac Studio computers can handle the "largest and most demanding" open-weight frontier AI models.Storage speeds have roughly doubled thanks to PCI Gen 6 support, and the Mac mini's upgrades to Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 carry over to the Studio.
It can drive as many as eight monitors, or four Studio Display XDR screens at their native 5K resolutions and 120Hz refresh rates.Mac Studio M5 Ultra price and release date Preorders for the new Mac Studio are open now ahead of a September 22 release date, although professionals hoping for 512GB of memory will have to wait until late October.As with the Mac mini, the Studio is once again more expensive and clearly meant as a pro workstation.
A Mac Studio with the M5 Max, 36GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD starts at $2,499 (the M4 Max originally cost $1,999), while the flagship M5 Ultra variant with 96GB of RAM and 1TB of storage begins at $5,499 (up from $3,999 at launch for the M3 Ultra).Related Google's Gemma AI runs locally on my $300 mini PC, and it replaced ChatGPT for more than I expected I ran Google's Gemma AI locally on a cheap mini PC, and it handled more of my everyday ChatGPT tasks than I expected.Posts 7 By Rich Hein These aren't likely to be the absolute fastest PCs for local AI.
That goes to full-size workstations and servers that have room for dedicated GPUs and AI accelerators.However, Apple's computers might be the most powerful for individual use.They promise to be fast for typical AI tasks like coding and agents, but are much smaller and less energy-hungry (155W peak for the Mac mini, 480W for the Studio) than comparable desktops.
For context, Beelink's GTR9 Pro mini PC with an AMD Ryzan AI Max 395+ starts at $4,699 with 128GB of unified RAM and a 2TB SSD, but the outgoing Mac Studio already outperforms it—in some cases with the base M4 Max.Nvidia's DGX Spark carries a similar price for 128GB of RAM and a 4TB SSD, but it only trades blows with the M3 Ultra Mac Studio in local AI.So long as what you need is Mac-native, you might get better value from the new Studio even after expensive memory and storage upgrades.
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