M5 vs. M6 Chip Buyer's Guide: How Much Better Really Is M6?

[neilw]

It's still hard for me to get what's better between M6 and M5 Pro.
M5 Pro is twice as expensive, but I believe the race is closer than we think, and M6 most likely beats it at AI.

This is really the most interesting question to me. I imagine we will see some comparative benchmarks soon enough.

 

[Biro]

Wait a minute. This doesn’t gel with what we were hearing before about new MacBook Airs coming with M6 and new MacBook Pros coming with M6 Pro and M6 Max chips. Now they’re talking M7 which wasn’t due until late 2027 at the earliest.

Tell us you haven’t been following this story for a while without telling us you haven’t been following this story for a while.

 

[decimortis]

Someone wake me up when the M7 gets released next year.

"Siri, set a reminder for M7 release."
"No problem, I've found a picture of eleven geese on the web."

 

[Siliconguy]

It's still hard for me to get what's better between M6 and M5 Pro.
M5 Pro is twice as expensive, but I believe the race is closer than we think, and M6 most likely beats it at AI.

It is hard to tell on a desktop. We need to see the benchmarks and the battery life in a laptop, especially the MBA. If the M6 can deliver the claimed performance at a lower power consumption then it has a purpose.

As someone else pointed out, what are we supposed to do with all this compute anyway? Clearly the industry is rooting for AI to catch on so all existing PCs are obsolete. I can occasionally load down my M1 MBA especially in the summer due to thermal throttling, the Ryzen 4600G in my desktop has a fan and never throttles. It's about the same performance as an M1.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Especially not at these new prices 😂 I feel like a robber with what I paid for my M4 machine

The MBP I bought in April costs $1,600 more now. That’s insane to me.

 

[Astuces iOS]

Normal upgrade in fact...

 

[btrach144]

The MBP I bought in April costs $1,600 more now. That’s insane to me.

You could buy 3 Mac minis from April 2026 pricing for that.

Or an Apple Studio Display.

It’s crazy!

 

[Hammerd]

"Up to" (insert not impressive figure here)

 

[turbineseaplane]

(whispering)

Psst ... for the vast majority of users, any M chip Mac is phenomenal

 

[NapoleonIV]

Just a random thought, when Apple gets to version 10, will they called it the MX? If so, the should bring back the Fusion branding from the A10.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

You could buy 3 Mac minis from April 2026 pricing for that.

Or an Apple Studio Display.

It’s crazy!

Oh snap! I hadn’t even thought of it like that! Makes the difference sound even more insane.

 

[Abydos]

I would settle for higher efficiency, ie same throughput using less power, but then again it may not matter to you