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New Mac Mini and Mac Studio: 13 Things You Might Have Missed
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zeboose
macrumors newbie
Never thought my M2 Studio would end up part of my pension fund.
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.
The new Mac Studio and Mac mini models can be pre-ordered starting today, and will be available on September 22.
- 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.
Article Link: New Mac Mini and Mac Studio: 13 Things You Might Have Missed
It's business, not personal. It's all very well bearing a grudge but unless new players come onto the market that you can trust with your data, you will go back to the traditional manufacturers and sellers if and when they start supplying the market at acceptable prices.
Yes but the laptop is an AIO affair, whereas power users will add their own storage to the Studio via TB or 10GB ethernet. They are not really the same thing.
FilthyMuppetInnuendo
macrumors regular
I said that without the ceiling of the base Mac Pro price, Apple can now raise the Studio to whatever they want. And I was told I was wrong.
Gee.
Yes, I understand that the entire planet is facing the worst economic bubble since a bunch of flowers in the Netherlands; the point remains.
The new M5 Max will be my last Mac Studio. Apple’s continual incompetence towards their desktop line is most frustrating.
Going from 4TB to 8TB is not that bad when I looked at some NVMe SSD that are just 4TB those are $1,400 plus you need to buy an enclosure and cable etc. still a difference but not that much these days. I’ll take the $500 Apple Tax for the 8TB model so I can have it all in one device.
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It all started with Ford I believe in the 20s or so? They tried to give their employees more of a bonus and was sued for doing so. Gravely over simplifying it but that is the gist from what I recall.
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we are in the same boat. again one argument in favor of getting the max you can afford at the time of purchase.
Trubador
macrumors newbie
Agreed!! Granted, I've been waiting to finally upgrade from my ancient Intel Mac Mini (delayed after the M4 Max Mac Studios disappeared this past spring). My old Mini has three quarters of its 1 TB HD filled, so getting the base 516 GB M5 Max Mac Studio is not possible. That means I have to pay an extra $300 on top of the extra $500 price increase on the base model just to get 1 TB. And if I want to upgrade to a 2 TB SSD I have to pay an additional $500. UGH!
With those numbers you don’t need anywhere near 64gb. Even 32gb would be plenty
Welcome, Mr. Linux.
I have an M1 with 16 GB and 1 TB that I'd like to replace with a Studio model with 32–64 GB and 4 TB.
I'm going to invest in a NAS and probably a Linux server for processing.
The Mac will serve as a “control center”—basically a “nice-looking” terminal.
I’ll hold off on the Studio until the company I work for gives me a raise that at least doubles my salary.
I have an M1 with 16 GB and 1 TB that I'd like to replace with a Studio model with 32–64 GB and 4 TB.
I'm going to invest in a NAS and probably a Linux server for processing.
The Mac will serve as a “control center”—basically a “nice-looking” terminal.
I’ll hold off on the Studio until the company I work for gives me a raise that at least doubles my salary.
Pro is faster at graphics, multicore, and has TB5 and more display support. M6 is faster at single core and has twice the neural engines (but fewer graphics cores to help out)
Used memory doesn’t matter. Unused memory is wasted memory. Memory pressure and the frequency of page outs are what matter.
LFO8
macrumors 6502
I am not comparing those. I am looking at EU prices before and after all these changes (which always include taxes). Why should I exclude tax in the pricing? We have to pay the tax and can’t get around it.
MisterAndrew
macrumors 68030
You are excluding tax in the pricing, but selectively only for one region, which misrepresents the difference.
LFO8
macrumors 6502
The EU price I mention includes the tax. The USD amount in parenthesis is simply a conversion of that EU amount since there are dominantly US people on here and mostly don't get a 'feel' by just stating the EUR amount....
Yes. So you are converting a European price with tax to the US amount without tax, creating an inaccurate and misrepresentative comparison.