The embargo has lifted on Apple’s new refreshed desktop Macs. Reviews are now out for the M6 Mac mini and the M5 Ultra Mac Studio, both announced last month and going on sale tomorrow, September 22.
The Mac mini gets Apple’s M6 chip, the company’s first 2-nanometre Mac processor, with a 12-core CPU including two new “super cores”, a 12-core GPU with Neural Accelerators in every core, and storage Apple says is up to twice as fast as the M4 model. An M5 Pro configuration is also available with an 18-core CPU, Thunderbolt 5 ports, and up to 64GB of unified memory. Both models add Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and genlock support over USB-C, in the same compact chassis.
The Mac Studio moves to M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips. The M5 Ultra fuses two M5 Max dies for up to 36 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores, starts with 96GB of unified memory (configurable to 512GB later this fall), and adds Thunderbolt 5 ports, with SSD speeds Engadget measured at 14GB/s write. Apple claims 20 to 30 percent better performance than the M3 Ultra across CPU, GPU, and neural engine tests.
Reviewers agree the performance leaps are real, with the M6 posting the fastest single-core scores of any Mac and the M5 Ultra trading blows with desktop GPUs in AI workloads. The common complaint is price though, as it now costs more than ever to buy a new Mac.
For Canadians, Apple.ca lists the M6 Mac mini starting at $1,249 CAD and the M5 Pro Mac mini starting at $2,399 CAD. The Mac Studio starts at $3,499 CAD with the M5 Max chip, while the M5 Ultra model starts at $7,799 CAD. Prices surged this year because of the massive spikes in memory costs due to the AI server boom. Both new desktops are available starting September 22 (yes, tomorrow).
So what do reviewers think after testing the new machines? Here is a roundup of M6 Mac mini and M5 Ultra Mac Studio reviews from around the web.
Prefer to watch? Here are some video reviews of the new Macs from around YouTube.
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