September has been a busy month for Apple, though that’s not all that surprising – it usually is. But what was a little left-field this year was that, amongst the new iPhone and Apple Watch announcements, including a folding iPhone in the iPhone Duo, a new Mac mini was thrown into the mix.
For years, the Mac mini has been the cheapest way to get a Mac if you already owned a monitor and keyboard. The previous model, launched in November 2024, was the Mac mini (M4), and it started at just £599. You, of course, had to buy a screen and accessories on top, but you got macOS for under £600.
Since then, Apple has announced the MacBook Neo (originally starting at £599, now £699 after price increases), which, while not as powerful as the Mac mini, would give you macOS at a lower price point. With the M6 model Mac mini, Apple is talking about running large on-device AI models and assistants on your desktop around the clock.
It’s a lot of ambition for a computer you can hold in one hand, and that ambition comes with a price, too, starting at £300 more than its predecessor at £899. The question isn’t whether the M6 is faster than its predecessor (it is), but whether you should still buy it at the higher price point.
The Disconnekt Downlow
Pros
+ Great performance
+ Small footprint
+ Wi-Fi 7 compatibility
Cons
– £300 more than previous model
– No huge changes besides performance
– Screen and accessories separate
The Mac mini (M6) packs more cores, a redesigned GPU and much faster networking into the same modest desk space. The chip gains two extra CPU cores and two extra GPU cores, and the GPU now includes Neural Accelerators for the first time on a Mac mini. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 modernise connectivity thanks to Apple’s N1 chip, and macOS 27 brings the new Siri AI, which is considerably better than I ever thought it would be. The higher entry price is a major consideration, and some features, like Thunderbolt 5, are reserved for the pricier M5 Pro model, but despite that, the Mac mini (M6) is still a superb and very capable desktop computer.
The reasons you should choose Apple Mac mini (M6)
The main reason to buy a Mac mini (M6) is that you already have a monitor and accessories, and you want a desktop computer running macOS, perhaps to work well with your iPhone or iPad, or because you’re used to a MacBook.
The next reason is the new processor. I reviewed the M6 Mac mini rather than the M5 Pro model, the latter of which is more powerful despite what the numbering might suggest. The M6 model has a 12-core CPU and a 12-core GPU, which is two more cores apiece compared to the Mac mini (M4), along with a new dual 16-core Neural Engine. It all sounds rather geeky, but what you need to know is that the Neural Accelerators built into each GPU core are what make the difference.
Apple says the result is up to four times the AI performance and twice the graphics performance of the M4 Mac mini, with the CPU up to 40 per cent faster. Elsewhere, spreadsheet calculations in Excel are claimed to be up to 1.5 times faster than on the M4, and ray-traced gaming in Cyberpunk 2077 up to twice as fast.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
Those are Apple’s own figures, but the M6 performs brilliantly in my experience. Everything runs smoothly, from spreadsheets to video rendering, while AI tasks in Photoshop, Claude and Gemini run without hesitation. For those considering the Mac mini (M6) for normal desktop workflows, you get a fast, quiet computer here, but if you do want to run local AI models or get an agent to handle tasks in the background, you shouldn’t have an issue doing that.
Faster everything is always welcome, and the extra memory bandwidth (up to 170GB/s) helps with multitasking, which was a seamless whatever I tried to do. Memory starts at 16GB and can be configured up to 32GB, though do keep in mind that the already pricey £899 starting price will start to creep up the more you add.
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As with any new Wi-Fi standard, you’ll need a compatible router to see the benefit, but if you have that covered, it’s a great upgrade to future-proof the Mac mini (M6).
Now, for the design, which is my favourite part of the Mac mini. It remains compact and discreet – to the point where it could easily go unnoticed on a desk. At just 127mm by 127mm, like the Mac mini M4, this little cutie is small enough to sit in the palm of your hand, while offering heaps of power under its hood. You still get two USB-C ports and a headphone jack on the front, which is handy for plugging in a camera card (with an adapter) or charging your phone without reaching around the back.
Meanwhile, the rear has three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI and Ethernet. Connectivity has seen a decent bump, too. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 are both on board thanks to Apple’s N1 chip, and the Ethernet port is now 2.5Gb, with a 10Gb option if you’re prepared to pay for it. As with any new Wi-Fi standard, you’ll need a compatible router to see the benefit, but if you have that covered, it’s a great upgrade to future-proof the Mac mini (M6) for a couple of years.
What Apple Mac mini (M6) could do better
The biggest complaint I have is the price. Don’t get me wrong, I know prices across the tech world have increased, but a £300 increase over the previous version of this desktop computer feels steep. As I said, the Mac mini used to be the cheapest way into the world of Mac, and at £899 (£799 for education) that’s definitely not as true as it was with the Mac mini (M4) – and even less so if you go back to earlier generations.
That said, you still get an excellent desktop computer for that price, and it’s more powerful than the MacBook Neo and the MacBook Air, both of which are the only other two computers in Apple’s portfolio priced under £1,000. You will need to consider your monitor and accessories too, though, so do keep that in mind if you are starting from scratch and buying everything.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
Then there’s the Mac mini (M4) problem. That generation is still a great desktop computer, and it’s more than capable of running AI workloads. If you already own that model, you probably don’t need to upgrade unless you’re planning to run AI workloads all day, every day.
The last point to note is that Thunderbolt 5 is available only on the more powerful Mac mini (M5 Pro), which starts at £1,699, while the Mac mini (M6) retains Thunderbolt 4. The M5 Pro is also the model that allows you to cluster several Mac minis to run large AI models, a feature very few will use, but it shows where the line has been drawn.
A little about macOS 27 and Siri AI
The new Mac mini (M6) runs macOS 27 Golden Gate, which arrived as a free update alongside iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 in mid-September. It brings a number of new features, but the main highlight is Siri AI, which is now more personalised, drawing on your Messages, Mail, Photos and other apps to find what you need and get things done.
I’ve been testing Siri AI since June at WWDC, and it’s consistently surprised me with what it surfaces. It found a Swedish marinade recipe my mum sent me back in 2023, detailed a restaurant I went to in Barcelona in 2025 that I had no idea about, and it’s great at pulling up flight details and addresses from messages and emails.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
There are also some great new parental controls with macOS 27, along with better photo editing in the Photos app, the ability to describe an event in Calendar to add it without filling in every field, and high-resolution support for ultrawide monitors.
Elsewhere, Shortcuts lets you create an automation simply by describing it, Safari offers smarter ways to organise your browsing, and Liquid Glass has also been refined, with more readable toolbars and edge-to-edge sidebars.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
Should you buy the Apple Mac mini (M6)?
The price rise of the Mac mini (M6) is a bitter pill to swallow, and if you already own a Mac mini (M4), the gains are unlikely to justify an upgrade. Meanwhile, if you’re coming to Mac mini for the first time, the M4 model is still excellent. For those after something cheaper, it might be worth seeing if you can find that model at a discount if you don’t think you will use the M6 model to its full potential.
But if you’re looking for power in a compact form, the Mac mini (M6) is an incredibly capable little computer, and for anyone coming from an older Mac or a Windows PC, it will feel like a big step forward. Overall, the performance gains, Wi-Fi 7 and AI capabilities make it a superb choice if you already have a screen and accessories, or if you’re looking for a desktop machine for AI experiments.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
FAQs
It’s available to pre-order now, with shipping and in-store availability starting on 22 September.
The Mac mini with M6 starts at £899, or £799 for education. The M5 Pro model starts at £1,699, or £1,599 for education. The starting storage for the M6 is 256GB, while for the M5 Pro it is 512GB.
The M6 has a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU, up to 32GB of memory and three Thunderbolt 4 ports. The M5 Pro goes up to an 18-core CPU and 20-core GPU, with up to 64GB of memory, faster memory bandwidth (307GB/s versus 170GB/s) and three Thunderbolt 5 ports.
