Apple has unveiled a new Mac mini – either with the brand-new M6 chip or the already-available M5 Pro. The M6 is Apple’s first processor built on 2-nanometer technology and delivers a big leap, especially for AI tasks.
Read more: How well the M6 Mac mini handles local AI models is covered in our deep dive Local LLMs on the Mac mini with M6.
The M6 chip
The M6 is built on a 2-nanometer process for the first time and pairs a 12-core CPU with a 12-core GPU (up from 10 cores each in the M5). New is a dual Neural Engine made of two 16-core units – Apple’s first chip with two Neural Engines. Memory bandwidth rises to up to 170 GB/s.
Much faster, especially for AI
Compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, Apple promises up to 40 percent more CPU performance, up to 4× faster AI tasks, twice the graphics performance and twice the storage speed. The focus is clearly on local, on-device AI compute.
Price
The M6 configuration starts at $899. Those who need less compute can alternatively configure the Mac mini with the M5 Pro.
Sources: Apple Newsroom, MacRumors.
