{"slug": "2024-vs-2026-mac-mini-buyer-s-guide", "title": "2024 vs. 2026 Mac Mini Buyer's Guide", "summary": "Apple's new Mac mini with the M6 and M5 Pro chips starts at $899 and $1,699, respectively, $100 more than the outgoing M4 models, with pre-orders open and shipments arriving September 22. The 2026 refresh delivers up to 4x faster AI performance and 4.8x faster prompt processing in LM Studio over the M4, plus Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and support for 4K at 165Hz displays, according to Apple.", "body_md": "Last month, Apple announced a new Mac mini built around the all-new M6 chip and the M5 Pro, replacing the M4 and M4 Pro models that had been on sale since October 2024. Pre-orders are open now, with the machines arriving to customers and in stores on September 22.\n\nThe M6 model starts at $899 and the M5 Pro model at $1,699, each $100 above what its predecessor was selling for by the end of its run and $300 above what their predecessors launched at. The Mac mini rose from $599 to $799 in May, and the M4 Pro configuration went from $1,399 to $1,599 in June, both as a consequence of the memory shortage driven by AI demand. Education pricing brings the new models down to $799 and $1,599 respectively.\n\nWhat Changed Across Both Models\n\nA number of upgrades apply equally to the standard and Pro configurations, regardless of which chip you choose:\n\nMac mini (2024)\n\nMac mini (2026)\n\nNeural Accelerators in each GPU core\n\nVariable refresh rate and HDR support\n\nWi-Fi 6E connectivity\n\nWi-Fi 7 connectivity\n\nApple N1 wireless networking chip\n\nBluetooth 5.3\n\nBluetooth 6\n\nThread networking technology\n\nGigabit Ethernet or 10Gb Ethernet\n\n2.5Gb Ethernet or 10Gb Ethernet\n\nGenlock support over USB-C\n\nMac Mini With M4 vs. M6\n\nHere is everything else that differs between the M4 and M6 versions of the Mac mini:\n\nMac mini (M4)\n\nMac mini (M6)\n\nM4 chip\n\nM6 chip\n\n10-core CPU with four performance cores and six efficiency cores\n\n12-core CPU with two super cores, four performance cores, and six efficiency cores\n\n10-core GPU\n\n12-core GPU\n\n16-core Neural Engine\n\nDual 16-core Neural Engine\n\n120GB/s memory bandwidth\n\n153GB/s memory bandwidth, rising to 170GB/s with 32GB of unified memory\n\nTwo displays up to 6K at 60Hz, plus a third up to 5K at 60Hz\n\nTwo displays up to 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 165Hz, plus a third up to 5K at 60Hz\n\nUp to two external displays over a single Thunderbolt port\n\nNow discontinued\n\nFrom $899\n\nMac Mini With M4 Pro vs. M5 Pro\n\nThe comparison below outlines the remaining differences between the two Pro configurations:\n\nMac mini (M4 Pro)\n\nMac mini (M5 Pro)\n\nM4 Pro chip\n\nM5 Pro chip\n\nBase: 12-core CPU with eight performance cores and four efficiency cores\nConfigurable to: 14-core CPU\n\nBase: 15-core CPU with five super cores and 10 performance cores\nConfigurable to: 18-core CPU\n\nEnhanced shader core and third-generation ray tracing\n\n273GB/s memory bandwidth\n\n307GB/s memory bandwidth\n\nThree displays up to 6K at 60Hz\n\nThree displays up to 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 165Hz\n\nTwo displays: one up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 240Hz, plus a second up to 6K at 60Hz\n\nTwo displays: one up to 8K at 60Hz, 5K at 120Hz, or 4K at 240Hz, plus a second up to 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 200Hz\n\nUp to three external displays over a single Thunderbolt port\n\nNow discontinued\n\nFrom $1,699\n\nHow Much Faster Is It, Really?\n\nThe latest refresh is minor for ordinary work and significant for AI workflows. Against the M4, Apple claims 40% faster CPU performance and 2x faster graphics, which is a normal generational step, alongside unusually large gains of up to 4x faster AI performance and up to 4.8x faster prompt processing in LM Studio. Almost all of the engineering appears to have gone into AI optimization, in the form of Neural Accelerators built into every GPU core for the first time on the Mac mini and a Neural Engine doubled to two 16-core units. The M5 Pro follows the same pattern, at up to 4x faster than the M4 Pro for prompt processing but only 1.4x faster for ray-traced rendering in Blender.\n\nDisplay support is the one significant change beyond the chips. Both models add 4K at 165Hz and variable refresh rate, which the 2024 machines never supported, and the M5 Pro can drive a second display at 5K at 120Hz where the M4 Pro capped it at 6K at 60Hz. If you own a high refresh rate monitor, this is perhaps the most noticeable difference in the entire update.\n\nIt is worth noting that Apple's figure of up to 170GB/s for the M6 only applies to the 32GB configuration. The 16GB and 24GB models run at 153GB/s, so the gain over the M4's 120GB/s is around 28% for most buyers rather than the 42% implied. Bandwidth governs how fast a model's weights move out of memory, which makes the 32GB configuration a faster machine.\n\nThe memory ceilings are also not the increases they appear to be. The M4 shipped with a 32GB option and the M4 Pro with 64GB when they launched in October 2024, and Apple removed both in May as memory prices climbed. The new models restore those ceilings rather than raising them, so a 32GB M4 or 64GB M4 Pro already has the same ceiling as its 2026 equivalent.\n\nWhich to Choose?\n\nIf you own a 2024 Mac mini and do not run AI models on it, skip this generation. A 40% CPU improvement is not something you will notice in daily use, and nothing else meaningful about the machine has changed. The exception is display support: if you have a high refresh rate monitor stuck at 60Hz, that is a real problem the new models solve and the old ones never will.\n\nIf you do run models locally, the upgrade is easy to justify from an M4, but more difficult from an M4 Pro. Roughly 4x faster prompt processing changes what you can attempt. From an M4 Pro you get unchanged GPU core counts, a 12% bandwidth increase, and a $300 rise over what you paid, so wait for the next year's revision unless you specifically need to upgrade to a 64GB model.\n\nFor new buyers, the gap between the two 2026 models is wider than the $800 price difference suggests: the M5 Pro has 80% more memory bandwidth, double the memory ceiling, and 50% more CPU cores at the top. Since tools like LM Studio and Ollama run on the GPU rather than the Neural Engine, capacity and bandwidth are what matter. Memory capacity decides which models you can load at all, while bandwidth determines how fast they run. If your models fit in 32GB, buy the M6 at $899. If they do not, the M5 Pro is your only option here.\n\nThe 2024 models remain worth considering even though Apple has stopped selling them new, with availability via third parties, Apple's refurbished store, or second-hand.\n\nDo not expect prices to collapse in the usual way, whichever route you take. The memory shortage pushed Apple's prices up, twice during the M4's final year, so a modest discount off $799 is unremarkable. The M4 model is worth buying nearer the $599 it launched at, and much above that, the stretch to buy a new M6 is difficult to argue against.\n\nThe 32GB M4 and 64GB M4 Pro were only sold between October 2024 and May 2026, so they exist on the used market but were unavailable new for the machine's final months. A 64GB M4 Pro matches the memory ceiling of a $1,699 M5 Pro at 273GB/s against 307GB/s, for considerably less. For running larger models on a budget, that may be the most cost-effective configuration.\n\nThe new Mac mini is available to pre-order now, with deliveries and in-store availability beginning on Tuesday, September 22.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/2024-vs-2026-mac-mini-buyer-s-guide", "canonical_source": "https://www.macrumors.com/guide/2024-vs-2026-mac-mini/", "published_at": "2026-09-08 11:56:18+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-08 12:01:19.651900+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products", "artificial-intelligence", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Apple", "Mac mini", "M6", "M5 Pro", "M4", "M4 Pro", "LM Studio", "Blender"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/2024-vs-2026-mac-mini-buyer-s-guide", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/2024-vs-2026-mac-mini-buyer-s-guide.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/2024-vs-2026-mac-mini-buyer-s-guide.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/2024-vs-2026-mac-mini-buyer-s-guide.jsonld"}}