Mac mini M6 & Mac Studio is HERE... But Apple Made a Big Mistake.

Summary

Apple announced four desktop Macs, available for pre-order ahead of sales beginning September 22.

Model Starting price Key details Mac mini M6 $899 M6 chip, 16GB unified memory, 256GB storage, Wi‑Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thunderbolt 4 Mac mini M5 Pro $1,699 24GB unified memory, 512GB storage, Thunderbolt 5 Mac Studio M5 Max $2,499 Up to 128GB memory, Thunderbolt 5, support for up to five external displays Mac Studio M5 Ultra $5,499 Up to 36 CPU cores, 80 GPU cores, and 512GB unified memory

Mac mini M6

The video presents the M6 as Apple’s first 2-nanometer chip, with claimed gains in efficiency and performance. Apple’s cited figures include up to 4.8× the performance of M4, 13.9× faster LLM request processing, and 10.3× faster graphics for 3D rendering.

The base model includes 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage, plus front USB-C ports, HDMI, and 2.5-gigabit Ethernet.

The creator criticizes the base configuration’s 256GB storage and Thunderbolt 4. Thunderbolt 4 is described as adequate for everyday peripherals, but Thunderbolt 5 on the M5 Pro is positioned as a better fit for fast external storage, large video transfers, and high-bandwidth multi-display setups.

The creator recommends the $1,099 512GB configuration instead of the base model. Their buying advice: consider upgrading from M1 or M2, but M4 owners can likely wait.

Mac mini M5 Pro

The M5 Pro’s main connectivity advantage is Thunderbolt 5, which the video says supports up to 120Gbps. Apple claims up to four times the performance of M4 Pro, alongside more CPU and GPU cores, higher memory bandwidth, and an improved Neural Engine.

The creator recommends it for 4K/8K content work, large software builds, and local AI workloads, and calls it the strongest price-performance option among the Macs discussed.

Mac Studio M5 Max

Starting at the same price as its predecessor, the M5 Max Studio offers up to an 18-core CPU, 40-core GPU, 128GB of memory, and 614GB/s memory bandwidth.

Apple’s claims cited in the video include up to 2.5× faster processor performance and nearly 5× faster graphics than M1 Max, plus the ability to handle up to 19 simultaneous 8K ProRes 422 streams.

The creator sees it as a substantial upgrade for M1 Max or M2 Max users, while suggesting M4 Max owners can wait.

Mac Studio M5 Ultra

The M5 Ultra combines two M5 Max chips, with up to 36 CPU cores, 80 GPU cores, 512GB of unified memory, and 1.2TB/s bandwidth. Apple claims up to 9.8× faster AI performance and 4.7× faster graphics than M1 Ultra.

The video positions it for demanding local AI and machine-learning work, large datasets, uncompressed 8K video, and computational fluid dynamics—not for most typical users.

Review and buying-guide notes

• The creator says they pre-ordered the M6 Mac mini and M5 Max Mac Studio.
• They report that the M5 Pro performed comparably to their M3 Max in tests, but the video does not provide detailed benchmark results.
• The creator promises a later unboxing, temperature testing, and real-world benchmarks.
• The main criticism is that the $899 Mac mini starts with only 256GB of storage and Thunderbolt 4; the creator argues that 512GB and Thunderbolt 5 should be standard at this price.

Main speaker/source: André Creates, the video’s host and reviewer, discussing Apple’s announcement and citing Apple’s performance claims.