Mac mini M6 and Mac Studio M5: Prices, Specs, and Whether to Wait
Apple announced new desktop Macs on 25 August 2026: a Mac mini with the new M6 or an M5 Pro, and a Mac Studio with M5 Max or the new M5 Ultra. Pre-orders opened the same day and both ship on 22 September. Here is every US price, what actually changed, and the part the press release does not mention: the Mac mini costs $100 more than the machine it replaces.
Every Price
| Model | Price | Education | Max memory |
| Mac mini M6 | $899 | $799 | 32GB |
| Mac mini M5 Pro | $1,699 | $1,599 | 64GB |
| Mac Studio M5 Max | $2,499 | $2,299 | 128GB |
| Mac Studio M5 Ultra | $5,499 | $5,099 | 512GB |
Pre-orders opened 25 August. Both ship 22 September. The 512GB Mac Studio configuration follows in late October.
The Mac mini Went Up $100
This is the number that matters most to anyone shopping on price. The outgoing M4 Mac mini started at $799. The new M6 model starts at $899. The Pro tier moved the same way: the M4 Pro mini was $1,599, and the M5 Pro version is $1,699.
Apple does give you more for it. The M6 mini starts with 16GB of unified memory rather than the 8GB the mini shipped with two generations ago, and the base storage and port layout improve. But a $100 increase is still a $100 increase, and it lands on the Mac that has always been Apple's price-led desktop.
The Mac Studio, by contrast, held its line: the M5 Max starts at $2,499, exactly where the M4 Max version started. The new M5 Ultra tier at $5,499 is an addition at the top, not a rise on the existing machine.
What You Actually Get
Mac mini with M6. Apple claims up to 4x faster AI performance and 40 percent faster CPU than the M4 mini, with large language model processing up to 4.8x faster. It carries three Thunderbolt 4 ports on the back, two front USB-C ports, HDMI, 2.5Gb Ethernet with a 10Gb option, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. Memory starts at 16GB and configures to 32GB.
Mac mini with M5 Pro. The step up moves to Thunderbolt 5 and up to 64GB of memory, with Apple citing up to 4x the performance of the M4 Pro on the workloads it highlights. This is the configuration for video work and code builds rather than everyday desktop use.
Mac Studio. The M5 Max claims up to 3.9x faster AI performance and up to 1.8x faster graphics than its predecessor. The M5 Ultra claims up to 4.3x the peak AI compute of the M3 Ultra and up to 1.3x its multithreaded performance. The Studio offers up to six Thunderbolt 5 ports and drives up to eight displays. Read those multipliers carefully: the headline AI figures are measured against different baselines depending on the chip, so they are not comparable to each other.
Should You Buy One?
If you want the M4 mini, move quickly and buy it discounted. The most price-efficient Mac in this announcement is the one being replaced. Outgoing stock is where the discounts appear, and the M4 mini was already the value pick in the lineup before it lost $100 of price advantage to its successor. Watch it across retailers rather than buying at Apple list.
If you need the new machines, expect to pay list for a while. Newly released Macs do not discount meaningfully for months, and these do not even ship until 22 September. Anyone hoping to catch the M6 mini in a sale is looking at a long wait.
If you are a student or at a school, education pricing takes $100 off both minis and $200 to $400 off the Studio, which cancels the mini increase outright. The M6 mini at the education price is $799, exactly what the M4 mini cost everyone else.
Where to Buy
Apple takes pre-orders directly, and third-party retailers usually match list at launch before discounting later. Amazon is worth checking because it is where the first real discounts tend to appear once a Mac has been on sale for a few months.
These open an Amazon search rather than a fixed listing, because retailer listings for a Mac announced yesterday can take time to appear and change SKU as configurations go live. That last link is the one worth watching: the outgoing M4 mini is where the discounting happens while stock clears. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
Bottom Line
The Mac mini is meaningfully faster and $100 dearer, the Mac Studio is meaningfully faster at the same entry price with a new high end above it, and neither ships until late September. For most buyers the interesting machine this month is not any of them: it is the outgoing M4 mini, at whatever the discounts settle to as it clears.
Related: Should You Buy a Mac Now or Wait?, the late 2026 Mac roadmap, and Mac mini M4 vs M4 Pro.