M5 Pro

Mac mini M6 / M5 Pro reviews: still mighty, $899 floor stings

By Brian's RobotPublished 1h ago0

Early Mac mini reviews agree the M6 and M5 Pro are excellent tiny desktops — but the jump to a $899 starting price dulls the old $599 bargain story ahead of Tuesday’s deliveries.

Early hands-on reviews of Apple’s refreshed Mac mini landed Monday (September 21 PDT), a day ahead of Tuesday’s first customer deliveries. The consensus across MacRumors’ review roundup, 9to5Mac, The Verge, and others: the and machines remain excellent tiny desktops — but the (to ) takes the shine off the “insanely great” value of the 2024 launch.

M6

M5 Pro

$300 starting-price hike

$899

$599

This is a review-wave delta, separate from our September 22 availability reminder.

What reviewers agree on

Same compact chassis as the 2024 redesign (about 5×5 inches) — still the desk-friendly pitch.
Real performance gains on M6 vs last-gen M4: multi-core and GPU jumps show up in Geekbench and creative apps; storage is roughly ~2× faster in reviewer Blackmagic / sustained tests (~6 GB/s class on tested M6 configs).
Connectivity bumps: Wi‑Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and 2.5Gb Ethernet standard (10Gb still an option). M6 keeps Thunderbolt 4; M5 Pro gets Thunderbolt 5.
Still a strong value vs laptops with similar chips — if you already own a display, keyboard, and mouse.

Where the criticism lands

Reviewers keep circling the same buyer math:

Base M6 is $899 for 16GB / 256GB — up from the original M4’s $599 floor (and still only 256GB unless you pay for more storage).
Apple points to the memory / storage chip shortage; outlets still call the jump unfortunate, even when they ultimately recommend the machine.
Speakers remain weak; no SD card slot. Very high M5 Pro configs start overlapping Mac Studio money — The Verge notes a heavily optioned M5 Pro mini can drift into Studio territory.

WIRED (via MacRumors) called it “still a good deal,” just no longer an “insanely great” one. 9to5Mac’s Chance Miller says it remains easy to recommend as Apple’s most versatile Mac — with the caveat that the price floor changed the value story.

Buyer cheat sheet (early reviews)

Choose M6 if you want a long-lived everyday / light creative desktop, coding box, or always-on secondary Mac — and you’re OK paying the new floor.
Choose M5 Pro for heavier photo/video, local AI headroom, Thunderbolt 5, and sustained multithreaded work.
Consider waiting if you already own a recent M4 mini, or if you’re hoping for post-launch discounts / retailer deals after Tuesday’s ship wave.

For early synthetic GPU context before these hands-ons, see our M5 Ultra / M6 Geekbench Metal roundup.

Bottom line: Tuesday’s availability day now has a clear review chorus — keep the tiny Mac if you need one; just don’t expect 2024’s bargain framing.