Reviews for the M6 Mac mini are out, and the verdict across outlets is oddly split for a machine that everyone agrees performs great. The chip earns praise across the board. The price is what’s drawing complaints.
Every review lands on the same tension, this is still the best small desktop Apple makes, but it no longer feels like the deal the previous three generations were. We already laid out every spec that changed from the M4 Mac mini ahead of launch. Here’s how each outlet breaks it down.
Engadget Scores the M6 Mac Mini an 8.7 Out of 10
Engadget gave the M6 Mac mini an 8.7 out of 10, calling out a 16.5 percent single-threaded speed boost over the outgoing M4 Pro and a 30 percent GPU jump over the M5 MacBook Pro. The reviewer transcoded 4K footage to 1080p in 18 seconds, faster than several Windows machines in the same class.
The 2nm M6 chip handled heavy multitasking and video editing without strain, but the review’s real complaint was cost. Starting at $899, up from $599 for the outgoing base model, and with a $200 charge just to add 8GB of RAM, the reviewer said the Mac mini has lost some of its fun factor. There’s also still no SD card slot, the three-display limit carries over despite the 2nm leap, and the power button remains awkwardly placed on the bottom of the case.
9to5Mac Measures a 24 Percent Single-Core Jump Over the M4
9to5Mac ran the M6 Mac mini through Geekbench 7 and recorded 4,074 single-core, 22,632 multi-core, and 92,542 Metal GPU. That works out to 24 percent ahead of the M4 in single-core work, 48 percent ahead in multi-core, and 71 percent ahead on the GPU. Storage speeds doubled too, hitting 6,000 to 6,400 megabytes per second.
The review credited the new 12-core design, which mixes two super cores with four performance cores and six efficiency cores, as Apple’s first chip to combine all three core types. Storage was the sticking point again, with 512GB pushing the price to $1,099 instead of coming standard.
Gizmodo Tests the M6’s Limits for Running AI Locally
Gizmodo gave the M6 Mac mini 4.5 out of 5 stars and focused heavily on on-device AI. The base M6 can run smaller models like Gemma 4 26B in about 90 seconds, down from more than 16 minutes on the M4, but struggles with larger models like Bonsai 2 27B, which mostly fall back on Apple’s cloud-based Private Cloud Compute.
On raw performance, the review measured a 32 percent multi-core gain over the M4 and watched Blender render times drop from 36 seconds to 11. Thunderbolt 5 is locked to the pricier M5 Pro configuration, and storage upgrades push a modestly specced review unit past $1,300.
Tom’s Guide Names the M6 Mac Mini Its Editor’s Choice
Tom’s Guide gave the M6 Mac mini its Editor’s Choice award, recording a 44 percent jump in Geekbench 6 multi-core score over the M4 and a Handbrake transcoding time of 2 minutes 45 seconds, down from 4 minutes 42 seconds. File copy speeds doubled to more than 6,300 megabytes per second.
The review also tested gaming at 1080p, hitting 56 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 and 71 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and 2.5 gigabit Ethernet now come standard. Its complaints were the higher starting price without a storage or memory bump to match, no Touch ID, and permanently locked-in memory once you configure it.
Our Take
The performance numbers here aren’t in question. Every outlet that ran benchmarks came back with double-digit gains over the M4, and the jump to a 2nm process is doing real work. What’s changed is the calculus around buying one.
A $300 increase on a machine that used to be Apple’s value pick is a bigger deal than it looks on a spec sheet, especially once you start adding the storage and memory most people will actually want. I think the base configuration is still fine for a huge number of buyers, but anyone eyeing the higher storage tiers should budget for it now rather than getting surprised at checkout.
The AI story is worth watching too, being able to run a small model in 90 seconds instead of 16 minutes is a real jump, but the base M6 still can’t handle the larger models, which narrows who benefits from that upgrade specifically.
The M6 Mac mini starts at $899 with 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage, and the M5 Pro configuration starts at $1,699. It’s already seen its first discount down to $879.99 on Amazon.
