Anyone who is seriously into AI will know that Apple’s Mac Mini units are in deep demand by folks looking to run their own models. Apple quietly introduced something new in the range, explicitly to capture the attention of the AI-mad.
Apple reckons its new version, with either an M5 Pro or M6 chipset, delivers up to four times the AI performance of the previous M4 release. This “delivers a massive leap in AI performance,” but that could be Apple’s marketing team being hyperbolic.
Maxing out the Mac Mini
Apple touts improved performance for both its M6 and M5 Pro Mac Mini variants. The M6 is supposedly quicker (“up to 4.8x faster than M4”), with the M5 Pro (“up to 4x faster than M4 Pro”) seeing more moderate gains. But there are also WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6, and speedier Ethernet connections to look forward to. If you happen to use it for something other than running LLMs, gaming performance has also been improved.
The more affordable M6 looks to be the major AI-focused hardware. It’ll launch with 16GB of RAM as standard, and supports up to 32GB. That one starts at $900 (R14,500) in the States, but don’t expect the price to carry over here. The Mac Mini with M5 Pro is considerably more expensive, at R28,700 ($1,700), but with 64GB of system memory support, it’ll probably be more versatile. Plus, there’s a ‘Pro’ in the hardware somewhere.
Apple chief hardware officer, Johny Srouji, said, “With a more powerful CPU and graphics, Neural Accelerators in the GPU, and higher memory bandwidth, Mac Mini with M6 delivers a whole new level of AI performance. And with up to an 18-core CPU and 20-core GPU, Mac Mini with M5 Pro is an ultracompact powerhouse for complex pro workflows.”
Pre-orders for the new hardware have started in the States, with a 22 September launch date. Locally, the M4 and M4 Pro versions remain the only ones listed. Those start at R24,000. Given the $100 international price increase, expect a jump when it launches here.
1 Comment
The elephant in the room – how do we get from $799 to R24,000 for the M4 version?
For a Apple list price of $899, what gets me is that it should actually be landing at R14,500, and with VAT added that means roughly R16,500. That’s a massive gap, and at a 50% markup it feels a tad like price gouging.