Mac mini M6: pocket powerhouse that lost its bargain halo

Apple’s Mac mini with the new M6 chip is the first mini to wear the latest silicon, and in day-to-day use it feels like a workstation stuffed into a 12.7-centimetre square. Single-core work is roughly a quarter faster than the M4 mini, multicore about half again as quick, and graphics nearly 75 per cent stronger, according to hands-on testing published Tuesday. Apps launch near-instantly; the machine stays whisper-quiet until you lean on it. Front USB-C and headphone ports, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI 2.1, 2.5Gb ethernet, Wi-Fi 7 and Thread make it easy to hide behind a monitor as a DIY iMac.

macOS 27 Golden Gate brings a rebuilt Siri AI that can read the screen, chase parcel codes from mail and suggest file names that actually match your schemes. Writing and summary tools are useful without being flashy. The catch is price: memory shortages have pushed the base 16GB/256GB configuration to about US$899 / £899 — up sharply from the M4’s roughly US$599 starting point. Storage and RAM remain soldered; the base SSD fills fast if you edit video locally.

Verdict for Serious Pick readers: buy it if you need silent, compact horsepower for development, design or a home office and already own a good display. Skip or configure up if 256GB will choke your workflow, or wait for street pricing if the old mini’s value proposition was the whole point. It is still a lot of Mac per centimetre — just no longer the steal it used to be.