Apple is about to launch two new Macs, with the latest Mac mini and Mac Studio finally reaching customers and Apple Stores tomorrow, September 22.
Both machines were announced almost a month ago on August 25 and have been available to pre-order ever since, making the gap between announcement and release considerably longer than Apple buyers are used to seeing for a Mac launch.
Tomorrow’s release brings Apple’s new M6 Mac mini and M5 Max and M5 Ultra Mac Studio into stores, while customers who pre-ordered the machines should also begin receiving deliveries.
The new Mac mini was announced in August with M6 and M5 Pro chip options. Apple says the M6 version delivers up to 4x faster AI performance, up to 2x faster graphics and storage, and 40% faster CPU performance compared with the previous M4 model.
The Mac mini also gains Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and 2.5Gb Ethernet as standard. The M6 model includes Thunderbolt 4, while the higher-end M5 Pro configuration supports Thunderbolt 5.
Pricing starts at $899 in the U.S. and £899 in the U.K. for the M6 Mac mini. The M5 Pro configuration starts at $1,699 in the U.S. and £1,699 in the U.K.
Mac Studio is aimed considerably higher. Apple’s updated Mac Studio is available with M5 Max or the new M5 Ultra, with up to a 36-core CPU, an 80-core GPU and as much as 512GB of unified memory on the highest-end configuration.
Apple is positioning the machine heavily around demanding professional and local AI workloads. It also includes Thunderbolt 5, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and significantly faster storage, while retaining the familiar compact Mac Studio enclosure.
The new Mac Studio starts at $2,499 in the U.S. and £2,499 in the U.K. with M5 Max, while the M5 Ultra version starts at $5,499 in the U.S. and £5,499 in the U.K.
There is one exception to tomorrow’s wider Mac Studio launch. Configurations equipped with the maximum 512GB of unified memory are not due to become available until late October.
Early reviews for both machines arrived ahead of release. Mac mini reviewers have generally highlighted the substantial performance gains from M6 while noting its significantly higher starting price. Early Mac Studio testing, meanwhile, has shown particularly large gains in SSD performance alongside the increased CPU and GPU performance of M5 Ultra.
The Apple Post covered both Macs together when Apple unexpectedly announced them in August, weeks earlier than the company would typically refresh its desktop lineup.
After nearly four weeks of pre-orders, the wait ends tomorrow, with both models available from Apple Stores, Apple Authorized Resellers and through deliveries to customers who ordered online.