GoKawiilis a reviewer covering laptops and the occasional gadget. He spent over 15 years in the photography industry before joining The Verge as a deals writer in 2021.
There are lots of compact desktop computers out there, but none match the Mac Mini’s small size and big power. 2024’s redesign reduced the Mini to 0.82L, a chassis so minimal you can easily mount it behind a monitor or under a desk. I’ve used gaming laptop charging bricks that are nearly as large and definitely heavier than this whole computer. But despite being tiny, the Mini maintains a bunch of speedy ports — even a front-facing headphone jack.
The 2026 Mini is the first Mac to get Apple’s new M6 chip, with more cores — and more kinds of cores — than the outgoing M4 model. Along with that comes another beefier version, replacing the M4 Pro model with an M5 Pro. It’s a chip bump year, and that’s just fine. But it’s also a price bump year: While the M4 Mac Mini started at $599, the new model starts at $899. In spite of that, the Mac Mini remains the best value in the Mac lineup, because just about everything costs more these days.
Since May, the cheapest M4 Mini was the model with 512GB storage, for $799; Apple discontinued the $599 model with 256GB of storage due to supply constraints — in part because of people buying up Mac Minis en masse for use with OpenClaw. So while the base M6 model with 16GB / 256GB is technically only $100 more than the last available M4 Mini, it’s really a $300 increase.
Component report card Screen: BYO
Webcam: BYO
Keyboard: BYO
Trackpad: BYO
Port selection: A
Speakers: D
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