Apple just announced a new M6 / M5 Pro Mac mini and M5 Max/Ultra Mac Studio, both of which are shipping on September 22. On the surface, these look like just the same Macs we have today with faster processors inside. But there’s more to them if you dig a little deeper.
Apple promotes these machines with nonspecific performance incremental values: 4.3x faster AI performance, 2x faster graphics, 4.8x faster LLM prompt performance, and so on. All of those claims will have to wait until we can do real testing with real applications. But while the outside of the Macs hasn’t changed, there are a number of features and differences you may have glossed over. Here are some of the more interesting differences between these new Macs and their predecessors.
Faster storage: Both the new Mac minis and Mac Studios feature SSDs using the new PCIe Gen 6 standard, with speeds up to twice as fast. Storage performance is a bottleneck to overall system responsiveness more often than you think, so this should really make a difference.
Upgraded Ethernet: The Mac mini used to come with a standard gigabit Ethernet port; that has now been upgraded to a 2.5Gb port. The 10Gb port upgrade option is still there, while the Mac Studio still comes with a 10Gb port standard.
Better wireless: Both systems now feature Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, up from the Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 of their predecessors.
Genlock support: Both the Mac mini and Mac Studio now support Genlock over USB-C, a special timing signal standard used to keep multi-camera video shoots in sync. It won’t matter to most users, but if you’re someone who uses it, it’ll cut down on extra equipment.
Dual Neural Engines: Apple’s chips have had a 16-core Neural Engine for some time now. But what’s better than one 16-core Neural Engine? Two! So the M6 has two 16-core Neural Engines. All the M5 chips still have one, including the M5 Ultra, though since it’s two M5 Max chips interconnected, it has a “32-core” Neural Engine, just like the M3 Ultra.
Higher refresh rates: In three- and four-monitor configurations, the M6 and M5 Pro Mac mini supports higher refresh rates. With three displays, the 4K resolution used to be capped at 60Hz; now it’s up to 165Hz for the two displays connected via Thunderbolt. The M5 Pro version can run three 4K displays at 165 Hz, while the M4 Pro was limited to 60Hz. For a single display, refresh rates are unchanged: 8K at 60Hz, 5K at 120Hz, or 4K at 240Hz.
