Apple Mac mini (M6) review: The best compact desktop is no longer a great deal

Engadget staff@engadget.com (Devindra Hardawar)

21 Sept 2026 23:00 AEST 1 min read Review A judgment of a work or a place. Rewritten in plain language

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Overview

The M6 Mac mini remains a powerful and compact desktop, but it's no longer the great deal that it used to be.
Despite the numbering confusion, Apple is sticking with its classic split for the Mac mini.
The company says the M6 is 2.3x faster at Excel spreadsheet work than the M1 Mac mini, and the M5 Pro is 4.6x quicker.
The M6 Mac mini features Thunderbolt 4, with up to 40 Gb/s connections, while the M6 Pro system has Thunderbolt 5, supporting up to 120 Gb/s. The latter would be better for fast connections to storage and other accessories.
The Mac mini M6's Geekbench 6 GPU score was also 30 percent higher than that M5 MacBook Pro, which points to some serious graphics upgrades this generation.

5 sentences from our version of the report, chosen to cover it. Nothing here is written; every line is in the article below. How

Summarized version

Now we have the M6 Mac mini but starts at $899. If you need a powerful little system, it's still the best mini desktop you can buy today.

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The one thing this headline claims is in the report.

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The article, shortened and in plain language

At $899, the new Mac mini loses the fun factor of the previous models.

The M6 Mac mini remains a powerful and compact desktop, but it's no longer the great deal that it used to be.

You can choose from either the new M6 chip, a 12-core CPU/12-core GPU system on a chip, or the more powerful M5 Pro, sporting up to 18 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores.

Despite the numbering confusion, Apple is sticking with its classic split for the Mac mini.

Apple claims the M6 model is 13.5x faster than the M1 when it comes to LLM prompt processing in LM Studio, while the M5 Pro system is 22.3x faster. The company says the M6 is 2.3x faster at Excel spreadsheet work than the M1 Mac mini, and the M5 Pro is 4.6x quicker.

As for ports, the Mac mini has two USB-C USB 3.0 ports up front, along with an HDMI connection, 2.5 Gbps Ethernet jack, power port and three USB-C Thunderbolt ports on the rear. The M6 Mac mini features Thunderbolt 4, with up to 40 Gb/s connections, while the M6 Pro system has Thunderbolt 5, supporting up to 120 Gb/s. The latter would be better for fast connections to storage and other accessories.

Our review unit 24GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, was 16.5 percent faster than the previous M4 Pro Mac mini in the Geekbench 6 single-threaded CPU benchmark.

The Mac mini M6's Geekbench 6 GPU score was also 30 percent higher than that M5 MacBook Pro, which points to some serious graphics upgrades this generation.

Shortened to 1 minute of reading, this version reads 15.7 on the Niral Score.

You are reading our version, not theirs. This is Engadget's report shortened to its most important sentences, in plainer words, with verdicts and loaded words taken out. Plain description stays, and so do adjectives that carry a fact, such as "former" or "federal". The reporting, the facts and the quotations are theirs — quotations are never edited — and the indicators beside it measure this version. Hover or tap Adjectives to see every one left in the text.

Indicators

Niral Score 18.5was 31 mundaneloaded

Highlighted in the text. Words that carry a fact and quoted words are not counted.

mini26faster8system8model7chip6compact4deal4desktop4graphics4great4need4ports4power4previous4review4serious4way4bandwidth3benchmark3better3comes3cores3expect3far3fast3fps3longer3memory3models3people3powerful3processing3see3settings3though3unit3work3adorable2best2bit2case2connections2costs2design2desktops2everything2feels2five-inch2fun2gaming2general2get2given2got2i'd2improvements2jump2keyboards2large2less2

Sentiment -0.1was -0.2 hostilefavourable Sourcing 1 unattributednamed sources Mood 50.2was 27.8 sorrowjoyful

5 read zero: political diction, generational, gender, jingoistic, religious

Political diction 0 left-codedright-coded Generational 0 harder on the oldharder on the young Gender 0 no gendered framingframing throughout Jingoistic 0 reports to a readerwrites from a camp Religious 0 not invokedovert

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Measured on our version above. Struck through: the same measure of Engadget’s report as filed. The outlet comparison and the extension show the same pair.

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Outlet	Niral Score	Adjectives	Sourcing	Sentiment	Happiness
Engadgetas they published this story	31	70	1	-0.2	27.8
Mundane Readneutralized from Engadget	18.5	64	1	-0.1	50.2

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