Apple has released the new Mac mini featuring the M5 Pro chip, which offers significant performance gains in video encoding and SSD speeds. However, the base model price has increased by 50 percent to $899, with substantial cost hikes for memory and storage upgrades.
The steep increase in the Apple Mac mini price shifts the ultra-compact desktop out of the budget-friendly category for independent video editors and localized encoding setups. While the 41 percent faster hardware video transcoding and doubled SSD speeds provide clear technical advantages for high-resolution rendering, the soaring cost of RAM and storage upgrades makes high-spec configurations difficult to justify. This pricing surge reflects broader supply chain pressures from AI data center infrastructure demands, which are driving up component costs across the hardware ecosystem. Production teams must now watch whether upcoming Mac Studio refreshes maintain their relative value or follow this aggressive upward pricing trajectory.
Apple has increased the base price of the new M6 Mac mini to $899, a 50 percent jump from the previous $599 M4 model. This shift moves the compact desktop out of the budget category, as rising component costs for memory and storage make high-spec configurations harder for independent creators to justify.
The base M6 Mac mini now starts at $899, which includes 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
The M5 Pro features a hardware video encoder that completes HandBrake transcoding tasks 41 percent faster than the M4 Pro, alongside doubled SSD storage speeds.
The price increase reflects broader supply chain pressures, specifically the high demand for components driven by AI data center infrastructure.
The M5 Pro configuration with 24GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD costs $1,699, representing a $300 increase over the previous generation.
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