Apple Left Out Some BIG Details About the New M6 Mac mini & M5 Ultra Mac Studio…

0:00 So, yesterday Apple wowed us with their brand new M6 and M5 Pro Mac Mini, as well as their super powerful M5 Max and M5 Ultra Mac Studio. And now that we've had about 24 hours to digest all the information, there's actually some other things that we need to talk about. Some of it being pretty good news that surprised me, some of it not so good, and then of course, there's a bunch of other little nuanced details that not everybody's talking about that I think people definitely need to know before they make a purchasing decision on either of these brand new Macs because, again, they're not cheap products. But, without further ado, let's break down exactly what's good, what's not so good, and what you definitely need to know about both the new Mac Mini and the new Mac Studio.

0:42 Let's get into it. Okay, so let's talk good news first, specifically around the M6 Mac Mini because out of the two computers, I do think most people gravitate towards the Mac Mini based on use case and cost. We might be all well aware that the M4 Mac Mini was on back order about 4 to 6 weeks depending on when you ordered it based on a bunch of different factors like inventory management, supply chain issues, RAM and getting, the local LLMs and AIs being used on those Mac Minis. So, if you had a order that was placed, it could be still stuck in the ordering process while these M6 Mac Minis were launched.

1:14 Now, we're getting reports that people are getting emails directly from Apple saying that they're going to upgrade their M4 Mac Mini to an M6 Mac Mini at no additional cost, which is something that's absolutely amazing. I haven't seen anything like this since Apple refunded people on the original iPhone like $200 because they were too expensive to begin with. But again, if you do remember that, leave a comment down below. But again, this isn't a blanket statement, it's on a case-by-case basis. You need to receive the email directly from Apple, and I believe the Mac Mini that you ordered has to still be in the process of ordering. If you just received an M4 Mac Mini, I think that you are out of luck, but it is good to know that Apple is upgrading people from an M4 Mac Mini to an M6 Mac Mini at no additional cost.

1:54 And if you ordered an M4 Pro Mac Mini, you are getting an upgrade to an M5 ProMac Mini as well, which is saving people hundreds of dollars. So, that's always some good news, and you still will be waiting until September 22nd to get them, but at least you know you're getting the latest and greatest, and you're not accidentally getting the old one while the new one was just launched. Another thing about the Mac Mini that Apple didn't really talk about was connectivity. It got a a nice little upgrade from a connectivity standpoint.

2:18 Most importantly, the now standard Ethernet connection is going to go from 1 gig Ethernet connection to 2.5 gigabits per second Ethernet connection, which I love to see as a standard. We're also getting the new N1 chip, giving you Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5 in the Mac Minis. And while yes, it did increase the baseline price to $899 without increasing the RAM or the storage, you're still getting a high-value product. Again, it's not going to be as amazing value as it was before at $599, if you guys do remember that about a year ago. But for $899, you're getting a 12-core CPU, a 12-core GPU, new neural accelerators, you're getting the 16 gigs of memory, 256 of onboard storage. Like I mentioned, all the other upgrades to connectivity as well. So, for $899, I still would challenge you to find an alternative at this price point with this much power. But now, in terms of kind of the gotcha moments and what Apple gave us, cuz again, Apple likes to talk in that kind of language of the up to's. So, one thing to note here is that the M6 Mac Mini, even though Apple said it's up to 170 gigabit per second memory bandwidth speeds, it's actually 153 because only the M5 Pro is getting that 170 versus the M6 is getting 153. Again, for the type of consumer that's buying the M6 Mac Mini, it might not matter too much, but it is something to note. But, in order to get that 170 gigabit per second bandwidth speeds, you would need to get the M5 Pro, which starts at $1,700. So, the cost difference is huge, and people should take that into account. And then when it comes to upgrading the Mac Mini, this is where things do go crazy. The moment you stop upgrading a ton of internal storage, that cost becomes astronomical. For instance, you can get up to 2 terabytes on the M6 Mac Mini, but you're spending a thousand dollars to get 2 terabytes.

3:55 And I recommend just getting some external storage, some fast external storage, especially the fact that we have Thunderbolt 4 ports on these should be amazing in terms of transfer speeds and data connectivity. I'll leave some link down below that I do recommend. Save your money, do not get the built-in internal storage unless you absolutely need to. And then when you look at the M5 Pro Mac Mini, it starts at a base of 512 gigs of internal storage, but you can go up to 8 terabytes if you want to spend $3800 additional. So, you're basically spending, I believe, 52 to 5300 dollars on an 8 terabyte M5 Pro Mac Mini, which again becomes astronomical.

4:27 Just I recommend getting external storage, especially because of the connectivity speeds that these Mac Minis have. So, unless you absolutely need that built-in internal storage, I would spend whatever extra money you want to on a Mac Mini on the RAM that the Mac Mini has versus internal storage and just get yourself an SSD like I mentioned. And now let's talk about the Mac Studio because again, on paper this thing is the most powerful consumer computer that I have ever seen isn't 50,000 dollars, right? Because again, you can spend a ton of money on a PC or even the old Mac Studios and get a good amount of power, but these Mac Studios are absolutely insane. So, the biggest kind of hidden cost here of the Mac Studio is that, okay, first off, it does start off at 2500 dollars, so it didn't see an increase in baseline model, which is good to see. And for 2500 dollars, you do get an 18-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 36 gigs of unified memory, and a 512 internal storage SSD. But if you do want to upgrade to the 40-core GPU, you can spend 300 dollars to upgrade it, but when you do click on that in the configurator on Apple's website, the price actually goes up 600 dollars because in order to have that 40-core GPU, you also need to upgrade from 36 to 48 gigs of unified memory, which is another 300 dollars. So, Apple doesn't advertise this, they only have the little plus 300 sign on the configurator. So, it is a hidden cost and it makes it a 600 dollar upgrade instead of a 300 dollar upgrade. And then again, it just comes down to that up to language where Apple is advertising that the M5 Max Mac Studio can give you its up to 40 core, it's up to a 40 core GPU, it's up to 614 gigabit per second memory bandwidth, which is absolutely amazing, up to 128 gigs of unified memory, but the $2,500 baseline model doesn't give you any of those specs or speeds. It's actually much lower on the totem pole. Again, just do your research before you buy something and make sure you're getting the actual speeds and requirements and specs that you want out of whatever Mac Studio you're getting. And then the last little piece that I'm going to mention in terms of the up to language is that Apple does advertise you can have up to 512 gigs of unified memory on the M5 Ultra Mac Studio, which is absolutely amazing. I mean, I think that's sick that you can have not storage, you're having unified memory, so RAM, 512 gigs of RAM, which is insane and will be able to handle anything you throw at it. And it gives you that 1.2 terabytes of memory bandwidth speed, which is something that I've never seen before. But the catch is that that version is not going to be available to order until October. So, I remember I was going through the configurator trying to find the 512 gig of memory or unified memory, but I could only find up to 256 gigs and then in fine print it says the 512 model will be coming in October. So, as of right now, the highest end Mac Studio that you can get is the M5 Ultra with 16 terabyte SSD with all the cores you could ever want with a 256 gigs of unified memory and that's going to run you $18,300.

7:09 But of course, you can just lease it through the Apple upgrade program. And then one more thing that Apple quietly changed, funny enough, I don't know why they did this, maybe for a more minimal look, but on the first party Apple Magic Keyboard that you buy direct from Apple, they removed a lot of the text in lieu of icons for like tab and enter and shift and things like that. So, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, I like minimal stuff and I'm used to, you know, I'm used to using a keyboard for years now or decades, so I'm pretty aware of where the keys are that I need, but for the people that are maybe learning to write on a keyboard or type on a keyboard, this could be kind of annoying to have to deal with icons instead of actual words and verbage. Let me know in the comment down below what you think. But, those are all the little hidden things and one final thing that I want to mention is that while yes, the M5 Pro Mac Mini does have Thunderbolt 5, the M6 Mac Mini, even though it's the newer gen chipset, only has Thunderbolt 4 ports. So, the more you know. But, that'll do it everybody. Let me know in the comment down below what you think. Are you picking any of these up? Which one are you picking up? Why are you picking it up? What are you upgrading from? Curious to know your thoughts and also give me some advice. I just got an M4 Max Max Studio.

8:11 I'm within the return window. Should I return it and then wait and get the M5 Max Max Studio? Curious to know your recommendations for me on that one. But, that'll do it everybody. If you made it to the end, leave a little dolphin. And if you guys want to watch more videos like this one, check out one of these right here. Until next time, Orlando. >>