Apple Reveals New Mac Mini With M2 And M2 Pro Chips At An Affordable Starting Price
It's been more than two years since the last Mac mini refresh, and while you might expect Apple to announce a new model during some kind of grand reveal event, the company clearly had other plans. Today, Apple dropped several big announcements with little in the way of fanfare. First, the company revealed that we're getting new Apple-made silicon in the M2 Pro and M2 Max SoCs, then it revealed the new hardware these chips will power: a new MacBook Pro and a refreshed Mac mini.
While the more powerful M2 Max seems to be the domain of the new MacBook Pro for now, the Mac mini will be available in M2 and M2 Pro configurations. Apple, of course, touts the performance boosts associated with these new SoCs in today's announcement, but those who have been holding out for a Mac mini refresh may be more interested in the price cut Apple has implemented with the base M2 model.
Mac mini becomes a pint-sized workhorse
When the 2020 M1 Mac mini launched, Apple gave it a starting price of $699. This time around, Apple has shaved $100 off that low-end, bringing the base model M2 Mac mini down to a $599 price point. The M2 Pro model will be significantly more expensive than its M2-equipped sibling, coming in at a $1,299 starting price. In its announcement today, Apple details the differences between the two models, saying that the M2 Mac mini sports an 8 core CPU (with four high-performance cores and four efficiency cores) and a 10-core GPU. The M2 model can support up to two displays and offers as much as 24GB of unified RAM, depending on the configuration users choose when they buy.
The M2 Pro Mac mini, on the other hand, boasts a 12-core CPU (8 performance/4 efficiency) and the potential for a whopping 19-core GPU, though it's easy to imagine such a configuration adding significant additional cost. Still, the M2 Pro Mac mini can support as many as three displays at once or a single 8K display, according to Apple, along with up to 32GB of memory. At first blush, that's not bad for a device with the footprint of a Mac mini, with Apple saying that users can "run high-performance workflows that were previously inconceivable in such a compact form factor."
Apple usually isn't one to make customers wait, and this time seems no different, as both Mac mini models are up for pre-order today on Apple's website. The first orders will start arriving on January 24, which is the same day these new machines will be available in brick and mortar Apple Stores.