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Apple M4 Max SoC vs Apple Mac mini (M6)

Specs, price and the one trade-off that actually decides it — Apple M4 Max SoC against Apple Mac mini (M6), side by side.

Cheaper to start

Tie

Both start at a similar price.

Best ecosystem

Tie

Neither lists native integrations.

Standout

Apple M4 Max SoC

1TB SSD storage

Apple M4 Max SoC

Apple M4 Max SoC

Apple's powerhouse silicon designed for high-bandwidth local AI workloads.

Where it wins, where it doesn't

Pros

  • Supports up to 18 hours of video streaming
  • High-resolution and high-refresh-rate display support
  • Robust 1TB SSD storage

Cons

  • Weight of 3.6 pounds (1.62 kg) may be cumbersome for some users
  • Limited upgrade options for memory and storage
  • Power requirements may necessitate specific power supplies

Specifications

  • Display SupportM4 Pro
  • MemoryApple M4 Pro chip
  • memory_bandwidth400GB/s
  • Operating SystemmacOS
  • Size and WeightHeight: 0.61 inch (1.55 cm)
  • Apple Intelligence 1Apple Intelligence is the personal intelligence system that helps you write, express yourself, and get things done effortlessly. With groundbreaking privacy protections, it gives you peace of mind that no one else can access your data — not even Apple.
  • Apple M4 Max chip1TB SSD
  • architecture—
  • AudioHigh-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers
  • Battery and PowerM4 Pro 4
  • Bluetooth—
  • Charging and ExpansionSDXC card slot
  • Chip—
  • Color1 billion colors
  • Communications—
  • Configurable to2TB, 4TB, or 8TB
  • Configurable withNano-texture display
  • Connectivity / Front—
  • CPU—
  • Depth8.71 inches (22.12 cm)
  • DisplayLiquid Retina XDR display
  • Display Support / 1 display—
  • Display Support / 2 displays—
  • Display Support / 3 displays—
  • Ethernet—
  • Fixed refresh rates47.95Hz, 48.00Hz, 50.00Hz, 59.94Hz, 60.00Hz
  • Frequency50Hz to 60Hz
  • GPU—
  • In the Box—
  • M4 MaxSimultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at 1 billion colors and
  • M4 Max 4Up to 18 hours video streaming
  • macOSthe most advanced desktop operating system in the world. It helps you stay productive and creative with help from Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring, 9 window tiling, our biggest update ever to Spotlight, and more.
  • Maximum shipping altitude35,000 feet
  • Maximum storage altitude15,000 feet
  • neural_engine_cores16
  • Operating altitudetested up to 10,000 feet (3000 meters)
  • Operating RequirementsLine voltage: 100V to 240V AC
  • Operating temperature50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
  • Refresh ratesProMotion technology for adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz
  • Relative humidity0% to 90% noncondensing
  • SDR brightnessup to 1000 nits (outdoor)
  • Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at 1 billion colors andUp to two external displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt, or one external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one external display with up to 4K resolution at 144Hz over HDMI
  • Storage—
  • Storage 5Apple M4 Pro chip
  • Storage Speed—
  • Storage temperature-13° to 113° F (-25° to 45° C)
  • Three Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports with support forCharging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 5 (up to 120Gb/s), USB 4 (up to 120Gb/s)
  • Up to four external displaysUp to three external displays with 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one external display with up to 4K resolution at 144Hz over HDMI
  • Up to three external displaysUp to two external displays with 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one external display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or one external display with 4K resolution at 240Hz over HDMI
  • Weight (M4 Max)3.6 pounds (1.62 kg) 8
  • Weight (M4 Pro)3.5 pounds (1.60 kg) 8
  • Wi-Fi—
  • Wide color(P3)
  • Width12.31 inches (31.26 cm)
  • XDR brightness1000 nits sustained full-screen, 1600 nits peak 3 (HDR content only)
Apple Mac mini (M6)

Apple Mac mini (M6)

The 2026 Mac mini featuring M6 and M5 Pro chips for up to 4x faster local AI performance.

Where it wins, where it doesn't

Pros

  • Equipped with the Apple M6 chip, offering robust CPU and GPU performance.
  • Supports up to three external displays with high-resolution output.
  • Compact form factor with a small footprint and low power consumption.

Cons

  • Base configuration includes only 16GB of unified memory, limiting performance for intensive tasks.

Specifications

  • Display SupportM6 Supports up to three external displays using Thunderbolt and HDMI ports: Three displays: Two displays up to a native resolution of 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 165Hz, plus a third display up to 5K at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K at 60Hz over HDMI Up to two displays: One display up to a native resolution of 8K at 60Hz or 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz, plus a second display up to 5K at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K at 60Hz over HDMI Supports up to two external displays over a single Thunderbolt port Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports support native DisplayPort 1.4 speeds Supports variable refresh rate (VRR), HDR, and multichannel audio M5 Pro Supports up to three external displays over any combination of Thunderbolt and HDMI ports: Three displays up to a native resolution of 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 165Hz Up to two displays: One display up to a native resolution of 8K at 60Hz or 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz, plus a second display up to 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 200Hz Supports up to three external displays over a single Thunderbolt port Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports support native DisplayPort 2.1 speeds
  • Memory16GB 16GB unified memory Configurable to: 24GB or 32GB (170GB/s memory bandwidth) 16GB 16GB unified memory Configurable to: 24GB or 32GB (170GB/s memory bandwidth) 24GB 24GB unified memory Configurable to: 32GB 24GB 24GB unified memory Configurable to: 48GB or 64GB
  • memory_bandwidthup to 170GB/s
  • Operating SystemmacOS
  • Size and WeightHeight: 2.0 inches (5.0 cm) Width: 5.0 inches (12.7 cm) Depth: 5.0 inches (12.7 cm) Weight (M6): 1.5 pounds (0.67 kg) 3 Weight (M5 Pro): 1.6 pounds (0.73 kg) 3
  • Apple Intelligence 1—
  • Apple M4 Max chip—
  • architectureARM64
  • Audio—
  • Battery and Power—
  • BluetoothBluetooth 6
  • Charging and Expansion—
  • ChipApple M6 chip 12–core CPU with 2 super cores, 4 performance cores, and 6 efficiency cores 12-core GPU Neural Accelerators Hardware-accelerated ray tracing Dual 16-core Neural Engine 153GB/s memory bandwidth Media Engine Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW Video decode engine Video encode engine ProRes encode and decode engine AV1 decode — Not configurable Apple M6 chip 12–core CPU with 2 super cores, 4 performance cores, and 6 efficiency cores 12-core GPU Neural Accelerators Hardware-accelerated ray tracing Dual 16-core Neural Engine 170GB/s memory bandwidth Media Engine Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW Video decode engine Video encode engine ProRes encode and decode engine AV1 decode — Not configurable Apple M6 chip 12–core CPU with 2 super cores, 4 performance cores, and 6 efficiency cores 12-core GPU Neural Accelerators Hardware-accelerated ray tracing Dual 16-core Neural Engine 170GB/s memory bandwidth Media Engine Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW Video decode engine Video encode engine ProRes encode and decode engine AV1 decode — Not configurable Apple M5 Pro chip 15-core CPU with 5 super cores and 10 performance cores 16-core GPU Neural Accelerators Hardware-accelerated ray tracing 16-core Neural Engine 307GB/s memory bandwidth Media Engine Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW Video decode engine Video encode engine ProRes encode and decode engine AV1 decode Configurable to: M5 Pro with 18–core CPU and 20–core GPU Memory 16GB 16GB unified memory Configurable to: 24GB or 32GB (170GB/s memory bandwidth) 16GB 16GB unified memory Configurable to: 24GB or 32GB (170GB/s memory bandwidth) 24GB 24GB unified memory Configurable to: 32GB 24GB 24GB unified memory Configurable to: 48GB or 64GB Storage 1 256GB 256GB SSD Configurable to: 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB 512GB 512GB SSD Configurable to: 1TB or 2TB 512GB 512GB SSD Configurable to: 1TB or 2TB 512GB 512GB SSD Configurable to: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB Display Support M6 Supports up to three external displays using Thunderbolt and HDMI ports: Three displays: Two displays up to a native resolution of 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 165Hz, plus a third display up to 5K at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K at 60Hz over HDMI Up to two displays: One display up to a native resolution of 8K at 60Hz or 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz, plus a second display up to 5K at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K at 60Hz over HDMI Supports up to two external displays over a single Thunderbolt port Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports support native DisplayPort 1.4 speeds Supports variable refresh rate (VRR), HDR, and multichannel audio M5 Pro Supports up to three external displays over any combination of Thunderbolt and HDMI ports: Three displays up to a native resolution of 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 165Hz Up to two displays: One display up to a native resolution of 8K at 60Hz or 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz, plus a second display up to 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 200Hz Supports up to three external displays over a single Thunderbolt port Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports support native DisplayPort 2.1 speeds (M5 Pro): 2.5Gb Ethernet port (configurable to 10Gb Ethernet) HDMI port Three Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports with support for: Thunderbolt 5 (up to 120Gb/s) USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s) DisplayPort Ethernet HDMI Thunderbolt 5 Communications Wireless Apple N1 wireless networking chip Wi‑Fi 7 (802.11be) 2 Bluetooth 6 Thread networking technology Ethernet 100/1000/2500BASE-T Multi-Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector) Configurable to 10Gb Ethernet (Nbase-T Ethernet with support for 1Gb, 2.5Gb, 5Gb, and 10Gb Ethernet using RJ-45 connector) Size and Weight Height: 2.0 inches (5.0 cm) Width: 5.0 inches (12.7 cm) Depth: 5.0 inches (12.7 cm) Weight (M6): 1.5 pounds (0.67 kg) 3 Weight (M5 Pro): 1.6 pounds (0.73 kg) 3 5.0 inches (12.7 cm) 5.0 inches (12.7 cm) 2.0 inches (5.0 cm) Electrical and Operating Requirements Line voltage: 100–240V AC Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz, single phase Maximum continuous power: 155W Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C) Storage temperature: −40° to 116° F (−40° to 47° C) Relative humidity: 5% to 90% noncondensing Operating altitude: tested up to 16,400 feet (5000 meters) Typical acoustical performance: Sound pressure level (operator position): 5 dBA at idle 4 In the Box Mac mini Power cord (1.8 m) Operating System macOS
  • Color—
  • CommunicationsApple N1 wireless networking chip Wi‑Fi 7 (802.11be) 2 Bluetooth 6 Thread networking technology
  • Configurable to—
  • Configurable with—
  • Connectivity / Fronttwo USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack
  • CPU12-core
  • Depth—
  • Display—
  • Display Support / 1 display8K/60, 5K/120, or 4K/240
  • Display Support / 2 displays2× 6K/60 or 4K/165 ; or 8K/60, 5K/120, or 4K/240 + 5K/60
  • Display Support / 3 displays2× 6K/60 or 4K/165 + 1× 5K/60
  • Ethernet2.5Gb Ethernet port (configurable to 10Gb Ethernet) HDMI port Three Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports with support for: Thunderbolt 5 (up to 120Gb/s) USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s) DisplayPort Ethernet HDMI Thunderbolt 5
  • Fixed refresh rates—
  • Frequency—
  • GPU12-core
  • In the BoxMac mini Power cord (1.8 m)
  • M4 Max—
  • M4 Max 4—
  • macOS—
  • Maximum shipping altitude—
  • Maximum storage altitude—
  • neural_engine_cores—
  • Operating altitude—
  • Operating Requirements—
  • Operating temperature—
  • Refresh rates—
  • Relative humidity—
  • SDR brightness—
  • Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at 1 billion colors and—
  • Storage256GB 256GB SSD Configurable to: 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB 512GB 512GB SSD Configurable to: 1TB or 2TB 512GB 512GB SSD Configurable to: 1TB or 2TB 512GB 512GB SSD Configurable to: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB
  • Storage 5—
  • Storage Speed6,000-6,400 MB/s write speeds and 6,000-6,300 MB/s read speeds
  • Storage temperature—
  • Three Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports with support for—
  • Up to four external displays—
  • Up to three external displays—
  • Weight (M4 Max)—
  • Weight (M4 Pro)—
  • Wi-FiWi-Fi 7
  • Wide color—
  • Width—
  • XDR brightness—