But consider this. The M6 Mac Mini is on sale for $779 right now, $120 off its retail price. The 13-inch M5 MacBook Air is similarly $150 off its retail price right now. You could buy both for the same price as one M6 MacBook Pro. That’s kind of insane when you think about it. You miss out on the MacBook Pro’s excellent Mini-LED display and powerful speakers, but to me, it’s a tempting alternative for a $2,000 budget.
It’s even more compelling when you consider how many people are using Mac Minis these days—more as always-on AI agent boxes that you can control remotely with any old MacBook. Pairing the M6 Mac Mini and M5 MacBook air together is a recipe for AI goodness (especially if you configure the Mac Mini up to 32 GB or 64 GB of memory).
Another alternative is the M5 MacBook Pro with an M5 Pro chip inside for only $200 more. It looks identical on the outside, and has better performance on the inside.
I’m still interested to see how the new M6 MacBook Pro performs, but the price alone makes me wonder if there aren’t better ways of spending your money—even while staying within the Mac lineup.