Mac mini (M6)
The Mac mini (M6, 2026) marks the debut of Apple’s next-generation 2-nanometer (N2) architecture, introducing a major redesign of Apple Silicon with a radical Trinary Core Topology.
Architectural Highlights & Specs
- CPU Topology: 12-Core Trinary Design (2 Super Cores + 4 Performance Cores + 6 Efficiency Cores).
- Memory Bandwidth: 170 GB/s unified memory pipeline (up from 153 GB/s on M5).
- GPU: 12-Core next-generation graphics engine with hardware ray tracing.
- MSRP: $899 entry price with standard unified memory.
Our Test Unit
We picked up our Mac mini on release day at the Apple Store in Thousand Oaks, California. It is configured with the Apple M6 chip, 32GB of unified memory and a 1TB SSD, running macOS 27.0 Golden Gate. That is a step up from the $899 base model’s 16GB, but memory and storage upgrades rarely move Geekbench CPU and Metal scores much, so the results below should hold for the base configuration. Our Bang for Buck rating uses the $899 base price.
Benchmark Results (Geekbench 6 & Metal)
- Single-Core CPU: 4,444.
- Multi-Core CPU: 20,417.
- Metal GPU: 94,273.
- Normalized Combined Score: 37,775.
- Bang for Buck Rating: 42.02.
- Source: MacNerd’s own Geekbench 6.7.1 runs on a Mac mini (Mac18,5), September 22, 2026.
| Manufacturer Part Number | M6 |
|---|---|
| Year | 2026 |
| Model Name | Mac mini (M6) |
| MSRP ($) | $899 |
| Current Market Price | N/A |
| Nano-Texture screen Available | N/A |
| CPU/SOC Family | M6 |
| CPU/SOC Variant | Base |
| Total CPU Cores | 12 |
| Total GPU Cores | 12 |
| Memory Bandwidth (GB/s) | 170 |
| Max Screen Brightness (Nits) | N/A |
| Weight (Lbs) | 1.5 |
| Geekbench Single Core | 4,444 |
| Geekbench Multi Core | 20,417 |
| Geekbench Metal GPU | 94,273 |
| Performance* | 37,775 |
| Bang for Buck | 42.02 (A) |