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New Mac mini, featuring M6 and M5 Pro

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Re: New Mac mini, featuring M6 and M5 Pro

#161

> for always-on agentic computing Don’t know, but this as main ad headline feels almost like a threat to my personal home computing needs

Don't worry, there are exactly zero Apple chips that are good for any sort of local inference right now. Unified ram is fast for ram, but dogshit slow compared to actual dedicated VRAM on graphics cards.

Your statement is not really true any more.

I have an old M1 Max with 32GB that runs inference models fine, especially those using MLX.

Dedicated graphics cards are faster but not to the point that it matters.

That’s a six year old machine.

My newer machine M5 max 128GB will far outperform your typical 32GB gaming card once the model exceeds memory.

To even get close to that on a dedicated graphics card you are paying upwards of $20K.

That said, models are getting smaller and faster which allows me to run multiple different models with ease.

[edit] Just checked the 5 models I use take up 57GB when all loaded at the same time.

Re: New Mac mini, featuring M6 and M5 Pro

#162
post #140
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same thing for me! Got it with the education discount when it came out in 2024 and, although I've been pretty disappointed with macOS, it's crazy to see that the price increased by $300 in less than 2 years, with no sign of the price increases slowing down. What will happen once people are priced out of buying computers? I find this worrying.

I don't really understand this dooming. All market forecasters, memory bulk purchasers and the memory producers themselves have stated multiple times, unequivocally that the shortage will get worse in 2027 and then as new fabs come online the shortage will taper off as 2028 progresses. We've been through.. 4? 5? memory boom-bust-boom cycles already. Nothing is pointing to this one being any different, aside it probab…

> AI isn't adding much productivity

Would love to know where this comes from. I am not sure about that. Could you point to data/anecdata?

Re: New Mac mini, featuring M6 and M5 Pro

#163

So happy with my base M4 purchase for $499 when it released. I even snagged a 1TB replacement drive for $199 a year ago. Feels like I got the last train out.

I'm kind of lost on what to do with it. I have better workstation PCs, and I couldn't find a good way to turn it into a media center - it would be a great living room PC - but couldn't find a BT remote friendly solution last time I checked. Anyone has a solution for this ? I don't want to be using mouse/keyboard every time I sit on the couch - something that would let me stream something like jellyfin fullscreen with…

> I'm kind of lost on what to do with it.

Personal assistant (e.g. openclaw) in the mac ecosystem. You need external models to power it ofc, but cool to have all the Apple integration and local network in your assistant. The claw can be addressed in multiple ways and can command your local hardware if you so wish.

Re: New Mac mini, featuring M6 and M5 Pro

#164

So happy with my base M4 purchase for $499 when it released. I even snagged a 1TB replacement drive for $199 a year ago. Feels like I got the last train out.

I was not in need of a mac mini then and I’m not in need now, but damn I hope my laptop will last a long time because FML the best price/performance minipc of the last few years got wrecked and the entire market is in shambles

Re: New Mac mini, featuring M6 and M5 Pro

#165
post #2

It's a bit of an emotional goodbye to the super cheap Mac Minis we got to enjoy for a while. I got some for family members, we had some serving as iOS/macOS build servers sitting in a closet at my last job, they were fantastic. Not that they're a bad deal now, but at European prices of over €1000 for M6/16GB/256GB it's a psychological barrier that's been broken.

No bro, >1000€ for 16/256 is a really bad deal

Re: New Mac mini, featuring M6 and M5 Pro

#167
post #142
post #78

I will buy a Mac mini, 64GB RAM + 2TB. That will replace my current MBP M1 Pro with 16GB (4 years old). For serious upgrade I will wait the M7 Line.

Considering doing exactly this, hopefully by the time M7 Ultra is out, the RAM Apocalypse will be over.

I don't know why some guy downvoted me. It's a great choice without expending 7K on some hardware than in less than two years will be replaced by the M7 (which is in the making).

Re: New Mac mini, featuring M6 and M5 Pro

#168
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really understand this dooming. All market forecasters, memory bulk purchasers and the memory producers themselves have stated multiple times, unequivocally that the shortage will get worse in 2027 and then as new fabs come online the shortage will taper off as 2028 progresses. We've been through.. 4? 5? memory boom-bust-boom cycles already. Nothing is pointing to this one being any different, aside it probab…

> AI isn't adding much productivity Would love to know where this comes from. I am not sure about that. Could you point to data/anecdata?

https://fortune.com/2026/08/22/executives-ai-productivity-la...

There's been a few studies. Most find productivity gain from 'AI' to be negligible.

Re: New Mac mini, featuring M6 and M5 Pro

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capitalism will lead to: - Lots of options competing on quality, price, user experience, user needs - Every marketplace innovation that we talk about on this platform So somebody might offer exactly that and if it's a good option, people will use it. If it's not, they'll use an alternative. Government regulation will lead to: - Giant entrenched companies that are difficult to disrupt thanks to insider connections - L…

Capitalism doesn't exist without government regulation. Who's going to enforce the contracts? Who's going to break up the giant entrenched companies rent-squeezing every cent out of their natural monopolies, and then using their illicit gains to crush any would-be competitors as they ooze into other markets? Literally everything listed for 'government regulation will lead to' can and has happened in unchecked capital…

Current government already doesn't enforce contracts. Ex, prime video ads. Further there's no point in having contract terms if they can be changed unilaterally at any time.

Re: New Mac mini, featuring M6 and M5 Pro

#170

So happy with my base M4 purchase for $499 when it released. I even snagged a 1TB replacement drive for $199 a year ago. Feels like I got the last train out.

I'm kind of lost on what to do with it. I have better workstation PCs, and I couldn't find a good way to turn it into a media center - it would be a great living room PC - but couldn't find a BT remote friendly solution last time I checked. Anyone has a solution for this ? I don't want to be using mouse/keyboard every time I sit on the couch - something that would let me stream something like jellyfin fullscreen with…

You can buy a remote sized kb/mouse for 10$.
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