Apple today announced the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, along with two new models: the new MacBook Pro and Mac mini, which will be priced from RMB 4,499 for the China-based Mac mini. The new Mac mini will be available for order from January 19 and will go on sale on Friday, February 3.
Powered by the M2 and M2 Pro chips, the new Mac mini is more powerful and more useful than ever, and it’s priced from $4499. For the first time, the new M2 Pro brings professional-grade performance to Mac mini. With M2 and M2 Pro, Mac mini delivers faster performance, more unified memory and advanced connectivity, with support for up to two simultaneous displays on M2 models and up to three simultaneous displays on M2 Pro models.
The M2 and M2 Pro chips bring a new generation of faster CPUs and graphics, more memory bandwidth and a more powerful media engine to Mac mini than the chips in the previous generation of Mac mini, enabling superior performance and industry-leading power efficiency. Both Mac mini models feature advanced cooling systems for consistently high-performance output.
Mac mini with M2
With up to 24GB of unified memory and 100GB/s of memory bandwidth, tasks such as editing images in Adobe Photoshop are up to 50 percent faster than the previous generation of Mac mini. The M2 also brings ProRes acceleration to Mac mini, making tasks like Final Cut Pro video editing up to twice as fast, and the M2 models support up to two simultaneous 8K ProRes 422 video streams at 30 fps or up to 12 simultaneous 4K ProRes 422 video streams at 30 fps. Apple says Mac mini delivers up to five times better overall performance than the best-selling Windows desktop computer, making it a great value for first-time buyers, upgrades and customers switching from another PC to a Mac.
Compared to the Mac mini with Intel Core i7, the Mac mini with M2 delivers the following performance.
- Up to 22x faster performance for machine learning (ML) image optimization enlargements with Pixelmator Pro.
- Up to 9.8x faster rendering of complex timelines with Final Cut Pro.
Compared to the previous generation of Mac mini with M1, Mac mini with M2 delivers the following performance.
- Up to 2.4x faster ProRes transcoding with Final Cut Pro.
- Up to 50 percent faster filter and feature performance in Adobe Photoshop.
Mac mini with M2 Pro.
The M2 Pro brings professional-grade performance to Mac mini for the first time, starting at $9,999. The M2 Pro features up to 10 core CPUs (including six high-performance cores and four power-efficient cores) and 19 core graphics and doubles the memory bandwidth of the M2 to 200GB/s with support for up to 32GB of memory. The new generation neural network engine is 40% faster than the M1, accelerating machine learning tasks such as video parsing and image processing. This is a significant increase in video playback and encoding speed while maintaining extremely low power consumption. The M2 Pro model is up to 14 times faster than the Mac mini with the most powerful Intel chip.
Compared to a 27-inch iMac with an Intel Core i7 chip and Radeon Pro 5500 XT graphics, Mac mini with M2 Pro delivers the following performance.
- Up to 50 percent faster filter and feature performance in Adobe Photoshop.
- Stitch panoramic photos up to 5.5 times faster with Adobe Lightroom Classic.
- Up to 4.4x faster object tracking with Final Cut Pro.
Compared to the previous generation of Mac mini with M1, Mac mini with M2 Pro delivers the following performance.
- Affinity Photo graphics performance is up to 2.5x faster.
- Up to 4.2x faster ProRes transcoding with Final Cut Pro.
- Apple says gaming performance is up to 15 times faster than Mac mini with the most powerful Intel chips.
The M2 Pro model comes with four Thunderbolt ports and supports up to three simultaneous displays. In addition, the M2 Pro model supports one 8K display, a first for Mac mini. Both models feature two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, a Gigabit Ethernet port (with an optional 10Gb Ethernet port), and an upgraded headphone jack that supports high-impedance headphones. For wireless connectivity, both models support the latest standard of high-speed Wi-Fi 6E (not yet supported in mainland China), with up to 2x faster speeds than its predecessor, and Bluetooth 5.3.
The M2 model is equipped with 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports and supports simultaneous connection of up to 2 monitors
M2 model with 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports and support for up to 2 simultaneous monitors
Apple says Mac mini is designed to minimize its environmental impact, including the use of 100 percent recycled materials: aluminum in the enclosure, rare earth elements in all magnets, tin in the motherboard solder, and gold in several printed circuit board plating layers. 35 percent more recycled plastic is used in several components than in previous models. mac mini meets Apple’s high standards for energy efficiency and is free of many harmful substances. 97 percent of packaging materials are fiber-based, bringing Apple closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from packaging by the end of 2025.
