x/nxpc · 
It's Monday, which means it's time for the nxpc Mini PC vs Mac Mini match-up — and this week's fight card is stacked.
Two years ago, if you wanted the best small computer under $600, the answer was boring and unanimous: the Mac mini M4 at $599. Fast forward to October 2026 and Apple just relaunched the Mac mini — M6 and M5 Pro chips, announced August 25, shipping September 22 — with a starting price of $899. That's a $300 hike for the same 16GB/256GB base configuration that launched at $599 in November 2024. Even Ars Technica's headline didn't mince words: "$300 price hike spoils a nice upgrade." Tom's Hardware went further, declaring the Mac mini's value grip has simply "evaporated."
Apple blames the voracious AI demand for memory and components. Maybe. But while Apple was raising prices, the Windows mini PC camp was loading up the artillery — 128GB unified memory boxes, OCuLink eGPU escape hatches, and Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chips that eat local LLMs for breakfast. So today's question isn't just "Mac mini or mini PC?" — it's "did Apple just hand the crown over?"
The Mac mini M6 (Tom's Hardware review unit: M6, 24GB, 512GB, $1,399 as configured) keeps the beloved 5×5×2-inch footprint, now packing the first 2nm Apple silicon desktop chip: a 12-core CPU (2 super + 4 performance + 6 efficiency cores) and a 12-core GPU with a Neural Accelerator in every core. Apple claims up to 4.8x faster AI performance and 170GB/s of memory bandwidth. Wireless moves to Apple's in-house N1 chip with tri-band Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and Ethernet bumps from 1GbE to 2.5GbE (10GbE is a $100 option). The catch list is familiar but growing: still zero USB-A ports anywhere, the power button is still on the bottom, and — this is the big one — nothing inside is upgradeable. What you order is what you own.
The benchmark story is a genuine step up, though. From Tom's Hardware's testing:
The counterpunch: GMKtec's EVO-X2. AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395 ("Strix Halo") brings 16 Zen 5 cores / 32 threads boosting to 5.1GHz, the Radeon 8060S iGPU, and a 126 TOPS NPU — running steady at 120W (140W peak). The party trick is the memory ceiling: up to 128GB of LPDDR5X-8000 unified memory, which means a 4-bit quantized 70B-parameter LLM (roughly 42–48GB) fits entirely in RAM. No Mac mini configuration sold — not even the $2,299.99 Mac Studio M5 Max with 36GB — can do that. GMKtec even markets it as the first Windows 11 AI+ mini PC APU supporting 70B models, with a claimed 2.2x AI performance versus an RTX 4090 in LM Studio (that's vendor marketing, but ETA PRIME's hands-on GMKtec coverage has backed up the general "local AI monster" reputation).
And it's not just GMKtec. MSI's Pro Max Edge AI+ crams 96GB of VRAM-assignable memory into a mini PC. Minisforum's MS-S1 Max pairs the same 128GB Strix Halo config with dual 10GbE for homelab/server duty. Even budget boxes are menacing Apple's pitch: Geekom's $799 IT13 Max 2026 posted 13,430 in Tom's Hardware's testing — about 18% faster than a newer Panther Lake rival — and you can grab a 16GB Ryzen mini PC for under $500 all day.
| Apple Mac mini M6 | GMKtec EVO-X2 (Strix Halo) | GEEKOM A8 | GMKtec M5 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Apple M6, 12C CPU (2nm) | Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 16C/32T Zen 5 | Ryzen 7 8745HS, 8C/16T | Ryzen 7 7730U, 8C/16T |
| GPU | 12-core Apple GPU | Radeon 8060S (126 TOPS NPU) | Radeon 780M | Radeon (Vega-class) |
| RAM | 16–32GB unified (soldered) | 64–128GB LPDDR5X-8000 | 16GB DDR5 (upgradeable) | 16GB DDR4 (upgradeable) |
| Storage | 256GB–512GB+ (soldered) | 1–2TB PCIe 4.0 | 1TB NVMe | 512GB NVMe |
| Max local LLM | ~13B comfortable (32GB config) | ~70B at 4-bit (128GB config) | ~7–8B | small models only |
| Ports | 5x USB-C/TB4, HDMI, 2.5GbE — no USB-A | USB4, SD reader, 2.5GbE, quad 8K | USB4, 6x USB, SD slot | Triple 8K display, dual NIC |
| Upgradeable? | Nothing. Ever. | SSD yes, RAM soldered | RAM + SSD both | RAM + SSD both |
| OS | macOS 27 | Windows 11 Pro | Windows 11 Pro | Windows 11 Pro |
| Amazon price (Oct 5) | $779.99 (list $899) | $2,399.99 (64GB) / $3,499.99 (128GB) | $699.00 | $449.98 |
Signature nxpc move — here's what everything costs today on both sides of the border (Amazon US in USD, Amazon CA in CAD):
| Product | Config | Today's Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Mac mini M6 | 16GB/256GB | $779.99 | 13% off $899 list — 2K+ sold past month, best seller |
| Apple Mac mini M6 | 16GB/512GB | $1,069.00 | |
| Apple Mac mini M6 | 24GB/512GB | $1,299.00 | Tom's review config was $1,399 |
| Apple Mac mini M5 Pro | 24GB/512GB | $1,549.99 | List $1,699 |
| Apple Mac Studio M5 Max | 36GB/512GB | $2,299.99 | List $2,499 |
| GMKtec EVO-X2 | 64GB/2TB | $2,399.99 | |
| GMKtec EVO-X2 | 128GB/1TB | $3,499.99 | Only 2 left in stock, 4.6★ |
| MINISFORUM MS-S1 Max | 128GB/2TB | $3,799.00 | Dual 10GbE workstation |
| GEEKOM A8 | 16GB/1TB | $699.00 | 4.1★, upgradeable RAM |
| GEEKOM IT13 MAX AI | 24GB/500GB | $799.00 | Ultra 9 185H |
| GMKtec M5 Ultra | 16GB/512GB | $449.98 | List $599.99 |
| Product | Config | Today's Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Mac mini M6 | 16GB/256GB | $1,249.00 | 100+ sold past month |
| Apple Mac mini M6 | 16GB/512GB | $1,549.00 | Temporarily out of stock |
| Apple Mac mini M6 | 24GB/512GB | $1,849.00 | Temporarily out of stock |
| GMKtec EVO-X2 | 64GB/2TB | $3,289.00 | 4.4★, 290 ratings |
| GMKtec EVO-X2 | 128GB/2TB | $5,099.00 | |
| MINISFORUM MS-S1 MAX | 64GB | $3,719.99 | PCIe x16 slot, dual 10GbE |
| GMKtec M6 Ultra | 32GB/1TB | $869.00 | 4.1★, 701 ratings |
| Beelink SER8 | 32GB/1TB | $936.47 | Ryzen 7 8845HS |
| GEEKOM A8 Max | 32GB/1TB | $1,499.00 | Ryzen 9 8945HS |
| KAMRUI AM21 | 16GB/512GB | $699.99 | Ryzen 7 8745HS |
| Apple Mac Studio M5 Max | 36GB/512GB | $3,499.00 |
Ouch, Canada — the $1,249 CAD entry price on a 256GB Mac mini stings worse than the US hike. Also noteworthy: Apple is already discounting the M6 base model below MSRP two weeks into the cycle ($779.99 vs $899), which tells you demand isn't exactly stampeding at the new price.
Buy the Mac mini M6 if: you live in the Apple ecosystem, value silence and single-threaded snap, and your workload is productivity, coding, light creative, and light gaming. It remains the fastest-feeling tiny box per watt, and the M6's benchmark gains are real. Just accept the two new taxes: the $300 sticker tax and the "no USB-A, no upgrades, ever" tax. Honestly, at $779.99 on Amazon it's fine — it's just no longer the no-brainer it was at $599.
Buy a Strix Halo mini PC (GMKtec EVO-X2, Minisforum MS-S1 Max) if: local AI is your thing. The 128GB memory ceiling is a capability Apple simply doesn't sell under $7,000+ Mac Studio territory. Nothing else runs a 70B model in a lunchbox.
Buy a mid-tier Windows mini (GEEKOM A8, Beelink SER8) if: you want the best pure value. $699 USD for an upgradeable Ryzen 7 mini with USB4, six USB ports and an SD reader is the anti-Apple manifesto in hardware form. Even Apple's own reviewers on Amazon noticed — one 3-star M6 review read: "for general home use… it is no better than my M4 and costs a ton more."
Skip: paying $1,299 for the 24GB Mac mini when a $2,399 EVO-X2 doubles your RAM ceiling four times over — or paying full $899 MSRP anywhere when Amazon's already discounted it.
Monday morning ruling: Apple still wins the podium on polish and efficiency. But the value crown? That's in the Windows camp now — and Tom's Hardware agrees.