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Apple's M6 Mac mini with 24GB RAM and 512GB SSD lands as a compact desktop that feels strong for everyday work and light gaming in the current market. The listed specs are seen as solid value, especially compared with much pricier Apple configurations, and the machine is described as smooth for daily and office use for years. It is also called a capable 1080p gaming box, with 1440p possible using Metal upscaling. The main hesitation is price, since the old $500 Mac mini value is gone and the storage still feels stingy for the money. A capable small desktop if the use case fits.
Buyers comparing current Apple pricing, because the listed specs are considered solid value in today's market.
It can handle 1080p gaming well and may do 1440p with Metal upscaling. It is not an ideal gaming machine overall, but M-series Macs can run titles like Red Dead, Rocket League, Minecraft, GTA V, and even Cyberpunk with low fan noise.
It is considered solid for the listed specs in today's market, especially given recent price increases. A comparable price without those increases is estimated around $999, while the older $500-era Mac mini value is no longer the benchmark.
24GB RAM can be enough for daily office use and general productivity, but it may be inadequate for local LLM work. For coding assistants and transcription workflows, the comments point to Windows/WSL2 setups with smaller models as a more practical proof of concept.
The 512GB configuration is viewed as acceptable, but 1TB is the preferred storage target for better value and headroom. A 256GB Apple configuration is also cited at $1300 for 32GB RAM, showing how quickly Apple storage upgrades raise the price.
thumbs upping because it is a good deal in the current climate but it is absolutely wild that 8gb of ram and 256gb of ssd space is $400. Even at no deal shopping you could pick up 16gb ddr5 and a 1 gig ssd for around $350 or $400.
Last edited by Vesp206 October 26, 2026 at 04:13 PM.
Not a deal folks. The appeal of a mac mini was great when th eprice was $500 for minimalist machine. At $1000, it needs to offer much more. Local LLM even with 24GB RAM is inadequate.
Not a deal folks. The appeal of a mac mini was great when th eprice was $500 for minimalist machine. At $1000, it needs to offer much more. Local LLM even with 24GB RAM is inadequate.
I'm running local coding assistants and auto complete inside 6GB, so define "inadequate"
Great deal for those of us that understand this machine is smooth and flies and will be fit for at least the next 5 years of daily/office/etc usage. Just not an ideal machine for gamers.
M6 has several YouTube videos of people playing red dead, rocket league, Minecraft, GTA V.
A guy even played cyberpunk on high res while DaVinci was running in the background with no charger or fan noise. And that was on an M5 macbook pro. https://youtube.com/shorts/As4xHh...cSctDj7ZPR
Not a terrible deal in the current market, but worth noting you can get the 32GB version of this with a 256GB drive (not so great) for $1300 directly from Apple's Store before any discounts (edu, military, etc).
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from TheVeganButcher
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I'm running local coding assistants and auto complete inside 6GB, so define "inadequate"
Not a terrible deal in the current market, but worth noting you can get the 32GB version of this with a 256GB drive (not so great) for $1300 directly from Apple's Store before any discounts (edu, military, etc).Mind sharing your setup details?
This one was just for proof of concept of doing transcription in a gpu va cpu, and once that was done I put it to work with coding assist. Windows with WSL2, ollama, and then Qwen 1.5B for auto complete and Gemma 4 E4B for coding chat. Also tried Qwen 7b and that worked well too q4-k-m. VS code with continue.dev. It's a Gtx 1060 6GB
Last edited by TheVeganButcher October 28, 2026 at 06:22 PM.
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Interesting! Why WSL2 instead of the Ollama build for Windows? Issue with drivers?
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Qwen 1.5B for auto complete
Auto complete as in the inline suggestion feature (ghost text) or something else? And did you run both Qwen 1.5B and 4 E4B at the same time or have to unload one to run the other? If it's a memory issue, NVidia's Nemotron might be worth a shot. I think the model I tested was Nemotron 3 Nano 4B and it ran much better than I expected for a model under 3GB in size.
Last edited by shortList October 28, 2026 at 07:51 PM.
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Community Reviews
Apple's M6 Mac mini with 24GB RAM and 512GB SSD lands as a compact desktop that feels strong for everyday work and light gaming in the current market. The listed specs are seen as solid value, especially compared with much pricier Apple configurations, and the machine is described as smooth for daily and office use for years. It is also called a capable 1080p gaming box, with 1440p possible using Metal upscaling. The main hesitation is price, since the old $500 Mac mini value is gone and the storage still feels stingy for the money. A capable small desktop if the use case fits.
Buyers comparing current Apple pricing, because the listed specs are considered solid value in today's market.
Office workers wanting a quiet daily desktop, because it stays smooth and fast for years of everyday use.
Casual gamers playing at 1080p, because it handles that resolution well and can reach 1440p with Metal upscaling.
People building a compact coding and transcription workstation, because it can run WSL2, Ollama, and coding assistants on modest hardware.
Storage-heavy buyers, because the 256GB configuration feels too small and should really be 1TB.
Gamers wanting a primary gaming desktop, because it is not an ideal machine for gaming.
People expecting strong local LLM performance, because 24GB RAM is still inadequate for local LLM use.
Shoppers seeking old-school $500-era Mac mini value, because the current price needs to offer much more.
Common Questions (4)
AI-generated summary based on comments from the community. Updated ago
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Just not an ideal machine for gamers.
A guy even played cyberpunk on high res while DaVinci was running in the background with no charger or fan noise. And that was on an M5 macbook pro.
https://youtube.com/shorts/As4xHh...cSctDj
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