Mac mini (M6) vs MacBook Neo (13-inch, A18 Pro)
Quick look
| Figure | Mac mini M61 | MacBook Neo A18 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £8993Apple UK store | £6994Apple UK store |
| Chip | M6chip | A18 Prochip |
| CPU | 12-coreCPU | 6-coreCPU |
| GPU | 12-coreGPU | 5-coreGPU |
| Memory | 16GBunified memory, base | 8GBunified memory, base |
| Storage | 256GBstorage, base | 256GBstorage, base |
| Battery life | Not available5No battery | Up to16 hrsvideo playback, claimed |
| Released | 22 September 20266ReleasedIn Apple Stores; pre-order from 25 August 2026. | 11 March 20267ReleasedIn Apple Stores; pre-order from 4 March 2026. |
| Security updates | Not available8Security updates | Not available8Security updates |
- Price
- The Mac mini M6 is £899 on Apple’s UK store; the MacBook Neo A18 Pro is £699 on Apple’s UK store.
- Kind of Mac
- The Mac mini M6 is a desktop; the MacBook Neo A18 Pro is a laptop. The MacBook Neo A18 Pro has a built-in 13-inch display, a camera and a battery, whereas the Mac mini M6 has none of them.
True to scale
A desktop and a laptop are different shapes, so they stand side by side rather than superposed: the front face of one and the footprint of the other, from Apple’s published dimensions, at one scale. Corner rounding is our drawing convention, not a measurement.
Specifications
Each figure is from the source marked by its Mac’s name unless it carries its own small number, which links to where that figure was read.
Body
| Specification | Mac mini M61 | MacBook Neo A18 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 50 x 127 x 127 mm | 12.7 x 297.5 x 206.4 mm |
| Weight | 0.67 kg | 1.23 kg |
| Colours | Silver | Silver, Blush, Citrus, Indigo |
| Ports | Front: two USB-C ports with support for USB 3 (up to 10Gb/s), 3.5mm headphone jack. Back (M6): 2.5Gb Ethernet port (configurable to 10Gb Ethernet), HDMI port, three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports | One USB 3 (USB-C) port, one USB 2 (USB-C) port, 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Thunderbolt ports | 3 | No Thunderbolt ports.9 |
| Thunderbolt version | Thunderbolt 4 | Not available10 |
| USB-A ports | No USB-A ports.11 | No USB-A ports.9 |
| HDMI | HDMI port | No HDMI port.12 |
| SD card slot | No SD card slot.11 | No SD card slot.12 |
| Headphone jack | Yes | Yes |
| MagSafe | Not available13 | No MagSafe port.9 |
| Keyboard | Not available14 | Magic Keyboard |
| Touch ID | Not available15 | Available on the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID configuration16 |
Display
| Specification | Mac mini M61 | MacBook Neo A18 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Display size | Not available17 | 13 in |
| Resolution | Not available17 | 2408 x 1506 |
| Pixel density | Not available17 | 219 ppi |
| Display type | Not available17 | Liquid Retina display |
| Brightness | Not available17 | 500 nits |
| Wide colour (P3) | Not available17 | No wide colour (P3) display.12 |
| Nano-texture option | Not available17 | No nano-texture display option.12 |
Chip and memory
| Specification | Mac mini M61 | MacBook Neo A18 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Chip | Apple M6 chip | Apple A18 Pro chip |
| Apple silicon | Yes | Yes |
| CPU cores | 12 | 6 |
| Super cores | 2 | Not available18 |
| Performance cores | 4 | 2 |
| Efficiency cores | 6 | 4 |
| GPU cores | 12 | 5 |
| Neural Engine cores | Dual 16-core | 16 |
| Chip options | M6 with 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU | Apple A18 Pro with 6-core CPU and 5-core GPU16 |
| Memory (base) | 16GB | 8GB |
| Memory (maximum) | 32GB | 8GB16 |
| Memory options | 16GB, 24GB or 32GB | 8GB |
| Memory upgradeable by user | No, as Apple documents19 | No, as Apple documents20 |
| Memory bandwidth | 153 GB/s | 60 GB/s |
| Storage (base) | 256GB | 256GB |
| Storage (maximum) | 2TB | 512GB |
| Storage options | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB | 256GB or 512GB |
| Media engine | Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAWvideo decode enginevideo encode engineProRes encode and decode engineAV1 decode | Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAWvideo decode enginevideo encode engineProRes encode and decode engineAV1 decode |
Battery and power
| Specification | Mac mini M61 | MacBook Neo A18 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Battery capacity | Not available5 | 36.5 Wh |
| Rated charge cycles | Not available5 | 1,000 cycles21 |
| Video playback (claimed) | Not available5 | 16 h |
| Wireless web (claimed) | Not available5 | 11 h |
| Included power adapter | Not available22 | No power adapter in the box.12 |
| Fast charging | Not available5 | No fast charging.12 |
| Maximum continuous power | 155 W | Not available23 |
Connectivity
| Specification | Mac mini M61 | MacBook Neo A18 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi | Wi‑Fi 7 (802.11be) | Wi‑Fi 6E (802.11ax) |
| Bluetooth | 6 | 6 |
| Ethernet | 2.5Gb Ethernet (100/1000/2500BASE-T Multi-Gigabit Ethernet, configurable to 10Gb Ethernet) | No Ethernet port.12 |
| External displays (base) | 3 | 1 |
Camera and audio
| Specification | Mac mini M61 | MacBook Neo A18 Pro2 |
|---|---|---|
| Camera | Not available24 | 1080p FaceTime HD camera |
| Speakers | Built-in speaker | Dual-speaker sound system |
| Microphones | Not available25 | Dual-mic array with directional beamforming |
Sources
Apple Support (UK) — Mac mini (M6 or M5 Pro) - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Neo - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple UK store — Mac mini M6, 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU, 16GB, 256GB — From £899 ·
↩Apple UK store — MacBook Neo, 256GB — From £699 ·
↩Doesn’t apply: no battery
↩Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils a more powerful Mac mini featuring the all-new M6 and M5 Pro ·
↩Apple Newsroom (UK) — Say hello to MacBook Neo ·
↩Security updates: no end date published.
↩MacBook Neo (13-inch, A18 Pro): No Thunderbolt ports. No USB-A ports. No MagSafe port.
↩Doesn’t apply: no Thunderbolt port
↩Mac mini (M6): No USB-A ports. No SD card slot.
↩MacBook Neo (13-inch, A18 Pro): No HDMI port. No SD card slot. No wide colour (P3) display. No nano-texture display option. No power adapter in the box. No fast charging. No Ethernet port.
↩Doesn’t apply: MagSafe is a notebook charging port
↩Doesn’t apply: no built-in keyboard
↩Doesn’t apply: no built-in keyboard, and Touch ID is a keyboard feature
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Neo - Tech Specs ·
↩Doesn’t apply: no built-in display
↩Doesn’t apply: this chip has no super cores
↩Apple Support (UK) — Upgrade or install memory in your Mac mini ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro: how to remove or install memory ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Determine battery cycle count for Mac laptops ·
↩Doesn’t apply: internal power supply, no power adapter in the box
↩Doesn’t apply: a notebook lists its power adapter, not a maximum continuous power
↩Doesn’t apply: no built-in camera
↩Not published by Apple.
↩Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac mini model ·
↩Not published by Apple.
↩Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac mini model ·
↩
Not published by Apple
Mac mini M6. Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: storage upgradeable by user, the macOS it shipped with. Geekbench 7: the Mac chart has no entry for this Mac, so no figures are shown (chart read 10 Oct 2026). Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — Mac mini (M6 or M5 Pro) - Tech Specs; Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils a more powerful Mac mini featuring the all-new M6 and M5 Pro, read 9 Oct 2026.
MacBook Neo A18 Pro. Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: refresh rate, storage upgradeable by user, the macOS it shipped with, part numbers. Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Neo - Tech Specs; Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers; Apple Newsroom (UK) — Say hello to MacBook Neo, read 9 Oct 2026.
If you own one of them
Whether to move is a different question from which is better. Each Mac has a page on it: what its successor changes (the newest Mac in its line where Apple sells one, otherwise the Mac this site treats as its replacement, which can be in another line), what it fetches and whether it still gets updates. Should I upgrade my Mac mini M6? · Should I upgrade my MacBook Neo (13-inch, A18 Pro)?
Other comparisons
The pairs a buyer of either Mac would also weigh. Any two Macs in the catalogue can be compared from the chooser.