The company is pitching Macs as machines that can keep more AI workloads on-device, potentially reducing dependence on cloud infrastructure while also offering advantages around latency and data privacy.The new Mac mini comes with either Apple’s M6 or M5 Pro chip.
The machines also get Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and faster Ethernet, while Thunderbolt 5 on the M5 Pro model allows multiple Mac minis to be clustered together to run larger AI models locally.The Mac mini with M6 starts at Rs 99,900 in India, while the M5 Pro version starts at Rs 2,09,900.
Both will go on sale from September 22.At the higher end, the new Mac Studio comes with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips and is aimed at developers, AI researchers, data scientists and creative professionals.
Apple claims up to 4.3 times faster AI performance, along with faster graphics and storage.
The M5 Ultra version can be configured with up to 512GB of unified memory, allowing significantly larger AI models to be loaded and run locally.Mac Studio with M5 Max starts at Rs 2,79,900, while the M5 Ultra model starts at Rs 6,29,900.
Apple Mac mini
New Delhi: Apple is making a stronger pitch for the Mac as a local AI computing machine, positioning its new Mac mini and Mac Studio as systems capable of running AI models, automated workflows and agentic workloads without relying entirely on the cloud.TOI spoke to Apple and learned that “desk-side” AI compute is emerging as a key use case, as developers and enterprises increasingly look to run language models and AI workflows locally instead of sending every task to large cloud-based systems.The shift is important because the AI boom has so far been dominated by hyperscale data centres packed with expensive GPUs. But as models become more efficient and desktop hardware gets more capable, a growing number of AI workloads can be handled locally, particularly for development, testing and inference.Apple is looking to tap into this transition through its unified memory architecture and tightly integrated hardware and software stack. The company is pitching Macs as machines that can keep more AI workloads on-device, potentially reducing dependence on cloud infrastructure while also offering advantages around latency and data privacy.The new Mac mini comes with either Apple’s M6 or M5 Pro chip. Apple says the M6 version delivers up to four times faster AI performance and twice the graphics and storage performance compared with the previous generation.It starts with 16GB unified memory, configurable up to 32GB, while the M5 Pro version supports up to 64GB. The machines also get Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and faster Ethernet, while Thunderbolt 5 on the M5 Pro model allows multiple Mac minis to be clustered together to run larger AI models locally.The Mac mini with M6 starts at Rs 99,900 in India, while the M5 Pro version starts at Rs 2,09,900. Both will go on sale from September 22.At the higher end, the new Mac Studio comes with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips and is aimed at developers, AI researchers, data scientists and creative professionals. Apple claims up to 4.3 times faster AI performance, along with faster graphics and storage. The M5 Ultra version can be configured with up to 512GB of unified memory, allowing significantly larger AI models to be loaded and run locally.Mac Studio with M5 Max starts at Rs 2,79,900, while the M5 Ultra model starts at Rs 6,29,900. The 512GB configuration will be available later in October.Apple’s broader bet is that the Mac can carve out a role in an AI computing stack that increasingly combines cloud, edge and local processing — not replacing massive GPU servers, but serving as a powerful desk-side system for building, testing and running increasingly capable AI workloads.
