Apple Unveils Mac Mini and MacBook Pro Refresh

In a less glitzy and strangely timed keynote-esque announcement, Apple has revealed the chip refresh for the Mac Mini and MacBook Pro. The Mini, Apple’s answer to Intel’s NUC-style computer, will now be configurable with an M2 Pro processor option, while the MacBook Pro will come in either an M2 Pro or M2 Max chip.

This is the first time that a Mac Mini is going to come with a Pro chip, marking Apple’s sky-high ambitions for their barebones model. The company is widening the configurations for the Mini, providing options of up to the 12-core M2 Pro, a RAM ceiling of 32GB, and up to 8TB of internal storage.

Meanwhile, MacBook Pro, Apple’s flagship laptop, is always expected to come with the best tech from the Silicon Valley giant. They are retaining the notched screens for the 14- and 16-inch variants, but the Pro will now come equipped with either an M2 Pro or an M2 Max, which Apple is calling “the world’s most powerful and efficient chip for a pro laptop.” Their claim of 22 hours of battery life for the 16-inch model is only one of the company’s astounding declarations for the MacBook Pro that includes at least 10x faster transcode performance on Final Cut Pro and a 38-core GPU.

The Mac Mini has three variants with a starting price of US$599, and the MacBook Pro’s base price is US$1,999.