M2 PRO MAC MINI PINT-SIZE POWERHOUSE FOR YOUR DESKTOP

YET ANOTHER INTEL-BASED MAC IS NO MORE, AND WHILE THE M2 PRO IS GREAT, THE PRICE ISN'T RIGHT.

- JASON CROSS

And then there was one. With A the introduction of the new Mac mini, Apple officially sells only one Mac that still uses an Intel chip-the Mac Pro. While the low-end Mac mini got an upgrade to the M1 processor just over two years ago, Apple continued to sell the 2018 Intel-based model as a more expensive option. Apple has now updated the low-end model to the M2 and replaced that Intel-based model with a new M2 Pro Mac mini (fave.co/3DQASFC).

The M2 model gained Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 and has been reduced in price from $699 to $599. It's a fine entry level system. The M2 Pro model adds two additional Thunderbolt 4 ports (for a total of four), upgrades the HDMI port to HDMI 2.1 (bringing support 4K at 240Hz and 8K at 60Hz), and of course has a more powerful processor. It starts at $1,299, a $200 increase over the outdated and now-obsolete Intel-based model.

That $1,299 entry-level price gets you a cut-back version of the M2 Pro that has only a 10-core CPU (6 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores) and a 16-core GPU. To get the full M2 Pro with 12 CPU cores (eight performance, four efficiency) and 19 GPU cores, you have to pay an extra $300.

You'll also get only 512GB of storage in that $1,299 model, which is a bit on the low side for that price. The jump to 1TB costs another $200. Add those two minimal upgrades together and you're looking at $1,799 for the full M2 Pro, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. That's the configuration we tested here.

A FEW UPGRADES, BUT NO DESIGN CHANGES