New Mac mini 2026

SteelCityAnne wrote:

Good Day Everyone ,

I read that my 2018 MacMini will not be updatable sometime in 2026 . Should I get a new one now or will there be a new model/version introduced next year ?

I can't find the information for the most recent conference that discusses the upcoming Apple products ?

Mac mini 2018 tops out at macOS 15 Sequoia, and is not supported on the current macOS 26 (2026) Tahoe, so this Mac has reached its version limit.

The upcoming macOS 27 (for 2027) will drop Rosetta 2 translation support for Intel apps, but that's not going to be a factor for this particular Mac mini 2018.

Intel processor support for apps will be a factor if you have older Intel-only apps, and want or need to upgrade to an Apple silicon Mac.

If you replace this Mac mini with a new Mac mini, you will want a model with an M-class Apple silicon processor.

New Apple Mac models have minimally had 16 GB for just over a year now, as Apple has ceased offering new Mac models with 8 GB. All current Apple silicon models ship with at least 16 GB. (Details)

None of this is speculation, and all has been announced by Apple.

What products Apple might offer next year is speculation.

SteelCityAnne wrote:

I read that my 2018 MacMini will not be updatable sometime in 2026 .

That Mac mini has already reached the end of the line with respect to new major versions of macOS. It can run macOS 15 (Sequoia), but cannot run macOS 26 (Tahoe). Sequoia is still one of the "most recent three" and will likely be for about two years longer, but the clock is clearly ticking.

Should I get a new one now or will there be a new model/version introduced next year ?

Apple has not disclosed this information.

Current Mac minis use plain M4 and M4 Pro chips. Current "low-end" Mac Studios use M4 Max chips. There are plain M5 chips out, but the only Macs that use them are entry-level 14" MacBook Pros. M5 Pro and M5 Max chips have yet to appear in any Mac.

I'll add my 2¢ worth to those who've posted in favor of a new Mini now.

I just got a 10 Core Mac Mini M4 with 16 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD ($1084) with a 32" LG 4k monitor ($331) from Amazon.com)  is $1415 which is $541 less than a similarly configured new 24" iMac ($1956)  re 07/2025. Keep your keyboard and mouse from your current Mac for use with the Mini. 

I got the above Mini with a 32" LG 4K monitor w/speakers for only $60 more than the 27" (didn't know the Mini had a speaker).  There are many monitors available in 27" size on up for $100 to $500 depending on what features you want.  The monitor prices are before tariffs.

Personal I would not get internal storage less than 1TB. I find that the base 16GB of RAM is more that sufficient for my needs. I have a text Photoshop image file of 500+ Mbs that I can open and edit with only a slow opening of the final initially.

Unless you're going to do some heavy movie editing or very large image editing the base 16GB should suffice for you. Of course it's your decision as you know your needs best.

I previously had a 2017 27" i9 CPU iMac with 16GB of RAM and an SSD boot drive. My Mini M4 runs rings around it is all ways.

Just some food for thought.

Don't be concerned about the tiny 256GB SSD of the cheapest model as it is no problem at all if you also get a USB-C NVMe (SSD).

To upgrade the mini's SSD to 1TB will cost £400 (UK) whilst you can get a good quality 2TB plugin USB-C NVMe SSD for just over £100.

That's twice the size for a quarter the price!

The speaker(s) on the M4 mini is perfectly OK for normal use as long as you don't want to blast the house with rock music . . . previous minis had pathetic speakers.

From what I can tell there has been no official notice. We are not supposed to speculate about potential releases.

Newsroom - Apple

It isn't mandatory to update the macOS or anything else!

If your Mac is doing everything you need there is no reason to change or update anything.

I am running the latest macOS but that's because I am an idiot (like many others) . . . I don't need it, I'm just a sucker for wanting the latest . . . the operating system I had 25 years ago could do everything I required . . . one thing I do find useful (essential) is the tremendous increase in speed of the computers but that's because I do video editing.

Might as well add my 2 cents worth. I have the new m4 mini which replaced my 2018 mini. It is fast, quiet, and reliable. Long ago I decided to move my media off the internal drive to an external which among other things, makes moving into a new computer much easier, not to mention makes the new computer less expensive. Music and video in on a 2TB external SSD today and the rest of my applications and data (including photos) are on the internal 512GB drive. I chose to keep photos on the internal drive because Photos doesn’t and iCloud don’t play nice with a non-boot drive.

No, you weren't speculating, I was just observing that we were not allowed to speculate and try to predict what Apple will do and when.

I have a regular M4mini with 500 GB SSD. I have a 2TB external drive I use over USB3 where I keep everything except applications and system files. Right now 350GB of the 500 is empty. I don't have any huge applications though. I went with slightly more drive space since I typically keep a computer for many, many years and wanted some wiggle room. It turns out I still have a lot of wiggle room by keeping data on an external drive, though there are some behavioral issues such as external drive windows having to be reloaded after a restart.

I do think it definitely worth upgrading RAM. I have 24 GB and with just a browser open (albeit, many tabs) and a few other small apps it isn't unusual to see 70% being used. I am not using AI.

I didn't want to invest a lot of money into a computer, and my needs are modest, so I didn't go with a higher model. I like modular equipment where you can DIY upgrades, and modern computers are definitely not that. I also don't bother with AppleCare and figured if the computer dies then I will just go out and buy another one. So I am kind of regarding it as more "disposable" than my past computers.

Computer memory performance is a hierarchy and a series of trade-offs.

Main memory usage is used for app and data, and for I/O caching, and for avoiding a trip through (higher latency) main storage for (whatever), as well main memory used for graphics processing, and for ML/LLMs.

Is main storage faster than it has been? Yes. It’s now running at DDR3 SDRAM main memory speeds from ~fifteen years ago, with current Apple M5-era SSDs are mid-range DDR3 SDRAM bandwidth. Can that bandwidth mask insufficient main memory? Yes.

I’d absolutely aim higher than 8 GB, particularly if planning on running the Mac until it falls off of macOS support.

PS: The lack of ”free” main memory is often misrepresented as a problem by sketchy vendors seeking to sell their “cleaner” apps, too. Alas, “free” memory is wasted memory, and macOS seeks to use whatever is available. Clearing that memory can mean added trips through main storage or through app processing to regenerate the data or whatever (bandwidth and latency incurred), which in aggregate slows things. But free memory.

The M4 Mac mini is available right now. When Apple is ready to introduce the M5 Mac minis, they will announce it. Apple does not brand their hardware with year numbers.

I happen to be using an M4 Mac Mini Pro to write this post and it is plenty powerful for my needs. It has 64 GB RAM and a 1 TB internal drive. It is the optional 14 CPU/ 20 GPU configuration.

You have fallen into the RAM trap!

Macs are made to use most of their RAM all the time even during light use so if you have 8GB RAM it will register around 70% and if you have 128GB RAM it will also register a similar figure.

8GB RAM is plenty for most people and 16GB RAM is more than enough.

Ian R. Brown wrote:

You have fallen into the RAM trap!

Macs are made to use most of their RAM all the time even during light use so if you have 8GB RAM it will register around 70% and if you have 128GB RAM it will also register a similar figure.

From my experience it isn't that flat. When I first boot the Mac it is at about 40%. Memory usage goes up as I increase the number of applications I am running at any one time. Earlier today I had two largish applications running and it was using 80%. I quit one of them and it instantly dropped to 60%.