New Mac mini gains power but loses upgradeable storage

Apple's new Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro chip options arrives with meaningful performance gains but a substantially higher starting price, and a teardown indicates the machine no longer supports aftermarket storage upgrades. The Mac mini now starts at $899 in the United States, up $300 from the $599 launch price of the M4 model, a roughly 50 percent increase. Apple said it has raised prices on many products because of the ongoing memory chip shortage, passing the higher costs of RAM and storage chips to customers. That explanation has not been independently verified. Reviews published ahead of the machine's Tuesday launch were broadly positive about capability but consistently price-sensitive. One assessment called the machine still a good deal while noting it may no longer be an insanely great one. Another reviewer wrote that the price spoils the update, contrasting it with the M4 Mac mini, described as one of Apple's best values ever. A third review said the device remains the best tiny computer you can buy, but that $900 stings compared with the previous generation's $600.