Wired's 2026 Guide to Apple Desktops: Mac Mini, Mac Studio or iMac?
A Wired reviewer compared Apple's desktop Macs, recommending the M6 Mac Mini for most buyers, the Mac Studio for professionals, and advising against buying the iMac right now.
Luke Larsen, a reviewer at the technology publication Wired who has tested Macs for more than a decade, has published a 2026 buying guide to Apple's desktop computers. His verdict: the Mac Mini suits most buyers, the Mac Studio is for professionals, and the iMac is not worth buying at the moment. The guide matters because the Mac Mini and Mac Studio were just refreshed with new chips and a stronger focus on running AI models locally.
Mac Mini
The Mac Mini with the new M6 chip costs about $300 more than before, but the base model has higher specs. Graphics performance is especially improved. A pricier M5 Pro version is also available, which the author has not yet tested; it can be configured with up to 20 GPU cores. Before the refresh, Mac Minis were sold out for much of the year, driven by AI enthusiasts. On an earnings call, Apple said customer adoption was happening faster than it expected.
Mac Studio
The Mac Studio comes with an M5 Max or an M5 Ultra. The Ultra is essentially two Max dies joined together and sometimes delivered double the performance. The tested model with 256 GB of memory cost over $11,000. On it, the author ran a large language model entirely on the device. Shipping times are long: up to a month and a half for M5 Max models with 128 GB or more of memory, and up to four months for the M5 Ultra.
iMac
The iMac was last updated in 2024 and still uses the M4 chip. It starts at $1,499 and comes only with a 23.5-inch display. The author hopes for an M6 refresh within the next couple of months.
Apple officially discontinued the Mac Pro in March 2026; the Mac Studio with Ultra chips has replaced it.
