Wednesday, 7 July 2021

Apple's M1-powered Mac mini is back on sale for $100 off amid rumors of a new model

WillyLiambi July 07, 2021

SAVE $99.01: As of July 7, the 2020 Mac mini with 256GB of storage and Apple's M1 chip is on sale on Amazon for just $599.99 thanks to an extra discount applied at checkout. (That's 14% off its $699 MSRP.)

It's been less than a year since Apple launched its M1 chip-equipped Mac mini, and already we're hearing rumors that a new version is in the works: According to a usually-accurate leaker named @dylandkt, an updated Mac mini with an upgraded (read: even faster) "M1X" chip will arrive sometime in 'late October or early November."

So, what does this mean for the current model? Let's start with the obvious: It's definitely not outdated despite the looming presence of a successor. With two USB-C ports, 8GB of RAM, an 8-core CPU, a 16-core Neural Engine for machine learning tasks, and an 8-core GPU for speedy graphics â€"Â hi, gamers â€"Â the 2020 Mac mini remains an extremely capable machine, no question.

More importantly â€" for our purposes, at least â€" the potential for a next-gen Mac mini means the current version is probably going to see more discounts going forward, since retailers will want to make way for the latest and greatest.

From the looks of things, we're not going to have to wait long for the latter to happen: At the time of writing, the 256GB configuration of the 2020 Mac mini was back down to a mere $599.99 on Amazon thanks to an extra discount the retailer was applying at the checkout. For those of you keeping score at home, that's 14% off its usual retail price of $699 â€" its highest discount yet â€"Â and an exact match of its Prime Day deal.

Amazon automatically applies those extra savings at checkout. Credit: screenshot via amazon

Need a little more storage space? The 512GB Mac mini was sold out on Amazon the last time we checked, unfortunately, but if you hurry, you can score it on sale at Adorama for just $829 â€" that's $70 off its $899 MSRP. (The only difference between the two is their storage capacity, FWIW.)