Apple has introduced a new 14-inch MacBook Pro built around the M6 chip, according to the company's newsroom announcement. The laptop keeps the design of the M5 model but upgrades the silicon, wireless hardware and memory options.
What changes with M6
Apple says M6 has a 12-core CPU, two more cores than before, and a 12-core GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core. Compared with M5, the company claims up to 30 percent faster graphics and up to 25 percent faster on-device AI workloads such as LLM prompt processing. The Neural Engine is now described as a dual 16-core design that Apple says is up to 1.9 times faster than M5's.
The machine ships with 16GB of unified memory as standard and can be configured up to 32GB. Apple lists memory bandwidth of up to 170GB/s. MacRumors reports that this higher figure applies only to the 24GB and 32GB configurations, not the base 16GB model.
Connectivity and battery
The laptop adds Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. Apple quotes up to 24 hours of battery life, which it calls the longest ever in a Mac. Ports are unchanged: HDMI, MagSafe 3, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an SDXC card slot and a headphone jack. It supports up to two external displays.
What stays the same
The Liquid Retina XDR display, with up to 1,600 nits of peak HDR brightness and an optional nano-texture finish, carries over, as do the 12MP Center Stage camera and six-speaker sound system. The enclosure uses 100 percent recycled aluminum.
Price and availability
According to MacRumors, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 starts at $1,999 with 1TB of storage. It comes in space black and silver. Pre-orders open on Wednesday, October 28, with availability starting Friday, November 6.
Apple frames the machine as an upgrade for owners of Intel-based Macs and M1 models, citing up to 11x faster graphics and up to 13x faster AI performance against the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1. Those comparisons are Apple's own figures and have not been independently tested.
Hardware engineering vice president Shelly Goldberg described it as a pro laptop for students, business users and creators. Apple pairs the new model with macOS 27.
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