Bullish M1X Mac Mini speculation suggests compact desktop with 12-core Apple Silicon could outpace a US$14,999 Mac Pro (2019) in multi-core testing for a fraction of the price

Quite a lot has already been said about the potential Apple M1X chip (or M2 – no official name has been confirmed yet for the M1 successor), especially in regard to its expected awesome benchmark performance. Obviously, this is all based on rumor, speculation, guesswork, and predicted estimates, as apart from a dubious "leaked" sample processor specsheet, there is little actually known about the M1X Apple Silicon. However, the popular YouTube channel Max Tech is convinced the chip will feature in an upcoming Mac Mini small form factor computer and will deliver the type of processing power that will make Intel Mac Mini owners green with envy.

A new post from the channel offers plenty of reasoning for Apple to introduce an M1X Mac Mini, which is believable considering the company has already made it public that it wants to completely move away from using Intel chips in its products. Taking Intel away from the Mac Mini will leave M1-based computers that are limited to two Thunderbolt ports (the Intel Mac Mini has four – although these are connected to just two controllers) and cannot offer the same multiple display support as the Intel variant. But if the Intel Mac Mini is removed, it will also leave a handy space for a more-expensive M1X Mac Mini to fill, which could likely offer the increased Thunderbolt/display support many users require.

On top of that, the Apple M1 initially appeared in three devices (Mac Mini, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro), and it seems fair to predict that the same would happen with an M1X (M2) launch. Max Tech also suggested some performance estimates for the M1X, with it unsurprisingly pulling out a similar score as the M1 in Geekbench 5’s single-core test, but then thrashing its predecessor, and the Intel Mac Mini, and a US$14,999 Mac Pro in the multi-core benchmark, with a predicted end result of 14,400 points (see image below). A forecast Cinebench R23 CPU stress test also shows the practically mythical M1X defeating all of the competition, while a Geekbench Metal GPU test reveals just how potent the rumored 16-core iGPU is expected to be.

It’s a lot of predictions and speculation, but an M1X Mac Mini (or M2 Mac Mini) would undoubtedly be a powerhouse of a compact computer. The current top-end Apple M1 model costs from US$899, which certainly seems like an amazing bargain compared to the US$14,999 Mac Pro computer (12-core Xeon, Radeon Pro Vega II, 192 GB RAM) that was involved in a previous testing comparison by Max Tech. A November timeframe is given as a possible release date for the M1X Mac Mini, with production delays involving the new MacBook Pro laptops pushing a potential launch into the second half of 2021.

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