Apple announced two Macs by press release on October 27, 2026: a 14-inch MacBook Pro built on the new M6 chip at $1,999, and a 24-inch iMac on the same chip from $1,499. Both open for pre-order on October 28 and arrive November 6. Neither is the OLED MacBook Pro the rumor sites expected this week. The 16-inch, the M5 Pro and M5 Max laptops, the Mac mini and the Mac Studio are all unchanged, and so is the laptop pick in our best Mac for video editing guide. For an editor, the day’s news is a faster entry chip and nothing above it.
Last updated: October 2026. Some links below are affiliate links. Buy through them and it helps keep the site running, at no extra cost to you. Specs and Apple’s prices were read on apple.com on October 27, 2026; retailer prices carry their own dates.
What the M6 is
The M6 is a 12-core CPU and a 12-core GPU, two more of each than the M5 it replaces, with a Neural Accelerator in every GPU core and a dual 16-core Neural Engine. Apple’s own numbers against the 14-inch M5 are 30 percent faster graphics, 25 percent faster on-device AI and a 1.3x render in Blender with ray tracing on. Memory starts at 16GB at 153GB/s and tops out at 32GB at 170GB/s; storage starts at 1TB and runs to 4TB.
The spec that matters for a timeline did not move. Apple’s specifications page lists one video decode engine, one video encode engine and one ProRes encode/decode engine for the M6, the same media engine layout as the base M5 and the same as the Mac mini M6 that shipped in September. Playback of 4K ProRes 422 HQ and camera-native 10-bit H.265 runs on the engines, and a one-engine Mac scrubs that footage the way the M5 and M4 did. What the M6 buys is GPU and CPU time: noise reduction, Magic Mask, Super Scale, the AI tools in Resolve and Premiere, and anything that runs a local model. The ports stay at three Thunderbolt 4; Thunderbolt 5 remains an M5 Pro and M5 Max feature.
14-inch MacBook Pro M6: the base tier gets a bigger chip and the same ports
The chassis is the one Apple has sold since 2021: the Liquid Retina XDR panel at 1600 nits peak with the nano-texture option, HDMI, an SDXC slot, MagSafe 3, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 12MP Center Stage camera, six speakers and a fan. New this round are Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, a 24-hour battery rating from the same 72.4 watt-hour cell, and a fast-charge spec of 50 percent in 30 minutes on a 96W adapter. Space black and silver. $1,999 buys 16GB and 1TB, the same price Apple charged for the outgoing M5 model, so the generation change comes with a bigger chip and no price increase.
Sixteen gigabytes is the catch, as it was on the M5. A 4K Resolve timeline with a few layers of grading fits, a 6K RAW project with Fusion work does not, and the 32GB ceiling means this machine never grows into the 48GB that heavy work wants. Two machines bracket it. The MacBook Air 13-inch M5, $1,149 on Amazon as of October 26, cuts 4K and 6K on the same single media engine and throttles only on long exports. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro, $2,289 sold by Amazon on October 27, brings 24GB standard, 307GB/s of bandwidth, a 16-core GPU and Thunderbolt 5, and it is still the laptop most working editors should buy. The M6 model sits $290 under the Pro-chip machine and $850 over the Air.
So the tier logic holds. If the laptop is mostly an editing machine, the money goes to the M5 Pro or stays in your pocket with the Air. The M6 14-inch is the right buy for someone who wants the XDR screen, the fan, the SD slot and HDMI in a single machine whose day is only partly editing: a motion designer, a student, a photographer who also cuts, a one-laptop business. That buyer gets a real step up from the M5 version at the same money, and the outgoing M5 base model, still $1,999 at Adorama on October 27, is only worth it once the price drops.
iMac M6: the first new iMac since 2024
The iMac skipped the M5 generation, so this is the first new one since the M4 model of October 2024. Two tiers: $1,499 for a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, $1,699 for the full 12-core and 12-core chip, both with 16GB standard and both in seven colors. Four Thunderbolt 4 ports, 2.5Gb Ethernet, Touch ID on the keyboard as standard and the nano-texture glass option are all reserved for the 12-core model. Apple’s comparisons run against the M4: 2x the graphics, 5x the on-device AI, and an SSD up to twice as fast. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 come to both.
The display is the reason to buy one and the reason to read the spec sheet first. It is a 24-inch 4.5K panel at 500 nits with P3 color, the same screen as the M4 model. That is a good display for a cut, a Lightroom session or a client review, and it is not an HDR or reference display; a grade still wants an external monitor, and the iMac drives two 6K displays. Against a Mac mini M6 with the same 16GB and 256GB, $779 on Amazon as of October 26, the 12-core iMac charges about $920 for the panel, the camera, the speakers and the stand. A mini plus a 27-inch 4K monitor lands near the same total with a screen that outlives the computer. The iMac wins on one cable to the wall and zero monitor research, which is what a photo desk or a producer’s office usually wants.
The outgoing iMac M4 with 16GB and 256GB was $1,614 on Amazon on October 26, and it is the one to watch for a sell-through price in November: same screen, same ports on the base tier, an older chip that runs Lightroom and Photoshop without complaint. The targets for every Mac in the lineup are on Black Friday Mac deals for video editors.
What did not ship
Apple did not ship a 16-inch, an M6 Pro or M6 Max, an OLED panel or a new chassis. Its store now lists the 14-inch with a choice of M6, M5 Pro or M5 Max, and the 16-inch with M5 Pro or M5 Max from $2,999. The desktops are the September machines: the Mac mini M6 and M5 Pro, the Mac Studio M5 Max and M5 Ultra, covered in our September read of the Studio and mini and sorted in Mac mini vs Mac Studio for video editing.
The redesigned OLED MacBook Pro that Bloomberg reported for this window was not announced, and Apple’s events page lists nothing upcoming. Apple sometimes spreads a release week across several days, so a second announcement is possible and not something to plan a purchase around. The advice in the Mac guide stands: the M5 Pro 14-inch is the current generation, a laptop you need this month is worth buying this month, and a redesign that costs more than the machine it replaces is the normal first-year pattern.
How the entry Macs line up
| Mac | Price (date read) | CPU / GPU | Base memory | Media engines | Thunderbolt | Ships |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mac mini M6 (16GB / 256GB) | $779 Amazon (Oct 26) | 12 / 12 | 16GB | 1 | TB4 | In stock |
| MacBook Air 13 M5 (16GB / 512GB) | $1,149 Amazon (Oct 26) | 10 / 10 | 16GB | 1 (fanless) | TB4 | In stock |
| Mac mini M6 (24GB / 512GB) | $1,299 Amazon (Oct 26) | 12 / 12 | 24GB | 1 | TB4 | In stock |
| iMac M6 (16GB / 256GB) | $1,499 or $1,699 Apple (Oct 27) | 10 / 10 or 12 / 12 | 16GB | 1 | TB4, four ports on the 12-core | Nov 6 |
| MacBook Pro 14 M6 (16GB / 1TB) | $1,999 Apple (Oct 27) | 12 / 12 | 16GB | 1 | TB4 x3 | Nov 6 |
| MacBook Pro 14 M5 Pro (24GB / 1TB) | $2,289 Amazon (Oct 27) | 15 / 16 | 24GB | 1 ProRes | TB5 x3 | In stock |
Read down the media-engine column and the whole entry tier is one engine deep; the M6 machines separate from the Air on GPU cores, cooling and ports, and the M5 Pro separates from everything above the line on memory and bandwidth. Which memory tier to order on any of them is a question of codec and layer count more than of chip, and the Mac guide’s spec section works through it machine by machine.
Where to buy, and when the links land
Apple takes pre-orders from 10:10 a.m. PT on October 28 at $1,999 for the MacBook Pro and $1,499 or $1,699 for the iMac, with education pricing $100 lower on each. Amazon had no listing for either machine on October 27; Apple’s resellers normally list on pre-order day, and this page links the Amazon listing once it is sold by Amazon rather than a marketplace seller. Until then, the current machines are where the money should go: the MacBook Pro 14 M5 Pro for editing, the MacBook Air M5 for the budget cut, and the Mac mini M6 for a desk. The same chip in the mini has been shipping for five weeks, which is the closest thing to a review of the M6 that exists today.
FAQ
Is the M6 MacBook Pro good for video editing?
For 4K in Resolve, Premiere or Final Cut, yes: one media engine, a 12-core GPU and 16GB handle a multi-layer 4K timeline and export faster than the M5 version. For 6K RAW, Fusion, heavy noise reduction or a machine that will still be the main edit box in three years, the M5 Pro with 24GB and Thunderbolt 5 is the better $290.
M6 MacBook Pro or M5 Pro MacBook Pro?
The M6 has the newer CPU cores and a faster per-core speed; the M5 Pro has 15 CPU cores, a 16-core GPU, 24GB standard, 307GB/s of memory bandwidth against 153GB/s, and Thunderbolt 5. Editing scales with the second list. The M6 is the pick when the laptop is a general machine that edits sometimes; the M5 Pro is the pick when editing is the job.
Should I wait for the OLED MacBook Pro?
It was not announced on October 27 and Apple lists no event. A first-generation redesign has cost more than the machine it replaced every time Apple has shipped one, and the current M5 Pro and M5 Max machines are the ones that go on sale in November. If you need the laptop now, buy the current one; if you do not, there is no cost to waiting until Apple says something.
Is the iMac M6 good for video editing?
For a cut, yes, with the same chip and engine count as the Mac mini M6. The 500-nit P3 panel is not a grading display, and the 32GB memory ceiling rules out heavy work. An editor who wants the all-in-one form should buy the $1,699 12-core model for the four Thunderbolt 4 ports and the 2.5Gb Ethernet, and keep the project drive external.
Will the M5 MacBook Pro get cheaper now?
The base M5 14-inch is out of Apple’s lineup and retailers will clear it; at the $1,999 Adorama listed on October 27 it is the older chip at the new chip’s price, so wait for the cut. The M5 Pro and M5 Max are still current and were not replaced, so their November prices are deals rather than sell-through.
In conclusion
Apple moved the entry chip up a generation at the same price and left every pro tier alone, which makes October 27 a good day for students and all-in-one desks and a non-event for anyone who was already going to buy the M5 Pro.
