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It’s time for the Mac Neo

2026-09-22T08:04:43-04:00

Come on, how adorable would this be? | Image: The Verge, Apple

The Mac Mini is a great little desktop computer, and back when it cost $599, it was easy to recommend to anyone who wanted something speedy, simple, and cheap. The new M6 model is even better, but it starts at $899, and its 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU might actually be overkill for someone who just wants macOS and mostly does web stuff.

That's why we need a Mac Neo. The MacBook Neo proves Apple can get good-enough laptop performance from an iPhone chip for $699. And you get a great screen, keyboard, trackpad, and battery with that money. Throwing a smartphone chip, a power supply, some basic speakers, and a few ports in a small box shouldn' …

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The Mac Mini is still mighty, just not as cheap

2026-09-21T10:06:29-04:00

Apple’s little computer gets a little spendy.

There are lots of compact desktop computers out there, but none match the Mac Mini's small size and big power. 2024's redesign reduced the Mini to 0.82L, a chassis so minimal you can easily mount it behind a monitor or under a desk. I've used gaming laptop charging bricks that are nearly as large and definitely heavier than this whole computer. But despite being tiny, the Mini maintains a bunch of speedy ports - even a front-facing headphone jack.

The 2026 Mini is the first Mac to get Apple's new M6 chip, with more cores - and more kinds of cores - than the outgoing M4 model. Along with that comes another beefier version, replacing the M4 …

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Apple’s new Mac Mini has fresh M6 and M5 Pro chip offerings — and higher prices

2026-08-25T11:44:03-04:00

The M6 / M5 Pro Mac Mini. | Image: Apple

Apple is announcing a new generation of the Mac Mini, once again offering two models: one with a new M6 chip and a higher-end model with the M5 Pro found in this year's MacBook Pro. The new Minis have the same tiny design and footprint as the 2024 M4 / M4 Pro models, but with upgraded internals, faster performance, and speedier ethernet ports.

The M6 Mac Mini starts at $899, while the M5 Pro model starts at $1,699. Both cost $100 more than the most recent starting prices of the M4 generation. And while preorders start today, the new Mac Minis won't ship until September 22nd - hopefully enough time for Apple to stock up on inventory, as the …

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Apple launches new Mac Studios with its ‘most powerful chip ever’ — the M5 Ultra

2026-08-25T14:49:48-04:00

Those precious, precious ports! | Image: Apple

Apple is announcing new models of the Mac Studio, now using the existing M5 Max and a new M5 Ultra. This reunification under one chip generation comes over a year after Apple awkwardly split the Studio between M4 Max and M3 Ultra offerings. (The older-sounding M3 Ultra was actually the more powerful one, and there was never an M4 Ultra chip.) The new Studios look identical to previous generations, utilizing the same small-form-factor chassis since its introduction in 2022 (right down to the USB-A ports on the rear), but inside are Apple's most powerful SoCs.

The new Mac Studio with the existing M5 Max chip comes with 36GB of unified memory …

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The Steam Machine is the most ambitious game console I’ve ever played

2026-06-22T13:48:52-04:00

My first day with the Steam Machine was a mess. Instead of enjoying a worry-free game console, I spent hours troubleshooting what felt like a finicky PC. That's because the Steam Machine is a PC, with a very important twist.

Since the Magnavox Odyssey came out in 1972, game consoles have been built with the same basic goal: to effortlessly play proprietary games on a TV screen. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have spent decades essentially selling the same product. A few consoles could do more, but the formula you know and love remains buy box, plug into TV, insert game, play.

The Steam Machine aims to be something bigger. It's a vision of a …

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Apple dials down Liquid Glass, and the Mac looks way better for it

2026-06-09T14:04:01-04:00

MacOS 27 Golden Gate will usher in a bunch of changes to the Mac when it's released later this year, with its biggest new features revolving around Siri AI. But for now, using the first developer beta, Siri AI is only offered through a waitlist. So what's available to try is mostly about how the upcoming operating system looks and feels.

Booting up the macOS 27 developer beta upon updating immediately prompts you with Apple's new Liquid Glass slider, allowing users to set the amount of UI transparency. There's minimal fanfare to Apple's welcome screen, but this is reason to celebrate. On one end of the slider, it's as seethrough as Liquid …

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Nvidia announces RTX Spark as ‘the most efficient PC chip ever built’

2026-06-01T11:09:03-04:00

This fall, Nvidia will officially become a consumer PC chipmaker like Intel, AMD, Apple, and Qualcomm, putting a complete computing chip - not just graphics - into the very heart of laptops and mini-PCs. After many months of leaks, it's finally announcing the RTX Spark, the first in a family of chips that will meet or beat the most powerful thin-and-light Windows machines ever, it claims.

"This is the most efficient PC chip ever built," says Nvidia senior director of product management Mark Aevermann - without sharing so much as a single statistic or chart to back that up.

The RTX Spark is effectively the same GB10 chip that's in the DGX …

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AMD’s new pitch: our old tech is so good you should just keep using it

2026-06-01T05:56:57-04:00

AMD CEO Lisa Su holds a Ryzen chip. | Image: AMD

Computex 2026 is underway in Taiwan, and we're expecting all manner of flashy computers with jaw-dropping prices (or no prices at all) as the entire industry navigates RAMageddon.

But for desktop PC gamers, AMD has a different pitch. It's relaunching three old components alongside a big new promise: You won't need to buy a new motherboard until 2030.

Today, AMD is promising it will keep supporting its AM5 desktop motherboard socket with new Ryzen processors through 2029, which likely means you can keep upgrading to newer CPUs till the end of the decade without changing your board.

Even if you're still on the older AM4 socket, you may hav …

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Framework is building a better couch keyboard because everyone hates the Logitech one

2026-04-23T18:55:38-04:00

If you have a wireless keyboard with a touchpad that lets you control your PC from across the room, chances are it's a Logitech K400. Framework CEO Nirav Patel is betting that you hate using it - enough to buy Framework's spin on the idea when it arrives later this year.

He says that Logitech's keyboard is precisely the reason he's building a new one: "It's that Logitech keyboard that everybody owns and nobody likes," he tells me. "Everybody's got the same keyboard, nobody likes that keyboard, and so we figured we can build a better keyboard."

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Have you seen this Logitech couch keyboard? Do you hate it like me? Framework CEO Nir …

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The Mac is in good hands in Apple’s post-Cook era

2026-04-21T13:25:17-04:00

The Mac reached a series of low points in the Tim Cook era: the fiasco of the butterfly keyboard, the clunky transition to USB-C, the underutilized potential of the Touch Bar, and the occasionally lackluster Intel chip performance. For a while, it seemed like Apple had shifted all of its attention, innovation, and care toward the iPad. For Mac users, it was a rough stretch of time.

And then, with the transition to Apple Silicon in 2020, everything changed. The line was revitalized with hugely capable new chips, and Apple began prioritizing usability over thinness at all costs. The Mac is now in a new golden era, and yesterday's changes at A …

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