Rent a Mac for your agent, or buy a Mac mini?

Buying: what it costs right now

• Apple's base Mac mini is now the M6 with 16 GB and 256 GB. It lists at $899. That is the machine our agent plan runs on, so the comparison below is like for like.
• Apple replaced the M4 mini in August 2026 and no longer sells it new. Used and refurbished M4s cost less. Check the memory: an agent with a browser open wants 16 GB.
• Power is negligible: a mini idles under 10 watts, a few dollars a month.
• The real cost is setup and upkeep. Never-sleep settings, automatic login, a supervised session, screen access for when the agent stalls, wired network, a battery, macOS updates. Budget an evening to set up and a little attention every month.

Renting: what it costs

• MacRun's agent plan is a dedicated M6 mini that is always on. Claude Code and Codex are installed. The machine's screen is one click away in your browser. It is $169 a month, cancel anytime.
• No hardware to buy, no wait, nothing to set up, and someone to email when it misbehaves.

The math over time

               buy M6 (list)    rent M6
  month 1          $899           $169
  month 6          $899         $1,014
  month 12         $899         $2,028
  setup work       yours          done
  ready in         delivery       < 5 min

On hardware alone, buying wins after about 6 months. That is the honest number, and it is why renting is not the right answer for everyone. Over a year, renting costs about $1,129 more than buying at list.

Buy if

• You are comfortable doing the setup on the checklist yourself and keeping it running.
• You plan to run the agent for a year or more.
• You have somewhere at home with wired internet to leave it running.
• You want the Mac at home, next to devices it needs to be near.

Rent if

• You want an agent running today, not after a delivery and an evening of setup.
• You do not want to own uptime, updates, auto-login and screen access.
• You are testing whether a 24/7 agent is worth it before committing.
• You would rather sign in from a browser tab than plug in a keyboard.

The quiet third option

Rent for a couple of months. Learn what your agent really needs. Then buy if the case is proven. Two months cost $338, and you find out whether a 24/7 agent is worth $899 of hardware before you spend it.