Free Mac Mini? Perplexity is sending Apple's desktop to some creators: Here's why

Perplexity is giving away Apple's Mac Mini computers to a select group of creators and tech enthusiasts as it looks to showcase its new AI-powered feature called Personal Computer. Notably, Apple's Mac Mini has in recent days become one of the hottest commodities in the tech world with the rise of autonomous AI agents that require localized computing power to run. Perplexity is gifting Mac Mini to creators "Thank you Perplexity and @AravSrinivas Bhai for the Mac Mini 🤟Perplexity Computer + Mac Mini. Excited to test it out and see what it can do." wrote a user on X "To try out Perplexity Computer, Perplexity sent me a Mac mini to install it on! I'll set this up later, but thanks Perplexity" added another user In a statement to Business Insider, the AI startup confirmed that it gave a small number of Mac Minis to people "interested in getting the maximum use case out of Personal Computer in the Perplexity Mac app." Perplexity's chief communications officer Jesse Dwyer also told the publication that he uses his Mac Mini constantly while operating it from his other Apple devices. Currently, Personal Computer only runs on Perplexity's Mac app as well. Notably, Apple had made it costlier to own a Mac Mini earlier in the year as it removed the 256GB variant which was priced at $599. Instead, now Mac Mini enthusiasts have to shell out $799 in order to buy the 512GB variant. During the March earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook had called Mac Mini and Mac Studio "amazing platforms for AI and agentic tools." Cook also said that “customer recognition of that is happening faster than what we had predicted,” "And so we saw higher-than-expected demand." he added The Apple veteran futher noted that the company is facing supply constraints for both Mac Mini and Mac Studio and it “may take several months to reach supply-demand balance.” What is Personal Computer? Personal Computer is an new AI powerd agentic AI tool which extends the capabilities of the company's existing Computer agent beyond the browser. Personal Computer works across local files, native applications, connected services and the web to complete complex tasks on a user's behalf. Instead of simply answering questions in a chat window, the AI tool is designed to understand a goal, break it down into steps and then execute those actions across multiple apps and services. In an April blog post, the company explained that Personal Computer to organise files, manage to-do lists, compare local documents with information from the web, send messages, draft emails and perform actions across different applications. In the same blog, Perplexity also called Mac Mini as one of the best ways to run Personal Computer which can allow an AI agent to work around the clock and continuously access files and applications when needed.