Apple charges considerable markups for memory and storage in its Macs. The policy should be revisited, Tae Kim writes Wednesday for Barron’s.
On Tuesday, the technology giant announced several new computers—including updates to its 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops and Mac mini desktop. The professional laptops start at $1,999, while the mini starts at $599.
I initially thought the base $599 cost seemed like a bargain for a desktop Mac with its new M2 processor. Then I went to Apple’s configuration page to customize options, and my assumption fell apart.
The base model for the Mac mini has an anemic eight gigabytes of memory and 256 gigabytes of solid-state storage. Modern data needs require rising amounts of storage for documents, applications, and digital media. Selecting a more reasonable 16 gigabytes of memory costs an additional $200, while choosing one terabyte of hard drive storage is $400 more than the default configuration.
At a certain point, customers may revolt… Sixteen gigabytes of DDR5 memory costs $85 at Microcenter, while a one terabyte Samsung 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 drive that is likely faster than the drive in a Mac Mini costs $120. While upgrading to those storage and memory levels would cost $600 with a Mac mini, consumers can buy similar components off the shelf for just $205.
To be clear, you can’t just upgrade Macs with the above parts. Apple locks down most of its computers, meaning all the upgrades need to be made upfront at the time of purchase—directly from Apple.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, Apple marks up storage to a, um… healthy degree. Point granted. However, those charges offset the base configuration price, allowing Apple to offer a lower starting price. It’s a trade off.
But, with memory, Kim has no valid point. Apple Silicon — which is naturally only available via Apple — offers unified memory, not archaic RAM. 8GB of unified memory does not equal 8GB of RAM. Apple Silicon is a system-on-a-chip (SoC). Unified memory is a modern memory technology that can store the data held on an HD or SSD along with the data that RAM would hold and is pooled for access by the GPU and CPU. It offers significant performance and efficiency gains vs. RAM and therefore costs more. The increased cost of “Unified Memory Architecture” (UMA) is well worth it.
FYI:
The maxed out 14-inch M2 Max MacBook Pro costs $6,299.
The maxed out 16-inch M2 Max MacBook Pro costs $6,499.https://t.co/Ud0cAZYtT2#M2Max #MacBookPro #Mac #macOS #Apple #Tech #TechNews #Technology— MacDailyNews (@MacDailyNews) January 17, 2023
The maxed out M2 Pro Mac mini costs $4,499.https://t.co/YXLH6PqiL7#MacMini #Mac #M2Pro #macOS #Apple #Tech #TechNews #Technology
— MacDailyNews (@MacDailyNews) January 17, 2023
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I agree with MDN’s take but for the user who just does average things, surfin’, streaming’, paying bills, etc.we don’t need that kind of performance. Everybody has different needs and as long as we have choices, it’s all good.
I put in an order on Friday, at work, for a new MacBook Pro M1 Max on Friday. By Monday, there were new MacBooks Pro’s available with with a higher 12 core CPU instead of 10 and 30 core GPU instead of 24. Plus, a M2 Max AND $50 bucks less. Yeah, I was on the phone first thing Monday to get that order changed. Whew!
Certainly the exorbitant prices for storage and ram are not exactly for Apple superior tech, as the author pointed out competitors with comparable products charge far less.
The reason? Unequal high tax rate bracket traditionally designed for wealthy top earners FORCED on everyone including the working poor to make… more, more, more, MONEY!
“At a certain point, customers may revolt…”
Fingers crossed the board grows a pair, more Mac faithful scream to the heavens and Cook is FINALLY shown the door…
Sorry, but what the hell does the top marginal tax bracket have to do with Apple’s surcharge for larger drives or more memory. I literally have no idea what point you were trying to make…
Veritas, I mean Writer Guy, needs to add a word to their vocabulary, specifically known as ANALOGY…
FYI: I am NOT Veritas. But thanks for the compliment!
DEFLECTION, so typical of the Left, right Humdrum Moon?…
Why does Starbucks charge $2 more for a Venti vs a Grande when it’s just 5oz more of milk and they don’t even add another shot for the price?!
Why does my local sports bar charge $4 for a refillable soda?!
Why do car companies charge $2,000 more for a few more speakers, a Bose logo and a sunroof!?
Why has Apple alway charged what they do for additional storage and memory?!
ANSWER: Quit asking questions you know the answers too…
16 GB of RAM is not actually necessary for many users, especially considering how fast SSDs swap memory when you run out. I’ve tried both 8 and 16 configs on the M2 MBA, and the difference is imperceptible.
As for the storage, just buy an external SSD or HDD if you want! It’s a Mac mini, so it’s not like it’s going anywhere. I can understand complaints on laptops, but for desktop machines external storage is a very usable alternative.
I can tell you that the M series machines are serious powerhouses. I had an application that needed to run multiple streams of video all day long. A 2013 Mac Pro couldn’t handle it, it actually shut down from what I assume is overheating during testing. A 2017 era maxed out Macbook Pro i7 could do it but it ran very hot with fans on full speed most of the time.
But a base model 8GB Macbook Air M1 ran the multiple streams flawlessly for months with no overheating and no issues. Now replaced with a Mac studio for practical reasons but most users should be just find with 8GB. But I do agree that storage these days is important and Apple does tend to charge a premium. But at least for me, it’s worth it.
It’s Profit BS. They are locking in Profit margin. Money Grabbers. They USED to be for the Common user, now they want to be a Luxury Brand and Secure a hefty Profit. The latest OS looks like shit. Their products are sorry. They have to release new stuff every year to maximize new products sold. Get the old gear out of use ASAP and get people spending money. Not let it hang around.
Apple RAM prices are pricey but not silly stupid, especially considering the point which MDN made about “unified memory architecture.
Apple SSD prices are just stupid. $600 for a 2TB SSD upgrade.
And it’s been this way ever since Apple moved from standard HDs to SSDs. Base price for a Mac looks fairly reasonable until you decide to add a reasonable amount of storage. And yes, I use external drives for my backups and massive virtual instrument libraries, but NO, I do NOT want an external drive for my every day files, photos, and music!
“Apple SSD prices are just stupid. $600 for a 2TB SSD upgrade.”
Apple SSD prices are just GREED! There, I fixed it for you…
the price of ssd upgrade itself on a macbook is equaling to a dlow tier desktop gaming pc with a 1 TB SSD ridiculous indeed
“Apple Silicon…offers unified memory, not archaic RAM.”
THAT IS WRONG.
Apple’s implementation uses RAM for all non semi-permanent (as in PROM) and permanent (SSD or HDD) storage. Even the L1, L2, L3 caches are RAM. There are many kinds of RAM: DRAM, SRAM, SCRAM, RDRAM, VRAM, and so forth, each with tailored capabilities, but they are all RAM. To claim that Apple does not use RAM is just wrong.
Apple has always charged above general market prices for Mac RAM even dating back into the 1980s. Even for the MacPlus no one bought that 4 MB or RAM from Apple. Everyone, including me, bought aftermarket RAM, clipped that resistor, and installed that RAM ourselves.
The fact that devices like the new MBPs don’t have slots for RAM SIMMs or DIMMs is the way Apple has designed the system. You either buy the configuration you need or don’t. The memory is still RAM.
I agree. Why not upgrade storage using a USB C Hub Docking Station that combines an SSD drive and additional ports.
Apple has a good excuse for the memory prices, but when it comes to storage, no excuses at all. I can buy a brand new, faster 2TB SSD for less than the price of upgrading to 2TB on Apple’s website. I actually just double checked to make sure. On a 16″ Macbook Pro, going from 1TB storage to 2TB storage is $500 CAD. On my bill from Newegg, in September, I paid $539 CAD for a 64GB RAM kit AND a 2TB Kingston KC3000, which I just benchmarked at nearly 7GB/s sequential read, and well over 6GB/s sequential write. Right now, that drive sells for $175 CAD.
Yeah, Apple is ripping people off with storage, big time. For less than the price Apple charges to go from 1TB to 2TB, right now, I could buy a 4TB Kingston KC3000.
good excuse???
have you ever bought anything other than an apple product in your life???
it isn’t a good excuse at all
what they do is only making you tying to themselves soo that you wouldn’t dare upgrade the product on your own after buying it too
apple is trash above trash for those who earn money by working hard
The $599 is a false price. It’s never meant to sell for that price. It comes from a pricing strategy known as ‘decoy pricing’ (the $599 is the decoy). It’s like an auto dealer saying you can buy a brand new Toyota Camry for only $9000 but for that price it will only come’s with three wheels and with no option to install the fourth wheel after purchase (making it undrivable). However the option with the fourth wheel will cost you $29000.
Google ‘Apple decoy pricing’