Not so sure. If one was forced to give up either gaming or social media, I wonder what the majority would choose?
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Apple Hikes M4 Pro Mac Mini Starting Price Amid Rising Memory Costs
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turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
I agree.
I occasionally watch some gaming YT videos (flight simulation usually) and am blown away at the setups people are using.
I'm a pilot and I love flight sim, but I'm not spending 3,4,5 thousand (or more) on it.
I find that to be nuts.
Happy_John
macrumors 68020
I'd guess they'd give up gaming. More likely, cynic as I am, gaming would instead shift onto social media platforms more than it already has.
If I had to say which one is less healthy, and causes more social and emotional problems, it would hands=down be social media.
The thing about games is that they are games, not reality. Social media gamifies reality. That's far more problematic.
If you get killed in a game, you respawn / start from your savepoint. No big deal. It's just a game.
If you get abuse and lunatic, extremist views attacking you on social media, that can damage a psyche and, even worse, get people to think "I'll behave the same way as them - if you can't beat them, join them".
Games are games. Gamers tend to understand that.
Treating reality as a game is probably the worst thing that has happens societies globally in this century. I strongly believe it's led to a deficit of empathy and understanding, it leads to an inability to reach consensus and so find solutions to problems, and we're all the worse off for that.
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Short-lived. These price increases also increase profits in the long run, which is good for their stock price.
imamacperson
macrumors regular
Omega Mac
macrumors 6502a
webbuzz
macrumors 68030
Oh, I agree. It is the typical knee-jerk reaction of Wall Street.
Mike_Trivisonno
macrumors 6502a
Ha. I think we paid like $10,000 for our first Mac II and $7,000 for an Apple LaserWriter.
Today's prices are ridiculously low for what you get.
Today's prices are ridiculously low for what you get.
maxoakland
Suspended
maxoakland
Suspended
By that logic they should charge $5,000 for a base model Mac Mini
maxoakland
Suspended
Meanwhile less people have money because of AI layoffs and the generally horrible economy, but prices for essentials are rising
On the point of addiction--both gaming and social media are addictive because they are both purposely designed to be so (with exceptions). I don't know which is more addictive but I do think over all social media has way worse effects on society.
iamasmith
macrumors 6502a
Eveything that has a specific Apple category of its own that devotees love has had a significant price increase. I ordered my M4 Pro Mac Mini with 1TB drive back in April saw initially a huge wait time but possibly due to order drop-off I got it about a month ago and it has been great. This specific model has increased from £1,499 to £1,899.. I feel happy I got the discount but actually Mac prices have not actually tracked inflation compared to early models that might have seemed more esoteric to budget hardware buyers... the Intel transition had its place but also placed the Mac into the pricing game with Windows systems often seeing brand new systems having prices comparable to 10 years older versions.
Apple seems to have taken its view and adjusted the pricing on many devices that do not have direct competitors. iPhone I think seems mostly unaffected as does Apple Watch so there is potentially some loss leadership to remain more accessible to the switcher.
Price increases are inevitable and I'm surprised that it hasn't happened before to be honest but there will be a point if adjusted for inflation prices for Apple Silicon devices become price prohibitive for the regular consumer and the integrated AI making the platform a totally twitchy prospect for the enterprise that there may be a failure in this market.
Apple seems to have taken its view and adjusted the pricing on many devices that do not have direct competitors. iPhone I think seems mostly unaffected as does Apple Watch so there is potentially some loss leadership to remain more accessible to the switcher.
Price increases are inevitable and I'm surprised that it hasn't happened before to be honest but there will be a point if adjusted for inflation prices for Apple Silicon devices become price prohibitive for the regular consumer and the integrated AI making the platform a totally twitchy prospect for the enterprise that there may be a failure in this market.
karnac
macrumors member
Retail can't buy them anyway so what does it matter. Its clear that normal citizens are now an afterthought. BIG AI literally has a standing order for Apple to send them every mac mini or mac studio they can make. Buckle up people, you're stuck with the computer you have for a good while.
I have an Apple M2 Pro 32 GB. I'm really confused about what an upgrade path for this would be, esp. if nothing is coming out until 2027. The unit runs fine but I generally upgrade after 3-4 years. Any suggestions would be welcome.
What product line? What sort of work do you do with it? Depending on your work, in short - M3 was a major GPU upgrade, M4 was a major CPU upgrade and M5 was a major AI upgrade. In the Pro chips - stay away from M3 Pro. M4 Pro was a major major upgrade to everything vs M2 Pro/M3 Pro. M5 Pro has further major CPU gains and the same AI-GPU compute upgrades as the base M5.
If, as you say, your current machine runs fine, then don't upgrade. You don't have to upgrade just because there's a new one or because it's a new year.
I'd just add that if they needed tangibly more perf to any of their current levels, a m4 max would be the sweet-spot upgrade that'd last them 5 or more years, easily. And if 32GB fits their needs, stick with that (to avoid paying a premium otherwise).
Actually I just managed to get a standalone AI installed and running on this system (ollama) ... I'm a happy camper. Thanks for the feedback. I'll just wait.
Galas
macrumors regular
I missed the window to upgrade my gaming pc (that I use very sparingly) and I refuse to pay the new prices for any component. I''ll keep with my current setup until somehow the current situation it's sorted out.
Same with my M4 MBP