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Apple Stops Offering Mac Mini With 256GB of Storage, Starting Price Rises to $799

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Apple this week stopped offering a 256GB storage option for the Mac mini worldwide. As a result, the desktop computer now has a higher starting price.

mac-mini-blue.jpeg

In the U.S., for example, the Mac mini now starts at $799 with the M4 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage, whereas it previously started at $599 with the M4 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.

Mac mini models with the M4 Pro chip already had a minimum of 512GB of storage, so there are no pricing changes for those configurations.

The base Mac mini with 256GB of storage had already been unavailable to order since last week, but it has now been removed from Apple's configurator entirely. We have reached out to Apple for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

On an earnings call this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that Mac mini and Mac Studio supply is constrained, and he said it may take "several months" for Apple to achieve supply-demand balance. He said both of these Macs are "amazing platforms for AI and agentic tools," resulting in higher-than-expected demand.

In March, Apple stopped offering the Mac Studio with 512GB of RAM.

These changes to Mac mini and Mac Studio configurations are occurring amid a global memory chip shortage, driven by companies building out AI server facilities. Cook said Apple is expecting "significantly higher memory costs" in the current quarter, and tight availability of RAM is likely forcing Apple to make tough business decisions.

Thanks, Spencer!

Article Link: Apple Stops Offering Mac Mini With 256GB of Storage, Starting Price Rises to $799
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/05/01/mac-mini-now-starts-at-799/
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Just another day of Tim Crook being Tim Crook.

When the Mac mini was first released in 2004 under Steve Jobs, the starting price was $499, and the logic being that it was supposed to be an affordable computer. Now, thanks to Tim Cook’s insatiable corporate greed, the starting price is $799.

The Tim Cook supporters will wrongly blame “inflation,” ignoring the fact that computer parts tend to drop in price faster than inflation rises.
 
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  • Disagree
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Reactions: vantelimus, Mlrollin91, nippyjun and 6 others
Bruhhh lmao

You know its bad when even Tim Cook’s Apple, the supply chain champion of the world, is cutting SKU’s and jacking up prices.

this is worse than the 2020 chip shortage
 
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ThomasJL said:
The Tim Cook supporters will fallaciously say “inflation,” totally ignoring the fact that computer parts drop in price at a greater rate than inflation.
Click to expand...
Have you been to 2026 yet? Computer prices go up now. Game consoles are more expensive now than when they launched 5 years ago. People are going back to DDR4 RAM because they can't get DDR5 anymore. Video cards are back to crypto scalper highs. Everything is more expensive and it has nothing to do with inflation.
 
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ThomasJL said:
Just another day of Tim Crook being Tim Crook.

Remember that when the Mac mini was first released in 2004, it sold for $499, and the logic being that it was supposed to be an affordable computer.

The Tim Cook supporters will fallaciously say “inflation,” totally ignoring the fact that computer parts drop in price at a greater rate than inflation.
Click to expand...
Yet you ignore AI hardware vacuum and the Iran conflict which have added to inflation. The tariffs didn’t help either.
 
At least they just removed the 256GB option. Those of us that are interested in a 512 or 1TB model shouldn’t worry because we were going to spend that money anyway…

Now Tim make that magic move and release soon the M5 Mac mini, starting at 512GB and $100 cheaper, like you did with the MacBook Air!
 
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vegetassj4 said:
Prices increase w/ less ram = Tim Apple getting it in before he hands over his driver's keys to a hardware guy.
Click to expand...

RAM capacity remains unchanged at 16GB. Storage has increased from 256GB to 512GB and wasn't 512GB of storage always a $200 upgrade on the Mac mini?
 
poematik13 said:
Bruhhh lmao

You know its bad when even Tim Cook’s Apple, the supply chain champion of the world, is cutting SKU’s and jacking up prices.

this is worse than the 2020 chip shortage
Click to expand...
Tim has no control over areas of industry that have more buying leverage. He cannot force RAM and SSD makers let alone CPU manufacturers to do his bidding when they are getting ample attention from AI vendors.
 
I think this is a margin thing rather than a hard supply constraint. RAM and storage get more expensive = they prioritize MacBooks and configurations where you pay an extra $200 for an extra 256GB of storage (...), which are more profitable.
 
Populus said:
At least they just removed the 256GB option. Those of us that are interested in a 512 or 1TB model shouldn’t worry because we were going to spend that money anyway…

Now Tim make that magic move and release soon the M5 Mac mini, starting at 512GB and $100 cheaper, like you did with the MacBook Air!
Click to expand...
I wonder how many SSD and RAM manufacturers are producing 256GB SSD blades and 8GB RAM modules.

The AI specs are making larger SSD and RAM cheaper that’s a bonus for the future consumers.
 
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