JPack
macrumors P6
Looks like orders are no longer being accepted in Asia Pacific stores now. Previously, you could still order it from China, Japan, Australia, etc. Now results in an error.
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Base Mac Mini Sold Out From Apple Online Store
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Looks like orders are no longer being accepted in Asia Pacific stores now. Previously, you could still order it from China, Japan, Australia, etc. Now results in an error.
madebybela
macrumors 6502
so cool a bunch of tech LARPers managed to gaslight themselves into thinking they need a new machine to run cloud based AI agents.
dmccombs
macrumors 65816
It's hard to say. We don't know what the new price will be, and when it will be released.
If you really want an M5 and you can wait, it may be worth it.
I recently bought a refurb M4 and I don't need an M5, so I will be keeping the M4. The price difference (M4 refurb vs. M5 full price) could be substantial, and I am putting the M4 to good use for now. YMMV...
DribbleCastle
macrumors 6502a
You’ve effectively got 2-4 weeks. Here is the strategy. You wait until the 13-14th day of Apples return policy to start a return. From my last experience once you start the return you have 14 days to ship back, usually via Fedex. If new model comes out, you facilitate the return. If it doesn’t, just hold onto the M4 Mini and don’t send it back. Apple eventually cancels the return and there is no financial exchange.
but with your luck, it will come out 30 days from now 😉
ikramerica
macrumors 68020
Apple will not stop selling their high volume products due to a supply chain issue. The idea that they will postpone products and simply stop making models for a while is ludicrous.
The rule of successful business is that when others are tentative or pulling back, that’s when you pounce. MS raising prices, some other brands reducing output, means Apple will increase market share.
tfresquezdxs
macrumors regular
It seems at this point, all configurations of the M4 (non pro) with 256GB storage, says unavailable at least on the US store. No matter the ram.
dmccombs
macrumors 65816
I got the 24GB Mini with 256GB SSD (List $799). Refurbs are 15%, which off brought it down to $679. So for most folks the price difference was $120 plus tax. I also was able to take another 10% with the Veterans discount.
I am guessing the M5 version will cost more for the cheapest 24GB Ram variant. So the cost savings could be more. Time will tell...
ikramerica
macrumors 68020
The most expensive models aren’t BTO, that’s why. They are simply build-to-warehouse and then are drop shipped. So it would make sense that Apple would stop making the expensive, low volume minis well before a refresh. They stopped selling them altogether most likely because there isn’t an equivalent M5 mini coming.
They continued to allow lower config BTOs to be ordered (but not shipped) because the orders can be converted to an equivalent M5, and the customer can decide to agree or not.
The base model completely selling out in the Western world means you can expect a new model next Tuesday or Wednesday? I am not a gambling man but I can see it.
PBG4 Dude
macrumors 603
May I introduce you to Nestlé?
ikramerica
macrumors 68020
I assume you are notified and offered the chance to change your order to the M5 or cancel.
Depends what you have. Usually when that happens a new Mac comes out less than 60 days but we don’t know for sure if that’s truly the reason what if companies are buying Mac Mini’s in Mass? That’s the problem 😢 we don’t know for sure this time due to how insane the past 2 years has been.
We had it so good before 2024
ikramerica
macrumors 68020
Best Buy has no minis either. And only the base Studio.
Amazon doesn’t even list the Studio as existing right now. They say you can get a mini Pro in 2 weeks but I doubt it.
New minis and studios next week.
This week was the Tim Cook news so the desktops could have even been postponed a week which is why there is no stock at all.
Amazon doesn’t even list the Studio as existing right now. They say you can get a mini Pro in 2 weeks but I doubt it.
New minis and studios next week.
This week was the Tim Cook news so the desktops could have even been postponed a week which is why there is no stock at all.
macfacts
macrumors 603
AI companies are probably willing to pay a premium, are normal retail consumers willing?
I would guess that would get you a more expensive computer several months from now
I got an m4 studio refurb a few weeks ago. 16/40. 64 GB RAM 1 TB SSD for $3439 CAD. So about $2500 US
state control of the economy!
I like it but I’m not sure communism is very popular in Mac rumours
That is not what I see. The AU store has lots of models available up to 48GB with delivery up to July. Only 64GB are unavailable.
Edit: Some 16GB models are also unavailable. Need to want 4TB SSD. [Does anyone buy a 16GB/4TB model?]
Last edited:
Apple appears to be sold out of the base Mac mini, and the machine is listed as “Currently Unavailable” from the Apple Online Store.
The base Mac mini is the model with an M4 chip, 256GB of storage, and 16GB RAM. M4 Mac mini models with upgraded storage are still in stock, as are Mac mini models that are equipped with the M4 Pro chip. Configurations with 24GB RAM are also still available, but some models that use 32GB RAM or higher are out of stock.
When an Apple device goes out of stock, it can be an indication of an imminent refresh, but it’s not clear if that’s the case with the Mac mini. The Mac mini has been in high demand because people are purchasing it to use as a machine to run AI models locally, so it’s possible the shortage is related to demand rather than a sign that an update is coming soon.
Apple is also dealing with RAM shortages caused by a surge in global memory demand that has led to increased RAM pricing. The memory shortages previously caused some higher tier Mac mini and Mac Studio models to go out of stock. Apple removed the 512GB Mac Studio from its online store entirely earlier this year.
Apple is working on M5 and M5 Pro versions of the Mac mini for 2026, but the update may not come until later in the year due to the RAM supply issues.
(Thanks, Max!)
Article Link: Base Mac Mini Sold Out From Apple Online Store
Looks like they are almost all "not available" now in the stores of Southeast Asia. Looks like a refresh is imminent.
Sorry, I've no idea what "build-to-warehouse" means, and didn't find any hits on Google. The phrase is cryptic, so you'll need to define it.
If I were to guess at what you mean, you're saying Apple maintains warehouse stock of the high-config units, but the low-config units are BTO. But that would be backwards -- normally companies maintain stock of the low-config (= high-volume) units, and fulfill the high-config custom orders using BTO.
From the rest of your post, it sounds like you're claiming Apple won't be offering high-spec versions of the M5 Mini like it did for the M4. But you have no idea if that is true, which means your explanation for why Apple discontinued the high-tier models before the low-tier models is based on pure speculation, no?
Note that I'm not arguing whether this is an upcoming-refresh-situation or a low-supply-situation. I'm instead questioning the reasons given in post#2 for the prediction that it's a refresh.