I can't imagine it getting any better any time soon either… Brexit is coming!
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I can't imagine it getting any better any time soon either… Brexit is coming!
There are only three significant DRAM vendors left. Samsung, Hynix and Micron. Neither Samsung nor Hynix sell DIMMs directly to end users, but do sell to OEMs like Apple. Crucial however are a branch of Micron - you get their expertise in PCB layout and their DRAM. So long as you spec correctly, then any vendor's performance will be comparable, but margins &quality may differ.
Apple doesn't make RAM, so there's no difference. All RAM is "third party" in that sense.
Had to do a double take. That is an unfortunately named store, to those of us in NA, at least.
True, but Apple won't buy from small module houses either however - they'll deal as a tier 1 customer from the major DRAM manufacturers - who will have stringent quality controls
Why would there be any difference? RAM is RAM. Speed is the same, memory type is same ...
Buy the one, that is the cheapest.
I've got myselft Transcend RAM modules for my Mac mini 2018.
Ill Stick with my wonderful running self upgraded 2012 model with 2x1tb SSD. happy customer haha..
Those prices are insane!
Those prices are insane!
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Dude you brought a wide smile to my face -- thanks!
[This because these are not "rogue" discounts offered by third-tier resellers, but all these are Apple-approved and -subsidized.]
[By the way, I thought you had gone into hiding/s]
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Same here. I’m thinking they won’t be expanding to this side of the pond without a name change.
I don't care if Expercom makes a bigger profit. Apple warranty stays intact and I get more RAM (than if I bought from Apple) at a lower price. Sounds like a win-win to me. What more could you want?
And that's fine. My complaint is their shady advertising.
Even if you install it yourself the warranty on the mini is still good. In either case the ram itself won't be warrantied by apple.
Show me data that proves they are subsidized. Apple has consistent gross margins of 38.5% so these promotions haven't eroding Apple's margins before despite seeing MANY like it from carriers and brick and mortar.
Why would I go into hiding? Because stocks fluctuate in value? I'm so scared. You know the average stock trades within a 50% range from its high to low in a 52wk period?
There's nothing that great about OWC, and I personally avoid them entirely.
You can find the same thing elsewhere for less without the nonsense marketing. You should also keep your original ram. If you ever need to test whether a stick has gone bad, you will need it. If you want to send it in for warranty service, you should also replace the upgraded sticks with the original ones. This facilitates service testing of the unit as it was shipped.
Don't spread FUD. There are only 3 DRAM manufacturers and they all have stringent quality controls. It's not like there's knockoff RAM floating around.
There is no such thing as premium RAM. Paying more for faster speeds, better timings and lower latency sure, but other than ECC or RDIMM memory, which the Mac mini doesn't support anyway, I'm not aware of premium RAM so I don't know how the memory Apple puts in is any different than the memory this company installs.
Over many years I’ve actually had only very good experiences with them, and I pay no attention to the nonsense marketing. Good suggestion on the original RAM though, thanks.
It's simply the way business works. Retailers generally don't have the margins to create large discounts without manufacturer support. Every quarter, manufacturers assess how much certain products are selling and how "full of product" is the inventory channel, and then decide whether to offer promotions to help push certain products.
I have no insight into Apple promotions in general, but for other companies they take various forms with varying levels of generosity, but manufacturers are almost always involved when an authorized reseller initiates a sale.
This is incorrect. They're selling the Mini at $50 off the base price across the board -- that includes the 6-core i7 3.2Ghz model. Not a huge discount, but still better than nothing. Even if you stick with the base 8GB from Apple and don't buy Expercom's RAM, they're giving you that discount. So yes, it really is a (small) deal.
And yes, they're selling their own RAM, which admittedly is not as cheap as you can get elsewhere, but is still MUCH cheaper than Apple's price. For 32 GB they're charging $359, which is roughly $100 more than you would pay from, say, Crucial, but still $241 less than Apple charges. And because they're an authorized reseller, buying their "off-the-shelf" RAM won't violate AppleCare. Buying your own RAM and installing it yourself will.
Additionally, if you live outside of Utah, Expercom won't charge you sales tax. Depending on how much you're maxxing out your Mini, this could potentially make up for their RAM prices. This is the ONLY outlet I've seen selling the 3.2Ghz 6-core i7 model with an actual ship date aside from Apple themselves. B&H Photo has the model listed for "preorder" with no indication of how long it will take to ship. Adorama lists it as "on backorder." Expercom lists 8-12 business days for delivery.
I REALLY wish I'd known about this deal in advance. I ordered my Mini from Apple two days ago thinking there weren't going to be any better deals today. I got a 3.2 Ghz i7 6-core processor with a 1 TB SSD. I ordered 32 GB of Crucial RAM from Amazon. I saved $100 on the RAM, sure, but I paid $50 more for the Mini and another $150 on sales tax.
If I'd bought from Expercom today, I'd have saved myself $100 and I'd still be eligible for AppleCare coverage. I'm kicking myself right now.
Fantastic... appreciate the head’s up. I was planning on ordering from Apple today, but got it from B&H instead, saved $500.
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Can’t you kill the Apple order, or return it? Same with Amazon?
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Can’t you kill the Apple order, or return it? Same with Amazon?
If that was the case why are Apple so stupid to require higher regular prices? Lower the prices, sell way more stuff and, if the profit margin is the same (as you suggest), make way more profits.
I checked directly with Apple a couple of days ago and was told if I install additional RAM in a mac mini myself, the warranty would be voided. I ordered a mini from Expercom this morning and had the option of buying it with Apple RAM or Expercom RAM.
Expercom's ram installation doesn't impact your warranty any more than user installed ram. Some shops are also authorized repair centers, so they may cover this case by dealing with warranty service in house. You should still be eligible for Applecare. Save your original ram sticks. If you ever need warranty service, put the original ones back in. This way there is no question as to whether your issues are due to a bad dimm which was supplied by a third party.
Some third parties used to have good deals on Applecare, which could be obtained after purchase within the first year. I'm not sure if that's still the case.
I don’t know who Apple is selling all these $3,000 laptops to— presumably people who’re too cool to actually dig into the specs and look at the actual hardware Apple is selling?
This isn’t an anti-Apple, Pro-PC issue I bring up, not at all, but PC laptop manufacturers provide a good look at the levels to ehich Apple is marking up hardware.
The “best value” in the entire MBP lineup is the stock 2018 MBP 15” at $2,399 (or on sale for, say, $2,150). As of November 2018, you can find a laptop running Windows 10 with the same* specs (see below) for $1,000 less. For just over $1,000 you get the exact same CPU thats in this MBP, the same level of NVMe SSD storage, same amount of RAM, and a graphics card (GTX 1060/1070) that’s significantly faster than anything that’s ever been put into a MBP or iMac before. The display is highly likely to be below Mac standards, but external displays (for final proofing, or whatever) are incredibly cheap now.
Of course this isn’t an “apples to apples” comparison. The intangibles that make the Mac worth more are indeed a long list. But—how much are these intangibles worth?
The $3,500 MBP (or the $4,000 MBP with a Vega 20 GPU) really force a long hard look at how indispensable that long list of intangibles truly is.
To think that the (kinda weak) MBP 13” starts at $1,800 and the (not strong) MBP 15” starts at $2,400... that’s worrisome, because I’d got with a MBP over a PC laptop any day... well, until the day I feel like a complete sucker for not spitting out the Apple pacifier and just buying the tool I need to get the job done.
Apple almost certainly has MAP agreements in place with their retailers, meaning any discounts must be approved by Apple. The question is, is Apple offering rebates to retailers to replace the discount's lost revenue? I would assume they are.