Does anyone have an idea why Apple sells older rebusished Studios at high prices?

[philipma1957]

So go to apple refurbished look up Mac studios and there are M1's at 4800+

worse yet some are 5659.

Yes lots of ram and a big ssd but 5659 for a much older cpu

Refurbished Mac Studio Apple M1 Ultra Chip with 20‑Core CPU and 64‑Core GPU​

$5,659.00

Why buy this?

Why list it?

I can get an M3 ultra with 256gb ram for around 6400 yeah smaller ssd but everything else kills the m1

 

[Surenmunoo]

Because someone will buy it. I bought a refurb M4 Studio for $700 less on the Apple Store.

 

[pshufd]

I suspect that you have some customers, business and consumer, that will only buy from the manufacturer. At some point, Apple will dump these to MicroCenter, Amazon, Best Buy, etc. who will sell them at market prices.

 

[maflynn]

Because they can.

Its similar to a certified preowned BMW being sold at a BMW dealership, vs. a no-name dealership.

People are used to paying the apple tax, and comparing apples to apples (pun intended), the refurb store at apple.com does have lower priced items for what many people essentially consider brand new Macs.

 

[mcnallym]

What paying for there is the 8TB SSD. The M1 Ultra is still a very capable SoC, am still rocking my base M1 Max Studio and still does everything and more that ask of it.

 

[okkibs]

Apple bases the discount on the original Apple recommended pricing and then takes off the 10%. It’s well known that you will often find better deals on brand new Macs from Best Buy and other retailers.

 

[neomorpheus]

Something has changed at Apple.

I think and i might be wrong, they have a crazy surplus of M powered Macs, but being Apple, they refuse to admit this.

Instead, they are offloading these Macs via “subsidiaries “ like ipowersale or super discounts at Amazon (like the M2 Mac Studios sealed new boxes for 899).

Meanwhile, their “refurbished store holds the rest, again, as extra inventory.

Just assumptions on my part.

 

[pshufd]

Something has changed at Apple.

I think and i might be wrong, they have a crazy surplus of M powered Macs, but being Apple, they refuse to admit this.

Instead, they are offloading these Macs via “subsidiaries “ like ipowersale or super discounts at Amazon (like the M2 Mac Studios sealed new boxes for 899).

Meanwhile, their “refurbished store hokds the rest, again, as extra inventory.

Just assumptions on my part.

I tend to agree though I think that this is industry-wide.

The M4 mini has been on sale at Microcenter for $450 since March or April. The M4 Studio has been on sale for $1,700 - $1,800 at Microcenter since then. There was a $400 off sale on the upgraded 48 GB 1 TB higher cores model a few weeks ago. Right now it's $270 off.

There are great deals to be had on some laptops at Best Buy. I've seen as much as $500 off on sub-$2K laptops.

It's possible that it's due to huge orders to beat potential tariffs. I've never seen so much computing power available to the masses. Power that the vast majority of people don't need.

 

[philipma1957]

By combining veteran discount, refurbished discount,. And discounted gift cards.

I can get another m4 studio with 16 40 cpu 64gb ram and 1tb for under 1992. Which is pretty darn good deal. But those older m1 and m2 for crazy high numbers do not make sense.

 

[teohyc]

Refurbished are usually 15% off. And sometimes for older models, Apple don't discount them further, but sometimes they do

 

[bluesteel]

Doesn't make sense to me either. I recently bought an M4 Max Mac Studio. I was shopping the Apple Refurbs and noticed the same thing. M1 Max and M2 Max Mac Studio pricing not far off from M4 Max. Don't get me wrong, they are still extremely capable machines, but the pricing is perplexing to me. Makes no sense. A Mac three or four years old shouldn't cost that much compared to a model only six months old. In my experience, in general, Apple refurb Macs are only a good deal if you're buying the newest model.

Currently:

M1 Max Mac Studio 64GB/1TB $1909 - 4 Years old
M2 Max Mac Studio 64GB/1TB $2139 - 3 Years old
M4 Max Mac Studio 64GB/1TB $2459 - 6 Months old ($2899 brand new)

 

[edubfromktown]

Some Apple Refurbs are worth the price of admission in my opinion.

The M3 Ultra's support high-memory workloads which some need.

$1500 off the retail cost on a highh-end M3 Ultra refurb (that gets the same warranty as new ones) is not a bad deal, in the corp enterprise at least.

For personal systems, I snipe off eBay and elsewhere.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Apple is in the business to make money. If you aren't interested in pricing of some products in the refurb store, move on to products with pricing you are fine with buying. It doesn't matter whether you agree with older product pricing. There are many people who buy older products at prices some of us wouldn't touch, and that is fine, because it isn't any of our business what others do with their money much less that Apple keeps a lot of older products in the store and elsewhere with resellers who help to clear stock for them.

 

[m1maverick]

Some Apple Refurbs are worth the price of admission in my opinion.

The M3 Ultra's support high-memory workloads which some need.

$1500 off the retail cost on a highh-end M3 Ultra refurb (that gets the same warranty as new ones) is not a bad deal, in the corp enterprise at least.

I think the OPs comments are wrt discontinued systems.

For personal systems, I snipe off eBay and elsewhere.

Ebay is even worse. At least with an Apple refurb you're getting essentially a brand new system with a full warranty from the manufacturer. On Ebay you're buying used in who knows what condition for not much less than brand new from Apple.

 

[m1maverick]

Apple is in the business to make money. If you aren't interested in pricing of some products in the refurb store, move on to products with pricing you are fine with buying. It doesn't matter whether you agree with older product pricing. There are many people who buy older products at prices some of us wouldn't touch, and that is fine, because it isn't any of our business what others do with their money much less that Apple keeps a lot of older products in the store and elsewhere with resellers who help to clear stock for them.

I think it was just a curiosity question.

 

[MacCheetah3]

Doesn't make sense to me either. [...] Don't get me wrong, they are still extremely capable machines, but the pricing is perplexing to me.

Because it’s not solely or presumably primarily about comparing models, rather likely about how much Apple is taking a hit off the the original price tag. In other, simpler words:

Apple is in the business to make money.

Let’s take a closer look:

Refurbished are usually 15% off. And sometimes for older models, Apple don't discount them further, but sometimes they do

Currently:

M1 Max Mac Studio 64GB/1TB $1909 - 4 Years old
M2 Max Mac Studio 64GB/1TB $2139 - 3 Years old
M4 Max Mac Studio 64GB/1TB $2459 - 6 Months old ($2899 brand new)

The Mac Studio with M1 Max model referenced is the 32-core GPU option (vs. the base 24-core GPU)

$1999 (base) MSRP
+ $200 for SOC upgrade
+ $400 for RAM upgrade
+ $200 for SSD upgrade
= $2799

$2799 - $1909 = $890 (31.8% discount)
The M1 series Mac Studio models were released in March 2022, ~3.5 years ago.

$890 / 3.5 years = $254.29 average per year reduction

The Mac Studio with M2 was released in June 2023

$1999 (base) MSRP
+ $400 for RAM upgrade
+ $200 for SSD upgrade
= $2599

$2599 - $2139 = $460 (17.7% discount)

$460 / 2.25 years = $204.44 average per year


The Mac Studio with M4

$1999
+ $300 for SOC upgrade — Apple doesn’t allow any RAM upgrades on the base SOC config.
+ $400 for RAM upgrade
+ $200 for SSD upgrade
= $2899

$2899 - $2459 = $440 (15.2% discount)


So, over time, yes, current models have the highest discount.
Another observation is that, apparently, Apple’s upgrade pricing and how trade-in values rarely reflect CTO/BTO upgrades allow higher discounts on refurbished CTO/BTO configurations.

For personal systems, I snipe off eBay and elsewhere.

Ebay is even worse. At least with an Apple refurb you're getting essentially a brand new system with a full warranty from the manufacturer. On Ebay you're buying used in who knows what condition for not much less than brand new from Apple.

That should absolutely be part of the consideration, valuation.

Each Apple Certified Refurbished Product:

• undergoes full functionality testing and any defective modules identified in testing are replaced.
• Apple Watch and Apple Pencil devices that require replacement parts are not included in the Apple Certified Refurbished Program.
• is put through a thorough cleaning process and inspection.
• is repackaged (including appropriate manuals, cables, new boxes).
• includes either the Operating System originally shipped with the unit or, in some cases, a more recent version.
• is placed into a Final QA inspection prior to being added to sellable refurbished stock.

Refurbishment procedures follow the same basic technical guidelines as Apple's Finished Goods testing procedures.

All Apple Certified Refurbished Products are covered by a one-year limited warranty. For more coverage, you have the option of purchasing the AppleCare Plan with your Apple Certified Refurbished Product. The AppleCare Plan provides up to three years of world-class support for Mac, and up to two years of world-class support for iPad, iPod, iPhone, Apple Watch, Apple TV and HomePod.

Refurbished Mac Deals - Apple

Save up to 15% on a refurbished Mac. Tested and certified by Apple including a 1-year warranty. Free delivery and returns.

www.apple.com

 

[Sammael]

Fools and their money.*






















*everyone is a fool for something

 

[bluesteel]

The M1 series Mac Studio models were released in March 2022, ~3.5 years ago.

Thanks for pointing that out. I got my M1 MBP in late 2021 and forgot the M1 Mac Studio was released in early 2022.

You make a good point about the quality of Apple Mac refurbs, the warranty, and the option to extend it.

Another thing to consider is how many more years Apple will support the hardware with the newest macOS and security patches. Correct me if I'm wrong, but for Apple Silicon isn't it something like 7 years and then another 3 years or so of just security patches?

 

[MacCheetah3]

Another thing to consider is how many more years Apple will support the hardware with the newest macOS and security patches. Correct me if I'm wrong, but for Apple Silicon isn't it something like 7 years and then another 3 years or so of just security patches?

We don’t yet know about Apple Silicon because no M series devices have yet been incompatible with an OS.

However, if we look historically, including security updates, latest OS hardware compatibility spans seven to nine years. That does include macOS 27 (officially) excluding the last/latest Intel Macs. After that, your Mac won’t suddenly stop working (entirely). Nonetheless, a decade is seemingly about the (max) lifespan of a Mac if you need/desire compatibility with the most recent/latest software. In tech, that’s not bad, IMO.

 

[maflynn]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but for Apple Silicon isn't it something like 7 years and then another 3 years or so of just security patches?

You are correct, hardware support ends at 7 years, I don't think there's a hard and fast cut off line for when a given model will not be supported in macos.

 

[m1maverick]

Thanks for pointing that out. I got my M1 MBP in late 2021 and forgot the M1 Mac Studio was released in early 2022.

You make a good point about the quality of Apple Mac refurbs, the warranty, and the option to extend it.

Another thing to consider is how many more years Apple will support the hardware with the newest macOS and security patches. Correct me if I'm wrong, but for Apple Silicon isn't it something like 7 years and then another 3 years or so of just security patches?

I don't believe Apple has ever published a end of life road map for macOS. The timeframes you mention are likely based on observed behavior and nothing official from Apple.

 

[salamanderjuice]

I don't believe Apple has ever published a end of life road map for macOS. The timeframes you mention are likely based on observed behavior and nothing official from Apple.

It's not 3 years of security patches either, traditionally it's been two and they don't even necessarily patch everything in the older version:

PSA: Apple isn’t actually patching all the security holes in older versions of macOS

Big Sur got a fix 234 days before Catalina did, although both are supported.

arstechnica.com

If you have a problem on an older OS they will also just tell you to upgrade anyways.

 

[philipma1957]

just saying the m1 studio should be further discounted.

there was a time that apple would do larger discount's on older refurbs.

not often but they did do them. maybe they won’t with the m1 studio.

and one thing for sure apple seems to be advertising longer apple care on the studio on a monthly plan. Beyond the old three year plans.

 

[rumourmonger]

So go to apple refurbished look up Mac studios and there are M1's at 4800+

worse yet some are 5659.

Yes lots of ram and a big ssd but 5659 for a much older cpu

Refurbished Mac Studio Apple M1 Ultra Chip with 20‑Core CPU and 64‑Core GPU​

$5,659.00

Why buy this?

Why list it?

I can get an M3 ultra with 256gb ram for around 6400 yeah smaller ssd but everything else kills the m1

For the same reason real estate companies didn't decrease their home prices even peak COVID when home owners were selling for as low as 30-40% off; or in the 2008-10 when some owners were willing to let go of their homes for even lower prices. The real estate clique never decreased a single penny when they were selling the houses even in those desperate times. There was delay, hell lots of unsolved units, but never decreased a single penny.

They don't want the "market price" of their "stuff" to be truly dictated by "market" and they can manipulate that, they can afford to manipulate that.