Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

I think base Mac mini m4 might be removed soon. It is too cheap with education pricing of $499.

M

Mistletoe66

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 25, 2023
147
180
In Singapore, it is having delayed shipment of around 30 days waiting time. No pickup at the officialy apple stores.

In Malaysia, none is available, store pickup nor delivery.

I suspect this will be phased out soon as apple’s pricing for the base Mac mini m4 is simply a steal…..
 
Could be a regional supply chain issue, there isn't any such shortage in my region in the US.

I'm sure Apple still has a profit margin on the base models even with educational pricing, it has been priced at $499 for a while and it's doubtful the new model costs that much more to make. The reason this one is getting so much positive attention is mainly the bump to 16 GB RAM (likely a very small per unit cost increase for Apple – the chips themselves aren't expensive, Apple just puts huge markups on upgrades).

Plus there is incentive to sell cheaper Mac minis as it's enticing to get people hooked on the Apple ecosystem and then buy higher-margin products like the MacBook Pro. No, a Mac mini is not a laptop replacement for most people, nor does it eat into the MacBook Pro's market share – in fact, it may do the exact opposite.
 
  • Like
Reactions: _Mitchan1999 and Starfia
Absolutely … I’ve sold my windows pc parts and am moving back to Apple (primarily because windows / MS has become so poor) .

The base mini is a very very compelling step stone into the eco system.
 
  • Like
Reactions: deaglecat
Here it's in stock if you go to the store and shipping time is 3-5 days.

But it's €699. Also not bad. Don't see any education pricing at the moment, I think that time is already over since a while.
 

It is too cheap with education pricing of $499.​

Click to expand...

And we wonder why Apple charges 200 bucks for a measly 256 GB SSD upgrade (going from 256 to 512).

Apple doesnt sell anything at a loss, if anything, they are showing us how much they are abusing our loyalty.
 
  • Angry
Reactions: Polinsky
Mistletoe66 said:
In Singapore, it is having delayed shipment of around 30 days waiting time. No pickup at the officialy apple stores.

In Malaysia, none is available, store pickup nor delivery.

I suspect this will be phased out soon as apple’s pricing for the base Mac mini m4 is simply a steal…..
Click to expand...
It’s not going to be discontinued, it’s just in short supply because it’s a good value and a new product.
 
  • Like
Reactions: _Mitchan1999 and Chuckeee
If Windows user buys new base Mini because of amazing price/performance ratio, that user may also buy iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad etc... So, new customer for ecosystem.
Here in Europe Base M4 Minis cost over 700€ (without edu discount) and they are out of stock in many places...
 
It's a good deal (sans the 256GB storage), but you still need to factor in the cost of a monitor, keyboard and mouse/trackpad. If you pair it with a high quality monitor like those in the MBP… then surely the total cost of ownership will be higher than $499.

So no, Apple will not remove it, instead, it proves that lower price works in a worse economy.
 
Apple plays a long game. Whilst the M4 mini is excellent value for money now, it may not be refreshed for a few years and during that time it will steadily become a less compelling buy.

Or to put it another way, now is the best time to buy in terms of bang for buck.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CharlesShaw
deaglecat said:
Apple plays a long game. Whilst the M4 mini is excellent value for money now, it may not be refreshed for a few years and during that time it will steadily become a less compelling buy.

Or to put it another way, now is the best time to buy in terms of bang for buck.
Click to expand...
Agree about the value and buying now, but I think the mini will be getting new M chips on a regular schedule. Even if they don't, many of us who are fine with 256 storage (who just enjoy using a Mac for surfing, etc.) are probably also going to be fine keeping the M4 until it's no longer able to get security updates, which I hope is a very long time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: deaglecat
neomorpheus said:
And we wonder why Apple charges 200 bucks for a measly 256 GB SSD upgrade (going from 256 to 512).

Apple doesnt sell anything at a loss, if anything, they are showing us how much they are abusing our loyalty.
Click to expand...
I imagine there’s little profit in base models for Apple and essentially use people who buy upgrades to subsidise base models.
 
I don't think Apple will pull the configuration. However, there are two things happening here...
1. Everyone is (rightfully) complaining about how expensive Apple's upgrade prices are.
2. Everyone is (rightfully) celebrating how great of a value the base model is.

Prediction: Apple will increase the MSRP by $100 for the M5 model, and maybe upgrade fees go down a bit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mistletoe66 and waloshin
Apple needs to flood the market with devices like this to increase marketshare to get developer interest. For me, M4 10GPU is a little underpowered but if the base was M4 Pro 20GPU it would've been an automatic buy.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: AdamHarbour
mi7chy said:
Apple needs to flood the market with devices like this to increase marketshare to get developer interest. For me, M4 10GPU is a little underpowered but if the base was M4 Pro 20GPU it would've been an automatic buy.
Click to expand...
Apple doesn't care about third-party developers. They view developing for their ecosystem as a privilege, requiring complete dedication and financial investment. Back in the 90s, Apple charged developers thousands of dollars for access to technical resources. Everyone else gave it away for free, or at cost of the media. They still charge $99/year, but roll it into the AppStore fee.

Apple doesn't care about marketshare or installed base either. Timmy said Apple products will be supported for 7 years. This means machines will be kill-switched based purely on its age rather than its technical capability. The device will no longer receive OS software updates from Apple. Surprisingly, this disgusting forced obsolescence policy is rarely criticized.
 
  • Like
  • Love
  • Haha
Reactions: _Mitchan1999, Rokkus76, AAPLGeek and 1 other person
joebeazelman said:
Timmy said Apple products will be supported for 7 years.
Click to expand...

Only 5 years for Macbook Air since Sequoia doesn't support models older than 2020. Compared to 10 years for ChromeOS devices. You don't become the most profitable company by having long support cycles.

Sequoia
1735498896219.png
 
I'd considered the M4 Pro base, but I'm finding the normal M4 Mini base model to be outstanding

The value is totally unmatched

(I boot off an NVMe stick in a TB enclosure to get around the value getting Tim "Cooked")
 
OG X86'er here, haven't gamed in a number of years and the BMM4 at 16GB sold me.
Especially as it ends up cheaper than even a nice Ryzen 9xxxx system from Microcenter.
Getting rid of boxes of hoarded 'good stuff', gfx cards, coolers, etc, like Spring Cleaning.
I doubt the issue is anything but demand outstripping supply.
And I think a lot of this is from people tired of the Windows crap on top of crap, and not interested in always diddling around with something in Linux.
Great h/w, and I'm pretty sure the s/w which is well vertically integrated has far few warts than its brethren.
Even at the higher $600 its a pretty sweet deal, to say nothing of $500.
I'd have preferred at least 6 Pro cores, but that might be unconscious bias from running Win/Linux.
 
neomorpheus said:
And we wonder why Apple charges 200 bucks for a measly 256 GB SSD upgrade (going from 256 to 512).

Apple doesnt sell anything at a loss, if anything, they are showing us how much they are abusing our loyalty.
Click to expand...

Right, when Buyers are preoccupied with maximizing Seller's profits, capitalism is broken... except through the Seller lens (probably seeing it as towards ideal).

OP: Feel free to send Apple Inc extra money you feel they shorted themselves by pricing this at "only $499." Their address is on their website and they'll happily take any donations.

And if you like, consider setting up a GoFundMe for Apple foolishly pricing their products too low. Save them from themselves! Hopefully management will wise up and right this terrible wrong before their children have to go hungry.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: neomorpheus and avro707
spaceballl said:
I don't think Apple will pull the configuration. However, there are two things happening here...
1. Everyone is (rightfully) complaining about how expensive Apple's upgrade prices are.
2. Everyone is (rightfully) celebrating how great of a value the base model is.

Prediction: Apple will increase the MSRP by $100 for the M5 model, and maybe upgrade fees go down a bit.
Click to expand...

Close! My guess is Apple will increase the MSRP by (at least) $100 for the M5 model and upgrade fees will go up a bit too. If "we" will pay 3X to 5X more than market for upgrades, why not see if "we" will pay 4X to 6X? And then 5X-7X soon thereafter! "Another record quarter" needs the extra gains. ;)
 
Last edited:
What they should do is develop a subscription pricing model so that the base M4 Mini has 8GB RAM available to use and you need to pay per month to unlock the full 16GB available.

It won't be a problem, because I remember reading that Apple 8GB ram was so efficient compared to others. ;)

Or maybe they need to allow buyers to offer tips when buying Apple products.

Edit: Hah! Someone even referenced that in their signature text above. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back