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

[Mistletoe66]

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…..

 

[redheeler]

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.

 

[fisha]

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.

 

[Adora]

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.

 

[neomorpheus]

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

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.

 

[chrfr]

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…..

It’s not going to be discontinued, it’s just in short supply because it’s a good value and a new product.

 

[Ephram]

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...

 

[haruhiko]

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.

 

[deaglecat]

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.

 

[CharlesShaw]

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.

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.

 

[Lihp8270]

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.

I imagine there’s little profit in base models for Apple and essentially use people who buy upgrades to subsidise base models.

 

[spaceballl]

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.

 

[mi7chy]

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.