I have always been a little annoyed by the pricing of Apple storage and memory upgrades. In comparison to quality components of similar specifications (or often superior specifications) they have been expensive. In the past I would always have went for 1 stage up on memory and storage at a cost of £400 even though it stung. Lately my M1 MBA, M2 mini and m4 mini have all been base spec. They also sell with less loss when a new version comes along as upgrades don't tend to fare too well in resale. I am lucky that base spec has worked well for me.
The new M4 mini spec bump (and price drop in UK) was welcome and now fits well for me. I pre-ordered one on announcement and received it on launch day - super computer. The ability to install apps on external storage is nice. I was browsing the UK store on M4 mini and noticed something that annoyed me a little. Upgrade to 32GB (+16GB) and 512GB (+256GB) costs £600. A complete mini with 16GB and 256GB (the exact sizes of upgrade) cost £1 less than the upgrades yet I get a whole computer, case, processor and so on. If I needed something to say the price of upgrades was seriously out of line and possibly an opportunity to exploit the closed nature of the system this is it.
As I am in UK and various agencies in UK and EU (I am in NI which is a bit of both and a bit of neither and generally a bit of a jumble) are taking an interest in Apple's approach to customers I wonder how long before someone looks at upgrade prices or even spots this rather odd situation on the M4 mini.
The new M4 mini spec bump (and price drop in UK) was welcome and now fits well for me. I pre-ordered one on announcement and received it on launch day - super computer. The ability to install apps on external storage is nice. I was browsing the UK store on M4 mini and noticed something that annoyed me a little. Upgrade to 32GB (+16GB) and 512GB (+256GB) costs £600. A complete mini with 16GB and 256GB (the exact sizes of upgrade) cost £1 less than the upgrades yet I get a whole computer, case, processor and so on. If I needed something to say the price of upgrades was seriously out of line and possibly an opportunity to exploit the closed nature of the system this is it.
As I am in UK and various agencies in UK and EU (I am in NI which is a bit of both and a bit of neither and generally a bit of a jumble) are taking an interest in Apple's approach to customers I wonder how long before someone looks at upgrade prices or even spots this rather odd situation on the M4 mini.