Mac Studio With Massive 512GB RAM Facing Two-Week Delivery Delay

[ThailandToo]

It is still a niche item... and sure maybe you could argue 512gb of ram is going to attract folks, is that with a 1 tb, 2 tb, 4tb, 8 tb or 16 tb storage? Makes zero sense to have that kind of money tied up in inventory waiting for a buyer when there are 5 options on storage.

That’s the thing people are missing is the ssds are not soldered on and not in the chipset like the RAM. Make 512GB for AI purchasers and then insert the proper SSD order. You can take the SSD chips out and put in aftermarket ones. Not simple but easy for anyone who knows tech. To me, it’s worth the $14k with 16TB from day one. But every day one waits the worse the deal gets until it’s ultimately worth $3,500 in three years. Look at Intel Mac Pro owners who spent $50k to have it be worth less than $8k three years later - about the biggest loser ever in a Mac. M-series will do better. The thing is more RAM is a big feature and being able to remove the SSDs and insert larger chips is a massive advantage. But the M6 Ultra will be 2.5x in all reality. And maybe have 1TB RAM option.

I ordered a maxed out version. Going to sell two Mac Studios M2 to pay for part of it. I know several people who say they’re ordering 512GB of RAM with less storage. I ordered mine in Thailand and the price came out to nearly identical to US when taxes added in US.

 

[ThailandToo]

People here were telling me no one would buy high end Mac’s with lots of memory.

They have no idea how big the personal LLM development market is..

It’s all about not loading private data on the cloud. Even though would be cheaper to buy the cloud tokens for computing power, there’s zero privacy. I think the market will be massive within the next five years

 

[Trusteft]

You clearly don’t understand who this beast was designed for. It is not for some Richie Rich to play with. It’s for professionals who need such specs for their work flow. You know, like video editing professionals, scientists who need extreme number crunching power, AI and the like.

Why the snark when you are apparently clueless about the usefulness of such a machine?

While I don't think one needs to have enough money to buy a Lambo to own one of this computers, your attitude isn't much better than the op.

 

[0049190]

The first bold resonates with me, the ASD is already expensive and I wish LG didn't discontinue the 4K 21" UltraFine since that would be enough for me. The second bold, what are the current Apple display offerings missing for you as far as release timing? These new Mac Studios have TB5, are you wanting ProMotion or something to go with?

I just don’t want to play top dollar for a 3 year old Display. Is it too much to ask that Apple update the computer and display at the same time?

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Money can buy an ultra-fast Mac, but it cannot buy ultra-fast delivery, apparently.

Apple's new Mac Studio with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip options began arriving to customers today, but the highest-end model is facing delays.

If you order a maxed-out Mac Studio with a 32-core M3 Ultra chip, 512GB of unified RAM, and 16TB of SSD storage on Apple's online store today, the mind-boggling $14,099 configuration will not arrive until late March. Unsurprisingly, it is the massive 512GB of RAM upgrade option that seems to be causing the longer wait here.

If ordered today, that configuration is estimated for delivery between March 26 and March 31, so there is currently a two- to three-week wait.

Thanks, Paul!

Article Link: Mac Studio With Massive 512GB RAM Facing Two-Week Delivery Delay

?? Two to three weeks on a newly released special order Mac seems about right. Why so much commentary?

 

[Allen_Wentz]

If you have $14k to buy a computer, I am sure you can have some fun doing donuts in your Lambo or something until it arrives.

Why do so many posters sensationalize by adding on maximum mass storage when estimating Studio Ultra prices? Many folks buying such a box will run LLMs and will not waste $$ buying gobs of internal SSD capacity.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

...and I thought the M4 Max with 64GB I'm ordering had a lot of RAM...!

You were wrong; 64 GB will not be a lot of RAM for the typical life cycle of an M4 Max.

 

[xraydoc]

You were wrong; 64 GB will not be a lot of RAM for the typical life cycle of an M4 Max.

Perhaps for some. For me it will be. I currently have 36GB and I've never had my memory pressure hit yellow (or red for that matter).

 

[mansplains]

I just don’t want to play top dollar for a 3 year old Display. Is it too much to ask that Apple update the computer and display at the same time?

I don't think it's too much, but you're not naming what updates you'd like to see. A discount is not a feature update.

 

[CapitalIdea]

Oh no! Two whole weeks! Jesus wept.

 

[AgeOfSpiracles]

Yeah surely the “professionals” will pay $4,600 for 16TB storage they are that clueless… Apple is living in a fantasy land 4K for 16TB is insane

Go spec out a comparable HP Z-series workstation if you think $14k for a maxed out Studio is a fantasy.

 

[Biro]

Go spec out a comparable HP Z-series workstation if you think $14k for a maxed out Studio is a fantasy.

Not only that… in most cases a Mac Studio like this will either be purchased by a company or will be tax deductible for a freelancer.

 

[XboxEvolved]

I was planning to buy my first Mac Studio but I don’t want to spend all that money on 3 year old Apple displays to go with it.

If you’re an existing user it probably doesn’t make any difference but time and again Tim Cook seems to completely forget about new users who need a complete package not half now and the other half in a year. I will be very happy when Cook is gone.

You think Tim Cook has total control over the progress, timing, and where they are at in development? Have you seen how long Apple traditionally goes without updating their monitors? And sure sometimes they will introduce complimentary machines with them also, but not always. This has been going on loooong before Cook's tenure as CEO.

 

[G5isAlive]

That’s the thing people are missing is the ssds are not soldered on and not in the chipset like the RAM.

Not missing it, but not minimizing the time impact like some people (cough) are. Lucky for me I don't have to speculate, there is real data available to predict the impact of what you are proposing. ANY storage change on the Mac Studio line results in an immediate 1 week delay. That's what Apple thinks it needs, and it is in the business selling machines so clearly they would want to minimize the time delay like you do. But nope. 1 week.

But every day one waits the worse the deal gets until it’s ultimately worth $3,500 in three years.

um. look I like getting things first day like the next person, but hey, a couple of weeks out of three years is 1%. you want to play the math game, wait a couple of months, get it on sale and save 10%. Well, except you want a custom build and those don't go on sale. Waiting two weeks is just part of doing business if this is the machine you want.

first world problem.

 

[bLackjackj]

Thats what happens when you only make 2 of them. Such high demand 🙄🤦‍♂️

 

[G5isAlive]

I just don’t want to play top dollar for a 3 year old Display. Is it too much to ask that Apple update the computer and display at the same time?

So don't. Go buy another display. Plenty of them are less than a year old.

 

[Nismo73]

Wild. First PC in early 90s had 4mb of ram.

 

[rezwits]

If I had the time (and money) right now I would by 4 base Studio MAX, with 64GB and 1TB, then get 8 Thunderbolt 5 cables etc, for total $10,000 and write the code to parallel compute, the whole LLM system.
Then next year get the four Studio M5 Ultras with 1TB of ram each and 16TBs of storage, and transfer the code and settings right over and let that MFER run hard from practically DAY ONE!
Would only take a year to get the machines and code correctly configured to run the project; BUT it would take a year!
Meaning why waste one year with 4x Studio M3 Ultras, when you can get 4x M5 Ultras in a year, which is what the cadence seems to be...
I mean the way things look this year Apple is gonna roll out M5 from October 2025 to March 2026... and the whole "Mac line" will be M5!

That's what THESE M3 Ultra Units look like.
Although, which is why this is such a sweet spot is, if you did get four M3 Ultras with 512GB, that's still only LOL, 2TBs of RAM, in which case the next year you're getting 4TBs!

I think this is all very very strategic...

2¢ (x4 = 8¢)

 

[canadianreader]

Great machine for Ai run locally

 

[splifingate]

For all the seconds a new computer would save, how long does waiting two weeks add?

1,209,600 seconds.

 

[Apple MessagePad]

If you have $14k to buy a computer, I am sure you can have some fun doing donuts in your Lambo or something until it arrives.

These aren't being bought by individuals. They're being purchased by big companies.

 

[0049190]

These aren't being bought by individuals. They're being purchased by big companies.

The Mac Studio is not exclusively built for large companies. It’s price point also appeals to individuals and small companies who need that level of power.

 

[Apple MessagePad]

The Mac Studio is not exclusively built for large companies. It’s price point also appeals to individuals and small companies who need that level of power.

Be real, individuals aren't dropping $14K on a computer. Sure, there could be a couple that have, but 99.9% of those buying the 512GB RAM configuration are businesses.

 

[CarlJ]

"Told you so" (posted week ago).
There is nothing similar on the market, this is trully unique Apple proposition.

And can we just take a moment to marvel at the idea that this is a box a bit more than 3½ liters (or about 225 cubic inches) in volume, containing a crazy fast/capable processor, half a terabyte of RAM and 16 terabytes of storage?

It wasn't all that long ago, in the grand scheme of things, that that kind of capacity took up the space of a full-sized refrigerator. And not much further back that it took up an entire temperature-controlled, raised-floor, limited-access computer room.

 

[CarlJ]

The Mac Studio is not exclusively built for large companies. It’s price point also appeals to individuals and small companies who need that level of power.

I bet it can open a whole bunch of tabs in Safari! 😎