Summary

Apple announced new Mac Mini (M6/M5 Pro) and Mac Studio (M5 Max/M5 Ultra) desktops, but its press releases only highlighted base prices. Gruber compiles the full RAM and SSD configuration pricing into condensed tables for easy comparison. He observes several noteworthy pricing quirks, including storage upgrades that cost more than the base computer itself. He also flags the conspicuous gap in M5 Ultra RAM tiers — jumping from 96 GB straight to a $4,000 256 GB upgrade — and links to an explanation for why Apple structured it that way. The post ends with a wry remark about Apple's 'Coming late October' availability notice for 512 GB Ultra configs.

Key Insight

Apple's Mac Mini and Mac Studio refresh brings impressive hardware, but its pricing structure — with storage upgrades exceeding base machine costs and massive RAM tier gaps on the Ultra — reveals aggressive margin extraction.

Spicy Quotes (click to share)

• 7

  If you configure an M6 Mac Mini with 2 TB of storage, the SSD upgrade ($1,000) costs more than the entire base model computer ($900).

• 5

  It kind of stinks that there are no RAM options for the M5 Ultra Studio between the 96 GB base and the $4,000 256 GB upgrade.

• 6

  The best currently-available-to-order Mac Studio costs $18,300.

• 9

  'Coming late October' = 'Bend over.'

Tone

informational with dry wit