While today's big news has been the release of new MacBook Pros, the downtime on Apple's online store also brought a number of other changes for other machines, primarily in the areas of build-to-order hard drive and RAM upgrades.
On the hard drive front, build-to-order upgrades to 500 GB hard drives on the MacBook and Mac mini saw $50 price drops. The MacBook comes with a 250 GB hard drive standard, with an upgrade to 320 GB priced at $50 and an upgrade to 500 GB priced at $100. The upgrade to 500 GB was previously priced at $150 over the base model. The Mac mini with its baseline 320 GB hard drive saw a similar change, with the upgrade charge for a 500 GB hard drive dropping from $100 to $50.
Apple's new Mac mini RAM and hard drive pricing
The Mac mini was also one of a number of machines to see changes to high-end RAM offerings, with the upgrade to 8 GB (2 x 4 GB sticks) now bringing an upcharge of $300 over the base 2 x 1 GB configuration, down from a $500 surcharge previously.
The iMac also sees some RAM tweaks, with the 21.5-inch model seeing the upgrade to 8 GB model holding the same $200 charge as before but moving from a 4 x 2 GB configuration to a 2 x 4 GB configuration, leaving the door open for further upgrades in the two remaining slots.
The 27-inch iMac sees a simplified and reduced price RAM upgrade structure, building off of the standard 4 GB model in a 2 x 2 GB configuration. Apple had previously offered two separate upgrades to 8 GB in 4 x 2 GB (+$200) and 2 x 4 GB (+$400) configurations, but Apple now offers only the 2 x 4 GB configuration at the lower $200 charge. Apple also lowered the price of the 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) upgrade from $1000 to $600.
Finally, the Mac Pro also saw shifts in RAM availability and pricing, with Apple for the first time offering direct build-to-order options for up to 64 GB of RAM using 8 GB modules. On the low-end quad-core Mac Pro model, RAM pricing remains the same up to 8 GB, but Apple has reduced pricing on the 12 GB and 16 GB configurations from $1275 to $525 and $1775 to $775 respectively. Now inheriting the old price points are new 24 GB ($1275) and 32 GB ($1775) options.
Apple's new 8-core Mac Pro RAM pricing
And on the 8-core and 12-core Mac Pros, pricing similarly remains as before through 16 GB, while the 24 GB upgrade slides from $2550 to $1050 and the 32 GB upgrade moves from $3550 to $1550. New 48 GB and 64 GB options are now available at the $2550 and $3550 price points respectively.
On the hard drive front, build-to-order upgrades to 500 GB hard drives on the MacBook and Mac mini saw $50 price drops. The MacBook comes with a 250 GB hard drive standard, with an upgrade to 320 GB priced at $50 and an upgrade to 500 GB priced at $100. The upgrade to 500 GB was previously priced at $150 over the base model. The Mac mini with its baseline 320 GB hard drive saw a similar change, with the upgrade charge for a 500 GB hard drive dropping from $100 to $50.
Apple's new Mac mini RAM and hard drive pricing
The Mac mini was also one of a number of machines to see changes to high-end RAM offerings, with the upgrade to 8 GB (2 x 4 GB sticks) now bringing an upcharge of $300 over the base 2 x 1 GB configuration, down from a $500 surcharge previously.
The iMac also sees some RAM tweaks, with the 21.5-inch model seeing the upgrade to 8 GB model holding the same $200 charge as before but moving from a 4 x 2 GB configuration to a 2 x 4 GB configuration, leaving the door open for further upgrades in the two remaining slots.
The 27-inch iMac sees a simplified and reduced price RAM upgrade structure, building off of the standard 4 GB model in a 2 x 2 GB configuration. Apple had previously offered two separate upgrades to 8 GB in 4 x 2 GB (+$200) and 2 x 4 GB (+$400) configurations, but Apple now offers only the 2 x 4 GB configuration at the lower $200 charge. Apple also lowered the price of the 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) upgrade from $1000 to $600.
Finally, the Mac Pro also saw shifts in RAM availability and pricing, with Apple for the first time offering direct build-to-order options for up to 64 GB of RAM using 8 GB modules. On the low-end quad-core Mac Pro model, RAM pricing remains the same up to 8 GB, but Apple has reduced pricing on the 12 GB and 16 GB configurations from $1275 to $525 and $1775 to $775 respectively. Now inheriting the old price points are new 24 GB ($1275) and 32 GB ($1775) options.
Apple's new 8-core Mac Pro RAM pricing
And on the 8-core and 12-core Mac Pros, pricing similarly remains as before through 16 GB, while the 24 GB upgrade slides from $2550 to $1050 and the 32 GB upgrade moves from $3550 to $1550. New 48 GB and 64 GB options are now available at the $2550 and $3550 price points respectively.
61 comments
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Apple this afternoon shared a new video featuring clips from its upcoming Apple TV+ show "For All Mankind" along with...
Over on our YouTube channel, we have a series that highlights new, interesting, fun, and useful apps that we think are worth downloading and checking out.
For today's video, we've...
Apple's Apple Store online site is currently down when attempting to make a purchase of an Apple device or accessory, but it's not quite clear why the site is unavailable.
Sometimes the...
The 2019 MacBook Air, refreshed last week, appears to have a slower SSD than the 2018 MacBook Air, according to testing by French site Consomac. Using testing with the Blackmagic Disk Speed...
It's the middle of July, which means it's time for Amazon's annual Prime Day shopping event, offering Amazon Prime customers the chance to save money on a vast array of items across the...
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has voted to approve a settlement with Facebook that will see the social media giant hit with a roughly $5 billion fine over the Cambridge Analytica privacy...
Apple's iPad Air, which was resurrected in March as essentially a tweaked version of the previous 10.5-inch iPad Pro, offers a significant amount of utility at a solid $499 price point, but...
Apple is teaming up with the BBC to co-produce an eight-part comedy-drama series with a working title of "Alabama," according to a report from British comedy website Chortle highlighted by...
