Mac Studio 512GB RAM Option Disappears Amid Global DRAM Shortage - MacRumors
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Mac Studio 512GB RAM Option Disappears Amid Global DRAM Shortage

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Apple quietly updated Mac Studio configuration options this week, removing the 512GB memory upgrade. As of yesterday, there is no option to purchase a ‌Mac Studio‌ with 512GB RAM, with the machine now maxing out at 256GB.

mac studio purple
The ‌Mac Studio‌ starts with 36GB RAM, but there were upgrades ranging from 48GB to 512GB, with the higher tier upgrades limited to the M3 Ultra chip. Now there are options ranging from 48GB to 256GB, with wait times into May for the 256GB upgrade.

Apple has also raised the price for the 256GB RAM upgrade option. It used to cost $1,600 to go from 96GB to 256GB on the high-end M3 Ultra machine, but now it costs $2,000. 512GB was $4,000 when it was available.

Apple has likely removed the option to purchase 512GB of memory because of global DRAM shortages that have dried up supply and caused prices to soar, and it's also probably why shipping times for a configuration with 256GB RAM range into May.

Demand for the ‌Mac Studio‌ has increased due to consumers seeking machines suitable for running local AI agents, which could also be a wait time factor.

Memory scarcity is already having an effect on DRAM pricing, and it could affect PC and smartphone sales in the months to come. Apple is able to absorb higher memory costs in the short term, and it is well-positioned to minimize the effect on consumers because it is better able to secure available DRAM supply than smaller companies.

We are expecting M5 Max and M5 Ultra versions of the ‌Mac Studio‌ in 2026, but it is not yet clear when Apple might release an update.

(Thanks, Ólafur!)

Related Roundup: Mac Studio
Buyer's Guide: Mac Studio (Don't Buy)
Related Forum: Mac Studio

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Top Rated Comments

N
noraa
24 weeks ago
AI needs to crawl up its own ass and die. While I'm terrified for what the inevitable AI bubble burst will mean for the economy (and for the thousands that will lose their jobs), it really can't happen soon enough.
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cateye Avatar
cateye
24 weeks ago

I’m not a techie like some here, but isn’t 512GB RAM as mentioned in the second sentence a teensie bit overkill?
Like most RAM requirements, whether 16GB, 32, 48, 64, or whatever: If your workflow needs it, it needs it. For most people, anything beyond 16GB is "overkill"—meanwhile, earlier this year, I upgraded earlier than I intended to go from 32 to 64, because my work as a designer means swapping back and forth between Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator—with large projects, I blow past 32GB easily. 64 buys me breathing room and avoids pageouts which, even with Apple's hyper-fast SSDs, slows me down.

Likewise, there are use-cases fort 128, 256, even 512GB of DRAM. Running local AI models is the one you hear about most lately, but any kind of intensive data analysis—medical, financial, longitudinal population studies, and so on—requires massive dataset manipulation. Time is money, so the more of that data you can page into RAM at a time, the more you can get done, faster.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
anakin44011
24 weeks ago
If the M5 Ultra is planned for the summer, they might be subtly discouraging the M3 Ultra for this purpose (LLMs) so that they have plenty of RAM inventory for the M5 Ultra.

If the neural engine on the M5 is 4x the M4...imagine the performance of the M5 Ultra. In fact, it would be almost silly to purchase an M3 at this point for running LLMs.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rich74 Avatar
Rich74
24 weeks ago

I’m not a techie like some here, but isn’t 512GB RAM as mentioned in the second sentence a teensie bit overkill?
It makes Safari a bit snappier.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
4
4nNtt
24 weeks ago

There probably weren't that many people buying it with 512GB memory configuration, so this was an easy decision for Apple to make.
This is the configuration people are buying to run local AI models. A cluster of 4 Mac Studios with 512GB can run the largest models
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
4
4nNtt
24 weeks ago

The last Intel Mac Pro could be loaded with up to 1.5TB of RAM. 512GB max is a huge downgrade.

Not that I need either amount; I’m not modeling world weather or building a secret evil lair inside a volcano.
1.5TB was only for the CPU. 512GB of GPU memory is a big deal for AI.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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