It seems the global RAM shortage has taken even more lives as it becomes increasingly difficult to buy new Mac desktops.
As Mac Observer noted, if you try to order a Mac mini or Mac Studio from Apple’s online store, you could end up waiting several months for your new device, especially if you add additional memory.
I tried to confirm this myself, and the situation seems bleak indeed. When trying to purchase a standard M4 Mac mini from Apple’s US store, the website informs me that shipping will take four to five weeks, which is a significant delay for people who expect the usual next day delivery.
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It’s a similar story in the UK and Australia, with waits of up to 18 weeks for the Mac mini with 32GB of memory.
It’s a real shame, because the current Mac mini is one of my favorite products of all time: if you’re looking for a compact PC, there’s really no better alternative. However, it’s hard to recommend it to people if they can’t get one.
Is this why we haven’t had an M5 Mac mini yet?
The fact that changing the amount of memory on the Mac mini worsens delivery times certainly suggests that Apple isn’t as immune to the global RAM shortage as some thought.
Since Apple uses what it calls “unified memory,” which is soldered directly onto its M-series chips and shared between computing and graphics tasks, rather than the standard RAM used by other laptop makers, it initially seemed like Apple might escape the worst impacts of memory shortages, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
This could also explain the absence of an M5 Mac mini (and a Mac Studio), despite Apple releasing M5 versions of its MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops. If the company is having trouble getting enough memory for its existing product portfolio, I can understand why it would be hesitant to launch more.
On the other hand, could Apple keep part of its memory stock in anticipation of the M5 versions? Apple is usually tight-lipped about these things, so we can only guess.
What I TO DO Be aware, however, that if you want a Mac mini that will ship in a relatively reasonable time frame, you’ll either need to buy one from another retailer, or stick with the base 16GB model if you buy from Apple.
It’s important to remember, however, that because of the Mac mini’s compact design, as well as Apple’s frustrating antipathy to designing products that can be upgraded and repaired by its customers, if you buy a Mac mini (or Studio) with a reduced amount of memory, you won’t be able to add more later.
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