Apple in recent days has ramped up its prices on build-to-order Mac configurations in many countries outside the United States.
Pricing for standard machine configurations remains the same. But if you want to upgrade your Mac’s processor or increase its RAM or storage, you can expect to pay around 10% more for each component.
Apple surprised us all with a big iPad Pro refresh, a brand-new Magic Keyboard, an upgraded MacBook Air and more last week. It also made some big tweaks to product pricing that seemingly went unnoticed at the time.
While some products, like that new MacBook Air, are now more affordable, many others are going to cost you a lot more. Specifically, build-to-order Macs will put a noticeably larger dent in your wallet.
Build-to-order Macs now cost a lot more
In the U.K., for instance, the base 16-inch MacBook Pro with a 2.3GHz Intel Core i9 still starts at £2,799. Upgrading to the 2.4GHz Core i9 is now £200 (up from £180), while upgrading to 32GB of RAM is now £400 (up from £360).
Want 64GB of RAM instead? That will cost you £800 (up from £720). Swapping the standard AMD Radeon Pro 5500M graphics with 4GB of memory for Pro 5500M graphics with 8GB of memory is £100 (up from £90).
It’s a similar story for MacBook Air, iMac, iMac Pro, Mac mini, and Mac Pro upgrades in Asia, Australia, Canada, and Europe. It can increase the cost of your machine quite significantly if you plan on upgrading multiple components.
COVID-19 to blame?
It’s not clear why these increases were made. Apple has been known to adjust pricing in line with exchange rates, but those usually apply across the board. It seems strange that standard configuration pricing stayed the same this time.
It could be that the changes are in response to labor shortages and supply constraints amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Apple and its suppliers have recently seen big impacts to production, though the situation is improving.
Via: MacRumors
