Apple recently nixed the $599 Mac mini from its product lineup. And the most affordable version of the MacBook Pro also got cut.
This raises serious questions about how much longer Apple can keep offering the cheapest versions of the MacBook Air and MacBook Neo.
Most affordable Mac variants go bye-bye
Apple is a luxury brand, and its products aren’t cheap. But there are, of course, some that are more affordable than others. However, Apple has been quietly dropping the lowest-cost configurations of these.
The M4 Mac mini used to start at $599. Not anymore. The lowest-cost option is $799. To be clear, Apple didn’t raise the price of the macOS desktop. Instead, it removed the variant with 256GB of storage from its lineup. So the base model is now the one with 512GB of RAM.
Something similar happened with the MacBook Pro powered by the base M5. When this debuted in late 2025, it came with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage and cost $1,599. That configuration got the axe in March. Now, there’s a new lowest-cost variant that includes 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, but it came in at $1,699.
Everyone struggles with chip and memory shortages
Apple doesn’t give business secrets away, so it hasn’t revealed why these lower-cost Macs were dropped. But it’s not hard to guess: the AI boom and RAMageddon.
AI data centers built by Google, OpenAI and others consume enormous amounts of high-bandwidth memory for training and running large models, with companies racing to secure suppliers. Demand exceeds supply, so the price Apple pays for RAM and storage has to be on the rise.
Higher-priced Macs have more profit margin built in, and so can more easily absorb the rising cost of memory. But cheaper models have slimmer margins, and are getting the boot.
At least Mac shoppers can be grateful that while they’re being asked to pay more for a computer, they’re also getting better features. Apple instead could have raised the prices of all its computers without changing the specs — that’s what many of its rivals are doing.
What about the cheapest MacBook Air and MacBook Neo?
So far, Apple hasn’t dropped the lowest-cost MacBook Air or MacBook Neo from its lineup. Apple CEO Tim Cook may have explained why in early May.
“We’re very focused on customers new to the Mac,” Cook told investors during a conference call.
Nevertheless, continuing increases in the cost of memory could force Apple to make some difficult decisions on Macs that bring in those new customers.
That might include doing to the M5 MacBook Air what Apple did to the M5 MacBook Pro: jump the storage to 1TB and add $100 to the cost.
The situation with the MacBook Neo is more complex, but the result could be the same. Apple is reportedly running short on processors for its entry-level notebook, and plans to have more produced… at a higher cost. This might force Apple to discontinue the $599 version and keep just the $699 one, which includes a jump to 512GB of storage and a better keyboard.
Indeed, a strange time for Apple
The shortage of RAM and storage chips resulting from the AI boom means this is an odd time for Apple. It’s already been forced to drop the most affordable Mac mini and MacBook Pro configurations, as discussed. But that’s not all.
It’s also scaling back high-end configurations on its desktops. It’s no longer possible to get a Mac Studio with 512GB of RAM, for example. And the Mac mini with the base M4 chip is no longer available with 32GB of RAM.
All of this explains why we say the best time to buy a Mac is right now, before more Mac configurations get the axe.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
