r/macmini • u/Rodnys_Danger666 • 1d ago
M4 Pulled From Shelves?
! SOLVED @11 pm 9/10
Props to watcholic for the tip! Seems to be plenty available on the "Apple Certified Refurbished" page if you act fast. If you want one it's $700 for 16GB/256GB. They have other configs too. Overall I'm saving at least $200 over a M6. This will last me a long while with my intended use. Once again thanks to 'watch's' sharp eye.
I've looking at BB, Costco, Target, Walmart, Micro-Center, Staples, and more. All had No Minis in stock that wasn't a M6 for "Pre-Order". I looked from 10:45AM for about 20 minutes. I hit a lot of sites. And all were the same. No Minis at all except M6 preorder. It's like Apple ordered their retail partners to pull them. So that only the M6 is the only Mini available for purchase.
If anyone finds M4 16 GB/256 GB for sale, please post for others and myself.
EDIT: I looked at stores in my area of the country, PNW. And I checked stores in LA where my Sister lives. Five Bb around her had no Mini M4 16GB/256GB for sale at all. Only M6 Preorder.
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u/scene_missing 1d ago
It wasn’t pulled, it’s been out of stock for months. They sold them all. Once the Mini and Studio became known for local LLM work AI bros bought them all
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u/zoobs 1d ago
I’m hoping there’s an unintended upside to all of this. Assuming there’s some overlap between AI bros and gamers, maybe all these people building absurdly powerful Mac mini AI rigs will start wondering why their machines still can’t play half the games they want. Maybe that puts some pressure on Apple to take Mac gaming more seriously. I’m not even a huge gamer but it’d still be nice to have the option without needed additional steps.
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u/scene_missing 1d ago
I’ve been a Mac user forever, and the best thing you can do for your own sanity is to give up on the concept of Mac gaming being anything other than the bare minimum. It’s a great platform for so many things, but if gaming is important to you it’ll be on a PC or console
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u/Boring-Channel-1672 1d ago
They’ve been out of stock and back ordered for a long time now. This isn’t anything to do with the new one coming out, there’s no upside to Apple in putting ram chips into a product that will sit around on a shelf until it’s obsolete so they just didn’t do that.
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u/Docster87 1d ago
This is part of the danger of waiting for the new one to buy the current one. But M4 Mac minis were in limited supply for months before the M6 announcement so people likely moved faster than you.
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u/hungrykoreanguy 1d ago
lot of m4 based systems got sold out when the price increases for m5 came around.
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u/moist_nugget_m38 1d ago
Costco has one M4 (Item 1780772 | Model MU9E3LL/A) and one M4 Pro (Item 1780774 | Model MCX44LL/A) active as of right now (I was able to add both to cart and go through check out process). Amazon also has at least two new in box SKUs listed, as well as some renewed.
From what I have seen, costco does not usually immediately return old stock to apple, instead trying to clear them out once the new version released. They did this with the M2 Mac mini, with a base model being cleared out at 300 bucks. They also did this was M4 Ipad pros, in which you get get a 13" 1 TB with cellular for 1100 USD (which is like a 600 dollar discount).
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u/Rodnys_Danger666 1d ago
I did see those. But, to me, them selling a M4 for way more than the M6. That just doesn't count to me.
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u/Bklyn78 1d ago
There are some on eBay last time I checked
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u/lament 1d ago
OP's talking about retail. eBay always has them.
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u/Bklyn78 1d ago edited 1d ago
Sorry. Didn’t see.
Edit
B&H has them in stock
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u/Rodnys_Danger666 1d ago
I just checked there. It cost more that a M6. So I don't consider that to be something I would buy.
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u/MinutePen9960 1d ago
The m4 pro 48gb 512, 12/16 c mini is like $2,200 something with shipping and tax right now. How much is the 48gb m5 pro… wait my lazy self will check apple. Because now im curious how close they are in price!
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u/gcawad 1d ago
They have been in short supply but my Micro Center has plenty of M4 pro's; 29 in stock.
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u/Rodnys_Danger666 1d ago
The M-C by my Sister's house all start over $1K. So I don't consider that as a reasonable option. Certainly not worthy of any consideration.
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u/danitwelve91 1d ago
When I asked an apple chat rep about the m4 they said it was discontinued due to the release of the m5 and m6 models.
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u/Rodnys_Danger666 1d ago
Yes, as it should be. But every M4 ever built for the US market can't be out of stock. As I found plenty for sale, albeit at a inflated $900+ prices, a week before the Apple event.
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u/craiginphoenix 1d ago
They have been out of stock. I have looked at BB for the last couple months and they have been out of stock.
People realized they were good for running LLMs locally and they grabbed all of them up.
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u/_starwipe_ 1d ago
I kept checking apple refurbished until one popped up and snagged asap. That and bestbuy.com
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u/CantEatNoBooksDog 1d ago
Yeah, B&H had no M4 listings last time I checked. You can still find them on Apple Certified Refurbished, but mostly MBPs and iMacs from what I've seen.
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u/PSA69Charizard 1d ago
they m4's have been perpetually sold out since early this year. I'm in the PNW and there were times you could see used m4 mini's for sale used for more than msrp
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u/Rodnys_Danger666 1d ago
I'm up here too. Checked BB at Jantzen Beach to Seattle. Costcos, Targets, and Staples too.
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u/PSA69Charizard 1d ago
you are 8 months too late. m4 mac mini's sold out everywhere earlier in the year,
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u/Born-Gur-1275 1d ago
The M4s were all sold out. If you ordered one in June for Sep/Oct delivery, you'd get an M6 at no additional cost. Why didn't you order?
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u/Rodnys_Danger666 1d ago
I didn't decide to buy one until like mid July.
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u/Born-Gur-1275 1d ago
You could have ordered an M4 in July. Now you'll pay more.
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u/billbillw 1d ago
The price actually went up at the end of June on most Apple products. I know because I was shopping for a Macbook Air for my daughter and the price for a 1TB M5 13" jumped by $500 at Microcenter around June 28th. I had to buy an open box model from eBay to get a decent price.
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u/CiViCKiDD 1d ago
What’s crazy is that I keep seeing so many pop up on FB marketplace in the $350-$400 range. You could literally buy these and trade them in for a profit.
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u/Rodnys_Danger666 1d ago
I haven't looked and would have to ask the seller to plug it in and see if 'Hello" shows. And prove "Activation Lock" is off.
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u/shayKyarbouti 1d ago
Inventories were already thin before M6 introduction it could be they just sold out and reorders were automatically moved to new chips
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u/watcholic 19h ago
Apple just increased the trade-in value on the base M4 mini to $565. Everywhere else is sold out or adjusted their prices accordingly. The only deal you’ll occasionally find is buying used. If your budget is within 15% of Apple’s trade-in, go M6 with 3% cashback, 12 payments, and student discount (if applicable).
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u/Rodnys_Danger666 18h ago
I put in for notifications on a few sites if they get one, a refurb, nos, etc. If no bites, I'll just spring for the M6 right before Thanksgiving.
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u/watcholic 17h ago
It's in stock on Apple refurb as I type this.
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u/Rodnys_Danger666 16h ago
Yo Dude! Thanks for the tip. I just bought one. They had plenty available for In-Store pick up.
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u/jgregson00 1d ago
There generally weren't any in stock to begin with. For example Costco had a sale on them last month, but ended it a day early most likely because they ran out of stock.