News + Trends
The MacBook Pro becomes faster, more durable and cheaper
by Samuel Buchmann
By how much Apple has reduced Mac prices
1/11/2024
Translation: Eva Francis
Faster chips, more RAM, and yet lower prices. What’s going on with Apple? I’ve taken a closer look at things. Here are my findings – including what I think are great deals right now.
Apple has presented its new MacBooks with M4 chips. When I saw the price tags, I couldn’t believe my eyes – the devices cost less than their predecessor models, both in Switzerland and in Europe. And this despite the fact that Apple’s equipped them with new chips and more RAM.
Better products and lower prices? Sounds like a rare occurrence in Cupertino. I decided to take a closer look at things – and have my suspicions as to why Apple’s suddenly so generous.
Price comparison with identical RAM
The true extent of the differences only becomes clear when I compare apples to apples (pun intended). In other words, not just the cheapest versions of the old and new Macs, but those with the same memory (RAM) and storage space (SSD).
This isn’t easy, because some of the RAM amounts have changed. The M3 Pro had 18 gigabytes (GB) or 36 GB, while the M4 Pro has 24 GB or 48 GB. There was never an M3 Pro with 48 GB, which is why the level is greyed out in the configurator. But the hypothetical surcharge’s still visible – the upgrade would theoretically have cost 660 francs.
Source: Screenshot apple.ch
This allows me to calculate the prices for the lowest common RAM denominator of the M3 and M4 Macs for all chips. I made a note of the prices for the old generation before Apple’s announcements because they’ll disappear from the configurator as soon as the new devices are online.
M4 Mac Mini, M4 iMac, M4 MacBook Pro
The discount is most significant for the cheapest models. The basic configuration of the M4 Mac Mini costs 230 francs less in Switzerland than the predecessor model with the same amount of RAM. That’s a whopping 31 per cent. It’s 18 per cent (230 francs) for the iMac and 17 per cent (320 francs) for the MacBook Pro 17.
In euros, the difference is 25, 18 and 15 per cent; in US dollars, it’s 25, 13 and 11 per cent. You’ll see the statistics for these currencies in the second and third slides of the charts.
M4 Pro MacBook Pro
For the more powerful chips, I’m only looking at the MacBook Pro comparison. Although the Mac Mini is also available with M4 Pro, the predecessor with M2 Pro was already two chip generations old. As I explained above, I can’t work with the entry-level models here, so the percentage figures are of a theoretical nature.
In absolute numbers, the price of a device with a Pro chip and the same amount of RAM drops by CHF 410.– (slimmed-down chip with fewer cores) or CHF 430.– (full chip version). In the eurozone, the difference is smaller at 330 euros each – in the USA, it’s 200 US dollars each. If I use these price differences to calculate a hypothetical model with M3 Pro and 24 GB RAM, it would be 17 per cent (CHF), 12 per cent (EUR) and 9 per cent (USD) more expensive than the new entry-level model.
M4 Max MacBook Pro
The most powerful chip has the same RAM specs as last year. Therefore, the comparison is again based on models that were or are available to buy. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with slimmed-down M4 Max costs 270 francs less than its predecessor. The full chip version costs CHF 320.– less. This corresponds to 8 per cent in the lowest possible configuration.
In other words, we can count ourselves lucky in Switzerland. In the eurozone, Apple’s only lowering the price of the M4 Max by 200 euros each, which corresponds to 5 and 4 per cent respectively. In the USA, there’s no change at all.
Price drop reason 1: strong franc and Euro
The example of the Max chip goes to show that some of the price drops in Switzerland and the eurozone come down to exchange rates. Apple seems to set local prices about a month before launching a new product. Small fluctuations in the exchange rate are rounded to keep the figures pretty – 1,999 francs, for instance. And once prices have been set, they don’t change until the end of the product cycle.
Source: Interactive Brokers
At the beginning of October 2023, one Swiss franc cost around 1.09 US dollars. A year later, it was around 1.18 US dollars. That’s an increase of almost 8 per cent. The euro rose by around 5 per cent in the same time period. As Apple does business in US dollars, the company can reduce local prices by these percentages and still earn the same amount. If you disregard the RAM upgrades, this corresponds pretty much exactly to the price reductions from the M3 to the M4 generation.
Source: Interactive Brokers
Price drop reason 2: Apple Intelligence
The exchange rates, however, don’t explain why Apple’s raising the RAM level of all Macs at no extra charge. In recent years, the company’s passed on technical advances in CPU and GPU to its customers, but the Californians have remained stubborn when it comes to RAM. Although RAM has presumably also become cheaper to produce.
So what’s changed now? Apple Intelligence. Although the AI functions don’t necessarily require 16 GB of RAM – they should also work on devices such as the iPhone with 8 GB – Macs usually have more programs running in the background. This can quickly lead to bottlenecks and a poor user experience.
Apple doesn’t want to take this risk with current devices, and is therefore increasing the minimum across its entire range to 16 GB. However, they can’t raise prices at the same time. The basic configurations need to remain affordable for marketing reasons. Devices such as the Mac Mini for 599 US dollars or the MacBook Air for 999 US dollars serve as an entry-level drug into the ecosystem.
So, Apple’s really biting the bullet and giving up some margin. Having said that, the margin’s unlikely to be much smaller for the cheapest models, as the production costs for the additional 8 GB of RAM are low. But there are opportunity costs for all customers who’ll no longer pay an extra 200 dollars for it. However, TSMC’s N3E production of the new M4 chips is more efficient and therefore cheaper than the N3B production of the old M3 generation. This probably softens the decline in profits from RAM upgrades.
Source: TSMC
Three great deals
Whatever the reason behind the lower prices, as consumers, we still get to enjoy them. However, the discounts vary, and not all chips are improving as much. You’ll have to wait for our reviews to get actual purchase recommendations. Based on the specifications, however, these three Macs look like particularly good deals so far:
The new basic version of the Mac Mini offers almost unbeatable value for money. The M4 boasts the full 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU (not like the base iMac). Together with the new 16 GB of RAM, that’s quite the package. The only flaw is the measly 256 GB of memory.
The M4 Pro Mac Mini also looks like a bargain in the cheapest configuration. Equipped with a 12-core CPU, 16-core GPU and 24 GB of RAM, it should even allow you to do extensive image editing. And all this including three Thunderbolt 5 ports packed into the new tiny housing.
The 14-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro’s also a great deal. Featuring a 14-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 24 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD, it costs 2,399 francs. Last year, you only got the M3 Pro with 18 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD at this price (for 30 francs less, to be precise). The new chip also has four performance cores and two GPU cores more, which are even faster and supposedly use less battery.
Header image: Apple
Samuel Buchmann
Senior Editor
Samuel.Buchmann@digitecgalaxus.chMy fingerprint often changes so drastically that my MacBook doesn't recognise it anymore. The reason? If I'm not clinging to a monitor or camera, I'm probably clinging to a rockface by the tips of my fingers.