Mac mini and Mac Studio face lengthy transport delays

Getting your arms on a Mac mini or Mac Studio could be tougher than anticipated. Supply occasions for even the essential configuration now stretch to 4 weeks, with high-end fashions displaying lead occasions of as much as 4-5 months.

Apple both seems to be struggling to satisfy demand or gearing up for an imminent M5 refresh.

There’s a protracted anticipate a brand new Mac mini and Mac Studio

After just a few months of delay, Apple refreshed the MacBook Professional and MacBook Air lineup with its new M5 household of chips in late February. The brand new M5 Professional and M5 Max chips carry a major uplift in CPU, GPU and AI efficiency. The Mac Studio and Mac mini are additionally due for an M5 refresh, however it’s unclear when it’s going to land.

The prolonged transport delays of those Macs could possibly be an early signal of that transition. Apple could also be winding down stock of present fashions forward of the refresh. Or it could possibly be struggling to maintain up with demand. Regardless of their age, the Mac Studio and Mac mini are nice for AI duties.

Within the US, the Apple Retailer at the moment exhibits a one-month supply time for an M4 Professional Mac mini with 24GB of system reminiscence. The transport time jumps to a whopping 10-12 weeks for those who bump the reminiscence to 48GB. 

The bottom mannequin Mac Studio with M4 Max chip and 36GB reminiscence is extra available. Apple’s on-line retailer exhibits next-day supply being out there for some NY zip codes. Nevertheless, bumping the RAM to 48GB pushes the supply date again to early July.

For an M4 Max configured with 128GB reminiscence and 1TB storage, the Apple retailer exhibits a supply time of 4-5 months. That’s late August! The identical prolonged supply occasions additionally apply to the M3 Extremely Mac Studio.

If not for an imminent refresh, the one different motive for the delay could possibly be the continued DRAM and NAND provide crunch. Apple might have diverted its sources to satisfy the demand for the M5 Professional/Max MacBook Execs, resulting in longer transport occasions for the Mac mini and Mac Studio.

Rajesh has been writing about client know-how for over a decade, with a powerful deal with iPhones, Macs and Apple’s ecosystem. He enjoys digging into Apple software program updates, {hardware} modifications, and discovering new Mac apps that make work quicker and extra satisfying.