Overpriced Mac minis are flooding eBay amid shortages of the sold-out machines, which have grow to be a well-liked instrument for working on-device AI fashions like OpenClaw.
This week, reports indicated that the $599 M4 Mac mini base mannequin with 16GB RAM and 256GB of storage is bought out on Apple’s retail web site, with no choices for supply or in-store pickup. The shortages have since extended to other configurations of the bottom mannequin, whatever the quantity of reminiscence chosen. That is the primary time the bottom mannequin has been bought out, some outlets famous. In the meantime, fashions with greater storage (512GB and up) are solely accessible to ship beginning in June.
Because of this, eBay has grow to be a secondary marketplace for these in-demand computer systems. On the location, varied configurations of the M4 Mac mini can be found on the market at greater costs than if shopping for direct from Apple, which is now not an choice.
Apple’s power-efficient Mac minis have grow to be well-liked units for testing and working at-home, on-device AI fashions, starting with the OpenClaw craze however now extending to OpenClaw options like ZeroClaw, different AI instruments from Anthropic and OpenAI, Perplexity Computer, or different specialized local models. In contrast to some PCs, Mac minis additionally run quietly and are usually extra dependable for twenty-four/7 use, in contrast with laptop computer computer systems.
The scarcity of the units additionally comes alongside an industry-wide memory crunch and plans for a Mac mini refresh, based on Bloomberg. Nevertheless, refreshes of product traces haven’t led to shortages earlier than.
Apple didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
This good storm of provide chain stress and elevated demand for AI-friendly machines has inflated the costs of used shopper electronics.
As of Friday morning, M4 base fashions with the 16GB RAM/256GB SSD configuration have been promoting at markups like $715-$795 for a brand new, “open field” mannequin, and as excessive as $979 for an “glorious” refurbished model. Some “frivolously used, pre-owned” Mac minis with this configuration have been promoting for round $700 — greater than $100 greater than the value of a brand new base mannequin.
There was additionally a single itemizing for a $925 brand-new M4 Mac mini with the identical 16GB RAM and 256GB storage; the itemizing warned in vivid crimson textual content: “Final one.”
When you nonetheless could possibly rating a fairly priced refurb in case you preserve an in depth eye out (or in case you win an eBay public sale the place the bid has began at a cheaper price level), it appears that evidently the demand for the machine goes to maintain costs up till Apple’s provide chain refreshes.
And now that the Mac mini is unavailable, Apple has begun to see elevated demand for the Mac Studio, too. That laptop is also now sold out throughout a number of configurations.
As Ars Technica identified, you possibly can nonetheless get a MacBook Professional with 128GB RAM and bigger SSDs inside a couple of weeks, and even the brand new and well-liked MacBook Neo continues to be delivery inside two to a few weeks. This implies the true problem is shopper demand for the Mac mini itself.
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