Memory costs push Apple's cheapest M-series desktop to £899

Measured against the old list, the increase is about 50% ^[2]. A refresh budget approved at £599 a machine now pays for roughly two machines in every three it was meant to cover ^[3]. The budget holder can seek a new approval, cut the order or buy a different machine.

The memory explanation is the Guardian reviewer's. The review says the mini has been hit by "RAMageddon" like every other piece of electronics that contains memory ^[2]. That judgement comes from a single review of a single product. The mini is also the first Mac to get Apple's M6 chip ^[10], so the price moved in the same generation as the silicon. The review does not split the £300 between memory and the new chip, and it prices only Apple's range.

A skeptic on the buying committee would say the extra money buys extra machine. Against the M4 model, the multicore gain matches the price rise almost exactly, so the cost per unit of multicore work is flat ^[4]. Per unit of single-core speed, the cost rose about 20% ^[4]. For a team compiling code or editing video, the skeptic has a point. For staff who spend the day in email and spreadsheets, I think the committee was buying seats, and the added capacity is more than a basic desk needs. The Guardian's reviewer wrote, "For most people the M6 is more than enough" ^[6].

Within Apple's own list, the way to stay near last year's per-seat figure is the MacBook Neo at £699 ^[8]. That puts it £200 below the mini and £100 above the old mini price ^[5]. The Neo is a laptop, and its A18 Pro chip sits outside the M-series line ^[3][8]. Choosing it keeps the budget close to plan and gives up the desktop standard.

Each path commits the fleet beyond this quarter. A fleet that pays the £899 floor now keeps one desktop configuration. A fleet that moves to the Neo to protect the budget runs on a different chip family for the life of those machines, and every later purchase has to pick which standard it follows.