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By Chaim Gartenberg, The Verge
Apple has updated its 13-inch and 15-inch Touch Bar MacBook Pros today with Intel’s latest eighth-generation chips. It’s also offering up to 32GB of RAM and 4TB of SSD storage — if you’re willing to pay for it. While the base models of Apple’s laptops still cost the same (starting at $1,799 for the 13-inch model or $2,399 for the 15-inch model), the updated MacBook Pro now tops out at a whopping $6,699 for the top configuration. That’s $2,400 more than the best 2017 MacBook Pro you could buy.
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That may sound a lot at first, but Apple hasn’t really changed the prices on anything from last year to this year: the top-spec MacBook Pro is priced higher than ever because Apple is offering more options than it has in the past.
Both the 2017 and 2018 models have the same starting prices: $2,799 for the “high-end” version of the 15-inch computer, with a faster processor, better GPU, and twice the SSD storage as the $2,399 “base” 15-inch model. Like last year, Apple offers a $300 upgrade to an even better Intel processor — here from a 2.6GHz Core i7 chip to a 2.9GHz Core i9 — and storage upgrades to 1TB (an extra $400) or 2TB (an extra $1,200) for the same $4,299 price as last year’s specced-out machine.
The difference is that Apple is also offering two new options for 2018. You can pay an extra $400 for 32GB of RAM or an extra $3,200 for 4TB of storage. Together, those push the price up to that $6,699 figure. (And while the SSD pricing is almost ludicrously high, the $400 for 32GB of RAM is almost reasonable, at least by Apple pricing standards.)
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That $6,699 price tag is shared by another computer in Apple’s lineup: the top configuration of the aging Mac Pro. There, your money will get you a 2.7GHz 12-core processor, 64GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. But Apple hasn’t updated the specs in over a year (plus the planned redesign is said to be coming sometime next year), so you’re probably better off putting the cash toward a new laptop at this point.
Is it still a lot to pay for a computer? Certainly. But it’s worth remembering that the extra price is for optional hardware, so it’s ultimately up to you to decide whether or not to pay the cost.
[post_ads_2]
That may sound a lot at first, but Apple hasn’t really changed the prices on anything from last year to this year: the top-spec MacBook Pro is priced higher than ever because Apple is offering more options than it has in the past.
Both the 2017 and 2018 models have the same starting prices: $2,799 for the “high-end” version of the 15-inch computer, with a faster processor, better GPU, and twice the SSD storage as the $2,399 “base” 15-inch model. Like last year, Apple offers a $300 upgrade to an even better Intel processor — here from a 2.6GHz Core i7 chip to a 2.9GHz Core i9 — and storage upgrades to 1TB (an extra $400) or 2TB (an extra $1,200) for the same $4,299 price as last year’s specced-out machine.
The difference is that Apple is also offering two new options for 2018. You can pay an extra $400 for 32GB of RAM or an extra $3,200 for 4TB of storage. Together, those push the price up to that $6,699 figure. (And while the SSD pricing is almost ludicrously high, the $400 for 32GB of RAM is almost reasonable, at least by Apple pricing standards.)
[post_ads_2]
That $6,699 price tag is shared by another computer in Apple’s lineup: the top configuration of the aging Mac Pro. There, your money will get you a 2.7GHz 12-core processor, 64GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. But Apple hasn’t updated the specs in over a year (plus the planned redesign is said to be coming sometime next year), so you’re probably better off putting the cash toward a new laptop at this point.
Is it still a lot to pay for a computer? Certainly. But it’s worth remembering that the extra price is for optional hardware, so it’s ultimately up to you to decide whether or not to pay the cost.
