Marked-up Mac minis flood eBay amid shortages driven by AI

Overpriced Mac minis are flooding eBay amid shortages of the sold-out machines, which person go a favored instrumentality for moving on-device AI models similar OpenClaw.

This week, reports indicated that the $599 M4 Mac mini basal exemplary with 16GB RAM and 256GB of retention is sold retired connected Apple’s retail website, with nary options for transportation oregon in-store pickup. The shortages person since extended to different configurations of the basal model, careless of the magnitude of representation selected. This is the archetypal clip the basal exemplary has been sold out, immoderate outlets noted. Meanwhile, models with higher retention (512GB and up) are lone disposable to vessel starting successful June.

As a result, eBay has go a secondary marketplace for these much-in-demand computers. On the site, assorted configurations of the M4 Mac mini are disposable for merchantability astatine higher prices than if buying nonstop from Apple, which is nary longer an option.

Apple’s power-efficient Mac minis person go fashionable devices for investigating and moving at-home, on-device AI models, opening with the OpenClaw craze, but present extending to OpenClaw alternatives similar ZeroClaw, different AI tools from Anthropic and OpenAI, Perplexity Computer, oregon different specialized section models. Unlike immoderate PCs, Mac minis besides tally softly and thin to beryllium much reliable for 24/7 use, compared with laptop computers.

The shortage of the devices besides comes alongside an industry-wide representation crunch and plans for a Mac mini refresh, according to Bloomberg. However, refreshes of merchandise lines haven’t led to shortages before.

Apple did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

This cleanable tempest of proviso concatenation accent and accrued request for AI-friendly machines has inflated the prices of utilized user electronics.

As of Friday morning, M4 basal models with the 16B RAM/256GB SSD configuration were selling astatine mark-ups similar $715-$795 for a new, “open box” model, and arsenic precocious arsenic $979 for an “excellent” refurbished version. Some “lightly used, pre-owned” Mac minis with this configuration were selling for astir $700 — more than $100 much than the terms of a caller basal model.

Image Credits:eBay screenshot

There was besides a azygous listing for a $925 brand-new M4 Mac mini with the aforesaid 16GB RAM and 256GB storage; the listing warned successful agleam reddish text: “Last one.”

Image Credits:eBay screenshot

While you inactive whitethorn beryllium capable to people a reasonably priced refurb if you support a adjacent oculus retired (or if you triumph an eBay auction wherever the bid has started astatine a little terms point), it seems that the request for the instrumentality is going to support prices up until Apple’s proviso concatenation refreshes.

And present that the Mac mini is unavailable, Apple has begun to spot accrued request for the Mac Studio, too. That machine is also present sold out crossed respective configurations.

As Ars Technica pointed out, you tin inactive get a MacBook Pro with 128GB RAM and larger SSDs wrong a fewer weeks, and adjacent the caller and fashionable MacBook Neo is inactive shipping wrong 2-3 weeks. This suggests the existent contented is user request for the Mac mini itself.