The Market Is Increasingly Deciding When We Buy a Computer

I heard about the price increases on Apple computers just as I was starting to seriously consider replacing my Mac mini. I did not even feel angry. My first reaction was sadness. I thought that hardware could become significantly more expensive over the next few years, while calmly planning a purchase is becoming increasingly difficult.

My current Mac mini M1 still works. It is not falling apart, refusing to boot or demanding retirement. The problem is that my work has become heavier, 16 GB of memory is increasingly not enough, and I am starting to close applications not because I have finished using them, but because the computer needs a moment to breathe.

The Mac mini price rise that simply made me sad

For quite a while I had been looking at the Mac mini M4 with 24 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. It was not a purchase planned for a particular day. It was more of an idea slowly maturing somewhere between another stuttering animation and closing half the tabs in my browser.

Then the price went up. The configuration I had been considering now costs PLN 5,999 in the Apple Store. Technically, I can still justify that price as paying for a good computer that should last several years. Psychologically, however, it is difficult to accept because I had wanted to pay around PLN 4,999 for exactly the same machine.

I am not getting a faster processor, a larger SSD or additional gigabytes of memory. I am paying more because I made the decision later. That is the part that hurts most.

Has my Mac mini M1 really stopped being enough?

My Mac mini M1 with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD has served me for around four or five years. For most of that time it has been a very good computer. It still is. The hardware did not suddenly become terrible. What changed was the way I use it.

I have an absurd number of tabs open, demanding browser-based tools, AI-powered applications and increasingly advanced video projects. Everything works on its own. The fun starts when I try to use all of it at the same time, which is basically every day.

The Mac loses its smoothness, switching between screens can lag, and the system has even shown me a window saying that applications have been paused. When the computer starts choosing for me which programs may continue running, it becomes difficult to convince myself that there is still enough memory headroom.

Why do I want a Mac mini M4 with 24 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD?

A base Mac mini with 16 GB of memory would not solve my problem. That is exactly what I have now, and I already know that it is starting to feel cramped for the way I work. I do not want to replace the computer only to be doing daily housekeeping among open applications and browser tabs again in two years.

That is why I see 24 GB not as a luxury, but as a sensible minimum for the next four or five years. A 32 GB version would be even safer, but its price is beyond my budget. The 24 GB Apple Mac mini therefore sits in the middle between a configuration that might already be too tight today and one whose price I would struggle to justify.

Storage is easier. I have several external drives, so 512 GB still seems optimal. I do not need a huge internal drive if archives and larger projects can live elsewhere.

Is a Mac mini M4 for PLN 5,999 still a good computer?

Yes. The price rise did not suddenly make the hardware bad. The Apple M4 processor still offers the performance I need, and 24 GB of memory should provide much more comfort in everyday work. A new Mac mini did not stop being a good computer just because the price list changed.

What changed was my assessment of value. At around PLN 4,999 I would probably have bought it without much hesitation. At PLN 5,999 I start calculating, analysing and waiting. Even 0% instalments do not fix that. They split the cost into smaller pieces, but the same extra thousand zloty is still there at the end.

It is a bit like receiving a restaurant bill with a new line called “fee for making your decision later”. You can pay it, but it is difficult to do so with a smile.

Am I buying because of FOMO, or making a rational decision?

The easiest explanation would be ordinary FOMO. Prices are rising, there are reports of possible further increases, so I start to hurry. The thing is, my need to replace the computer did not appear after reading a headline online.

The performance problems happen every day. I regularly close applications, limit how many things I keep open and adjust the way I work to the computer’s capabilities. I had already been considering the M4 before the price rises. The increases therefore did not create the need to buy. They merely accelerated a decision that had already been slowly forming.

I am worried about buying too early, especially if the M4’s successor appears shortly afterwards. But I am even more worried about buying too late and paying more for a configuration I could previously have bought more cheaply. It is not a particularly comfortable place from which to make a decision.

Is the market starting to choose my computer-buying date for me?

Until recently I assumed I could wait calmly. My current Mac works, and I do not need the latest model just because there is a larger number in its name. If a Mac mini with the next processor generation appeared while the older M4 became clearly cheaper, I would happily choose the previous model.

After the price increase, however, I am giving myself no more than two or three months. If during that time I find the 24 GB/512 GB version from an authorised Polish reseller at a price I consider normal, I will probably buy it. Not because a promotion will awaken an obsessive bargain hunter in me. It will simply be the price at which the whole plan starts to make sense again.

Another increase would not make me run to a shop. It would do the opposite. If the price climbs further, I may abandon the purchase entirely and put up with the M1 for longer. Pressure has its limits.

What does the AI boom have to do with memory prices?

I use artificial-intelligence tools myself. I see their value. I also have no need to argue that all AI development is unnecessary. The paradox is that as a user of these tools, I am beginning to pay for the race that has grown around them at the same time.

Expanding AI infrastructure creates enormous demand for memory and storage. Data centres need ever more DRAM, NAND and specialised components. I am not claiming that every zloty added to the price of a Mac comes directly from AI. That would be too simple, and the hardware market does not work like a single tap that somebody suddenly opened.

It is difficult, however, to ignore the fact that memory manufacturers are increasingly focusing on the most profitable products for AI infrastructure, while higher costs and constrained supply can eventually reach ordinary computers as well. You want to buy a machine for work and indirectly end up helping to finance the data-centre arms race.

Is Apple the main culprit here?

I do not want to present Apple as the only villain. The company is more an example of a broader mechanism. When a component becomes more expensive, demand rises or the supply chain comes under pressure, the cost sooner or later reaches the customer.

Apple raises prices, the customer sees a new price list, and the whole complicated market situation is reduced to one simple fact: the same Mac costs more. We can debate how much of the increase comes from actual costs, exchange rates or company policy. From the buyer’s point of view, the result is the same.

The biggest problem for me is that I have lost confidence in the price. If it has already changed once, I have no certainty what the computer will cost in another two or three months. That makes it harder to plan the purchase calmly and put money aside.

What will I do with my old Mac mini M1?

That is a side dilemma, but still an interesting one. The M1 is in perfect condition and I have the complete set. If I could get a sensible amount for it, I would probably sell it and reduce the cost of moving to the M4.

On the other hand, the Mac mini M1 could become a quiet, energy-efficient homelab running around the clock. Docker, network services, Overpass and other tools would have much better conditions on it than on an old computer with a fourth-generation Intel processor and 4 GB of RAM.

I do not, however, want to build a server simply because I feel reluctant to sell the hardware. What I expect from a homelab above all is peace and quiet. I do not want it to turn into a second job consisting of constantly fixing things that worked yesterday. If the M1 stays, it will probably remain on macOS and run services in Docker.

When will I finally buy the Mac mini M4?

The simplest answer is: when its price returns to a level I consider normal. At around PLN 4,999 for the version with 24 GB of memory and a 512 GB SSD, I will probably place an order with an authorised reseller. I am not worried about application compatibility, and I am keeping my current monitor and accessories, so the upgrade will not require rebuilding the entire workstation.

The M4 is mainly supposed to give me smoothness back. I want to use the browser, AI tools, video editing and everything else without constantly wondering what I need to close. I am not interested in benchmark records. The computer simply needs to respond faster and stop getting in the way of my work.

I want to buy it for four or five years. Partly so that I can have some peace during that time, and partly so that I can wait out the current turmoil in memory prices. It sounds sensible, although it also resembles buying wellington boots not because it is raining, but because somebody has announced a rise in rubber prices.

How long will this mess with AI and hardware prices last?

I do not know the answer. Today nobody can give one with complete confidence. Perhaps growing memory production will eventually calm the market. Perhaps demand from data centres will remain so high that ordinary computers will feel the effects of AI investment for a long time yet.

What I do know is that, for the first time in a long while, I feel that the timing of a computer purchase does not depend entirely on me. I could still wait. The M1 still works. But every further postponement increasingly feels like a bet on whether I will have to pay much more in a few months.

I will therefore most likely buy the M4 sooner than I originally planned. Not because I suddenly developed a craving for new hardware. I want to secure several years of comfortable work before memory prices and the whole AI-related frenzy drift even further away.

Only one question remains: how long will ordinary users keep paying for a technological race whose scale they never chose?