Latest analysis
Every Hard Bargains report, newest first. For the live market, use the daily Mac price tracker.
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Prime Big Deal Days portable monitors: one cable, charging and total cost
A cheap portable screen still needs the right video and power path. Compare exact models and the complete traveling kit with keeping a display you own.
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Prime Big Deal Days 2026: check PC deals before buying
Prime Big Deal Days and Target Circle Deal Days ended Oct. 7. Check ongoing Newegg and direct-store offers against exact hardware, complete costs and keeping a working setup for $0.
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Portable monitor stands: what your screen can actually attach to
One line on the maker's specification page decides which stands exist for your screen. Of seven screens read Sept. 17, one publishes a tripod socket, one publishes a VESA pattern and five publish neither.
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Where to buy a new Mac mini: Amazon, B&H or Apple, by configuration
The memory you order decides the store. Amazon lists the four standard models; the 32GB, 48GB and 64GB tiers that local AI buyers want are custom builds from Apple or B&H, and memory cannot be added later.
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How much macOS support a used Mac still gets, priced by chip
macOS 27 Golden Gate shipped Sept. 14, 2026 and dropped no Apple silicon Mac. The 2020 M1 mini, at a $444.98 median ask, is on all six of the most recent compatibility lists. Here is what each chip we track asks, and what Apple has and has not said about the machines it still supports.
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Which used Mac to buy for Omarchy M, and what Linux still can't do on it
Omarchy says its installer puts Omarchy next to macOS on an M1 or M2 Mac today. If you already own one, trying it costs nothing. If you are buying one, the HDMI port decides which machine to get, and M3 and later Macs are the ones to skip.
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Prime Big Deal Days RAM: buy 32GB, 64GB or keep DDR4?
Capacity and platform fit come first. Keep working memory for $0 or price one supported kit against dated Newegg alternatives and the complete order cost.
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Mac mini M4 or M4 Pro: what the Pro chip buys for $925 more
A used M4 mini asks $820 at Sept. 15 medians and a used M4 Pro asks $1,745.36. Single-core speed differs by 1.7% and both drive three displays, so the premium buys sustained multi-core work and memory bandwidth — and at that median it is more than a new M5 Pro costs.
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How much memory should you order with a Mac mini?
Apple charges $200 for 24GB and $400 for 32GB on the M6 Mac mini, and the order cannot be revisited after checkout. The Mac already on your desk answers the question in about a minute, for nothing.
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M5 Pro Mac mini for local AI: 24GB, 48GB or 64GB, and what the same money buys instead
Memory is the one choice that cannot change after checkout. Each tier below carries what it holds, a speed labeled measured or estimated and the option that beats it for the same money.
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Which machine to buy for local AI above $4,000
August and September asking-price comparisons showed new Mac Studios competing well at 64GB to 128GB. Check today's exact price and availability, especially at 256GB and 512GB.
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Prime Big Deal Days local AI deals: which GPU or mini PC fits your model?
Start with the model, context and software requirement. Then compare exact capacities, complete costs and delivery against keeping hardware you own.
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Local AI hardware by budget: four rungs, and the first costs nothing
A budget buys a rung, not a machine. Each rung below carries what it runs at about 4-bit, one measured speed with its harness and date, what it cannot do and the page that finishes the decision.
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Can your computer run a local AI model?
Most machines run something at 4-bit. What decides the size is how much memory is left after the system takes its share, and checking that costs nothing.
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Which GPU runs your local model: a used RTX 3090, a cheaper 32GB card or nothing
The model's memory need picks the tier. Measured speed, what cards actually sell for, your power supply and your software pick the card. Sometimes the answer is to keep what you have.
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Choose a portable monitor for Steam Deck
The Deck's USB-C port handles video and its charger. Decide how both will get power before you choose the screen.
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Choose a portable monitor
Answer three questions in order — whether to buy anything, whether one cable will carry video and power to the machine you own, then which screen.
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Portable monitor for a Mac mini: the port, the power and the screen
Use a rear Thunderbolt port, plan the monitor's power yourself and pick the screen for the text you'll read.
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Two monitors on a MacBook: what your chip allows and when you need DisplayLink
The chip, not the dock, sets the limit. Find your row, then buy only what that row needs.
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A Mac mini ships with a power cord. Here is what the desk costs
Apple's in-box list is the computer and a power cord. Most buyers already own a screen, a keyboard and a pointer, so the honest total for them is $0. Here is what the rest costs, row by row.
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Windows 10 PC: keep it, buy a mini PC or switch to a Mac mini
Check the free routes first. An eligible PC moves to Windows 11 at no cost, and Windows 10 PCs enrolled in Microsoft's extended security updates are covered through Oct. 12, 2027. If you replace it, Windows mini PCs start at $299 at maker stores, against $899 for the M6 Mac mini.
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Mac mini storage: internal upgrade or external SSD?
The internal space you need and your actual data port decide the route. Compare complete SSD costs before treating a Prime price as a saving.
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What your Mac mini needs on the desk: displays, ports and switching by model
Some minis need nothing extra. Newer ones need an adapter for USB-A devices, and every model has a display limit to check before you buy a monitor or switch.
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Which monitor to buy for a Mac mini: 4K, 5K or what you already own
A 27-inch 5K screen divides exactly into a 2× desktop at the familiar 1440p size; 4K and 1440p screens trade that for price. Choose the density first, then the size and price.
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New Mac mini: move your files in, then size the backup drive
Moving in from an old Mac or PC costs nothing. A backup drive needs at least twice the new Mac's storage, and one you already own may qualify.
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The cheapest machine for a 70B or gpt-oss-120b model, and which 128GB mini PC to buy
Start with the model you run. The table below shows which routes hold a dense 70B or gpt-oss-120b, what each costs at a dated store price and where to go next, and the five 128GB boxes are compared under it.
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A used M2 Pro Mac mini now costs $9 less than an M4 with the same memory and storage
Secondhand M2 Pro and M4 minis with 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage have median asking prices of $949.99 and $958.87. The $8.88 gap makes the workload, not the price, the deciding factor.
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The $499 M4 Mac mini is a repair listing. The usable floor is $625
The $499 result was a repair listing. The Sept. 2 floor and median are historical; compare any current used offer with a new M6 you can actually obtain.
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Sept. 15 matched panel: outgoing Mac asks fell 11.9%
Through Sept. 15, 101 of 134 matched asks for outgoing Mac mini and Mac Studio models had fallen. This pre-ship panel does not measure the later trade-in wave.
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Where to buy a used or refurbished Mac mini, priced channel by channel
The same base M4 Mac mini asked $721 on Swappa, $850 on eBay and $999 on Amazon Renewed. Choose the channel by the protection you need, then check the ask against a new M6.
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Every M6 Mac mini and M5 Mac Studio memory upgrade costs $25 per gigabyte
Seven memory upgrades across four chips in the new Mac mini and Mac Studio lines, and every one of them works out to $25.00 per gigabyte. The base tiers have cost that since 2020. The big tiers used to cost $10 to $16.67 — the flat rate is an increase everywhere except the bottom.
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When does the RAM shortage end?
The question, verbatim from Hacker News: "Is there anything in the works or planned that suggests the RAMpocalypse will end anytime soon? e.g. new fabs being built." There are new fabs. Almost none of them produce anything before 2028. Here is what the people paid to forecast this actually say, name by name.
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Mac Studio resale value after the M5 announcement: the 2025 models still ask above launch price
In August, five of six base Mac Studio models asked at or above launch price. By Sept. 16 the two 2025 models still did, at 115% and 123%, but each asked less than the new M5 Studio with the same memory, and the three older models with enough listings had slipped below launch.
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Mac LLM tokens per second: M5 Pro and M6 Mac minis, M5 Max and M1-M4
Start with the model you want to run; it sets the memory tier, the Mac and the speed. Most chips have measured speeds, including the M5 Pro and M5 Max that MacBook Pros have carried since March. Figures for the new M5 Pro and M6 Mac minis and M5 Mac Studios are labeled estimates.
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Apple's refurbished Mac desktops are back: nine minis and one Studio
Our first five-day check found no headless Macs in Apple's refurbished store. A Sept. 2 return visit found nine Mac mini configurations and one Mac Studio. The shelf changed; the original observation did not.
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How to buy a used Mac: two locks and a 10-minute inspection checklist
The expensive ways a used Mac purchase goes wrong are a lock tied to someone else's iCloud account, a corporate enrollment tied to the serial number, a battery near the end of its rated life and a price that was never real. Every one is checkable in advance, for free.
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Mac mini and Mac Studio trade-in value vs. selling: what you keep after fees
Apple credit costs no fee. A sale pays 13.6% plus $0.40 on eBay or about 6.5% all-in on Swappa, then a box and postage. Net of those, a base M1 mini belongs with Apple and everything above it belongs on the open market.
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The best used Mac desktop for every budget in 2026
The M1 mini is still the default used-Mac value pick. Around $900-$1,100, compare a used M4 or M2 Pro with the new M6; above that, check Apple's new-machine price first.
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Buy, lease, rent by the hour or subscribe: the local AI arithmetic
Apple leases a 96GB Mac Studio for $110.10 a month. RunPod rents a 96GB card for $1.69 an hour. Which one is cheaper turns on a number almost nobody works out first: the hours a month you will actually use it.
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AI memory per dollar: Mac Studio, Strix Halo and Nvidia compared
Local AI shopping reduces to two numbers — how much memory a model can use, and how fast that memory moves. Here is every machine that plays, from a $3,449 Strix Halo box to a $16,000 Nvidia card, priced per gigabyte and per unit of bandwidth.
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Every Mac mini price since 2005, in today's dollars
The M6 Mac mini's $899 is the highest sticker price in the product's 21-year history. Adjust every generation to today's dollars and the picture changes — three older minis cost more, and the real record belongs to something else entirely.
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When a Mac Studio cluster makes sense, and when it doesn't
Mac Studios can now run one large model across Thunderbolt 5. At 512GB or less, one larger Studio is cheaper. Above 512GB, a cluster is the only Mac path.
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Points per dollar: ranking every used Mac desktop
Divide what a used Mac scores by what it costs and the whole secondhand market sorts into one column. The 2020 M1 mini still tops it at 19.4 points per dollar. The M4 mini has closed to within 0.7, and the scalping premium on the M3 Ultra has halved.
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The first Apple Silicon generation that isn't a better deal
Every Apple Silicon generation until now delivered more speed per dollar than the one before it. By Apple's own performance claims, the desktops announced Tuesday break the streak.
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Used-Mac sellers did not blink on announcement day
Apple's announcement started a countdown on the premium for having a Mac immediately. Twelve same-listing asks barely moved that day. The larger follow-up panel did.
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Buying a Mac around Sept. 22: secondhand until the new machines ship, list price after
Six days out, Apple dates every replacement Mac available starting Sept. 22, and its store no longer lists the four models they replace. Until then, a machine in hand means secondhand or in-stock retail. After that, price the listing in front of you against a published list price.
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What a $100 Intel Mac mini is still good for
Apple Silicon minis hold most of their value used. The Intel minis they replaced sell for $72 to $625 — and for a surprising number of home-server jobs, the old machine does the work. A use-case guide, with the honest limits.