The $14,000 Mac Studio is extremely costly — but don't say it's overpriced.

      There’s a common belief among certain groups that even the top-tier Apple products are severely overpriced. This perspective holds that Apple sets exorbitant prices for its devices and that only gullible customers pay the full asking price for its offerings.

      However, like many widely accepted notions, this one isn’t always accurate. In fact, I would contend that it’s often mistaken when applied to Apple.

      Sure, I’m not claiming that Apple products aren’t expensive — they certainly are — and in some instances, they might be overpriced (Apple’s charges for Mac memory and storage come to mind). However, it’s vital to distinguish between being expensive and being overpriced. Apple devices often fall into the former category, but are they really overpriced? That’s a completely different discussion.

      The $14,000 deal

      Apple

      Consider the iPhone as an example. It's regarded as one of the finest smartphones globally and consistently achieves impressive sales figures. If it were overpriced, would millions of people continue to buy it year after year? Certainly not; consumers are savvy and can easily identify a subpar product (just look at the Humane AI Pin).

      The recent Mac Studio also exemplifies this point well. If you configure this device to its peak capabilities, you can expect to pay a remarkable $14,099. Furthermore, it doesn’t even come gold-plated.

      That may seem like an astonishing amount of money, but think about what it offers:

      An M3 Ultra chip featuring the fastest CPU core available

      512GB of unified memory that outperforms standard RAM due to its unified architecture

      An impressive 16TB of extremely rapid SSD storage

      A compact design

      Excellent build quality that ensures longevity

      Attempting to assemble a Windows system with similar capabilities would likely cost you significantly more. If you were to specify a comparable setup from Dell, for instance, you could easily spend twice Apple’s asking price for inferior performance housed in a bulkier, less aesthetically pleasing case. At the higher end, Apple offers surprisingly good value.

      Priced for performance

      Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

      So, why does Apple have a reputation for charging too much? Some of it may be warranted, as the memory and storage upgrades I mentioned earlier indicate. However, that doesn’t fully explain the perception — it’s clear that the Mac Studio is not overpriced, despite its high cost.

      From my perspective, part of the issue lies in the fact that Apple is a company that unapologetically produces premium devices. As noted by our Mac Studio reviewer, the machine “exhibits that exquisite Apple manufacturing prowess that the company applies to all its products.” Even its more affordable items, like the iPhone 16e, convey a sense of luxury. This quality can be challenging to quantify and may seem overpriced to individuals who don’t appreciate that type of aesthetics.

      Another factor is that Apple primarily targets consumer products, meaning most of its customers are regular consumers rather than high-demand professionals. Consequently, when a consumer sees something like the Mac Studio or the Mac Pro, they struggle to comprehend how $14,000 could be justified as good value.

      For their needs, where a $999 MacBook Air or a $1,599 MacBook Pro would suffice, $14,000 certainly appears unreasonable.

      Apple

      However, this audience is not the intended market for these powerful machines. For those who need to process high-resolution videos quickly or handle demanding machine learning tasks daily, $14,000 is a fair price. Context is crucial.

      So, should you purchase a Mac Studio? Not unless your workloads are extraordinarily demanding and it fulfills your specific requirements. It is indeed very pricey, and both the investment and the performance would be wasted if you could manage with something more economical.

      Nonetheless, not everyone would share that viewpoint, and for those requiring power — or simply desiring a premium device that radiates luxury — the expense is justified. If anything, the eye-wateringly priced $14,000 Mac Studio demonstrates that perhaps $14,000 isn’t such a steep price to pay for a professional-grade computer after all.