Store Memory Price Questions

Mac user Ian visited his local UK Apple store to examine the new MacBook and was ready to make a purchase. However, he learned that upgrading the memory from 512 Mb to 1 Gb was accompanied by some strange pricing. In the end, he decided to spend his money on something else.

“I was told that to upgrade [the MacBook] to 1GB they could…

Remove both 256MB sticks and replace them with one 1 GB stick at a cost of £210, not ideal as the MacBook should have matching sticks for best performance, also I would be left with two 256 MB stick that I have no use for.

Remove both 256MB sticks and replace them with two 512 MB sticks at a cost of £140, this is what I wanted but it is double the cost of the upgrade if you buy from the Apple Store online. I would also end up with two 256 MB sticks again, which I would not be left with if I bought from the Apple Store online.

Remove one 256 Mb stick and replace it with a 512MB stick at a cost of £70, giving me 768 MB which is less than I wanted and 256MB less than I would get from the Apple Store online for the same price and I still have to dispose of the 256 MB stick.

Ian wonders, “Why do Apple not make the purchase the same price in the store as it is online, the staff in the store have said it has put many people off purchasing from the store and from upgrading. There is no guarantee that these people did in fact then order online and buy one either, so sales could have been lost.”

He offers, “The simple solution is for Apple to give a refund to purchasers for the 256MB sticks that are not required. I am sure they can reprocess these. Or just equip the MacBook with one 512MB stick and leave a slot empty like the iMac.”

Apple has always configured its computers with two memory sticks and charged a premium for in-store or on-line upgrades, even when the price of memory has decreased over the years. Anyone know why Apple has this policy?

Update: I received several e-mails with further explanations of the policies and background on RAM upgrades:

The reason that Apple has higher prices in store than online is simple, cost! When you order online the RAM can be reused in another brand new Mac on the conveyor belt so to speak, in a Retail Store it can’t as they are already boxed up ready to go. It really is that simple!

The reasoning behind this is all very simple. If a customer orders a machine with 1gb RAM online, it is a custom order and the machine will have never had those two 256mb chips inside, thus the customer is never charged for the 256mb chips. If a customer goes to 1gb in the store, Apple has to pull the RAM chips out and install 2 512mb chips. If Apple matched the online price to go to 1gb, that effectively makes the 512mb RAM in each machine essentially free, regardless if the customer upgraded or not. Some stores would ‘match’ the online price and ‘buy back’ this RAM. This is probably coming to an end though because some stores literally have hundreds of ram chips with nothing to use them for. These pulled RAM chips are not in inventory, so stores cannot sell them. They cannot be sent back to Apple for reuse. They cannot be donated, they will sit in the store and take up space. Ian’s “simple” solution is not. For the very reasons I mentioned, refunding for RAM is not an option anymore. Refunding RAM for a customer in effect loses the store money and actually ends up that the store “pays” the customer to upgrade their RAM. For the reasons Ian mentioned, the Macbooks and Mac minis come with paired RAM chips because of the dual-channel performance benefits they would recieve because they have only integrated video. MacBook Pros and iMacs both come with one 512 chip (or 1gb chip depending on the MacBook Pro model).

One: the reason that apple chooses to put two 512 chips in and not a single 512 is because of the dual processor each core has its own frontside bus and works best went it has it matching pairs. this also helps with the video card processing too. You can use a single memory chip but it will not work as well and video performance will suffer even more. Two: while I totally feel for the guy, Apple does not give credit back for the memory because, honestly what are we going to do at the store with 256mb chips? Nobody in the last two years hase ever come in and asked for a 256mb chip of RAM, let alone in pairs like we would have to have now.

This story is ridiculous. This gentleman must have been helped by a new employee. Apple Retail will always match on-line pricing for hardware they have in stock. They would have credited this man for the original RAM and installed the upgrade for no charge within 24 hours. This is called “Standard Care.” All CPU purchases receive Standard Care service at no charge. This includes RAM installs, software installs, OS updates, printer driver installs, and even basic data transfers from another Mac or PC. I recommend this gentleman go back to the store and talk with another Mac Specialist or even a manager.

Why Apple charges more for in-store RAM: Apple Retail gets finished, sealed boxes of stock models. To upgrade RAM in a MacBook, they have to: a) Pull out 256MB sticks; b) Take 512MB or 1GB sticks from existing, individually-boxed sellable inventory; c) Install new chips. Some Apple stores will do this (depending on the manager’s store policies): d) Refund the price of the 256MB sticks to have the computer’s price ultimately match an online CTO price; e) Figure out what to do with two 256MB sticks that would be an upgrade to no one. At my former store we offered to match any online price. This left us with a lot of useless 128MB sticks of RAM. As time goes by (or not), that RAM is useless, and the store ends up taking a $50-$100 hit. Until Apple stores are given “gutted” SKUs (not likely), or have a wormhole to China (even less likely), RAM upgrades will continue to be an inventory/customer service nightmare for the retail stores. As for high RAM prices, it’s mostly profit, and partially warranty subsidies (It’s the only RAM covered under your warranty).

(Why does Apple charge a premium?) Simple, to make people buy BTO products. Because by upgrading for theirself would void the guarantee or even Apple Care ;)

Just to add to the debate going on, both the Xxxx and Xxxx store will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS match the online price, even though it means having a box in the back with literally hundreds of 256mb paper weights.

Also check this MacInTouch report.

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