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expired Posted by 1gokart • Mar 15, 2025
expired Posted by 1gokart • Mar 15, 2025

Apple Mac Studio Desktop: M4 Max Chip, 36GB RAM, 512GB SSD

+ Free Store Pickup

$1,700

$2,000

15% off
Micro Center
118 Comments 74,040 Views
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Deal Details
Micro Center has Apple Mac Studio Desktop (Early 2025, MU963LL/A) for $1699.99. Free store pickup is available where stock permits.

Note: Availability for store pickup will vary by location.

Thanks to community member 1gokart for finding this deal.

Specs
  • Apple M4 Max 14-core CPU
  • 36GB Unified RAM
  • Apple M4 Max Chip 32-core GPU
  • 512GB SSD
  • 10GbE, WiFi 6E (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.3
  • macOS
  • Ports:
    • Front/Top
      • 2x USB 3.2 (Gen 2 Type-C)
    • Back:
      • 2x USB 3.2 (Gen 1 Type-A)
      • 4x Thunderbolt 5
      • 1x HDMI
      • 1x LAN RJ-45
      • 1x Audio

Editor's Notes

Written by johnny_miller | Staff
  • Our research indicates this offer is $299.01 lower (15% savings) than the next best price from a reputable merchant at the time of this post.
  • Please see the original post for additional details & give the forum comments a read for helpful discussion.
  • Get 1%-5% cash back on deals like this with a cash back credit card. Compare the available cash back credit cards here.

Original Post

Written by 1gokart
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Micro Center has Apple Mac Studio Desktop (Early 2025, MU963LL/A) for $1699.99. Free store pickup is available where stock permits.

Note: Availability for store pickup will vary by location.

Thanks to community member 1gokart for finding this deal.

Specs
  • Apple M4 Max 14-core CPU
  • 36GB Unified RAM
  • Apple M4 Max Chip 32-core GPU
  • 512GB SSD
  • 10GbE, WiFi 6E (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.3
  • macOS
  • Ports:
    • Front/Top
      • 2x USB 3.2 (Gen 2 Type-C)
    • Back:
      • 2x USB 3.2 (Gen 1 Type-A)
      • 4x Thunderbolt 5
      • 1x HDMI
      • 1x LAN RJ-45
      • 1x Audio

Editor's Notes

Written by johnny_miller | Staff
  • Our research indicates this offer is $299.01 lower (15% savings) than the next best price from a reputable merchant at the time of this post.
  • Please see the original post for additional details & give the forum comments a read for helpful discussion.
  • Get 1%-5% cash back on deals like this with a cash back credit card. Compare the available cash back credit cards here.

Original Post

Written by 1gokart

Community Voting

Deal Score
+76
Good Deal
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Top Comments

What I did with my Mac mini was get an OWC Thunderbolt enclosure and drop a 4TB WD Black NVME in it. Spent about $350 which was way cheaper than adding storage with Apple's prices.
Wow that beefy of a computer should come with a 2TB SSD! At least 1TB base.
Great deal for the rest of the machine though!
A 14" MacBook Pro with the same M4 Max (and 1TB storage, minimum storage for the MBP with this chip) goes for $3,200 at Apple, just for reference.

The MBP has the screen, keyboard, trackpad, and portability (edit- and 512GB of additional storage), but this Studio gives you a few extra ports (including USB-A and 10Gb Ethernet) and is almost half the price.

117 Comments

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Mar 19, 2025
1,031 Posts
Joined Dec 2007
Mar 19, 2025
kkiran
Mar 19, 2025
1,031 Posts
Quote from BrainDoc :
Macs easily runs cron jobs (although I think Apple is pushing more towards launchd). People use them headless all the time. I used to run a Mac mini headless and then would ssh or screen share in as needed. Discussion here (about Mini but someone mentions Studio): https://talk.macpowerusers.com/t/...less/39519And here is a brief discussion about the possible benefits of launchd: https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/co...r_launchd/
Thank you. I couldn't get MacBook Pro M1 Max and MacBook Air M3 to run from jobs since they sleep. I tried insomnia, no go. I will give it a shot with my Mac Mini or Studio.
I was able to price match with BestBuy btw. we don't even have a Micro Center nearby and I believe MC showed out of stock when I PM'd BB! I'm in Portland, Oregon.
Mar 19, 2025
30 Posts
Joined May 2024
Mar 19, 2025
Ja4ckson
Mar 19, 2025
30 Posts
512GB SSD feels a bit limiting at this price point.
Mar 19, 2025
442 Posts
Joined Feb 2012
Mar 19, 2025
creediddy
Mar 19, 2025
442 Posts
Quote from chagla :
512gb in 2025 is like iphone with 8gb base storage. what a shame. it probably costs apple maybe $10 or $20 for 1TB storage. but hey, you willl pay $400+ for upgrade. cuz apple knows what's best for you.

I believe Apple will discontinue 256GB by 2027 and start MacBook Air's @ 512GB and MacBook Pro base models will start at 1TB. Yes you are correct as I would like to see Studio's start out at 1TB. No reason to have no less than 36GB/1TB for $1699 in a Studio.
Mar 19, 2025
545 Posts
Joined Aug 2016
Mar 19, 2025
shanekelly.nfld.tx
Mar 19, 2025
545 Posts
I was able to get a price match from Best Buy. I may or may not keep it but sure looks like a monster of a machine.

MC was OOS local to me but BB allowed the Price Match.
Mar 20, 2025
57 Posts
Joined Jul 2012
Mar 20, 2025
steve126a
Mar 20, 2025
57 Posts
Quote from Hydose :
I got them to match yesterday March 17, when only Columbus had it in stock. It depends on the rep. I had to try 2 times.

Thanks! I tried again tonight and was able to get the price match after pointing them to a specific store that still showed in stock.
Mar 20, 2025
15 Posts
Joined Nov 2014
Mar 20, 2025
DiscountedSoul
Mar 20, 2025
15 Posts
Quote from BrainDoc :
It's trivial to add a fast external SSD for video editing storage. Get a Thunderbolt enclosure (good ones are $60 - $120) and a fast, reliable 4 TB nvme and you're set for $300 - $400. Or, get a 2 TB drive to drop the price to around $200 total.

Edit: Mac haters out in force today. My suggestion is to go to other threads if you're not interested in this deal. If anyone thinks I'm just an Apple apologist, my main computer is one I built that runs Windows and Linux (but I also have some Macs in the household). I recognize the value of all types of computers. This Mac Studio is not a computer for most people but this is a great price for it. Most people who want or need a Mac should get a Mac Mini or a MacBook Air. The Mac Studio is for a particular subset of people who need something powerful for specific needs (video editing, photo editing, science, etc.).

This is a terrible advice. My current setup is something similar with macbook pro 512 gig and a 4TB USB 4 external drive. It has too many issues with Too many points of failure. Don't take this advice. Make sure you have enough on board storGe.
2
Mar 20, 2025
2,914 Posts
Joined Nov 2005
Mar 20, 2025
BrainDoc
Mar 20, 2025
2,914 Posts
Quote from DiscountedSoul :
This is a terrible advice. My current setup is something similar with macbook pro 512 gig and a 4TB USB 4 external drive. It has too many issues with Too many points of failure. Don't take this advice. Make sure you have enough on board storGe.
I'm sorry you've had trouble. I've been running Macs for years with externally-attached storage without any problems, as have many other people. I have to run my Macs at work with large external storage drives because I have data that takes up 10-20 TB of space (data for my neuroscience research). In about 20 years of doing this, I've never had an issue with spinning HDDs, flash drives, or external SSDs on about a dozen Macs and dozens of drives.

On a home Mac Mini, I keep a 2 TB SSD plugged in all the time and it's never had any issues. It always stays connected. It reconnects automatically if I reboot (system update).

It's hard to know what the issue is with your setup. It's possible the USB cable is bad or damaged. It's possible the drive controller is bad.

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Mar 20, 2025
15 Posts
Joined Nov 2014
Mar 20, 2025
DiscountedSoul
Mar 20, 2025
15 Posts
Quote from BrainDoc :
I'm sorry you've had trouble. I've been running Macs for years with externally-attached storage without any problems, as have many other people. I have to run my Macs at work with large external storage drives because I have data that takes up 10-20 TB of space (data for my neuroscience research). In about 20 years of doing this, I've never had an issue with spinning HDDs, flash drives, or external SSDs on about a dozen Macs and dozens of drives.

On a home Mac Mini, I keep a 2 TB SSD plugged in all the time and it's never had any issues. It always stays connected. It reconnects automatically if I reboot (system update).

It's hard to know what the issue is with your setup. It's possible the USB cable is bad or damaged. It's possible the drive controller is bad.

For video editing I need high speed SSD and the latest gen 4 and Gen 5 Ssds are getting too hot. The fans that came with the external enclosures are not reliable. I changed two enclosures and still the problem persists and the drive gets too hot and the read and write speeds plummet to almost zero. And the problem with cables, they are getting wore out and are constantly disconnecting and I am on third cable now. I am done with this and I am planning to upgrade to Mac studio with 2 TB. So that my working files stay on the machine and I want to use the external SSD as a glorified cache instead of working off of that. I hate apple for their unreseasonable storage pricing and locking down the storage upgrades.
Mar 20, 2025
245 Posts
Joined Aug 2016
Mar 20, 2025
trrbo
Mar 20, 2025
245 Posts
Quote from Fan34 :
I use Windows for my office work, Mac for my personal (numbers, keynote for presentations, photo, video editing etc). To me, windows no where close to Mac. after over 15 years of Mac use, tried to switch to windows for 4090 Nvidia Graphics card and its coming at half of the price. On day 1, photoshop app hung, and I can't even close using Task Manager, returned it immediately. I would never go back to Windows again.

My intel 12th i7 gen / 3060 12gbruns great with adobe products and the OS is snappier than my MacOS. I switch between my 64GB M1 Max 10/32 gpu core and pc desktop regularly for gaming and 4k video / photo editing. So much bloatware running in the background with Mac, I'm using more ram on my MAC than my windows 10 pc for similar tasks. 36gb on the base model studio is not enough for me. I'm thinking of upgrading my pcs ram to 128GB and a 4090 for 4k gaming (Plus boost in video/photo, editing) instead of upgrading to an m4 max while I keep my M1 Max for when I use Mac apps like,Final Cut / pro and on the go. Upgrading my pc instead seems to be the better investment for me since I game and I'm pretty happy with my current pc performance with photo and video editing (Of course it could be better)
Last edited by trrbo March 20, 2025 at 03:36 PM.
2
Mar 20, 2025
169 Posts
Joined May 2005
Mar 20, 2025
noctural
Mar 20, 2025
169 Posts
Quote from aagstn :
What I did with my Mac mini was get an OWC Thunderbolt enclosure and drop a 4TB WD Black NVME in it. Spent about $350 which was way cheaper than adding storage with Apple's prices.

Good speeds? Noticed the Mac Studio onboard nvme does over 10GByte / sec which is pretty impressive.
Mar 21, 2025
1,428 Posts
Joined Jul 2007
Mar 21, 2025
audiophan
Mar 21, 2025
1,428 Posts
Quote from DiscountedSoul :
For video editing I need high speed SSD and the latest gen 4 and Gen 5 Ssds are getting too hot. The fans that came with the external enclosures are not reliable. I changed two enclosures and still the problem persists and the drive gets too hot and the read and write speeds plummet to almost zero. And the problem with cables, they are getting wore out and are constantly disconnecting and I am on third cable now. I am done with this and I am planning to upgrade to Mac studio with 2 TB. So that my working files stay on the machine and I want to use the external SSD as a glorified cache instead of working off of that. I hate apple for their unreseasonable storage pricing and locking down the storage upgrades.
The problem is you're buying the cheapest hardware and expecting it to perform equally.

Cheap NVME's and notorious for poor write speeds once the cache fills up.

If heat throttling is the (unlikely in a properly installed external since it occurs at 80c) issue, try the OWC Express 1M2 Portable. Its a solid chunk of aluminum what wouldn't overheat if you set it on fire.

Cables shouldn't be an issue on a desktop unless you're using it as a jump rope, but again quality can be dependent on price.

Working off external SSD's is fairly standard practice in the Apple ecosystem. Good luck
Mar 21, 2025
927 Posts
Joined Aug 2014
Mar 21, 2025
aagstn
Mar 21, 2025
927 Posts
Quote from noctural :
Good speeds? Noticed the Mac Studio onboard nvme does over 10GByte / sec which is pretty impressive.
Thunderbolt speed. It is as good as what I need. No way it will match that internal speed but I'm not moving around 100GB files where I would notice.
Mar 21, 2025
21 Posts
Joined Jul 2020
Mar 21, 2025
Kbar100
Mar 21, 2025
21 Posts
I wish Micro center would just ship... I ended up getting best buy to price match this for me.
Mar 21, 2025
42 Posts
Joined Aug 2011
Mar 21, 2025
dcpmark
Mar 21, 2025
42 Posts
Quote from SmartHaddock3847 :
Yeah I just successfully PM'd this morning.
Yep, just did a Best Buy price match myself via chat…..free shipping, will be here in four days. Thanks all!
1

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Mar 21, 2025
42 Posts
Joined Aug 2011
Mar 21, 2025
dcpmark
Mar 21, 2025
42 Posts
Quote from shanekelly.nfld.tx :
I was able to get a price match from Best Buy. I may or may not keep it but sure looks like a monster of a machine.MC was OOS local to me but BB allowed the Price Match.
Same thing for me just now.
1

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