Apple has doubled the price for upgrading the RAM on the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro, with customers in the United States now being charged $200 to move from 8GB to 16GB compared to the previous $100 upgrade price. Similar increases are seen in other countries, such as moving from €125 to €250 in Germany and from £100 to £200 in the United Kingdom.
It’s not clear why Apple increased the price of the upgrade. Supply chains across industries have been disrupted by the Coronavirus pandemic the prices of RAM upgrades on other Mac models haven’t changed. That said, the MacBook Pro model in question uses LPDDR3E memory. (Higher-spec versions of the laptop use LPDDR4X memory.) This type of RAM is, in a word, old, and so it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Apple could be running into supply issues.
Whether it comes down to market disruption, scarcity or something else, the $100 increase will likely be frustrating to prospective customers. 8GB or RAM is sufficient for tasks like web browsing, email and using productivity apps, but if a customer is hoping to use their MacBook Pro for anything more resource-intensive, like graphic design or video editing, the upgrade to 16GB is arguably a necessity.
