Amazon Cuts New Apple Macs by Up to $49 as B&H Slashes Samsung 4TB SSD by $680

Q: Why are savvy Mac buyers ignoring Apple's internal upgrades to chase a massive $680 discount on external storage instead?

Savvy Mac buyers are chasing the external SSD deal because Apple’s internal storage upgrades remain expensive, fixed at purchase, and only modestly discounted, while the Samsung offer delivers a far bigger value jump in usable capacity. The new Mac mini and Mac Studio discounts are relatively small — up to $49 off — and Apple’s own storage and memory upgrades have become a major pain point as component prices rise. Reviews of the new Mac Studio specifically flag Apple’s memory and storage add-ons as costly. That makes a heavily discounted 4TB external SSD more attractive than paying Apple’s premium for more internal capacity. The Samsung T7 Shield deal is unusually large in this market. At $464.99, buyers get 4TB of portable storage for $680 less than the listed price, with up to 1,050MB/s read speeds, rugged IP65 protection, and broad Mac compatibility over USB-C. In a period of rising SSD and memory prices, such a discount stands out far more than a $20 or $49 cut on a new Mac. There is also a practical reason. Apple’s internal SSD cannot be upgraded later, but external storage can be added as needs grow. For many users — especially photographers, editors, and anyone managing large media libraries — fast external storage is the cheaper way to expand a Mac without sacrificing the performance benefits of the new M6, M5 Max, or M5 Ultra chips. In effect, buyers are separating compute from capacity: buy the Mac for processing power, and buy storage where the value is better.

3 articles · Updated · MacRumors · Sep 23

Amazon posted the first post-launch discounts on Apple’s new Mac mini and Mac Studio, trimming select models by up to $49.
The biggest Mac deal is the M5 Max Mac Studio with 36GB RAM and 512GB SSD at $2,449.99, down from $2,499, while Mac mini configurations fell to $879.99 and $1,069.99.
Apple says the M6 Mac mini delivers up to 40% faster CPU performance, 4x faster AI performance, 2x faster graphics and 2x faster storage versus the prior-generation model.
B&H Photo separately cut Samsung’s 4TB T7 Shield Portable SSD to $464.99 from $1,144.99 for one day, a $680 markdown despite broader storage price hikes this year.