Bad news: Apple drops high-memory Mac Studio configs

Apple has silently axed the high-memory SKUs for its Mac Studio lineup, leaving the M3 Ultra model capped at 96GB of unified RAM. The 256GB configuration disappeared this week, following the 512GB option that was removed back in March. The company confirmed that both the Mac Studio and Mac mini will remain supply-constrained for the next few months, with the Mac mini also stuck at 48GB maximum. Industry speculation points to soaring costs for high-stacked memory chips as the primary cause — Apple likely found it uneconomical to continue producing the large memory modules.

This is a significant blow to AI developers and researchers who relied on the Mac Studio’s relatively affordable high-RAM configurations to run large language models locally. The unified memory architecture allowed models like the 397B-parameter Qwen to fit entirely in RAM without expensive server GPUs. With the 256GB and 512GB options gone, the most capable configuration now offers only 96GB — roughly enough for a 70B-parameter model at best. Users who already own the M3 Ultra 512GB are advised to hold onto their units, as resale value is likely to spike. The decision underscores Apple's pivot away from enthusiast AI workloads toward volume production.