Why I bought a $5,300 Apple Mac Studio in the midst of tariffs news – and don't regret it

“May you live in interesting times” is a phrase often attributed as a Chinese curse. In reality, the phrase can be traced back to Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, who was the British ambassador to China in 1936. In his 1949 book, Diplomat in Peace and War, he attributes the phrase to something a friend told him. The friend apparently told him of the so-called Chinese curse before Ambassador Knatchbull-Hugessen took his posting in China.

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The irony of the phrase, of course, is that “interesting times” sounds like a nice thing to say, but it could be interpreted as a dark way of wishing someone to live in times of trouble and unrest.

We, dear reader, are living in interesting times.

The tariff unknowns

As you are undoubtedly aware, tariffs are at the top of the economic news. My wife and I have run our small businesses together for a very long time, through a number of recessions and periods of economic unrest. I even wrote a book, The Flexible Enterprise, which talked about how to run a business that is responsive and agile, particularly in response to economic forces.

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While we have been tracking the tariffs issue fairly closely, the news that China is being hit with 125% tariffs was at the top of today’s planning meeting agenda. Tariffs applied to other countries were also of concern because we do not know how vendors will respond to these sweeping economic changes.

We also do not know how long the tariffs will last or whether there will be lasting price increases even if they are withdrawn. (Update: Since publishing, the US has announced a 90-day pause on tariffs, lowering rates for some countries to 10% and raising China from 104% to 125%.)

I purchase a lot of robotic motion control equipment from Turkey-based vendor Edelkrone. Turkey was only hit with 10% tariffs, but Edelkrone’s response has been to eat those costs so it does not pass the added rates on to its customers. From a consumer point of view, this is great, but I worry about the company. It is a small company with a very niche product and a high cost of goods, and it is unclear how long it can withstand a hit to its margins like this.

Also: Why Temu’s bargain prices are about to hit a tariff wall

And then we get to Apple. Apple produces its gear in many countries. The Mac Studio, which is my main production machine, may be produced in Malaysia, but many of the components, and rare earth minerals, come from China. Malaysian goods have been hit by 24% tariffs while, as I said, China’s rate is now 104%.

Mission-critical machine

My M1 Max-based Mac Studio has started feeling its age. I have been experiencing slow-downs during video production and 3D modeling, and last month when I tried to modify a complex model to prepare it for 3D printing, the machine slowed down to an unusable crawl.

Even so, last month when Apple introduced the new M4 Mac Studio, I said I was going to wait. I wanted to see how the year turned out financially for my small business before plunking down $5,300 for an upgrade.

Also: I spent $4K on my Mac Studio 3 years ago – should I upgrade to the 2025 model?

But then, there are the tariffs.

My wife and I discussed this. We know that I need a new machine. Let us be clear. This is not a hobby or an optional purchase. I make the bulk of my living through my main desktop machine. Yes, I have a bunch of other machines, including some Windows machines and Linux boxes, but my day-to-day production income is produced using that machine. It is a mission-critical device.

I initially wanted to delay an upgrade because $5,300 is a lot of money, and I thought I could limp by for another six months or so. That strategy made sense before the imposition of the new tariffs.

What would happen if I waited to upgrade?

Here is the question we discussed at length. If I wait to buy an upgrade, will that $5,300 machine cost me nearly $11,000?

Also: Are tariffs about to make your next iPhone way more expensive? It’s complicated

The jurisdictional basis for Mac Studio tariffs is not clear. The M1 Mac Studio is made in Malaysia, but the shipping tracking information for my machine said the unit I ordered back in 2022 was shipped from China. Some other users have reported that their Mac Studios ship from China if the configuration ordered is not the base configuration. My Mac Studio is far from a base configuration, so there is a good chance the new one will also be assembled in China.

This level of uncertainty is troubling. For my own decision, I had to factor in that while I do not want to spend $5,300 now, it is a necessary business expense. For the economy as a whole, uncertainty is a key component that fosters recession, and the more uncertain we all are, the more the economy will likely contract.

While $5,300 is a stretch financially, double that would be an unreachable expense. Even if the tariffs were calculated based on Malaysian tariff surcharges, the new machine would cost me north of $6,500.

Financially prudent decision

So, we decided that, given the uncertainty, purchasing now would be the most financially prudent decision we could make.

I went to the online Apple store and ordered a Mac Studio equipped with an M4 Max chip with 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU, and 16-core neural engine, 128GB unified memory, and 8TB SSD storage. That is roughly double the CPU performance, double the RAM bandwidth, double the RAM, and double the storage of my current machine.

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I am not advocating that everyone run out and start buying Apple products, although Bloomberg is reporting that I am not alone in trying to get ahead of the tariffs. Fundamentally, there were four factors in my decision:

1. I will need to upgrade this machine in 2025, and it was just a question of when.
2. This is my primary work machine, the primary engine for making my living.
3. It is a very expensive machine, so absolute out-of-pocket costs based on tariff percentages will be considerably higher than for smaller consumer electronics devices.
4. Therefore, the potential added expense if the purchase is delayed, and the potential amount of money saved, would be considerable.

Is this really a panic buy?

The added $442 on my Apple Card each month for the next 12 months is not exactly something I was expecting to incur starting now. But since the machine upgrade was going to happen at some point, our decision really became a matter of when.

Also: If you’re planning to upgrade your phone, you might want to buy one now – here’s why

I am due to get the machine sometime in the next four weeks. When I do, I will report back to you about how it performs compared to the M1 Mac Studio I am using right now. Stay tuned.

What about you? Have the new tariffs impacted your purchasing decisions or business planning? Would you have made the same choice about upgrading now, or would you have waited? How do you handle large expenses when economic conditions are this uncertain? And if you are a Mac user, do you think the M4 upgrade is worth the price? Let us know in the comments below.

You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly update newsletter and follow me on Twitter/X at @DavidGewirtz, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, on Bluesky at @DavidGewirtz.com, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.

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