It’s Monday afternoon, February 2, 2026, and if you’ve tried to buy a Mac in the last 48 hours, you probably noticed the “Good, Better, Best” pre-set bundles have vanished. Apple quietly nuked the old landing pages and replaced them with a “Build-it-Yourself” configurator that feels exactly like buying an iPhone.
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The thing is, you’re no longer picking a “starting point”—you’re starting with a blank slate. Or nothing.
The “À La Carte” Mac Store: Field Notes
It’s an ongoing situation where Apple is trying to stop people from feeling “locked in” to a specific SKU, but it also makes comparing prices a bit of a headache. Here’s the ground reality:
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The Step-by-Step Shuffle: Clicking “Buy” now drops you straight into a wizard. You pick your size, then your color, then your chip. Only after you’ve committed to the “Sky Blue” M4 Air do you see the RAM and storage sliders. Those too.
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Dynamic Pricing: As you click, the total at the bottom jumps in real-time. Want 32GB of RAM? Watch that number climb. It’s transparent, but let’s be real—it makes it way easier for Apple to nudge you into “just one more upgrade” since you aren’t seeing the total cost of other pre-built models for comparison.
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Specialist on Speed-Dial: If the new flow feels like too much, they’ve moved the “Shop with a Specialist over Video” front and center (available 10 AM to 7 PM IST in India). It’s a one-way video call—you see them, they only hear you—to help talk you off the “do I really need 2TB of storage?” ledge.
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Groundwork for M5? And here’s the kicker—rumors are swirling that this redesign is just the foundation for the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros expected later this year. By moving to this modular system now, they can swap in the new chips without rewriting the whole store. Or nothing.
Mac Shopping: Old vs. New
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| Feature | The Old Way | The New “iPhone-Style” Flow |
| Starting Point | 3-4 Pre-configured bundles | A single “Buy” button to start from scratch |
| Selection Order | Pick a bundle, then customize | Step 1: Size/Color -> Step 2: Chip -> Step 3: RAM/SSD |
| Comparison | Side-by-side specs of base models | Harder to compare; must build each one manually |
| Bundled Software | Selected at the end of checkout | Integrated as a “pre-install” step with license |
And Here’s the Kicker…
The update also hit the Certified Refurbished store. The thing is, even there, you can now sometimes “configure” options rather than just hunting for a standalone listing that happens to have the exact specs you want. Those too.
One side comment—some users on Reddit are already complaining that the new flow lets you pick RAM options that aren’t compatible with certain chips, forcing you to backtrack. It’s a bit messy. Authentic, but definitely a “version 1.0” vibe. It’s an ongoing situation. Or nothing.
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End…
