Apple has updated its website with changes to the checkout flow when buying a new Mac. Previously, the Apple Online Store would show you a range of preconfigured options with specific processors, RAM, and storage configurations, before letting you dive into the granular configurator.
With this week’s revamp, however, those preconfigured options have been removed…
The change was spotted by users on Reddit as well as Consomac. It applies to the checkout experience for all of Apple’s Mac models, desktop and laptop alike.
Here’s how it works.
Take the MacBook Pro as an example. Previously when you clicked the “Buy” button, Apple’s Online Store would first take you to a landing page. On this landing page, you’d see a range of prebuilt options with various chip, RAM, and storage options.
On that page, you’d choose the starting configuration by clicking “Select” and could then fine-tune your machine to your exact preference or proceed with the default configuration.
The previous “Choose your new Mac” landing page that Apple has now removed.
Starting this week, however, that first step has been removed. Now, when you click the “Buy” button, you’re taken directly to the configurator. Apple has ditched the landing page strategy altogether. Essentially, every Mac is now built from scratch in the configurator.
When you click the “Buy” button, you’re taken to the configurator where you choose screen size and color (if you’re buying a laptop), then specific features like chip, unified memory, and storage capacity.
If you’re the type to speculate, this could be an indication of new MacBook Pros coming soon. We’re still waiting on Apple to release the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro variants. Perhaps this change to the Apple Store website is Apple laying the groundwork for that launch.
The new Mac checkout flow is similar to the iPad and iPhone, so it makes sense Apple has made this change to unify the experience. Still, I can see how it might be confusing for users who want a specific “starting place” when buying a Mac. It also makes it harder to directly compare prices between specific configurations.
What do you think of this change? Let us know down in the comments.
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