Ex-Employee Claims Tech Firm Is Destroying 48GB RAM MacBooks

In the middle of a global memory crunch that has driven up hardware prices across the tech industry, a former employee at a "big" technology company claims their ex-employer is physically destroying more than a hundred high-end MacBook Pros rather than wiping and reselling or donating them.

The account originates on Reddit, where a user named "ExtensionPut2939" shared details about a regional office closure. According to the post, the company laid off more than 200 employees in several waves. But instead of letting departing workers keep their laptops, return the machines to central IT, or donate them to schools, management allegedly ordered the complete physical destruction of the remaining office hardware, including over 100 MacBook Pros.

These are not old and dilapidated machines being destroyed, either.  According to the user, most of the models being sent to the digital afterlife are M4 MacBook Pro laptops equipped with 48GB of RAM. Apple does not sell these models anymore, but to put it into context, a 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro with 48GB of RAM starts at $3,099, while the 15-inch model with the same amount of unified memory starts at $3,599.

The timing is a tough pill to swallow for outsiders looking in, given that there is an AI-driven global shortage of DRAM that is driving up prices on laptops, game consoles, PC memory, and more. So why would a company choose to destroy such expensive hardware? It's not out of malice, but likely corporate policy with regard to privacy and security.

Apple’s hardware design plays directly into this as well. Because Apple solders the SSD chips directly onto the logic board alongside its unified memory, IT departments cannot simply pull out an M.2 drive to shred it independently while saving the rest of the laptop. To destroy the storage, the entire machine has to go into the shredder or under a drill press (at least if going the quickest and easiest route).

While the destruction of hardware in a corporate setting is far from new, the timing makes this instance particularly hard to stomach for hardware enthusiasts, or even just casual consumers. DRAM supply bottlenecks and rising component costs have driven up laptop prices across the board, including Apple models. Apple even raised the price of its budget-oriented MacBook Neo with just 8GB of unified memory.