The eye watering $200 for 1/4 TB of storage (256->512) is now fixed. Luckily the next jump is only +$200 (+1/2 TB storage, or +8GB ram)

this sucks. I am going to be graduating soon and hopefully will land a job shortly thereafter. I would have loved to get my hands on one of the cheaper models to toy with but looks like that wont be happening :/