Apple

This wouldn't be a big deal if laptops had expandable RAM.

Most people need about 16mb of ram. Get off your high horses

A lot of people being held at gun point to buy 8GB models of MacBooks

Is this possibly a binning issue? Is RAM traditionally made on the same latest processes as CPUs?

Integrating the RAM with the CPU could cause binning issues, no?

$600 AUD to add 1 TB of at storage!! The same price it has been for 10 years!! I can get 1TB for about $70 AUD in nvme! And yes it’s not as good but $600 Dollarydoos!!!

I have a mind to complain to the Prime Minister!!

Most people are buying Macs because of the brand. Just because is Apple they will settle with lower specifications for that enormous price tag. Apple has a reputation for well made and performant devices, made years ago, and they are still reaping the benefits. I believe there is a large percentage of Mac fans who aren't even checking the competition. They simply buy a Mac, because that's what they grown to like and love. It's a flawed and greedy company that successfully grew a fan base.

If people would buy Apple out of reason and not emotion, well then they would not buy Apple at all. Warren Buffet understood this and then went all in on Apple.

Apple: if you're paying for it, it's not a problem.

There is a positive for keeping memory low and that is to keep software lean

Probably the reason why sales on the Mac are down significantly.

I would wager to guess that mass majority of MacBook users don’t actually know the amount of ram they need. The ones that do need more computing power actually know how much they need and will pay for the Apple price unfortunately. What people see as an insult and a problem is nothing more than a solution for Apple. The computer will function fine for the majority of the people that just want a new MacBook to stream their Netflix or use for work/school.

Apple of the past would've just priced the device at $2000+ (16/512) with no option to go lower. A different set of people would then complain that they only needed the performance of a MBA but wanted the screen of the MBP, which is what this is.

Every article: Imagine 8gb “In a few years time”.

The base pro from 10 years ago had 8gb. 10 YEARS! We are way past “in a few years” already.

the problem isn't whether 8 GB are enough for the average joe. the problem is Apple are charging 1599$ for an 8 GB laptop. even for that price, 16 GB are really pushing it — especially with only 512 GB of storage space.

so yes, the problem is Apple are being greedy.

8gb of ram on the Apple silicone is not the same as 8gb ram on an intel based chipset. The Apple silicon for mac is so much more efficient, watch the keynote on the original release of the M1 , it explains how it works

They charge too much for 8gb, but so many articles are coming out that just fundamentally either misunderstand or intentionally misrepresent memory utilization and memory utilization metrics, and they're really muddying the waters around whether or not the average person needs more than 8gb. I still believe the answer is "no" at least when using Apple Silicon. That doesn't mean I think it's sensible to pay $1600 for a computer with only 8gb of RAM, but let's focus the discussion around the right thing: Apple charges too much for 8gb of RAM. The fact that the option is there is not a bad thing, and in fact would be actively a good thing if they priced more reasonably, because it would mean that there is a more affordable entry point for those people who do get by just fine on 8gb.

Even relatively casual users who load up on browser tabs and inefficient Electron apps (household names like Slack, Teams, Discord, etc.) can find performance compromised by running out of RAM.

Based on what? I have never found this to be true on personal machines. Perhaps if you load up on browser tabs and actively use all of them frequently then you'll run into issues. That isn't what most people who use a lot of tabs do, though. The tab is left open as a sort of lower-commitment for of a bookmark. The number of tabs actively used is generally not anywhere near equal to the number of tabs open. Swap handles this beautifully, and additionally, modern browsers are increasingly incorporating tab sleeping to help make both memory and power utilization of a lot of open tabs more efficient. Tab hoarders on desktop are probably tab hoarders on mobile, too, and you don't often hear complaints about how iPhones don't have enough memory because of all the tabs.

Electron apps are not as easily dealt with, but I don't buy that the average user has more than one or two of those running at a time. If you do, then yes, you'll need more RAM. That doesn't mean the lower-RAM option shouldn't exist, though.

As I write this, with just a handful of browser tabs open, Slack, and a distraction-free writing app (iA Writer—it’s great), I’m consuming just about 11GB on my M2 MacBook Air.

Apps will use it if it's there. That doesn't immediately mean you'll notice performance degradation if it's not. I'm using about double that RAM with roughly the same set of open stuff, not because what I'm doing right now demands 20gb of RAM, but because the RAM is there and isn't needed for anything else, so the system can't be bothered to care, and neither can the apps. A lot of modern software is garbage collected, meaning technically unused memory just sits there as long as more memory is available, because there's no reason to take the compute hit of cleaning stuff up if it's not hurting anything by being left behind. Software will intentionally bloat its memory utilization to fill the available memory, that is not the same thing as you "needing" that much RAM.

I would be really curious to see what the conversations would be if the current MacBook Pro were actually just called the MacBook, but was otherwise the same machine offered for the same price. My guess is we'd all be having the real discussion, which is that the 8gb base is actually just fine but the base price is too high (just like we did when the M2 MacBook Air launched, still with just 8gb of RAM, but for $200 more than the outgoing M1 MacBook Air).

Turns out the world’s most profitable company makes decisions that boost its bottom line, who woulda thunk?

Sure sucks for us consumers, but the rest of the laptop is compelling enough people will still pony up for extra RAM rather than leaving the ecosystem for an inferior x86 Windows laptop. And Apple knows it.

It’s simple. Apple knows that overpricing their RAM will frustrate a bunch of people, but not enough to deter a large enough volume of customers. This pricing scheme is probably more profitable overall than them being more competitive with their memory prices.

My wife's 8gb m1 runs faster and cooler than my now-disposed-of i5 16gb Thinkpad from the same time. It still feels like it has years of life left vs the Thinkpad which I dumped.

The issue isn't apple doing this--its that the other manufacturers put out hit-and-miss laptops that always seem to have something wrong with them (thermals, noise, battery, screen, touchpad). Not that apple laptops haven't had problems either, but at least apple gets attention when they screw up.

Just open the mac and insert more larger memory modules /s

Create a swap file and use up the SSD write cycles. Then open the mac and replace the SSD with a new one when it is full or broken. /s

Meanwhile even android phones have 12-16GB LPDDR5X RAM. I know it's not apples to apples comparison but at least I have apple in my comparison lol

Never understood why Macs don't come with 16 (or even 32GB) base RAM. If I'm paying 1100 for a device, I don't expect to have the same amount of ram as a £250 Chromebook, as that's unacceptable, especially when it's £200 to go to 16GB, when in reality, that should be for 64 or 128GB of RAM

How is this any different than what Microsoft is doing with their Surface "Pro" line?

There is no problem. Is just capitalism greed at its finest.

Wow, never thought I’d actually agree with an article like this. Yup, it’s stupid. Yup, you pay too much for too little.

It’s been like this since the creation of Apple. More people get the base model and if you underspec the base model, the time you upgrade is a lot less.

So you make more money over a period of time.

I'm a fan of Apple, but this is indefensible. The lack of aftermarket upgradability (and serviceability) of Apple hardware in general is annoying.

Ignoring the fact that the RAM upgrade pricing is an issue..

Why is this a problem? Seems like a lot of people whining over a potentially imaginary issue that affects no one…

Apple is the exclusive provider of both the software and hardware. They have a significant amount of power, and it's important they use it responsibly. I would hope Mac users would be more vocal about expressing their dissatisfaction when we feel taken advantage of instead of acting as enablers. We have nowhere else to go as switching platforms is a massive burden. It wasn't too long ago that Apple were on the verge of bankruptcy, and it seems they may have forgotten that period.

It’s only a problem if Tim thinks it’s a problem. Unfortunately he’s more concerned with profits and shareholders than he is about customers.

A general Apple user won’t notice a difference between 8 and 32Gb of memory. More click bait.

I was actually talking to someone about this the other day. My current Macs will be my last.

They've always robbed people like this but we could always add more RAM ourselves. Now you can't. The same goes for storage.

I just bought a 4TB M.2 for my PC for $180. Apple charges $1200.

Screw Apple, I'm done!

I have a feeling the 8GB of RAM is their new approach to planned obsolescence. Almost every used device you see for sale right now has 256GB and 8GB of RAM. So the sales figures on those were absolutely insane.

The native Apple silicon has gotten so good that you could use it for years to come, but the 8GB of RAM will be what makes your machine slow/unusable.

This is just my theory though. 8GB of RAM will force you to upgrade sooner

Apple is not for pros. Apple is not for business. Apple is not for creatives. Apple is for average consumers who want a nice looking computer. Our studio switched to PC

Not me.

I buy PCs. If I want a shitty 8GB computer, it's way cheaper.

Base price should get you 16GB RAM and 512Gb storage MINIMUM. Apple charges premium prices they should offer premium products.