Apple has a memory problem and we’re all paying for it::Apple still sells expensive “Pro” computers with just 8GB of RAM and charges a fortune for more.
Alternate title: Apple charges fortune for underspecced machines, morons still buy them
Please tell me, as someone who has not given Apple money in over a decade, how I am paying for this.
Apple fans will say with a straight face they can’t use anything other than a Mac.
The closing sentence of the article…
“as Apple customers, we shouldn’t stand for it”
Apple customers…
“Here’s my $200”
Apple fan here, and I love what they’ve done with hardware the last few years. That said…. I have to agree. Base RAM config is silly low, and higher RAM and SSD configs are stupid expensive. It’s a money maker for sure, I wish it wasn’t so obviously a cash grab. I’d be ok with a bit more padding in the base hardware price if the ram wasn’t so expensive to upgrade.
In the old days this was a moot point because you buy base config and immediately swap for after market big sticks- I did that for decades, but these days with soldered RAM and storage…. Eh, it’s a bit of a kick in the balls.
I am stoked for my new M3 next week though, good thing work pays for it!
Imagine if you had to buy it yourself. Really. Screw apple. I’m done with their blatant manipulation and control.
Apple fan here
asking for contempt? ;-)
Memory is memory. Apple’s attempt at branding these machines as “different” as if they were more efficient at using that memory, is absolutely fucking stupid. These Pro machines are used for large file operations like videos, and their response is simply “guess you need to pay more”.
I feel like they’re trying to get back to the PPC days where generally available parts are not cheap. I hope plenty of cheap alternatives show up on Newegg or wherever. Fuck this bullshit.
deleted by creator
RAM is boring… THE FINISH IS TITANIUM!!!
THAT’S LITERALLY OUR ENTIRE MARKETING CAMPAIGN!
I can’t believe that Apple would do this. It’s so not like them to cripple great machines with one horrendous bottleneck. Like could you imagine if they released an iMac in 2020 that they sold until the release of the M1 iMac that had a 1TB hard drive in it as a boot device? That’d be insane.
Hah, I just wrote a comment about how they used to ship computers back in the 90’s that had resistors in them to make them slower, so they could sell cheaper “budget” versions of their faster computer models.
This is a prime example of how capitalism “innovates”.
Yes. Unfortunately people who buy Apple don’t care. This is what happens when you prioritise brand and design over functionality. You end up paying more for the brand (worse shit, but hey you can feel good about buying such a great product!).
As an Apple user: I do care. However, the alternative is using Windows, which makes me wanna punch my monitor at least once a month. And I’m not even using it as a primary OS.
I don’t prioritize design and don’t care about brand at all but I care about a frust free experience and I just don’t have that with windows.
Running a hackintosh was less frustrating than using windows on the very same hardware…
If Linux supported the software and the features I need/want, I would very much just use that
What does Windows do to make you want to punch your monitor?
For example (and that is only one out of many over the years), on my one PC search just refused to work. Windows search isn’t great but not having it is even worse than that and no matter what I did, neither the search in the Start menu nor in the Explorer worked. Couldn’t type in anything. If I opened the on screen keyboard, it did work but not with my physical one. I even reinstalled Windows from scratch and it worked for a few weeks and then stopped again. No one why. Only got fixed once I went back to Win 10.
Another Example is Microsofts over-insistence to force Edge, bing, OneDrive, Office365, etc. on you. It feels like, once a month, when I log in, I get a splash screen to please subscribe to one of those services and also use Bing and also, they put the Edge icon back onto my Desktop.
It’s things like those that just annoy the shit out of me. I want to use my PC, not to constantly fix it. And it’s a myriad of other thing like that. Some small, some bigger.
It’s not that macOS is better in every way, there are a few things Windows undoubtedly does better (like having a keyboard shortcut to open the file explorer) but for my day to day use, macOS has kept out of my way and just done what it’s supposed to. And sadly macOS is a package deal with Macs, which are great, hardware wise but also very expensive. But considering the software advantage, the Apple tax is worth it, at least to some extent
I personally never had much problems with Windows 11, but I fully understand the edge frustration. I used MacOS for many years, but not without tweaking and porting the hell out of it. The problem with Apple for me is their lack of reparability and the absurd prices of their hardware. I now mostly use Linux, although it’s far from perfect and nowhere near as good as some claim, so I’m still forced to stick with Windows.
Use “everything” by VoidTools to search the file system. It’s the perfect search tool, very powerful and lightning fast.
Noted. Does it also start programs?
You can click on the files it shows, and if it’s a .exe file you can start the program
So it’s not useful for that. But having a decent search is defs a pro.
It seemed obvious to me that they do this so that they can say the MBP costs “as low as X”, but in fact everyone needs to pay at least $200 more
*fan bois are paying for it
He’s paying for it. Many of us don’t buy Apple products.
Removed by mod
Yeah, I’m not complaining either
I recently had to replace my Mac and was not at all happy with the ridiculous 8GB default. Ended up getting my first Windows machine in 10+ years. Same for my sis, she really wanted a Mac but work was only going to shell out $1500. You can get a helluva Windows machine for $1500 (64GB of RAM and 2TB HD). Sure it may not be “Retina” or have an insane color profile, but like great TVs, most people can’t tell unless they’re right next to a superior one.
Having had multiples of windows and linux laptops in the past, I’ve gotta say that one can’t put a price on convenience and UX. I never liked using a laptop, carrying one around, especially working with one, until I ate my pride and tried a MacBook.
This is entirely subjective though. Previously I always compared the specs like that too, but I’ve come to realize there’s plenty more to these products beyond what can be listed in the spec sheet and easily compared like that.
But this is neither here or there, just that your message rang an old bell, and I thought I’d just chime in. I hope you have a great time with the new computers, we humans have different tastes and needs 😌
Can you elaborate further on the benefits? I have a Mac mini M1, a MacBook Pro M2, a more powerful Lenovo laptop, a more powerful Dell XPS, and a more powerful windows desktop (on paper).
I don’t use them a lot, but thus far, I struggle to find any benefit to MacOS. I use them because I have to and, generally, no longer than that. I mean, I might as well use Linux at that point and make my life easier and productivity faster. Mac keyboard shortcuts are an absolute nightmare to me (but maybe I’m just not used to them?)
I must be missing something, because some people swear by them.
Agree with you fully on the shortcut front, and it’s very confusing that ctrl is separate from the command key. The whole keyboard layout is also a nightmare, but this is probably because I’m in Sweden, where the Swedish mac keyboard layout is radically different from the normal Swedish keyboard layout that all other computers use. When I help out someone with programming on a mac, I always end up telling them “please press pipe” or tilde, braces, backslash, or even at-sign, as these are not printed on the keys. They are accessible through the option key, but you’ll have to test all combinations to find which one is where and memorize this.
Battery life is crazy good. Nothing windows based can even get close right now.
The trackpad is a step above anything else on the market.
I rarely use keyboard shortcuts. There’s never been a need for them imo. I don’t like using shortcuts on my windows machines either, preferring the mouse. The few shortcuts I do use are from the trackpad, which are a few fairly intuitive gestures.
The fact that mainstream software runs on them is a massive draw as well. Final Cut, Photoshop, Lightroom, etc all won’t run on any Linux distro.
If you don’t use any laptop often, it’s probably not going to be worth it. But if you need a high performance laptop they’re pretty much the best option outside of price
Not everyone prioritizes productivity and fastness. It’s entirely subjective, and you probably just aren’t one of those that see and feel the benefits of it, and that’s entirely valid too 😌
Personally I am a software engineer with a creative streak, enhanced by adhd, so I guess the combination of those and all of the rest of me just results in me performing better, more focused and more at home with a mac. I doubt there’s a way to quantify that in any objective sense, not for me anyway. Maybe a psychologist could explain.
What I can say, is a lot of my work I do moving around, so having a device I actually can bother to carry with me without disdain is a big plus, so the weight and form factor helps a lot there I think. And the battery, for sure. And the speed at which I can quit and resume work. All of these also mesh well with my adhd, which tends me towards moving a lot and taking a lot of pauses in between work sessions.
And I tend to drop my devices a lot, and so far the Apple products have been the only ones to sustain that 😅
“yeah, could you please get me that unusable os, with the impossible shortcuts, I like to do things differently.” What are you talking about. Even if I’m casually using my pc, why wouldn’t I use shortcuts to make better use of it? Especially after paying a huuuuge premium for the device?
The conclusion that I get from you is: I know it’s not as usable, but I like it so much, I’ll say productivity is not the main goal. I really don’t get it. Especially as you are a programmer.
Also, I don’t know how one could get a “at home” vibe with unusable shortcuts and an ecosystem that fucks its users on the regular …
Might come off as harsh or mean, but that’s not my intention, I really just don’t get it ^^
Well, the shortcuts are customizable, and as a prior emacs enthusiast, I’ve never encountered unusable or impossible shortcuts.
But then again, this is subjective, so we can’t really argue about that my dude.
To me, all of it is convenient. Shortcuts included. The conclusion you drew is just a projection from your point of view, and as such, it’s understandable, but none of that is anything akin to what I am saying…
Yeah, I guess you’re right.
I could get a beefy windows machine for the price of my M2 air. I’m a software dev and I’ve recently switched from Windows 10 box and Linux laptop.
If you look at the other top stories on Technology, you see:
- MS mentions pushing AI search to Windows 10
- MS asks you for reasons to close OneDrive
For last month, MS was pastering me to create a web account to login to my old win10 machine.
And essentially, MS got me soo tired with all this bullshit, that I’ve switched to Apple. And the only thing that I have to be aware of, is that it often makes sense to wait before upgrading system version.
Not that I doubt the power of complaining on a niche social media but… https://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html Here’s a feedback form if you want to let Apple know it’s too much…
Feedback with your wallet. But that won’t happen.
That’s the case, haven’t bought an mbp in like 7 years, still running smoothly. I’ll buy one when they make memory cheaper.
I remember back in the 90’s when some Macintosh computers came with resistors making them slower, so that Apple could sell “budget” models of their faster line of computers.
We were savvy and would remove them, but I bet 99% of buyers had no clue and just went along with it.