Apple’s MacBook Pro memory problem is worse than ever::Apple still sells expensive “Pro” computers with just 8GB of RAM and charges a fortune for more.

  • qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.one
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    11 months ago

    The base models (the air’s, not pro’s), should have shipped with 12-16GB standard, and the pro’s should have shipped with 16-24GB standard. I’d argue that a minimum of 24-32GB should really be the standard on something named a “pro” model.

    Apple’s M-based laptops are really great - excellent display, best-in-class speakers, good keyboard, industry-leading trackpad…But 8GB of RAM for $1600? Get out of here.

      • abhibeckert@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Technically they don’t even have an SSD anymore. They just have a bunch of NAND chips.

        The drive controller is in the CPU. Which is great for performance… especially when you’re reading data that is already cached by the drive controller you’re limited by RAM speed instead of PCIe - but it’s a bit of a headache when it comes to upgrades.

        The band chips are on a daughter board on their larger desktops. And soldered on laptops and the tiny Mac Mini.

      • qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.one
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        11 months ago

        Yes. There is no internal upgradable parts. I believe you can only replace the battery cells, the fans, and the mainboard (motherboard with soldered CPU/RAM(VRAM)/SSD, and all connected modules like the USB chipsets, audio chipset, etc.).

        • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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          11 months ago

          Replacing the motherboard triggers the screen drm and the screen gets all fucked up and won’t go to sleep.

      • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Everything is soldered these days, RAM included, hence the issues and complaints. I find it extra comical that they tried to cheapen on the solder as well, but when that resulted in issues with GPU splitting away from PCB, they glued shoe rubber on top the chip so case pushes it to make contact and called it a “solution”. Haha. Imagine the amount of savings they made on such a wast amount of solder per PCB. It might even approach range in pennies.

        • GamingChairModel@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          It’s not even soldered, they’ve gone further than that. They literally print the memory and storage onto the system on a chip, as part of the fabrication process. No amount of soldering skill will be able to remove and replace that memory/storage, because it’s on the chip itself.

    • fiah@discuss.tchncs.de
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      11 months ago

      32gb might have been “pro” 5 years ago but not anymore, not when a run of the mill 32gb DDR5 kit can be had for $100

        • fiah@discuss.tchncs.de
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          11 months ago

          yes, my opinion is that 32gb was the minimum spec for a “pro” system 5 years ago. Nowadays, if 32gb is actually enough as a minimum spec then you’re in “enthusiast” territory in my opinion, not “pro”. Perhaps that’s more telling about my standards as a PC enthusiast though, and about how far PC hardware has come

          • coffeebiscuit@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            If you ask me, everyone and everything that’s calling itself a pro isn’t really pro.

            And than again John from finance is a professional who want a MacBook Pro. IT gave him a 8gb pro. John is happy and doesn’t know a damn thing about computers.

          • EliasChao@lemmy.one
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            11 months ago

            Disclaimer: I’m in no way trying to defend Apple here.

            Saying that X amount of RAM (or any other component spec for that matter) is not enough for a “Pro” computer is not really a universal truth or something, you can’t compare people running multiple instances of Docker with people doing photo editing or web dev for example.

            Either of those can be “Pros” within their field, their hardware requirements doesn’t make them professionals or enthusiasts. I know I’m being a bit tangential here, but arguing about the “correct” spec por a Pro computer has always irked me.

            That being said, I agree it’s ridiculous that Apple is shipping $1K+ computers with merely 8GB of RAM. Also, it’s known that Apple’s “pro” devices most of the time just mean they’re just their most expensive tier. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

      • De Lancre@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Also, have in mind that main memory shared with igpu, so if we talking about memory heavy tasks like 8k video render with masks, effects and stuff, then this memory will be eaten not only by app, but also with gpu encoder. 64gb would be more close to “bearable minimum” but oh well, magic apple ram I guess.