This is an entirely new point of view that, for some odd reason, I have never read or even considered before.
For the most part, I agree. Especially since people seem to be upgrading more often than ever before.
I disagree. I think people upgrade a lot LESS. Back in the 90's, we upgraded every couple of months. Of course, everything WAS upgradable. The motherboard had a CPU socket and RAM, that's it! You put on your own hard disk controller (so if a new faster version of PATA came out, you didn't need a new motherboard or a new computer, you just swapped the card!). When CD-ROMs started making an appearance, if your motherboard didn't support it (and it didn't, none of them really did), add a card! Video, audio, 2D accelerators, FPU units, you name it.
Back in the 90's, my computers might have had 7 or 8 add on ISA and later PCI cards and were upgraded constantly just to keep up. CPU's were very upgradable back then, whereas sockets and chipsets change so much that it's hard to really upgrade a CPU anymore (soldered on to most notebook motherboards nowadays)
It is a good point of view though. He makes some good points. Standards change long before a need for more/new stuff changes. I upgraded laptops not to get more RAM or a bigger hard drive, but to get the latest generation CPU, GPU, to get new I/O standards like thunderbolt and USB 3.0, etc.
But I still think, with the non-retina models, it's so cheap to go with 16 gigs why not? So I did! 16 Gigs of RAM was like $20 more, and it's useful in Virtual Machine applications.
I doubt it - they never have in the past few years (it could change, but not this year. In the near future, though.). And I'm not meaning to generalize, but a lot of people buying the 13" Pro most likely won't need more than 8GB. The 13" is more consumer focused (though the Retina 13" pushes the boundaries on consumer priced laptops), and the 15" is geared more towards the "professionals" (I use that term loosely). That's just how I see it. I could be wrong
I agree. I also think the 13" is a glove-fitting form factor. I LOVE it. But MAN I wish Apple would squeeze a nice GPU in there!
My dream for the MBP though, is a quad core CPU, a later and faster iteration of thunderbolt, AND a company ACTUALLY MAKING (not just showing it at CES year after year and not to much as one prototype in the wild) a GPU enclosure that will let me add an external GPU. I mean, when I'm on the go, I don't REALLY need a high end GPU. But at my desk, plugging it into a thunderbolt GPU means delicious performance!
I also think the 16 gigs for the 13" is also a supply chain issue. Performance-demanding individuals will typically go with the 15" model. It's a very much higher performing machine. I love performance, but I have a fast desktop and would rather have the flawless 13" form factor over a quad core and GPU (wish I didn't have to choose though). I went with 16 gigs of RAM on my non retina but, only because it was cheap (4 gigs just isn't enough, and 16 gigs was only like 20 bucks more than 8). It also helps in VM applications. However, if I had bought a retina, I would have been more than satisfied with 8 gigs. There's just not that much that a dual core consumer grade CPU and integrated graphics can do (outside of a VM) that can saturate 16 gigs of RAM. And, since 13" owners are usually more consumer oriented, it's not likely that they are concerned about having 16 gigs of RAM or otherwise.
I know it seems Apple is heading retina, but, in my mind, get rid of that stupid Optical drive nobody uses anymore and put the GPU there. You could fit just about any mobile GPU along with room to cool it where the optical drive goes on the non-Retina. It would result in poorer battery life over the 15" because it doesn't have a bigger battery to go along with the bigger performance, but that's okay! These CPU's all support power saving, and the dedicated GPU can be switched off. If I need 7 hours of battery life, I generally don't also need max performance at the same time. So, CPU in power saving mode and GPU off is fine! I'd much rather trade off 'full throttle' battery life, than performance, when going to the 13" form factor.