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psik

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 21, 2007
422
33
Hi guys, I have two questions about the 13" . Well, the ram of the current Macbook Retina model is neither upgradeable nor does it come in two sizes for you to choose. So you have to stick with 8 GB forever it seems ....

What do you think the chances will be that in the upcoming refresh:

1) Either you have the option of choosing 8 or 16 GB for RAM

OR

2) It will be upgradeable.

Thanks.
 

ValSalva

macrumors 68040
Jun 26, 2009
3,783
259
Burpelson AFB
1. Possible. There is not much room in the 13" rMBP. In the current one there is room for only one RAM module. Apple would have to find affordable 16GB modules. No guarantee there unfortunately.

2. It's hard to say never but it's highly, highly unlikely RAM will ever be user upgradeable again.
 

Mr MM

macrumors 65816
Jun 29, 2011
1,116
1
probably not going to happen in neither situation.

we havent had anything new from the DDR3 front for SOdimm, DDR4 is right around the corner
 

psik

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 21, 2007
422
33
Damn that just sounds really unappealing, because down the line a ram upgrade would make a huge change to the life of the machine...i hope some miracle happens at least ... i thought given that they got rid of the dvd-rom this would've at least opened room for a ram module, those things are small anyways...
 

pgiguere1

macrumors 68020
May 28, 2009
2,167
1,200
Montreal, Canada
1) N̶o̶t̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶l̶y̶.̶ Maybe, see edit.

Unlike the 15" rMBP, the 13" only has one row of RAM chips (16x512MB). The 15" can get up to 16GB total because you can choose from either 32x256MB or 32x512MB. The 13" would need compatible 1GB chips to get 16GB total (16x1GB). Apple's provider for those RAM chips (Hynix) are preparing a suitable 1GB module right now (H5TC8G83) but their website state that t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶c̶u̶r̶r̶e̶n̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶"̶C̶u̶s̶t̶o̶m̶e̶r̶/̶E̶n̶g̶i̶n̶e̶e̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶p̶l̶e̶"̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶y̶'̶d̶ ̶n̶e̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶d̶u̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶n̶e̶w̶ ̶1̶3̶"̶ ̶r̶M̶B̶P̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶S̶e̶p̶t̶e̶m̶b̶e̶r̶/̶O̶c̶t̶o̶b̶e̶r̶ ̶r̶e̶l̶e̶a̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶f̶r̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶r̶u̶e̶.̶

EDIT: I initially copied most of this answer from my own answer on a similar, older post. Now Hynix's website state the H5TC8G83 is in "Mass production", so there are chances.

2) Even less likely. Close to 0% chance. Apple won't redesign the whole thing, if they wanted to offer non-soldered RAM they would have done it from the start.
 

psik

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 21, 2007
422
33
1) N̶o̶t̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶l̶y̶.̶ Maybe, see edit.

Unlike the 15" rMBP, the 13" only has one row of RAM chips (16x512MB). The 15" can get up to 16GB total because you can choose from either 32x256MB or 32x512MB. The 13" would need compatible 1GB chips to get 16GB total (16x1GB). Apple's provider for those RAM chips (Hynix) are preparing a suitable 1GB module right now (H5TC8G83) but their website state that t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶c̶u̶r̶r̶e̶n̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶"̶C̶u̶s̶t̶o̶m̶e̶r̶/̶E̶n̶g̶i̶n̶e̶e̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶p̶l̶e̶"̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶y̶'̶d̶ ̶n̶e̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶d̶u̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶n̶e̶w̶ ̶1̶3̶"̶ ̶r̶M̶B̶P̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶S̶e̶p̶t̶e̶m̶b̶e̶r̶/̶O̶c̶t̶o̶b̶e̶r̶ ̶r̶e̶l̶e̶a̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶f̶r̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶r̶u̶e̶.̶

EDIT: I initially copied most of this answer from my own answer on a similar, older post. Now Hynix's website state the H5TC8G83 is in "Mass production", so there are chances.

2) Even less likely. Close to 0% chance. Apple won't redesign the whole thing, if they wanted to offer non-soldered RAM they would have done it from the start.

Thank you...lets see what they end up doing in late september/early october! hopefully it will happen.
 

Mr MM

macrumors 65816
Jun 29, 2011
1,116
1
Thank you...lets see what they end up doing in late september/early october! hopefully it will happen.

there is a difference between mass production, availability and actual products with it. sometimes its large sometimes its huge
 

psik

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 21, 2007
422
33
there is a difference between mass production, availability and actual products with it. sometimes its large sometimes its huge

all i am saying is its not appealing to pay so much for a laptop that does not have any upgradeable memory or that option - 8 GB is plenty, but I can see that there are situations where more than that is necessary. And again I want to stick with 13" not the 15"

If apple made the decision to have it soldered, they better have done it with thinking towards the future, in this case it seems they did not - hopefully they dont turn into another Nokia and blow up suddenly.
 

Mr MM

macrumors 65816
Jun 29, 2011
1,116
1
all i am saying is its not appealing to pay so much for a laptop that does not have any upgradeable memory or that option - 8 GB is plenty, but I can see that there are situations where more than that is necessary. And again I want to stick with 13" not the 15"

If apple made the decision to have it soldered, they better have done it with thinking towards the future, in this case it seems they did not - hopefully they dont turn into another Nokia and blow up suddenly.

i do prefer the 13 as well and I want more than 8gb, hell I want more than 32gb

its a simple matter of design and whats available to fit in that design

i use regularly more than 160gb, thats why I said, DDR4 is coming and thats when things will change for the 13 and its ram
 

thermodynamic

Suspended
May 3, 2009
1,341
1,192
USA
Hi guys, I have two questions about the 13" . Well, the ram of the current Macbook Retina model is neither upgradeable nor does it come in two sizes for you to choose. So you have to stick with 8 GB forever it seems ....

What do you think the chances will be that in the upcoming refresh:

1) Either you have the option of choosing 8 or 16 GB for RAM

OR

2) It will be upgradeable.

Thanks.

1) hopefully 16gb; I can max out 16GB on my desktop, and I might want to do VM work on the road.

2) I honestly hope so; user upgrade ability - even for just RAM - really is a nice perk. If not, then I hope Apple does not gouge customers in this area. I can handle the higher street price of the main machine, but being conscientious of customers is really appreciated as well.

The 2012 model does a great job in system cooling, but has a little GPU sluggishness under high load. If 2013's model fixes that, it will be a winner.
 
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