It’s the people defending Apple in the EU-related threads that seem to defy all logic.
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16GB of RAM Could Be the New Minimum in Apple's Upcoming M4 Macs
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Will be great if it turns out to be true. Hopefully Apple does not increase the price of the entry level models due to this.
Umm, isn’t this what computer manufacturers are supposed to do? PC vendors, and not just Apple, cater to needs of their customers, not their wants. If you want more, you pay more. Base models are just that, base models. They figure out the minimum configuration where things don’t lag and that work just fine and they put that out as a base. Every PC manufacturer does this. PC vendors are only now upping a lot of machines to 16GB for exactly the same reason Apple is purported to be doing, in order to accommodate CoPilot+. PC vendors also put out a ton of 8GB machines, but people pretend this only exists with Apple. No company is going to waste resources on making base models more powerful than their target demographic needs. Consumer needs are why M3 Pro machines start at 18GB and M3 Max machines start at 36GB. Those people actually NEED that, rather than wanting that. If Apple is upping base models to 16GB, that means they feel the performance with 8GB isn’t good enough, exactly what the company should be doing, meeting the NEEDS of the customer, not their WANTS. Wants have a higher price tag.
Anyone who needs more than the minimum will buy to order or get a higher base model, of which Apple typically has three. If things do not lag with 8GB, what is the justification for Apple to put 16GB in their machines? Out of the goodness of their hearts? Haha, no. The company exists to make money, as does every company out there.
I personally will never buy a machine with less than 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD space. Do I need that? Not really, though my needs are more towards 512GB of SSD rather than 1TB. Do I want it? Heck, yes, so I pay for what I want and don’t begrudge a company for making money. I might even cringe when hitting the buy button and wish things were cheaper. If I really want to save as much money as I can, I’ll wait for a sale on Amazon or Best Buy.
1. Maxed out latest iPad Pros are $200 off currently on Amazon, or at least it was when I bought it.
2. Plenty of stores put items that aren't selling on sale. Perhaps 8GB weren't selling as much as the store anticipated and they requested too much stock on the 8GB. If there's a large demand of 16GB units sold, it's unlikely to be on sale for many stores. See point 1.
It's not that simple. There's a complexity in pricing products at Apple. Apple targets a certain profit margin and a certain revenue for each category and as a whole. Prices are adjusted accordingly. Of course forcing $200 extra isn't going to return the same revenue as a cheaper 8GB which could be more popular, but it would increase profit margins substantially. They could make the 16GB not increased by $200 or they could offer the Air cheaper which would boost revenue but bring down margins from that model. Then overall they'll hit their targets.
I find the base spec laptops actually reasonably priced considering the quality compared with competitors. The ripoff begins if you want to upgrade at all, and yes, you should want to upgrade considering the woeful base specs.
If Apple charged non-ripoff prices for the upgrades (like, divide such prices by ~6-10) then all would be good. However, if they did change that pricing, then they would have increased the base specs years ago.
The true tragedy is that most people just buy the base spec, thus rendering most Macs unnecessarily underpowered. I've looked at Marketplace, and trying to find a Mac laptop with at least 16GB/1TB is like searching for hen's teeth.
The question is Pro what? Pro graphics people or software engineers, aren't going to satisfied with 16GB. However Pro executives or accountants etc will mostly be fine with it.
My current 16" M1P MBP has 32GB/2TB, and I'm always a little anxious that a project will come up with complex enough requirements that even 32GB isn't enough. So far it's been fine, touch wood, but I'd be far more comfortable with 64GB. But be damned if I am going to remortgage my house to afford to pay for 64GB on mere speculation that one day I might need it.
I think the point here is that 16GB should be the base spec for non-Pro machines, and 32GB for Pro machines. I agree wholeheartedly.
The true crux of the matter though, is that RAM is actually cheap. This entire debate only exists because of the insanely greedy rip off pricing that Apple whacks on top of RAM and SSDs, turning it into some sort of luxury add on. If they didn't do that, then no one would care, we'd just buy what we needed, or even just max it out, simply because we can, and wouldn't think twice about it.
But you don’t know that. How long will macOS versions work well with 8 gigs? And once you stop upgrading, eventually you stop getting security updates.
Yep, my 2012 MBP (the last of the Unibody generation, and the last generation to allow self-upgrading of RAM) came with 4GB out of the shop.
I had a contract requiring C# coding using an MS SQLServer DB, all via VMWare, so immediately went down to my local UMart and bought 8GB. This was cheaper than buying 8GB off the shelf from Apple (which I think is why they stopped allowing self-upgrades), and I put the 4GB in my dad's laptop.
That turned out to be not enough either, so I ordered in 16GB from the US (after discovering no one sold it in Australia), and put the 8GB in my mate's laptop, which before that was page faulting and coming to a crunching halt every time he tried to run VMWare. He said it was the greatest productivity gain of his life, ha ha.
Thankfully 16GB was enough, as those Intel chips couldn't handle any more.
Ducking. Finally.
This is truly great news if true. There are so many people in my life who would like to upgrade but aren't willing to pay the Apple Tax for a reasonable amount of RAM in 2024.
Anyway, I doubt they will raise the price by $200 across the board but even if they do...
Really exciting. If true I know several people who will probably get a new machine in the next 12 months.
This is truly great news if true. There are so many people in my life who would like to upgrade but aren't willing to pay the Apple Tax for a reasonable amount of RAM in 2024.
I really don't understand the logic of defending Apple for only including 8GB of RAM on a non upgradable computer in 2024. It's not 2012, or even 2015 anymore.
Anyway, I doubt they will raise the price by $200 across the board but even if they do...
This 100%. There are so many "great" deals on base model machines that end up being a letdown because... well it still only has 8GB of RAM and that just doesn't cut it for a lot of people.
It'll also hopefully have knock on effects for the various M4 Pro/Max configurations to also ship with more ram making it easier to find a good deal on a machine with 32GB(+) of RAM.
Really exciting. If true I know several people who will probably get a new machine in the next 12 months.
Anyone else want a iMac with the M4 Pro chip?
I love the Mac mini but I’ve always loved the unified iMac design. Plus they will probably ship usb c accessories now too.
I love the Mac mini but I’ve always loved the unified iMac design. Plus they will probably ship usb c accessories now too.
You seem to have missed my point. Yes, you can always find exceptions, but it should have been clear that I was speaking of general tendencies. It's generally easier to find the base models on sale, if for no other reason than that stores are more likely to stock the base models.
Higher-end models tend to be special orders, and thus are less likely to be discounted. Upping the base RAM to 16 GB could shift everything upward. You'd go from 8 and 16 being stocked by stores, and 24 GB being special order to, say, 16 and 24 being stocked and 32 GB being special order. [Yes, there's no 32 now on the Air, but if they change the base to 16, there could be.]
I'm sorry you thought what I wrote was too simple. I was articulating an essential concept in Apple's overall strategy: That Apple wants to price entry-level models so they are accessible to young buyers, since getting individuals used to Macs when they are young helps to ensure that will be their preferred OS when they become adults. That's a big part of the reason they price RAM and SSD upgrades so high: The higher-end models subsidize the lower-end ones, enabling them to offer lower-priced base models while keeping their overall profits high. What you wrote neither contradicts nor adds to that.
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you don't know if 16GB will work well either. people who buy the minimum specced version understand there's less chances of being future proof
not defending Apple, no. immediately you're telling me you're not understanding what I said at all.
no
not an exemption
general tendency is for stores to put products on sale when they can't move enough of the product and/or they have too much inventory of the product. stores carried too many 8GB and therefore the put it on sale perhaps because of people ending up purchasing 16gb tiers more than they expected.
and it's pretty ridiculous that you're telling people who barely have enough money for an 8GB model to screw off so that you can get a discount on a 16GB. there are more important considerations to factor when deciding the available options for a laptop than whether or not you can get a discount on a 16GB.
no. you completely ignored what I said. I'm done here.
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Exactly. If we were to believe forum punters, Mac sales should go through the roof with this update, since apparently this is what was Holding them back. But, as I have been saying all along, complainers will find new things to complain about, and actual customers will keep being actual customers.
No, exactly zero people have said that.
Many people, including me, have said that 8 GB is/was enough for some people.
Did it run Apple Silicon?
We will never know, but I am 100% confident that if Apple still ran Intel, 16 GB would have been base for years now. Apple don’t compare specs against competition, they compare user experience.
8GB Apple Silicon experienced speed = 16GB Wintel experienced speed (actually faster on memory intensive tasks(!)). And yes, I have both.
But if you’re actually a professional making a living using your computer AND you actually need 32GB to perform your profession…
Then you should be willing to pay for the tool you need. You don’t need a bare entry configuration. And a marketing gimmick of a sticker that says “Pro” should not be the basis of your purchasing decisions.
Then how about the whining about the whining about the whining?
Sounds like the New packages of Paper Towels/Toilet Paper: 8 Rolls = 24 Rolls!!