I guarantee you that people who need the extra power or RAM are VERY informed and will upgrade. The vast majority of people work just fine with 8GB of RAM and when coupled with the extremely fast SSDs, the experience is just awesome. It is time to stop with all these "gates" and let the market solve these problems: if you don't want that computer, don't buy it and Apple will stop making it.
Exactly, this is just one of the predictable, annual artificial scandals propped up by content creators to get more attention.
I was talking about the lowest end chip in the base MacBook Pro- evidently, as you can see the price I was discussing. I fail to see the purpose of your reply stating that your company is buying you the bazillion dollar pimped variant.
Memory and storage have historically been, and continue to be, the two most upgraded/replaced items on ANY computer, laptop or desktop.
These computers also get thrown in the landfill much sooner than those that can be upgraded.
What do you consider “these computers”? Many people use MacBooks for a very long time. Apple generally supports Macs for about 7-8 years, and many people use them for their complete life-cycle, or close to. And RAM isn’t the only thing that ages a computer, the biggest thing that ages a computer is the CPU, which on most laptops isn’t upgradeable. And lots of upgradable RAM computers get thrown in the landfill, so that really doesn’t have anything to do with it. And, again, your average person isn’t cracking open their laptop to upgrade their RAM, that’s a minority of computer users.
I'm not going to argue about why upgradable computers last longer, tbh.
What you’re ignoring is that CPUs are a much bigger factor in the way computers age than whether or not the RAM is upgradeable. You can throw as much RAM at an old CPU as you want, and it will still heat up and perform like garbage compared to newer CPUs with equal RAM, or in many cases, even less RAM. Oh, and graphics won’t be on par either. Computers age, and are replaced.
In terms of long term viability, the RAM will be the bottleneck on these 8GB Apple Silicon systems long before the M3 SOC will be.
Having seen many of scrapped laptops, I think lack of bash resistance, susceptible to liquid and fragile glass screen are the biggest long term viability issues.
100%. Don't worry if anyone posts a laughing emoji or downvotes this- no one genuinely could disagree, and if they pretend they do they're undoubtedly just trolling for the fun of it. I say "they" but I'm not convinced there isn't an AI bot in this thread designed to go against logic and the general group consensus.
Apple’s never dropped support for Macs with a supported chip based only on RAM spec, so I don’t see why they’d start now. So these MacBooks should get their full software support life cycle just like the other RAM configurations. And most people upgrade their computers about every 5 years anyways. Plenty of people use 8GB of RAM just fine, and will probably be doing so for a while.
But that isn’t the question, is it? The question is how many people actually upgrade/replace those parts? And the answer is most average people don’t. Most people buy the computer with the specs they want or need, and then replace it when they’re ready to upgrade. Especially more so with laptops, since it’s harder to access their RAM, and since lots of Windows laptops use soldered RAM as well. Your average person isn’t cracking open their laptop to upgrade the RAM. The question isn’t about which parts are most commonly upgraded, it’s about how many people actually upgrade their computers with said parts, which is a very small percentage of people in the computer market.
A new CPU will typically outperform an old CPU with the same amount of RAM. Of course if you’re comparing a new Celeron to an old i9, maybe the i9 would outperform it, but I think you understand what I’m talking about. And sometimes the CPU improvements are so dramatic that it’s still faster with less RAM. My Mid 2012 MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM is slower than an M1 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM. CPU does absolutely make a big difference, and is the main reason for upgrades (from manufacturers). What do PC manufacturers update when they release new versions of a computer? The CPU. PC manufacturers aren’t upgrading PCs by adding more RAM to them each year, they’re improving the CPU, because the CPU is the part that ages the most and becomes the biggest bottleneck on a computer in the long run in terms of performance, battery life, graphics performance in the case of many since it’s integrated, etc. While it’s true that you can run an old system for a while (I still run my Mid 2012 MacBook Pro), the performance is nowhere near what a new MacBook could do, because the CPU is the bottleneck.
It's just insecurity. People are trying to rationalize decisions (which is weird, there is no shame in different specs)
It’s funny that one side of this debate has been saying from page 1 that there’s no shame in people who can use 8GB of RAM having an 8GB option, and there’s no shame in people who need 16GB getting a 16GB option, while many on the other side were busy saying that 8GB of RAM isn’t enough for anyone, and certainly not enough for “real professionals”. I think there may be some insecurity involved with that…
You're right, there's no shame in different specs. I'm not looking to argue.
Ya, I agree, people should just choose the configuration that works for them... 👍🏻
I’ve also watched the 8GB MacBook Air outperform 16GB MacBooks from a year or two prior. It’s hardly only the Mid 2012 MacBook I happen to have as a 16GB Intel Mac. And I’m not saying that certain kinds of tasks won’t possibly perform better on the older 16GB models, just saying that, in my experience, 8GB of RAM on M-Series chips feels a lot like 16GB on Intel models from a couple years earlier, at least for running normal software, and even for running the design apps I use like Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher. From a user perspective, there’s not much of a difference in performance, probably due to the methods the M-Series chips use to optimize performance such as binning. I guess my point is that the real limit on computer aging has more to do with the physical hardware itself, port standards, display resolutions, etc., and CPU which is generally non-upgradable, and sees the biggest difference in performance over long term. That’s btw, why I compared my Mid 2012 MacBook Pro, not because I think it’s comparable or something, but to illustrate the difference in performance and hardware, and why a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro is just about obsolete, and most people at this point wouldn’t want to use one as they’re daily driver. Because it has aged, and that’s the way of computers. People were saying that non-upgradeable RAM computers will just fill landfills, as if upgradeable RAM computers won’t fill landfills as well. RAM upgrades aren’t a magic fix that makes 11 year old computers run like new ones, at some point computers just get to old due to CPU and other physical hardware, and RAM upgrades don’t really change that. That was the point I was trying to make.
Not really.
And that’s why they provide options for those who want 16GB of RAM. Many professionals use 8GB RAM MacBooks just fine for their professional workflow. And expectations are pretty subjective. I expect that a cheaper base version of the MacBook Pro using the basic M3 chip that will also be in the MacBook Air would have an 8GB RAM configuration, just like the MacBook Air (which will use the same chip) will. But see, expectations differ by individual. And another mistake some make is assuming the MacBook Air isn’t a “professional device”. Again, different professional workflows have very different requirements, and many don’t require more than 8GB of RAM.
So true! I remember when people were "crying" because the iPhone had 2GB or 4GB and were comparing it to phones running Android. Yet the iPhone was so much more responsive even at an older age. People look at numbers and not at the overall system design and architecture. This is another made-up "gate" to attract views and monetize from something ridiculous. Do you know who isn't complaining? The people who bought the baseline models! Customer satisfaction is through the roof!
