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My main point is just about every computer maker uses the same base specs with expensive upgrades, yet no one else gets heat for it. Also, if everybody uses the same base spec, what does that tell you about what the average user needs? If no one can get by with 8/256, no one would sell that configuration.
Surface Laptop 5
$1368 8Gb vs $1389 16Gb on Amazon

Surface Pro 9
$1973 16Gb/1Tb vs. $1999 32Gb/1Tb

Maybe this is why
 
8GB is absolutely unsuitable for a professional system. I'm at 25GB used out of 32GB here.

Including...
Powerpoint - a simple 10 slide presentation, is using 1.1GB
Terminal - 970MB. Sure there's a few tabs here, but that's a lot!
Outlook: 1GB
Teams 1.8GB across several processes and helpers
IntelliJ - 5.6GB - probably not dissimilar to a heavy project in a media application if that's your boat.
Chrome - several GB across loads of helper processes
Office - another GB across Word,Excel,OneNote.

You can't push this all onto SSD, even if the SSD has a special SLC Swap space to increase longevity at the cost of capacity.
 
Stop comparing the baseline consumer-oriented Windows offerings to devices Apple chooses to label as “Pro”. If you are not a professional, you can configure a Windows based solution with more RAM and storage for hundreds of dollars less, and you will likely still have some level of upgradability if you later find you need it.
There are all types of pros, and not all of them do video editing or photo editing that requires gobs of memory. Most professionals don't have nearly those kind of needs. Business laptops also start at 8/256 for other vendors because that's what a lot of business people need. We had professionals tell you what their needs were on these forums and many of them were quite ok with 8/256. Stop lumping all professionals into your needs. If you're not type, just do the upgrades. Windows upgrades aren't cheap either. Microsoft charges exactly the same as Apple does while Dell charges nearly as much, yet it seems you're giving them a pass.
 
That might be true for browsing in Safari but that's about it.
You wished that.

1699446118837.png
 
You see .... I'd say it's a perfectly valid claim to say that 8GB on Mac gets you further than 8GB on your typical Windows machine. I'd even say, that an M series mac with 8GB usually outperforms your typical 16GB Windows craptop. It's also true that M series macs have very fast low latency SSDs, which not all "typical" Windows craptops have. It's even true that memory compression on M series Macs beats Windows PCs in a heartbeat. All of that I can get behind.

But expanding this claim to 8GB on Mac being equal to 16GB on Windows is just the kind of bullshack that really doesn't sit well with anyone who has modestly decent understanding of hardware, and honestly: it's a disgrace.

This entire 8GB base model thing is a meme at this point. Nobody who values performance even remotely will come out happy with purchasing an 8GB model in the long run. Nobody uses "just" Safari. Nobody never has more than two windows open. And even if that might be true most of the time for a user: having to constantly consider how many tabs and apps I dare to open simply is beyond the point of having a multitasking OS.

I've had my 8GB M1 Mac Mini. It was a fine machine. It did what I wanted it to do. But it struggled with the modest requirements of a web developer so hard it got replaced just 12 months later. Today I'm running a 16GB M2 MBA, which hardly is a "faster" machine on paper, but it's night and day.

So, no. 8GB is 8GB.
 
Surface Laptop 5
$1368 8Gb vs $1389 16Gb on Amazon

Surface Pro 9
$1973 16Gb/1Tb vs. $1999 32Gb/1Tb

Maybe this is why
Fallacy. You're not using Microsoft's website. Apple products get discounted all the time on Amazon, so using a discount price versus standard price is highly disingenuous.

Straight from MS website:

12th gen Intel Core i7 8GB/256GB $1299. Same machine with 512GB, $1499 (+$200). expanded to 16/512 normal price $1799 (currently has a $300 discount). I was wrong. MS charges $300 for 8->16GB.
 
Fallacy. You're not using Microsoft's website. Apple products get discounted all the time on Amazon, so using a discount price versus standard price is highly disingenuous.
MS website says they are experiencing high demand and doesn't give me prices.

Feel free to counter it with Amazon prices for 8/16Gb macs, not refurb.
 
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Mother Nature wants you to use 8GB. Anyone complaining is a mere peasant for daring to think different.

Oh wait…🤔
 
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Came to say the same. Conveniently forget that other GPUs have dedicated VRAM
M GPU also has dedicated VRAM, for framebuffers at least. The thing of "unified" is that mac doesn't copy data from RAM to VRAM, and just "gives" a pointer to it to GPU.
 
MS website says they are experiencing high demand and doesn't give me prices.

Feel free to counter it with Amazon prices for 8/16Gb macs, not refurb.
What are you talking about? I just went there and those are the prices. MS charges $200 for 256->512GB storage and $300 for 8->16GB RAM. I had absolutely no trouble getting to their website and getting prices. Prices aside, it's still my main point that just about everybody has a base of 8/256.
 
Why not just go back to 16 GB base storage on iPhone then. It’s perfectly enough for web apps. Your fault if you take photos!

/s
The last time an iPhone came with 16gb base storage, I simply purchased the 64gb version without batting an eyelid and basically didn't have to think about running out of space for the next two years.

Some things are just not worth losing sleep over.
 
I'll buy that Mac's use RAM more efficiently than Windows machines. Haven't seen a lot of data on this, but sure, I'd say it's plausible.

But to say 8GB is equivalent to 16GB's of RAM, I'd definitely have to see independent data on this one.
 
What are you talking about? I just went there and those are the prices. MS charges $200 for 256->512GB storage and $300 for 8->16GB RAM. I had absolutely no trouble getting to their website and getting prices.
I'm telling about this.
Снимок экрана 2023-11-08 в 15.35.00.png


But are you going to show me what is the price increase for 8-16-32 MBP in retail? You said you can easily find discounts, be my guest.
 
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