Apple needs to make 16 GB of Ram standard or they may never have a laptop monopoly.

[G46&Fbnth5]

Not true, Apple dropped prices when they redesigned MacBook Air with Apple silicon compared to the Intel 2019/2020 Models. M2 hike is more inflationary, hopefully the prices can come down when CPI cools off.

The first Apple Silicon MacBook Air did not came with a redesign and it was sold at the same starting price of the last Intel model.
It is the 2020 Intel MBA which was lowered from $1200 to $1000 (increasing the base SSD from 128 to 256 GB) compared to the 2019 model.

 

[monstermash]

I used the laugh emoji on the original post because Apple couldn't care less about having a monopoly.

HOWEVER: I do believe that Apple SHOULD make 16GB base-level BECAUSE it is impossible to upgrade a Mac computer.

8GB RAM is literally pittance these days, and Apple knows that keeping only 8GB will get users to buy a whole new computer within a shorter amount of time once MacOS bulges out a bit more.

But let's be real: Apple devices have become nothing more than disposable appliances - and I think they should lower the price as such.

Blah blah blah.

I'm using a 2014 Mac Mini with 2 32" monitors daily, for work. Meets my needs just fine. It's, what, 7 years old? And still going fine?

I'd that's "disposable", that's just fine with me (;

 

[toobravetosave]

Apple hardware build quality is top notch but unfortunately they’re just milking us dry with ram and ssd pricing.

Until someone else manages to build a legitimate competitor to the air there is no reason for Tim to turn off the fire and stop cooking us to a crisp.

 

[TechnoMonk]

The first Apple Silicon MacBook Air did not came with a redesign and it was sold at the same starting price of the last Intel model.
It is the 2020 Intel MBA which was lowered from $1200 to $1000 (increasing the base SSD from 128 to 256 GB) compared to the 2019 model.

You must be kidding. MacBook Air M1 was almost a total revamp except for physical case outside. Totally different processor, SOC, Unified Memory, totally different ARM OS. New mother board, new chipsets and circuit boards.
M1 to M2 in comparison was minor bump, new colors and dimensions, but similar chipset with incremental performance improvements.
Edit: Apple introduced new I3 Intel model in 2020 for 999. The price of I5 model remained same at 1299. For comparison MacBook Air was more powerful than i5, let alone an I3.

 

[jnngr]

Greetings!

I got my M1 MacBook Air in May of 2021. While I was very satisfied with it, there was one huge problem I didn't think about at the time...

The future...

It's April of 2023, I have had this MacBook for almost 2 years (Longest out of any other laptop btw), and I have changed my lifestyle a lot.

I now make Apps for the Apple App Store. I was expecting it to be ultra memory efficient, but I was wrong...

Last Friday, I was using a whopping 18 GB of Swap, and I got the "Out of Memory" error on my MacBook.

As my app got more and more complex and had even more stuff, the Memory issues started getting a lot worse.

Another complaint I have about my MacBook is that my hands have grown a lot (This is a me problem tbh), and I am very excited for the 15 Inch MacBook Air. Probably something I will upgrade to once I can figure out how to bring it around.

HOWEVER!​

I do not like Apple's shady practices of starting with 8 GB and 256 GB of Storage for this reason. First, my sister runs out of her storage a lot... and she is just an average user. I also see her with multiple different apps opened, treating her MacBook as if it had 16 GB of Ram.

What's even worse is that you cannot get the M1/M2 MacBook Air with 16 GB of Ram at an Apple Store without pre-ordering it... It's like Apple doesn't think the average user would use it. I have seen otherwise, a ton...

I wanted to get 16 GB of Ram back then, but needed a new laptop very fast. Being very satisfied with my M1 MacBook Air at the time, I cannot say I am very satisfied anymore, and I thought I was one of the biggest Apple Sheeps on this forum...

I am literally using 5.61 GB of Ram right now, with only 2 browser tabs opened.
View attachment 2190142

I am no longer 100% Apple sheep because of Apple's shady practices of Ram Management.

The 15 Inch M3 Air sounds like a dream machine to me, AS LONG AS IT HAS 16 GB OF RAM STANDARD...
I am not willing to spend $1,899 on a consumer level machine. Thats probably how much the 16 GB 15 Inch M3 Air is going to cost tbh.

All these M1/M2 Airs in circulation will probably become obsolete in like 3 years time because of how slow Apple is.
Mark my words!

And then most people will see how important 16 GB of Ram is for their everyday tasks, and possibly switch to Windows because iMessage exists there now.

When do you think Apple will make 16 GB Standard? Thanks in advance!

As a shareholder and power user: your post is wrong on too many levels, kid.

 

[jnngr]

Apple hardware build quality is top notch but unfortunately they’re just milking us dry with ram and ssd pricing.

Until someone else manages to build a legitimate competitor to the air there is no reason for Tim to turn off the fire and stop cooking us to a crisp.

I am a shareholder and like it that way.

 

[monstermash]

You must be kidding. MacBook Air M1 was almost a total revamp except for physical case outside. Totally different processor, SOC, Unified Memory, totally different ARM OS. New mother board, new chipsets and circuit boards.
M1 to M2 in comparison was minor bump, new colors and dimensions, but similar chipset with incremental performance improvements.

$2000 gets you 24GB of memory and a 1TB SSD drive. Over the at least 8 productive years you can get from such a machine, that's $250/year. What's the issue?

 

[PsykX]

But then you have to pay extra. People want it for free. And also as a BTO option, it may not be available everywhere or subject to various discounts.

No. People want to pay a reasonable amount for it.

$250 CAD is clearly overpriced and people feel like they're being ripped.

Edit : Just noticed they lowered to $225. Still a bit overpriced, but ok.

 

[SpotOnT]

This is a recurring sentiment on MR. What I don't understand is why people care. If you want 16 GB of RAM, just buy that version of the laptop.

If anyone thinks that Apple would just make 16 GB the base and not raise the base price, they are crazy. So you're going to pay for the RAM one way or the other.

Apple is paying less than $5 (and more likely in the $3 range) for 8 GB of RAM. Yet they charge what, $200 for that RAM upgrade.

People should be complaining about that. If Apple charged a more reasonable $25-50 for 8GB of RAM, everyone wouldn’t be complaining about this.

 

[ZiBart]

Apple already has a monopoly within certain regions, age groups and industries. If they wanted a world monopoly, they would have to make laptops in the $300 to $800 range that Windows has many of. Nevermind the even cheaper Chromebooks. And they wont race anyone to the bottom. They have ipads to compete with those price ranges as their answer which is not for everyone. 16gb is not even a “standard” in the Windows world and they dont have swap memory. The reality is that your power use case changed and you chose their most entry level laptop/specs without the future in mind. Most Windows laptops in this thin/utrabook form factor have soldered on ram as well because of the thinness constraints.

Apple SOC paired with fast ssd and swap memory makes the entry level MBA perfect with headroom for most avg users. You are no longer the avg user.

If they didnt have swap memory or if they were still all Intel, then i would agree that at this price range even the entry level MBA should have 16gb.

 

[Salty Pirate]

8gb is reasonable for people that use the machine in an office environment or general use.

Microsoft Office or iWork stuff, browsers, etc. Don't code, don't develop, don't do audio production.

8gb is enough. Now 256GB SSD......

512 should be entry and when I get my 15 air, I will order if I need to, maybe 1TB of SSD. Digital hoarding!

 

[vinegarshots]

8gb of ram and a 256GB drive in a computer was a piddling amount even 10 years ago. Objectively, user experience would be better with more storage and more ram. That's not up for debate. If Apple was focused on better user experiences, they would offer more storage without price gouging the customer.

 

[tubuliferous]

This is a recurring sentiment on MR. What I don't understand is why people care. If you want 16 GB of RAM, just buy that version of the laptop.

Yeah, we get it, Apple...whatever the market will bear. And it's not so crazy to start at 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD for base models; it's the extraordinary upsell for increased specs on RAM/SSD that stings. Apple is not alone in this...Microsoft, for example, also charges $200 to go from 8GB to 16GB of RAM on their Surface laptops. Still, Apple probably could pick up some additional marketshare (without condescending to sell budget laptops) by making build-to-order hardware upgrades a little more affordable.

 

[antnythr]

It's sad to see how many people here are ok with getting so little in return for their money. "Just pay for the upgrade" as though spending an extra $400 on $5 worth of parts is seen as reasonable. Boy oh boy what it must be like to live life as comfortably as the rest of you.

 

[aaadktda]

What's even worse is that you cannot get the M1/M2 MacBook Air with 16 GB of Ram at an Apple Store without pre-ordering it... It's like Apple doesn't think the average user would use it. I have seen otherwise, a ton...

I noticed this too. They are probably doing all that they can do to to make/force most people to buy the base version so they upgrade more often. The wait time plus the price increase will make most people go for the 8GB version.

 

[fisherking]

Exactly and if base 16GB is the same price as upgrading from 8GB, the people who want 8GB can't even get it at the lower price anymore.

if apple did make 16gb the minimum, i doubt anyone anywhere would wish they could get a mac with 8gb; that makes no sense. but as things stand, 8gb is enough for many of us.

buy what you need, think ahead... and all will be well.



EDIT: many years ago, with one of the first ATMs in NYC, the machine gave me $200 instead of what i asked for ($100). the debited amount showed... $100.

i marched right into the bank, returned $100, and filed a complaint.

(only one part of that story is true 🤣)

 

[TheSynchronizer]

It's sad to see how many people here are ok with getting so little in return for their money. "Just pay for the upgrade" as though spending an extra $400 on $5 worth of parts is seen as reasonable. Boy oh boy what it must be like to live life as comfortably as the rest of you.

Neither 8GB of modern RAM nor 256GB of modern nVME storage is worth $5. Also, upgrading RAM on these MacBooks essentially means that a whole different chip with that amount of RAM is installed, as the memory is now unified in the SoC.

I agree, the upgrade prices are still overpriced, but at least there’s some reasoning behind it.

 

[TechnoMonk]

$2000 gets you 24GB of memory and a 1TB SSD drive. Over the at least 8 productive years you can get from such a machine, that's $250/year. What's the issue?

Did I say there was an issue? I was just replying to the comment about M1 being a minor upgrade/redesign from Intel MacBook Air.

 

[TechnoMonk]

It's sad to see how many people here are ok with getting so little in return for their money. "Just pay for the upgrade" as though spending an extra $400 on $5 worth of parts is seen as reasonable. Boy oh boy what it must be like to live life as comfortably as the rest of you.

I need to see what world RAM upgrade is for $5. Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo, and others all charge in the 200-250$ range for RAM upgrades in Laptops comparable to Macbook Air/Pros.

 

[monstermash]

Apple is paying less than $5 (and more likely in the $3 range) for 8 GB of RAM. Yet they charge what, $200 for that RAM upgrade.

People should be complaining about that. If Apple charged a more reasonable $25-50 for 8GB of RAM, everyone wouldn’t be complaining about this.

Why? It's called "making a profit". If you don't want to pay, there are many other computers and manufacturers from which to choose.

 

[monstermash]

Apple already has a monopoly within certain regions, age groups and industries.

I think you should go look up what "monopoly" actually means.

Hint: It doesn't mean being very popular with certain segments of the population.

 

[boak]

Have you seen the market shares by volume vs. revenue/profit for the iPhone?

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

The base 8GB RAM and 256 GB SSD is MORE than enough for a fairly large segment of users. People who use basic functions like web browsing, word documents, spreadsheets, and zoom calls will have no issues at all with those for years to come. And for those who need more, that’s what the upgrade options are for.

16 GB and 512GB SSD do come standard on the MBP, and it’s built into the price and makes sense for the demographic of users.

 

[raythompsontn]

What's even worse is that you cannot get the M1/M2 MacBook Air with 16 GB of Ram at an Apple Store without pre-ordering it.

Not true. I ordered my M2 Air, with 16 Gig, 1TB drive, used the veteran site for the discount, one hour later I picked up the device in the store. The minimum configuration is generally in stock in most stores. The configuration I got is generally in stock in most stores. Other configurations may require ordering. My experience during shopping is that any configurations other than those two mentioned above require ordering. Getting 16 Gig of memory walking in the door is really quite common.

 

[raythompsontn]

they’re just milking us dry with ram and ssd pricing

Apple is doing what the market will bear. That is the job of any company publicly traded. Want to see real ripoffs? Go purchased a new vehicle.