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You're overreacting to this. Who upgrades the RAM? Only techies and people who actually need extra RAM. Not that many people are going to need to upgrade the RAM over an iMac's lifespan. 8GB is plenty. I only have 6GB in my Mac Pro and don't see the need to upgrade it.

By the way, the number 1 killer of old computers is new web standards and new websites that use them (thanks Google et al.). It's the only software that updates itself. New software is almost always programmed less efficiently and requires more CPU and GPU usage. Flash has gotten even slower, HTML5 was always a pig, and all these new web elements and useless social media "integration" on websites slow any old computer to a crawl. Just to give you an idea, simple Google search lags on an iMac G5!

Yes, the same as iOS and OSX

More inefficiently written over time and needs more and more power ful machine to run. To the point that Apple even stops it being able to be installed on older machines.

Thanks for pointing that out.
 
4GB of RAM wouldn't be enough to browse websites? Maybe in the year 2030 AND if Google or MS get to decide all the future web standards. Again, I'd only see changeable RAM being useful on this machine if the stock RAM were to break. It would be a shame to have to trash an iMac just because of broken RAM.

Wow. Are you really bold enough to predict that 8GB of RAM will be good until 2030? You can't see those standards including processor and memory hungry codecs so as to reduce bandwidth?

You in 3 years time: "Granny follow this link to a video of the kids"
Granny: "It doesn't work. It keeps stopping"
You: "Oh, that's because when I advised you to go for the rip-off iMac, I was really confident that 8GB of RAM was enough"
Granny: "what do I do"
You: "you have to buy a new iMac. I recommend the low end version as you only use it on the web and you'll never need more than 16GB of RAM".

You and Granny in 6 years

You: "Granny check out this link to the kids"
Granny: "It doesn't work"
You: "Oh, that because when I........"
Granny: "Oh FFS"

Granny hangs up!

We always need more memory. If there's a lesson in tech from the last 30 years it's that memory is always the bottleneck.
 
I love the rationalization that the people who buy this model are cheap computer illiterates who would never upgrade it anyway, because otherwise they'd buy the 27 inch model.

Is it inconceivable that someone might not want a 27 inch monitor because it's too big? Is this like reverse iPhone logic?
 
I can see the argument for a Windows based PC but for a Mac? Unless you are doing some really intensive work, 8GB would be fine for pretty much 99% of the tasks.

I had 8GB in my MBP since 2010 and it's still runs fast. I have no reason to upgrade. Same for the majority of users. It's something to boast about I suppose. I have 16GB ram, I have 32GB ram. What do you use? iTunes and email. Hmmmm.

I think No RAM slots makes the Mac cheaper to make, and gives it a slimmer profile. It works the same as an iPhone, iPad. There are 16GB, 32GB, 64GB options. Pick the one for your budget, needs. It looks like iMAC's are going the same way.

The only dis-advantage. And this is a big one. I used to repair laptops and memory used to fail a lot. It's easy to replace a stick of RAM compared to replacing the whole Mainboard (Logic board).

I believe ESD is the biggest killer of RAM. It's more sensitive than you think. The less someone touches it, the better.

And you consider you MBP to be still at the beginning of its life cycle or do you expect it to age in the next few years? Why are you saying that your 4 year old machine is a justification for a new machine to have the same spec?
 
I have a 3yr old MBA with a 64gb SSD and 2gb RAM (2tb NAS on network) this is totally ample for what it gets used for, internet usage, word, excel etc... Really run of the mill stuff and day to day use for the wife (I just use an MiniR now).

It's never missed a beat, does not lag and does not need anything more. For me, I am considering picking up one of these as it's a bit of a spec bump on what I have now and for what it will be used for will last a good few years.
 
The other guy was saying that people will buy iMacs and put cheap RAM in them. When you can upgrade your RAM, you're free to put in whatever junk you want. People will do that and break stuff. Apple-branded RAM is supposedly the best RAM available, rebranded from some good RAM company, so it's supposed to be equal or better than the rest.

That's exactly the point I was trying to make earlier in the thread. I'm glad someone is getting it here.

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Having just come back to these boards after a hiatus, I'm surprised to see that dumastudetto is still active here and hasn't been banned. He's been pulling this act from day 1.

He's either an excellent troll or a real trooper fighting through his intellectual disability.

tbf defending Apple does come across as trolling on here these days because it's so out there swimming against a tide of let's bash Apple for anything and everything.

You would think posting the opinions I do on a Windows site or Android site would be trolling, not an Apple-centric site. But apparently the hate has got so bad for Apple, I deserve to be banned for defending them on a site where Apple fans once lived. :p
 
The fraction that wants prefer upgradable parts over a thinner computer is incredibly small. This makes total sense. The cMBP is going away and then all laptops have soldered ram. I expect all iMacs to have it within a year or two, and then Mac Mini a year or two after all iMacs.

edit: and really, who cares in this iMac? The harddrive is BY FAR the bottleneck in this machine, not the 8gb ram. When is SSD gonna be default?
 
Then don't buy it. Clearly it's not for you. 99% of people don't care. They use facebook. They don't need a super computer.

Man you elitest think Apple only releases products thinking about you. This is for the general public.

Exactly. Apple has high-end solutions for those who need them. And now Apple has a low-end all-in-one priced very attractively for those who would like a gorgeous display attached to a reasonably spec'd machine running OS X.

There are many computer users who do simple computing tasks who would benefit from a machine like the new cheaper iMac. I think it's a very good move for Apple to bring this option to market.
 
Its effectively a MBA, who would people think Apple would go to the hassle of changing things.

They just better hope future Imac upgrades do not follow this trend.
 
While I support this 100% too I don't think it's correct to say that all consumers don't want upgradeable parts.

I agree. Luckily I didn't say ALL consumers don't want upgradeable parts. There will always clearly be a tiny segment of the market who would prefer upgradeable parts. This I will not deny. But Apple is about servicing the needs of the many and not the few. And Apple has never been afraid of eliminating things to advance technology - to make their products lighter, thinner, faster, more reliable, more relevant.
 
You're overreacting to this. Who upgrades the RAM? Only techies and people who actually need extra RAM. Not that many people are going to need to upgrade the RAM over an iMac's lifespan. 8GB is plenty. I only have 6GB in my Mac Pro and don't see the need to upgrade it.

By the way, the number 1 killer of old computers is new web standards and new websites that use them (thanks Google et al.). It's the only software that updates itself. New software is almost always programmed less efficiently and requires more CPU and GPU usage. Flash has gotten even slower, HTML5 was always a pig, and all these new web elements and useless social media "integration" on websites slow any old computer to a crawl. Just to give you an idea, simple Google search lags on an iMac G5!

One of, if not THE easiest way for a non-techie to increase the lifespan of a machine is to upgrade the ram, its the LEAST techie thing you can do for the biggest performance gain on an old machine

However, if you need technical help to change the batteries in your remote (or do you just buy a new TV or cable box when they run out ?) then maybe you have a point.

As for No1 killer being web standards, WRONG, i have a PPC G4 Mac Mini going strong that my mother uses, the only issues it runs into is H.264 video encoding, everything else, HTML5 CSS etc is all runs fine, just the old CPU cant cope with realtime HD video decompression.

Google lag doesn't effect it, so i don't know why G5s were having issues, no experience with a G5, just the lowerspec G4 that doesn't have that issue.

Lets face it, if mobile phones with MUCH lower spec hardware can cope with modern web apps, any PC, be it X86 or PPC built in the last 10 years should chew through all web standards , its just processor intensive video decoding that causes problems

if you think HTML5 is something that requires processing power, man you don't know how software works.

Still, the bottom line is still the same, Apple are making systems that cannot be upgraded, to force buyers to upgrade, its a good CON, release a new OS every year that eventually makes your 3 Year old machine bog down so much you need extra Ram, but wait, you cant go spend $60 on an upgrade that will double your performance and buy you another 3 years, no, you have to come back to apple and spend $1100 again, and landfill that old one.
 
I'd not be surprised that apple moves over to completely hardwiring memory in its Macs. The Mini is probably next to get this treatment :(
 
Wow. Are you really bold enough to predict that 8GB of RAM will be good until 2030? You can't see those standards including processor and memory hungry codecs so as to reduce bandwidth?

You in 3 years time: "Granny follow this link to a video of the kids"
Granny: "It doesn't work. It keeps stopping"
You: "Oh, that's because when I advised you to go for the rip-off iMac, I was really confident that 8GB of RAM was enough"
Granny: "what do I do"
You: "you have to buy a new iMac. I recommend the low end version as you only use it on the web and you'll never need more than 16GB of RAM".

You and Granny in 6 years

You: "Granny check out this link to the kids"
Granny: "It doesn't work"
You: "Oh, that because when I........"
Granny: "Oh FFS"

Granny hangs up!

We always need more memory. If there's a lesson in tech from the last 30 years it's that memory is always the bottleneck.

Indeed, look at the iPad air... I have one and it's always reloading all apps because of this
 
I think No RAM slots makes the Mac cheaper to make, and gives it a slimmer profile. It works the same as an iPhone, iPad. There are 16GB, 32GB, 64GB options. Pick the one for your budget, needs. It looks like iMAC's are going the same way.

The only dis-advantage. And this is a big one. I used to repair laptops and memory used to fail a lot. It's easy to replace a stick of RAM compared to replacing the whole Mainboard (Logic board).

I believe ESD is the biggest killer of RAM. It's more sensitive than you think. The less someone touches it, the better.

Yep exactly it helps Apple drive down costs (which is important in the case of this cheaper iMac especially) and helps them build slimmer products that are more desirable.

Cheap memory still fails a lot and is unreliable which is a good reason for preventing people from using it. And luckily Apple doesn't put cheap memory in their machines and I've never seen a Mac with Apple supplied RAM fail in this way (although I'm sure it could happen occasionally). We can debate whether it's the best or not, but it's certainly not the cheapest or lowest quality memory they could use to maximise profits.
 
Exactly. Apple has high-end solutions for those who need them. And now Apple has a low-end all-in-one priced very attractively for those who would like a gorgeous display attached to a reasonably spec'd machine running OS X.

There are many computer users who do simple computing tasks who would benefit from a machine like the new cheaper iMac. I think it's a very good move for Apple to bring this option to market.

its a few hundred $ from being "attractively priced" and its lack of possible upgrades make it even worse.

its "gorgeous display" and attractive (to some) design will have lots of life left when the machine itself is rendered obsolete by apple.

this trend by apple (as seen with the 5c and then the 8 gig 5c) that is only impressing people such as yourself who dont seem to have a free thought when it comes to apple.

selling slightly less expensive (still vastly overpriced) underpowered (for the price) is not positive progress for apple
 
How many people EVER upgrade their RAM? 5%? 10%?

Combine that with the fact that even I, a pretty serious power user doing Photoshop, Lightroom, and Final Cut have never owned a computer with more than 8GB of RAM and do completely fine...

I'm not bothered by this.
since I support 8 macs for my extended family(2 iMacs, 2 Mac minis, 4 cMBP), the % is 100% - 8 for 8.

Granted, no one has gotten a rMBP yet.
 
I'd be curious to know whether soldering directly to the mobo reduces RAM access latency, which would be the primary customer facing benefit. Secondary benefit is reduced assembly costs, which may or may not reach the customer... but really it will in the long term for anyone who continues to buy Apple.

One might argue that this second reason is a big part of the reduced price point, thus hoping that bigger, better iMac models will continue to have user replaceable RAM. But honestly, if soldering the RAM reduces access latency then sign me up.
 
its a few hundred $ from being "attractively priced" and its lack of possible upgrades make it even worse.

its "gorgeous display" and attractive (to some) design will have lots of life left when the machine itself is rendered obsolete by apple.

this trend by apple (as seen with the 5c and then the 8 gig 5c) that is only impressing people such as yourself who dont seem to have a free thought when it comes to apple.

selling slightly less expensive (still vastly overpriced) underpowered (for the price) is not positive progress for apple

I agree...knowing what we now know about it, this new iMac should list at $999 (or less).
 
and if this is like the iphone 5c, it'll be a massive failure and apple will learn from it.

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Coming from someone who volunteers at schools often, i can tell you that 8gb of ram will last a long time.

And I can tell you from someone who has worked with Personal Computers since 1984 that in 2 years (2 upgrades of OS X) this sucker will be choking for RAM..

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It is cheaper. Normally the RAM chips are soldered onto the RAM modules and the RAM sockets are soldered onto the logic board.

By soldering the RAM chips directly to the logic board Apple are saving the expense of the RAM modules and RAM sockets plus removing one soldering operation and the cost of fitting the RAM modules during assembly.

You'll have 1 bad RAM Chip and the "Apple Genius" will inform you that your Mac needs a "Logic Board".. LOL. From my experience, logic board changes are about the extent of the "Geniuses" technical ability.
 
I can see the argument for a Windows based PC but for a Mac? Unless you are doing some really intensive work, 8GB would be fine for pretty much 99% of the tasks.

I had 8GB in my MBP since 2010 and it's still runs fast. I have no reason to upgrade. Same for the majority of users. It's something to boast about I suppose. I have 16GB ram, I have 32GB ram. What do you use? iTunes and email. Hmmmm.

I think No RAM slots makes the Mac cheaper to make, and gives it a slimmer profile. It works the same as an iPhone, iPad. There are 16GB, 32GB, 64GB options. Pick the one for your budget, needs. It looks like iMAC's are going the same way.

The only dis-advantage. And this is a big one. I used to repair laptops and memory used to fail a lot. It's easy to replace a stick of RAM compared to replacing the whole Mainboard (Logic board).

I believe ESD is the biggest killer of RAM. It's more sensitive than you think. The less someone touches it, the better.

A lot of people do resource-intensive tasks on a Mac, much more than you may think. Indeed, a lot of people buy a Mac over a Windows machine primarily for video-editing, running virtual machines and graphic design. Mac consumers don't want to pay the ridiculous prices that Apple charge for an extra 4GB of memory or 250GB of storage space when the parts itself cost a fraction of the price they are charging. The option to have user-upgradeability is something which extends the life of a product and gives consumers the peace of mind that they won't have to shell out for a whole new machine should their needs change or make a decision now as to how they see themselves using the product in a few months/years time.

And like you said, should the RAM fail, the whole logic board will need replacing and that isn't cheap, especially if you're out of warranty.
 
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