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They should have provided one model: 16GB. That way it gives schools a 3-4 year upgrade cycle.

Apple wanted to drive down the price to incredible levels. Putting things like 16GB RAM in as standard would have prevented them from attaining the goal of creating a premium quality product at a truly remarkable price. 8GB is more than generous enough at this price point.
 
It's not bog standard stuff at all. There are far cheaper alternatives on the market, prone to errors, and people buy this stuff all the time.

No, it's pretty bog standard. There's absolutely nothing special about the ram in a Mac. It hasn't gone through an extra layer of quality assurance, doesn't use any special technologies. Nothing. It's just ram. Good, solid, overpriced ram, that has the exact same specs and failure rates as any other stick of ram of the same quality on the market.

edit: well, it does use the loney heartstrings of a melancholy angel as a conductive material, so I guess it might be a little special.
 

Indeed.

Casual computer for casual users.

You have the mind melting Mac Pro on one end of the spectrum, this new $1099 model on the other end. In the middle is a SLEW of choices.

So what the hell is the problem? For the amount of times people bitch about Apple not offering a choice, now that there is another option, people still aren't happy.
 
Yet more bad news about this thing. Not that it really matters anyway. If you buy this Mac, you obviously don't care about speed.
 
Apple RAM is sometimes more expensive than budget suppliers because Apple RAM is premium quality and backed by the extensive AppleCare warranties with world-class support options. People always forget this when trying to do dollar sum comparisons. In reality there is no comparison.

Actually, Apple's RAM selection isn't anything special (in quality or performance) and has had a well documented history of being very grossly overpriced in custom builds. Their RAM is backed by Apple's ONE year system-as-a-whole limited warranty as compared to, say, Corsair's which has a LIFETIME warranty.. the extended AppleCare warranty bringing it to THREE years costs more than the RAM and I suspect generally goes unused by most people, including myself, who purchase it "just in case".

Now, I'm not saying that the iMac should have upgradable RAM.. it needn't. Just felt your thoughts on Apple's super awesome magic memory warranted comment.
 
Wrong

The only excuse I can come up with is that the board (who represents the short term interests of institutional investors) pressured them to release a product like this.
Instead of putting energy and time into releasing this poor product, they should of released a better Mac mini and a cheaper Apple display to match it.
 
Non-upgradeable RAM + "free" OSX updates = the same trap Apple does with upgrading iOS on older iDevices. Happy by still keeping Snow Leopard on my Mini.
 
Why complain?

So.. people will spend less for the cheaper model and spend extra to upgrade it? :confused:

Seriously, how many people really upgraded their desktop after a few years of use and didn't regret of not getting a new one instead?

I understand it feels flexible and having the control when your computer is upgradable. But face it, it is not practical.

Oh btw, instability of the PC world sometimes, if not often, comes from upgrade conflicts. ;)
 
The thing with 3 year planned obsolescence is: American industries have been there, done that. Once upon a time when Detroit was king, they decided to have planned obsolescence of their cars. The idea was, why would anyone want to drive around in a beat up 100,000 mile car anyway? You were supposed to change your car every 3-4 years. This worked great until other countries (cough, Japan, cough) entered the market, and people realized that yes, sometimes you do need to drive around a beat up Honda Civic for 10 years. And the same arguments were made about Japanese cars: they were cheap, why would anyone want to ride around in those little turds? You see where the car industry is today.

Apple seems to have decided for the consumer for three-to-four years planned obsolescence across the board. AppleCare expires in 3 years. Software upgrades no longer available for models of phones/ipads more than three years. Computers like MBA's with 4 GB RAM that they know will be about useless in say, 3 years. And for those who say Cupertino can't become the new Detroit, just look at what happened to HP. Laying off entire 10k+ people.

Making crappy products WILL catch up with a business. Yes, even a business as "premium" as Apple.

2 things, Apple isn't the only company in the industry doing this and the computer industry failed precisely because it didn't have "planned obsolescence". to put it better, computer industry failed because the marginal need for computer power is slowing down considerably. Tablets, Phones, Chromebooks, the need for a fully powered machine is not there.
 
I still have my late 2009 model iMac. Have upgraded the hard drive as well as the memory, and still runs like a champ. Have plenty of room for more upgrades if needed. It's also the last model that had the optical drive built in. Not a good thing to skimp on IMO.

Seems like these new 'upgrade' models are nothing more than upgrading the margin dollars in Apple's pocket. I own stock, so that's OK as well, but I still see things as a consumer as well.
 
Apple for years has been moving in a direction that limits the upgradability of their products.

Eventually the only product that can be upgraded over time will be the Mac Pro.
 
Non-upgradeable RAM + "free" OSX updates = the same trap Apple does with upgrading iOS on older iDevices. Happy by still keeping Snow Leopard on my Mini.

The iOS updates haven't slowed down my iPhone 4 at all, but I haven't tried iOS 7 on it. iOS 7 was faster on my iPhone 5 than iOS 6 was, though.

Now, Mavericks, on the other hand, is a disgrace for Apple engineers. Slowest OS I've ever seen besides Windows Vista. If Yosemite doesn't fix this, I'll forget about "free" OS X updates. Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion are the only things to use.
 
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this won't look nearly as bad with the new...
21.5 iMac = $1099
21.5" retina iMac = $1699
27" retina iMac = $2499

With the MacPro we have complete desktop line up.

/s
 
Consumers don't want upgradeable parts. They don't care. This is a sensible move from Apple and I support it 100%.

Er, have you SEEN my Mac Pro? Of course not. Yes, it's been upgraded a lot in ways Apple hasn't sanctioned. Lots of people upgrade their CPUs, GPUs, RAM, hard drives, etc. on Mac Pros. Just RAM on iMacs.

You know, all the vocal anti-Apple people cite non-upgradeability as a main (or the only) reason to avoid a Mac.
 
The iOS updates haven't slowed down my iPhone 4 at all, but I haven't tried iOS 7 on it. iOS 7 was faster on my iPhone 5 than iOS 6 was, though.

iOS7 did make my iPhone 4 a little chunkity. 7.1 fixed it up a good bit, but it still takes a little longer than it did on iOS6 to launch some applications. Especially when I accidentally swipe on an email when unlocking it, and it has to open up Mailbox.
 
I think Apple is testing the market for going FULL proprietary again. I expect when they bring out a retina iMac, they will do as they did with the rMBP. They will make everything proprietary and pretty much only configurable at Apple's ridiculous price structure.

This is A VERY BAD MOVE by Apple.
 
Apple RAM is superior quality with technologies you just don't see in consumer-grade chips that are bought on the cheap. Of course Apple doesn't want people using cheap RAM that causes problems that people then blame on them. It damages the brand and beauty of controlling the entire hardware and software experience to create perfect products.

What about buying Apple-branded RAM to upgrade your Mac? My dad always did that. It costs extra. I still don't think it's worth it over the cheaper RAM. My Mac's got mixed RAM in it, and it works better than if I had just stuck with the stock RAM.
 
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