1000 idiotic posts can not change the math of technology. To put it simply the people complaining have no idea where technology is going. To get faster computers have to get smaller, that is what process shrinks do. DIMMs are however very far from most processors these days in an electrical sense and that is a problem. Expect things to progress like this in the future to address the issue:
If Apple removed the bottom case then how can we replace the HDD ?
1000 idiotic posts can not change the math of technology. To put it simply the people complaining have no idea where technology is going. To get faster computers have to get smaller, that is what process shrinks do. DIMMs are however very far from most processors these days in an electrical sense and that is a problem. Expect things to progress like this in the future to address the issue:
1. Soldered on RAM operating at much higher speeds.
2. RAM integrated into the processor module. (Intel is working on this right now).
3. RAM attached to the processor die in a 3D stack.
4. RAM on the SoC.
The path before us is laid out by the physics of electronics.
Frankly RAM is like the spinning hard drives of a few years ago, it is incredibly slow relative to the processor. To fix that you need new technologies and structures. All one has to do is to look at bit at some of the proposed high performance RAM solutions that are being developed. The days of DIMM making sense will quickly go the way of the floppy drive.
Apples are cracking down on Apple-tax evaders...
I, too, have a late 2009 27" iMac with the 8 GB RAM I got it with originally, and it's holding up well. I use it for professional software development and frequently have a large number of apps and browser windows open. At the moment I have Xcode, Eclipse, Photoshop, Flash, Preview (with some PDFs and graphics open), Word, Excel, Pixelmator, TextMate, Textwrangler (because it handles very large JSON well), Mail, Fetch, Activity Monitor, around a dozen Safari pages, bmGlyph, a terminal window. mySQL is started. I open and close iOS Simulator as needed. I put a 600 GB SSD in it, but never had reason to upgrade the RAM. The two things it currently does not do well -- compile large amounts of code, especially C++, and simulate Retina devices -- would not be significantly improved with more RAM.
So I think your assertion that the other poster's 8 GB is only good because he doesn't multi-task much is crap. And your previous assertion that each version of OS X requires almost twice as much RAM as the previous one is absurd. People might take you more seriously if you did make such wildly inaccurate comments. I would generally like Macs to be more upgradeable but if voices like yours are the loudest ones, I don't think very many people will be swayed.
So I think your assertion that the other poster's 8 GB is only good because he doesn't multi-task much is crap. And your previous assertion that each version of OS X requires almost twice as much RAM as the previous one is absurd.
I use the i7 quad every day for photoshop, illustrator, and indesign. The video is not an issue at all. No lag whatsoever and I use a Cintiq 22HD in addition to another HD monitor.
Inexpensive? The price of the the new mid range mini with 8gb RAM and upgraded with the 256GB SSD option is not terribly far from what I spend on my gaming rig 2 1/2 years ago and that old system will run circles around the new mini. Yes, the new mini is a fine machine and I'm considering one because it's small, quiet and energy effecient unlike my PC which idles at 140w and can't sleep because of overclocking. But I'd not call it inexpensive. Only the base model is reasonable, but a 5400rpm HD these days is just...ugh. I moved to SSD 2 1/2 years ago. Once you've done that, there's no going back.
Is that you, Phil Schiller?
It used to fulfill two rolls - yours and poeple who needed a headless quad-core that could support more demanding tasks. Now it only fills one. Since you got what you want, the others should shut up, right?
Let them eat cake.
I have just sent feedback back at Apple about this. I strongly recommend everyone to do the same.
The link to feedback form:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macmini.html
No.
Of course you knew that.
You meant your comment as an insult.
Why?
But that's always been the case, sockets or not, so it's not a valid point.
Once again, someone is arguing with me based on their use of NOT a MAC MINI!
What is the point of making that argument?
It really is.
They all think they should be able to edit Spielberg movies on it just because.
Buy a Mac Pro. You can add extra RAM to it. 99% of the population will never crack open their computer to put a new HDD, RAM etc. They will buy and plug wires into ports.