You don't need Windows to run Tinder and Instagram. There are at least two new generations, who'll never get the concept of a file system. They couldn't run Bootcamp even if you set it all up for them. And they don't care!
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Own 2 Mac mini M1's - one 8 GB RAM and one 16 GB of RAM - do not get the 8
- Thread starter mykidisluke
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If it’s only designed to last 3 years and then it dies. What is their plan for the same machine in countries with 6 year warranties?Of course not. The 8 GB is just a marketing stunt, that this works like a miracle (hint: it won't).
Every normal person, who knows just a little bit about (computer) technology, will see in a second, that the graphics part of the Apple Silicon is also using the integrated RAM. So, how much of that 8 GB will stay for the OS and applications, if the GPU is also constantly using it? Well..?
Anyway, Apple is clever enough and knows, that even if the SSD is under heavy usage because of the swap/pagefile, the machine will last/or it should last at least 3 years (with Apple Care), up until the point the warranty/guarantee is over. Than the user needs to pay hefty money for repairs -> replacing of the logic board.
Evil stategy, but it works. For them.
Nice. Which countries do have 6 years of Warranty?
Oh, and why are you asking me? I am not Apple.
At least here, where I live, the public sector is mostly required to replace computers and other electronics every three or years or so. During that time, it is depreciated. Of course, this doesn't mean that it all becomes useless ... working things are sold or given away. Replacing it is also good for the economy and local suppliers.
UK is 6 years. Europe is 5. (see message from Gudi for correction)
I’m only asking because you claimed that Apple design them to fail at 3 years after the warranty period. Which obviously is not the case.
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It's 2 years in Germany and there's a 2-year-minimum for all EU member countries. Warranty is 6 years in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and 5 years in Scotland.
Thank you for the correction. I thought the 5 applied throughout the EU. I was mistaken.
However my point does still remain valid
is this a troll reply? Anyway I was referring to people who need Windows for work, not kids
Useful bit of information. I'm sure others who don't push the machine hard now can get by fine with 8gb in 2022. But if those people want to run the latest OS in 2025 on their M1 machines, I think they better have bought the 16gb version. That is my advice for all Mac purchases in 2021, 2022 and going forward: buy the 16gb version. If you can't afford the $200 upgrade to get that version, then don't buy a new machine; go get something used. Paying "new machine" prices for something that is likely to be very RAM constrained in just a couple of years is a bad idea in my opinion.
Correction, when the Mac mini reaches its end of useful life for your purposes and goes off to the great e-bay/craigslist in the sky, about $100 of that $200 will come back in higher re-sale price.
I'm of the view that the extra $200 to get 16gb is going to push off the need to get a new computer for several additional years. I'm concerned that 8gb are going to bog down unacceptably in only a couple of years, while the 16gb will be perfectly fast five or even ten years from now. We just have too many years of experience where the point of failure for the Mac in terms of usability was lack of RAM. We used to be able to address that by installing additional RAM, but now we can't. And we've got an issue where 8gb is already a significant limitation with this year's Mac OS and with poorly programmed web apps and other applications.
My daughter needed a laptop early 2021 so I asked her what she wanted for configuration and she asked for 16/1 as it would be her only laptop. It's turned out to be a great purchase and I have borrowed it for doing Zoom conferences and a few other things before I got my own 16 (with 32 GB of RAM). Sometimes I buy really cheap and sometimes I get more than I need. It depends on what my plans for the device are.
Yes, an OnlyFans account is a small business. And it's not for kids!
the people you talk about don't need a Mac to begin with. They can do everything on their phone. Having said that, I don't know if you are gen z or alpha but it's far from reality to think that all young people don't need a file sytem or don't need a computer with a desktop OS.
File Not Found - The Verge
It's not that they don't need it, they just don't get it. Even the smart ones! Running multiple instances of different OSs in VMs is most definitely a skill of the past. Like operating the fax machine of our generation.
I wouldn't say that. Especially if you work in cloud engineering or devops or some biotech environments where you need a bunch of different operating systems because scientists want to run on whatever they want to run on.
Up to a point, I think buying the most RAM you can afford is generally a good idea. I would be hard pressed to buy a machine with 8GB at this point. My MBP has 16GB and it makes me a tad nervous not to have gotten 32GB. But I replace laptops routinely so no biggie. My next desktop Mac will have 32 or 64 - I think it adds longevity to the useful life of the machine. (We are still running out 2015 iMac that I put 32 GB of third party RAM in to - bummer we can't do that any more!!)
And my point was, that the electronics of today are made to last, until the warranty is over. After that, it is just a bonus if it still works.Thank you for the correction. I thought the 5 applied throughout the EU. I was mistaken.
However my point does still remain valid
You can. But not on the Macs (except the Intel Macs). Every damn new laptop, that doesn't have soldered RAM has at least one RAM slot, that can be upgraded. Not to speak of M.2 slots for SSD drives and other components (Wifi module), that can be simply swapped out/replaced.
I do believe that getting 16GB is the obvious move for future longevity, but I don't think that 8GB is necessarily going to be obsolete quite as soon as we think. I'd probably give it 3-5 years before Mac OS starts to squeeze these machines a bit more.
My reasoning is that the vast majority of Macs on the market today are still 8GB Macs. Unless you build-to-order, you're probably getting an 8GB model from pretty much any retailer (they do occasionally keep 16GB models in stock, but they are usually very high end SKUs that have many more upgrades than just RAM upgrades). This is a bit surprising because Apple makes quite a lot of money on these RAM upgrades ($200 for a 8GB to 16GB upgrade probably leaves them with a very healthy profit margin), and yet with the exception of the 14" and 16" Pros, all of the 16GB Macs are still more or less build-to-older only.
I'd argue that Apple has a strong incentive to at least keep the 8GB Macs working well for the short term. If they bog down Mac OS Ventura (or any release they come out with in the next few years or so), they will be creating a brand perception of a slow computer that doesn't work very well. I'm not saying for certain that Apple wouldn't do that, but I don't think it would be a good play for them.
My reasoning is that the vast majority of Macs on the market today are still 8GB Macs. Unless you build-to-order, you're probably getting an 8GB model from pretty much any retailer (they do occasionally keep 16GB models in stock, but they are usually very high end SKUs that have many more upgrades than just RAM upgrades). This is a bit surprising because Apple makes quite a lot of money on these RAM upgrades ($200 for a 8GB to 16GB upgrade probably leaves them with a very healthy profit margin), and yet with the exception of the 14" and 16" Pros, all of the 16GB Macs are still more or less build-to-older only.
I'd argue that Apple has a strong incentive to at least keep the 8GB Macs working well for the short term. If they bog down Mac OS Ventura (or any release they come out with in the next few years or so), they will be creating a brand perception of a slow computer that doesn't work very well. I'm not saying for certain that Apple wouldn't do that, but I don't think it would be a good play for them.
It isn't. Absolutely not! Horrible advice.
Have you spoken to a doctor about your anxieties?
It really doesn't. What will make your computer obsolete is innovation and you can't future-proof against that. Look how many people overpaid on Intel iMacs with way too much RAM and thick black bezels! It's understandable that people want to increase the longevity of their most expensive tech, but neither specing up nor frequent upgrading will do the trick. The best advice is to be smart and patient and buy soon after major redesigns and transitions.
No, it's not a given that we will all use more memory in the future. The thing is there are diminishing returns for everything. The gigahertz cpu race, the 64-bit console race, the megapixel camera race, the bigger phone screen race. If the memory pressure meter of your activity monitor signals red all the time, then yes you could still benefit from yet another memory doubling. But for most people the money is spend on their anxiety and trauma of the past.
One doesn't have to update to newer versions of MacOS. For example, I have 12.6 on my M1 Mac Mini 16gb right now. I have looked at what is in 13 and there is nothing of interest to me so I have no plans to update. If in the future there is some very important bug fixes that are only in 13 or there is a tremendous speed improvement in 13 then I will, of course, reconsider.
Thanks for sharing the article. I read it. I am a university teacher and I don't believe in the idea that the younger generations cannot understand a file system. If anything, all my students now have a laptop in the classroom, contrary to even just a few years ago. The idea that if you learn tech with a phone you can't understand a desktop OS is greatly exaggerated. Most students realize they need a laptop at university and just learn to use it or simply have to learn to use it for work later and laptops and desktops aren't going anywhere, especially in a corporate environment, not now, not in the foreseable future. The whole idea of a "post pc world", dating back 15 years, is very far from reality, especially in the business world, and things are not changing. I think it's easy to mix consumers and people who work, especially as in many cases there are virtually no boundaries for many people.
Fax machines are a very different thing and it's a superseeded technology, just like iPods are...
If it's a MacBook then Apple has hidden the file system from the user as good as they possibly can. All the data is right in the app, instant-on, auto-save, synced to the cloud and back where you left it. What do you mean, all my work is lost because I quit without saving? It's a bit like people who only ever learned to drive a car with an automatic gearbox. Academia is often their first encounter with a shift car.
File system is just as exposed on MacOS as it is on Windows, and iCloud is just an option for autosaving as Onedrive is on Windows, which you can turn on or off. Office, by the way, saves periodically work unless you explicitely close without saving (saying no to the prompt), in which case Windows or MacOS won't help you... (and why would they, imagine you made a mess in the formatting of a document and you were obliged to save it just because it's auto-save only).
I don't live in any ecosystem, but I use dropbox for my syincing and versioninig of files.
As for your example, if your work device requires you to learn a shift gear, you'll just learn it, nothing out of this world... Windows computers are not disappearing from corporations anytime soon... and new generations will just learn to use them...
Great devices. And with at least 16gb of RAM, it should work well for at least a half dozen years to come. And even then have some significant resale value.