RAM-Gate

[eroslws]

My question is how did they use LPDDR3 when 2133mHz is LPDDR4?

It has to be a typo right? Seems odd they would use DDR3 at a DD4 speed, does that even work?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_DDR

It's enhanced DDR3, by Samsung I believe. You bet your ass they would have mentioned it in the keynote if it was DDR4.

 

[malko]

Honestly you travel a lot so weight is a concern?

To get 32gb of ram your looking at a gaming laptop or a thinkpad. Both of which are a lot heavier and skip a lot of what the Macbook does have going for it.

I carry my laptop around every day for meetings, working from various locations. So yes, weight is a concern. Therefore I wouldn't go for a heavier laptop, but I am now considering a XPS 15 which is similar size to the MacBook Pro, but much cheaper and comes with 32 GB ram.

I won't jump ship just yet though. I will give Apple until next XPS update comes, but unless Apple has delivered 32 GB MBP:s by then I will go Dell. Current top of the line MBP is just too underpowered (ram) for me.

 

[StrawberryX]

For production I guess 32gb is advised if you work with files over 30mp.
My Air 8gb ram, get's stuck after a couple of hours working on 40mp+ medium format files.
My 1,1 Mac Pro with 32gb browses Adobe bridge much faster, and working on photofiles is no prob,
and that machine should be really "slow" ...
I bought a newer Mac Pro for less then a mini for even more ram.
My next new machine will probably be a windows computer with the fastest i7,
dual xeons are a waste for Adobe products.
I think 4ghz xcore, 32gb ram,
lots of fast scratch disk space is a minimum for most new serious camera's and adobe products.
Imac is a no go because of the screen.

I think these are just to slow, even for photographers,
( if you are in the realm of high mp dslr or medium format,
I think by now, a lot of pro's have a high mp dslr or mirrorless )

I don't expect a paperweight powerlaptop, if you want portable,
a maxed out air is super capable already. I don't mind the pro being light, I do mind that for power,
the upgrade is not very interesting ...
I think the Air puts the other laptops to shame, It's far more flexible out of the box ...

 

[tehgregzzorz]

My past few MacBook Pros have had 16 GB of RAM and I know I am always maxing it out with motion graphics and vfx work when I'm on the road. I would have REALLY liked to see a 32gb option, I'm afraid this isn't going to feel like much of an upgrade from my 2013 rMBP

 

[agaskew]

Honestly you travel a lot so weight is a concern?

To get 32gb of ram your looking at a gaming laptop or a thinkpad. Both of which are a lot heavier and skip a lot of what the Macbook does have going for it.

Except that isn't quite the case. The Dell XPS 15 is available with 32GB RAM, is very close in size to the 15" MBP, and is considerably cheaper for a 1TB SSD model, although the Skylake CPU is slightly different. There are some differences other differences, eg the Dell has USB/HDMI/SD Card slots and a touch screen. The value of each feature is up to you, but you don't have to lug around a massive laptop to get 32Gb RAM.

 

[speelurker]

16GB RAM is not a physical limitation on a virtual memory operating system right? It's when your "working set" size exceeds 16GB and things in memory start getting pushed out to disk – because with spinning disks this was always very slow.

Well, in two short years, SSD speeds for MacBook Pros have gone from ~600MBps to now ~3GBps. That's a 5x improvement in speed.

Even though I really wanted 32GB of RAM, I'm betting that with that kind of bandwidth to and from disk, 16GB of RAM may not feel that bad after all.

The question is whether to wait for reviews to prove it or take the risk and order now....

 

[JCorbs]

Lots of outrage but not many people talking about the actual advantage of DDR4 vs DDR3. I get that DDR4 would allow 32GB, but since the majority of people would go for the 16GB option anyway is it really a big deal? That's a genuine question btw; is 16GB DDR3 really much better than 16GB DDR4 at 2133MHz?

From what I've been reading it would only give a marginal advantage, if any, for most tasks and even intensive tasks only see a small advantage at 2133MHz. Would like to see more info and real world tests.

 

[purfledspruce]

If you're using a MacBook Pro for any actual intensive vm usage you're on the wrong machine buddy. But even still I've got three vms fired up on my early 2013 MacBook and still have 3gb to spare. I do it on the daily as well too. Vms are for emulation, it's not apples fault there fanboys expect the MacBook to perform on the Xeon level.
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I'm the epitome of high ram usage. Ive never needed more and the other 80% of MacBook users are in the same boat. Apple isn't going to appease a niche group of people and make less profits, that's not who they are.
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That means nothing, this is an ultra portable travel companion. It's not designed to replace your Imac, or your desktop. If you're trying to render 5.7GB 1 min videos, then you have the wrong machine. It's important that the people buying macbook's ( laptops ) are educated on what they are buying. I edit 4k video all the time, ALL the time, i edit it, store it, move it, render it , then push it out.

"you have the wrong machine" is something I think of when I'm driving to work and there are all of these giant SUVs with three rows of seats, but only caring the driver. All the other seats are empty.

But, y'know what? People don't buy multiple cars. They buy a car that meets their most extreme use case, and use that car for everything. They have to drive to work in their giant SUV.

Portability is kind of like that. For those who are stuck in Apple's ecosystem AND need a portable computer because they need to take their computer to a place other than their desks, well, Apple and Jony Ive's obsession with thinness has crippled the performance of the machine. And some people can't afford a second machine, or simply don't want to afford another machine (never mind the complexities of having two machines over one). So Apple has lost Pro marketshare over the years. That will only accelerate now that there are good alternatives available.

And your assumption is wrong - "appeasing a niche group of people and making less profits" is not what people are asking for here. "BTO 32GB ram" is what people are asking for. And Apple has always made LOTS of money on ram upgrades. They just couldn't do it and continue their "thin" obsession.

 

[neteng101]

SMH. There is no 32GB option? I automatically assumed this was a given for the 15" as an option.

This update is looking really bad. 32GB RAM is far more useful than an onboard 2TB SSD.

 

[speelurker]

16GB RAM is not a physical limitation on a virtual memory operating system right? It's when your "working set" size exceeds 16GB and things in memory start getting pushed out to disk – because with spinning disks this was always very slow.

Well, in two short years, SSD speeds for MacBook Pros have gone from ~600MBps to now ~3GBps. That's a 5x improvement in speed.

Even though I really wanted 32GB of RAM, I'm betting that with that kind of bandwidth to and from disk, 16GB of RAM may not feel that bad after all.

The question is whether to wait for reviews to prove it or take the risk and order now....

Well, I decided to send an email to Tim Cook asking about 32GB and got this from Phil Schiller:

To put more than 16GB of fast RAM into a notebook design at this time would require a memory system that consumes much more power and wouldn’t be efficient enough for a notebook.

So, apparently it was a tradeoff between 10 hours of battery life or 32GB of RAM. Tough call but I think it was the right one.

As a data point, the Dell XPS 15 (that can do 32GB of RAM) has a 5 hour battery life.

 

[Bryan Bowler]

Honestly you travel a lot so weight is a concern?

To get 32gb of ram your looking at a gaming laptop or a thinkpad. Both of which are a lot heavier and skip a lot of what the Macbook does have going for it.

Weight is always a factor, but weight does not reign supreme over a laptop's ability to meet my workflow requirements for processing photo and video files on a tight deadline while in the field. As a creative, I have used Apple products exclusively since 2006 and I do not have much interest in switching over to Windows products unless I really have to.

Why is it that a top of the line MacBook Pro should not have the option of having 32 GB of RAM? Why do people think that you should only be able to get that in specialty gaming laptops? I'm not being sarcastic...its an honest and serious question.

Edit: I had not read Speelurker's or the other excellent posts above before tapping out my reply above on my iPhone. I am currently on the move and cannot type more until a later time today. Back later today for more on this productive conversation.