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Apple's 3 step method:
1: Charge 3x the market price for RAM
2: Solder it in
3: Profit!

Exactly.
Now there is the argument that sockets and access cost money and more testing, but not that much more.
RAM soldered to the board is more reliable, but DIMM and SO-DIMM sockets are extremely reliable.
 
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RAM soldered to the board is more reliable, but DIMM and SO-DIMM sockets are extremely reliable.

If sockets weren't reliable they wouldn't use them in critical servers.

Anyhow, I buy Samsung and Hynix made memory modules without the huge middleman markup. Usually the only difference with Apple memory is a black sticker otherwise it's the same PCB and ICs.
 
I agree. And VAT is not the issue. They gouge the European customers. I recently sold my early 2013 MBP, my iPhone 3GS, my I Phone 5c, my iPhone SE and my wife's iPad 3. And cancelled Apple Music and iCloud storage. It was time to say bye bye to the Cupertino cabal.
Happily using a Samsung phone for 10 months and a Samsung tablet for 8 months and Spotify for 3 years. There is another life out here!

And yet, you are here.
 
When do we expect a radical redesign?

End of 2021, Start of 2022. Air and Pros will go ARM. Mini may or may not, then iMacs. Pro's in 2022, maybe. Possible there's a 2021 surprise but I doubt it. Pro date likely depends on if the earlier chips have issues in the field.

Considering buying this myself. Easily replaceable RAM is huge and it's time to upgrade my Desktop PC. Having Intel is a benefit for BootCamp and virtualization still (niche uses, but I have them).
 
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If sockets weren't reliable they wouldn't use them in critical servers.

Anyhow, I buy Samsung and Hynix made memory modules without the huge middleman markup. Usually the only difference with Apple memory is a black sticker otherwise it's the same PCB and ICs.

Read what I said " but DIMM and SO-DIMM sockets are extremely reliable."
I have yet to have a socket fail.
But by soldering to the board, Apple reduces cost and increases margin.
They charge a ton of money for memory upgrades, when you can do them.
Nothing new.
 
That’s pretty much a given. Perhaps they’ll at least let us expand the memory using microSD cards 😅


Now that is forward thinking. We can hope, can't we?
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Am I seeing this correct? You can't upgrade the storage space on the entry 27" model? You're stuck with 256GB and would need external drives?
I believe this is true on only the entry level (processor...) iMac.
 
Ordered mine from Mr Memory - Link - today. 64GB extra for £250 delivered.

Never quite sure if I should leave the base 8GB in it or not, but generally do, doesn’t seem to do any harm.
 
Am I seeing this correct? You can't upgrade the storage space on the entry 27" model? You're stuck with 256GB and would need external drives?

You can't upgrade the internal storage in any all-SSD Mac apart from the Mac Pro. The RAM options on the iMac are only available when you order a new one. That's been effectively true for a while- even when the SSD isn't soldered in it's a proprietary Apple design rather than a standard M.2 blade. With the move to the T2 chip, the SSD controller is built in to the T2 chip, so that situation isn't going to change.

You're right that there's no option to order the entry-level iMac with more than 256GB. However, that would be at least $100 at Apple's prices and it's only $200 to get the next model up with the faster processor as well - if you're that price-sensitive then you're in the wrong shop...

Likewise I notice the mid-range model only goes up to 2TB while the top-end one goes up to 8TB.

I doubt there's any technical reason for this - keeping the number of options down just makes the logistics easier. Apple Stores and other retailers won't be able to stock every permutation of configuration options anyway - and even for direct sales, they'll want to keep the amount of actual "build to order" to an absolute minimum.

A lot of talk about the Ram, but what about the SSD; is this replaceable or soldered onboard?

Even if the SSD is removable it will be a proprietary Apple format - and now they have a T2 chip in the iMac, the SSD will be registered with the T2 and you won't be able to change the SSD without Apple's blessing.

Still sucks from a repairability point of view. SSDs have a finite number of writes and are one of the more likely components to fail...
 
I keep thinking Apple will suddenly change and offer me a consumer gaming tower similar to the Mac Pro. It doesn't need the same specs. Just allow me to upgrade my own RAM, graphics card, and storage please. But with the release of this, I see they have no intention of moving in that direction. I don't know how anyone can even use this base machine STILL with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB hard drive. That's insane. The base should be at least 16GB of RAM with a 500GB hard drive. They've been stuck on an 8GB RAM budget offer for about 4 years now. And don't even get me started on the graphics cards. They could at the very least give a 4GB discrete graphics card to the base model and a 6GB one to the mid.

I'm seriously considering just making a hackintosh or going with Windows even though I loath the UI. Maybe some day Apple will make an affordable upgradable machine. But I'm tired of waiting.
 
This is where Tim's profit genius shows. Apple has been moving towards full lockup since 2012, folks.

This will be the last Mac besides the Mac Pro (they CANNOT get away with it in that segment) to have user-upgradeable anything.

The AS transition will remove this. I bet even the Mini will fall victim to this.

Mac Mini already had soldered ram, in the ill-fated 2014 revision. They brought back upgradeable RAM in the 2018 version, of course at the expense of soldered on SSD.
 
I keep thinking Apple will suddenly change and offer me a consumer gaming tower similar to the Mac Pro. It doesn't need the same specs. Just allow me to upgrade my own RAM, graphics card, and storage please. But with the release of this, I see they have no intention of moving in that direction. I don't know how anyone can even use this base machine STILL with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB hard drive. That's insane. The base should be at least 16GB of RAM with a 500GB hard drive. They've been stuck on an 8GB RAM budget offer for about 4 years now. And don't even get me started on the graphics cards. They could at the very least give a 4GB discrete graphics card to the base model and a 6GB one to the mid.

I'm seriously considering just making a hackintosh or going with Windows even though I loath the UI. Maybe some day Apple will make an affordable upgradable machine. But I'm tired of waiting.
There was a time years ago when the base price was somewhat reasonable, and I was considering maybe getting a MacBook once my PC Laptop died, but then they bumped prices by hundreds...
 
It's this kind of stuff - especially in the laptops where this is not an option, that really sours me on Apple. It's profiteering (hey, I run a business too - but I run a "reasonable" profit and do things pro bono when I feel it's right)
Yep, and I think it costs them in the long run. I haven't upgraded my 2015 MBP partly because the replacement cost would be so ridiculously high due to needing a minimum 16GB/1TB, but preferably 32GB/4TB (entirely since you can't upgrade it down the track). My 2015 model already has 16GB, and lets me upgrade the SSD (which I have done twice, from 256 -> 512 -> 1TB, and may well go to 2TB before I'm done with it. Admittedly, the other reason I haven't upgraded is all the MBP models since have had major problems. The 16" is the nearest thing, but it's still got issues, partly because you have to have Catalina, and can't put Mojave on it. Maybe the ARM 16" will be the one, but I'm not holding my breath, and the RAM/SSD sizes/prices will still be an issue.

And it's not just me, if you look at the sales chart for Macs since 2006, it shows a clear drop in growth from 2012 when SSDs were introduced and RAM became soldered, and again from 2016 when SSDs were soldered and the butterfly keyboard was introduced. Now of course, that chart is for all Macs, not just laptops, but it is a reflection of the mentality of Apple that went across the board for all Macs.
 

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Hi, video editor after advice please. So, could the highest spec version accept 2933Mhz? And would it be better to upgrade the RAM to 128GB using 2x64 or 4x32? (of the correct Mhz of course)
 
Yep, and I think it costs them in the long run. I haven't upgraded my 2015 MBP partly because the replacement cost would be so ridiculously high due to needing a minimum 16GB/1TB, but preferably 32GB/4TB (entirely since you can't upgrade it down the track). My 2015 model already has 16GB, and lets me upgrade the SSD (which I have done twice, from 256 -> 512 -> 1TB, and may well go to 2TB before I'm done with it. Admittedly, the other reason I haven't upgraded is all the MBP models since have had major problems. The 16" is the nearest thing, but it's still got issues, partly because you have to have Catalina, and can't put Mojave on it. Maybe the ARM 16" will be the one, but I'm not holding my breath, and the RAM/SSD sizes/prices will still be an issue.

And it's not just me, if you look at the sales chart for Macs since 2006, it shows a clear drop in growth from 2012 when SSDs were introduced and RAM became soldered, and again from 2016 when SSDs were soldered and the butterfly keyboard was introduced. Now of course, that chart is for all Macs, not just laptops, but it is a reflection of the mentality of Apple that went across the board for all Macs.
What that chart mostly shows is that tablet computers started eating into the demand for notebooks computers. And Apple is ok with that.

Few care about the ability to upgrade storage, RAM or GPU/CPU, especially in the Mac target market. That’s a 90s/2000s thing.
 
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Although RAM on the 21.5 is not easily user accessible it’s still likely cheaper to install your own third party RAM by opening up the computer much like those who have installed SSDs on older iMacs.
Only if you don’t mind invalidating your AppleCare warranty.

I opened up my 27” to install an SSD, but only after the AppleCare had expired (and just before the fusion drive was about to die).
 
This is what I did. Leave the 8GB (2x4) in, plus add 16GB (2x8) in the other two slots for a total of 24GB. A pair of slots should have matching sizes, but there does not have to be a match between each pair.
Do they need to be paired? I bought a single 32Gb, do I need another matching one?
 
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