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Why the low ram in the Pros?
- Thread starter skiltrip
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they ship with 3 rather then 4 to be able to utilize triple channel memory, allows for much greater bandwidth.
Because user's of such systems require all sorts of different setups and aren't consumers. Most workstations ship with the minimum memory. G5s through 2008 Mac Pros all came with the minimum needed to run the system. Only in 2009 did they start to offer a bit more. You aren't going to get it for free so why be forced to pay more for memory you won't use?
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Because Apple are tight fisted b'tards when it comes to the MacPro. The original only came with 1Gb. The 08's came with 2Gb. So 3Gb is on par with this very gradual and pathetic increase.
the fact that apple gives you 3 1gb sticks to start your base 2.8 2010 mac pro is one of the few nice things they do along with just 1 1tb hdd. It keeps down the price and allows your to put in far better ram and or hdds at real world prices.
ram and hdds are somewhat like commodities with one twist they mostly drop in price. So apple is not going to stock pile hdds and ram to put in machines. 4gb sticks of ram for mac pros are 50 bucks at many good online sellers. 3tb hdds are 190 to 210 at good online sellers. apple dropping in as little as possible is good business for the consumer and apple. this is one of the few nice things they do for us.
ram and hdds are somewhat like commodities with one twist they mostly drop in price. So apple is not going to stock pile hdds and ram to put in machines. 4gb sticks of ram for mac pros are 50 bucks at many good online sellers. 3tb hdds are 190 to 210 at good online sellers. apple dropping in as little as possible is good business for the consumer and apple. this is one of the few nice things they do for us.
also ram prices can move up and down quite a bit. the 2009 mac mini ram got as low as 45 dollar for a pair of 2gb sticks in the summer of 2009. they shot back up over 90 for the same pair of 2gb sticks and are now down again to under 40 for a pair of 2gb sticks. by giving us the bare minimum in sticks they need do no planing or risk management. yeah they will sell a few 8gb or 4gb sticks at crazy prices to the fool that wants them. in the mac pro ram change is so easy and hdd change is so easy. don't complain about 3 1gb ram sticks. as oem.
they don't want to be in the business of selling ram or hdds. if you want to pay them 1275 dollars for 12gb ram instead of paying superbiiz 140 dollars for the same quality ram they will take your money. how would you feel if they forced the 12gb ram on you at a 1200 premium. Now to defend apple for price is hard to do but 3 1 gb ram sticks is defendable.
remember the ram that is 12gb for 140 at superbiiz was over 1000 about a year ago. it was over 600 last august when the pros came out. So apple is really helping us in this case. not ***** us.
they don't want to be in the business of selling ram or hdds. if you want to pay them 1275 dollars for 12gb ram instead of paying superbiiz 140 dollars for the same quality ram they will take your money. how would you feel if they forced the 12gb ram on you at a 1200 premium. Now to defend apple for price is hard to do but 3 1 gb ram sticks is defendable.
remember the ram that is 12gb for 140 at superbiiz was over 1000 about a year ago. it was over 600 last august when the pros came out. So apple is really helping us in this case. not ***** us.
I'm not sure why anybody thinks this is a bad thing. 
It is NOT that Apple wants you to buy their overpriced RAM, and it isn't that Apple doesn't think you need any more. That's ridiculous.
As philipma1957 said, Apple isn't in the RAM business and doesn't want to be. They can't afford to sell you fast RAM at good prices, so they offer a low minimum so you can buy it from somebody who can provide it at a reasonable price.
Apple knows the majority of people who buy Mac Pros know how to install RAM and know where to buy it cheap. With the Mac Mini and iMac they can't make this assumption, hence the higher minimum despite the generally lower RAM usage on these machines.
If you want 32GB to come installed in your order, Apple will let you, but they aren't interested in being criticized for overcharging for something that the market isn't interested in paying for at all.
The same thing goes for hard drives, although it's less obvious. I'm actually under the impression that Apple's SSD prices are reasonable, even if there are faster ones available from other vendors.
It is NOT that Apple wants you to buy their overpriced RAM, and it isn't that Apple doesn't think you need any more. That's ridiculous.
As philipma1957 said, Apple isn't in the RAM business and doesn't want to be. They can't afford to sell you fast RAM at good prices, so they offer a low minimum so you can buy it from somebody who can provide it at a reasonable price.
Apple knows the majority of people who buy Mac Pros know how to install RAM and know where to buy it cheap. With the Mac Mini and iMac they can't make this assumption, hence the higher minimum despite the generally lower RAM usage on these machines.
If you want 32GB to come installed in your order, Apple will let you, but they aren't interested in being criticized for overcharging for something that the market isn't interested in paying for at all.
The same thing goes for hard drives, although it's less obvious. I'm actually under the impression that Apple's SSD prices are reasonable, even if there are faster ones available from other vendors.
I'm not sure why anybody thinks this is a bad thing.
It is NOT that Apple wants you to buy their overpriced RAM, and it isn't that Apple doesn't think you need any more. That's ridiculous.
As philipma1957 said, Apple isn't in the RAM business and doesn't want to be. They can't afford to sell you fast RAM at good prices, so they offer a low minimum so you can buy it from somebody who can provide it at a reasonable price.
Apple knows the majority of people who buy Mac Pros know how to install RAM and know where to buy it cheap. With the Mac Mini and iMac they can't make this assumption, hence the higher minimum despite the generally lower RAM usage on these machines.
If you want 32GB to come installed in your order, Apple will let you, but they aren't interested in being criticized for overcharging for something that the market isn't interested in paying for at all.
The same thing goes for hard drives, although it's less obvious. I'm actually under the impression that Apple's SSD prices are reasonable, even if there are faster ones available from other vendors.
YES that is exactly my conclusion. Even the apple ssd is a good option if you get one. My reasoning is simple enough it is big 512gb. If you buy your pro from apple with a discount like education , government or business and you use a discover card %5 off the purchase. the ssd is only 1068.75. Buy apple care and the ssd is good for 3 years. who gives a f if it dies from over writing as long as it does so in less then 3 years. If it is no longer in stock apple will give you a better one. So how bad of a deal is it. Owc sells their 480gb one for 1579 same 3 year warranty. I say buy a 2010 get the ssd use it for a scratch drive , if your business calls for the need for a large fast scratch drive it is a good deal.
buy a small ssd from owc and use it for a boot drive.
Yeah, makes most sense to buy separately if you are already forking out $6-$7k for a maxed out Mac Pro with 512GB SSD. The 32GB of the DDR3 1333MHz ECC RAM can be had for $600 elsewhere while on the Apple store it costs almost $3,600. That's a difference of 6:1. Plus, the RAM that costs $600 comes with a limited lifetime warranty as opposed to a one or three year warranty if you buy it from Apple. It really is your choice, though. Some people aren't very technically inclined and have more money than they can figure out what to do with. Such people would probably have less aggravation just having Apple do all service work.