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Will you purchase a Macbook Pro if the RAM is non-upgradeable?

east85

east85

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 24, 2010
1,343
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Looking at the NVIDIA article on MacRumors lead me to to start doing a little bit of thinking regarding Apple's treatment of the Air. Basically, as most of you already know the RAM is soldered into the system, not upgradeable and pretty much static from the factory. I would assume that users of the Pro are more interested in performance, or possibly being able to do upgrades in order to expand the lifespan of their system due to the professional nature of the device, and the segment it's aimed at. Assumptions can be wrong though.

So, if the new MacBook Pro does follow the form factor of the Macbook Air, and adopts the strategy regarding RAM used in the MacBook Air, will you still be interested in purchasing one?

It seems to me that this strategy would shorten the lifespan of the device with more demanding and advanced professional software coming out, coupled with an inability to upgrade.

Of course this is all hypothetical.

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/1...slide-seems-to-show-a-macbook-air-pro-hybrid/
 
As long as it will be 8gb. It's still a toss up though knowing that Mountain Lion is coming and Apple is said to be doing this OS refresh annually (tick tock). Casual users might not have a problem but Pro users might be finding themselves in need of 16gb post Mountain Lion (again, tick tock from Mountain Lion to the next one much like SL to Lion).
 
if it had 8gb i would be ok with it but i know some people that would be pissed off they couldnt put 16 in there at this time.
 
The answer depends on what one is using the system for. Hopefully in a larger Pro (15" The Air form factor would still allow for a memory upgrade.

And I would hope a Pro would have more disk space than the the 256GB the Airs have.
 
Nope.
Firstly Apple's 8GB will cost me a lot.
Secondly I'm looking at upgrading to 16GB in the near future.
 
8GB as default (within a reasonable price) and BTO to 16GB for power users otherwise I'll stick with a refurb 2011 and see what the next refresh brings.
 
That's why I'm still having a hard time believing that this will happen to a Pro. Some real pro users need their 16gb RAM for their uses. If there will be a 15" thin Air, it will be called a 15" Air and not a Pro. Now I don't see Apple adding an additional model to their notebook lineup unless they can clearly see there's a good market for it.

Nevertheless, if indeed the Pro will be thinned out, it won't look like the Air. It will still have decent space for a better GPU without burning the house down. I currently don't see how this is possible (looking at the AMD Radeon 7750M 7770M) unless there's a secret sauce hidden somewhere. :D
 
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arctic said:
That's why I'm still having a hard time believing that this will happen to a Pro. Some real pro users need their 16gb RAM for their uses. If there will be a 15" thin Air, it will be called a 15" Air and not a Pro. Now I don't see Apple adding an additional model to their notebook lineup unless they can clearly see there's a good market for it.

Nevertheless, if indeed the Pro will be thinned out, it won't look like the Air. It will still have decent space for a better GPU without burning the house down. I currently don't see how this is possible (looking at the AMD Radeon 7750M 7770M) unless there's a secret sauce hidden somewhere. :D
Click to expand...

unless they get thicker, putting a 77xxM GPU in the pro would either be:
a) a miracle of heat dissipation, or
b) cause lots of overheating issues.
 
windowstomac said:
A "Pro" machine without upgradable memory just sounds daft to me.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

A "pro" level machine limited to 8 or 16gb of ram in 2012... well... isn't.

RAM is cheap. 8 gb is enough or today if you don't do much, but if you're actually making the machine work, 16gb is cheap enough to make a huge bang for buck.

Anything less than 8gb in 2012, considering 8gb of RAM is about 3-4% of the cost of the machine at RETAIL pricing (if that) is retarded.

I fully expect desktops to come standard with 8-16gb of RAM within 18 months - prices have crashed and RAM makes such a huge difference when trying to actually do work on the machine. It is simply not worth skimping on - drop 1 grade of CPU if you have to, and spend the saved money on doubling your RAM.

There are pro users out there who can and do make use of 32-64gb of RAM or more in their workstation. A new release "pro" laptop (i.e., mobile workstation) limited to 8-16 gb of ram and non-upgradable is a joke.


As others have implied - i don't believe that a new 15" air-form-factor machine will wear the pro label. It will simply be far too limited. Maybe they'll rename the "air" line to just "Macbook" now the white macbook is gone?
 
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I expect to get 3-5 years of use out of my MBP before passing it on to someone else int he family. 8GB is fine for now, but might not be in the future. Plus, it's not just limiting yourself to the amount of RAM that Apple gives you, but also at the price that they want to charge you for it, which has typically been WAY above market value. If Apple does switch over to soldered RAM in the MBP (or whatever they decide to call it) I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people end up opting for a refurb of one of the 2011 models.
 
The first step I've taken with my last 3 Apple laptops (2 MBPs and 1 MB) is to immediately upgrade the memory to its maximum capacity with 3rd party memory. If Apple will sell me a machine with enough memory to meet my requirements (presently dual core - 8GB, quad core - 16GB) at a price I consider fair, then my needs are met, the machine is maxed out, and an ability to upgrade is irrelevant.
 
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Currently have 2GB in my MB, and it's dying for 4. If I get the MBP, the only thing I know I'm changing is the 8GB upgrade, but I'm not doing that through Apple.

Assuming the refresh doesn't go as I prefer, a late 2011 it is.
 
That's a tough one. I don't mind the soldered memory in my MBA but, and this is a huge BUT, I use the MBA for different requirements than my MBP. I've already upgraded the RAM in my MBP twice in the last year, 4GB -> 8GB -> 16GB. I can't really see myself accepting a dead end in this department.

Not being able to upgrade disk would be a tough one to swallow as well.
 
All interesting replies. I actually had been considering eventually buying a MBP, but I'm going to wait and see what's going on down the road here shortly. Should be interesting regardless, especially if a redesign of any sort is brought forward.

I personally agree with those of you who have stated it would be a deal breaker. I certainly don't wish for this to happen, nor like entertaining the idea. I really enjoy the engineering and quality behind the Apple products I own, but I don't think I could bite the bullet and buy an Apple priced machine with 8 gigs of ram (or the upgrade cost implied). The price is simply too high (if it's assumed that Apple will continue pricing RAM upgrades like they have in the past) considering the cost of RAM on the market currently.
 
As long as 4+ ram is in it, it should be future proof for my needs below that definitly not my current one has 8gb and if i had the money i would upgrade it to 16gb
 
Yes, if the base model comes with 8 GB
Yes, if the upgrade to 16 GB is reasonably priced (at most twice the market price for 16 GB of ram)

More importantly, I think the 15''/17'' models should have at least two mSATA slots for two blade SSDs
 
Yeah absolutely. I will buy it with 8gb RAM which should easily be enough for 3+ years, and by then I know I will probably buy a new laptop anyway.

I personally NEVER upgraded any of my laptops, as I buy new ones every 2 or 3 years.
 
throAU said:
Exactly.

A "pro" level machine limited to 8 or 16gb of ram in 2012... well... isn't.
Click to expand...
There's already not much that's "pro" about the MacBook Pro, except it's name. It's a marketing gimick, nothing more. If it's really a pro machine, where's the esata port, or USB 3.0? Where's the removable battery or even a VGA port for all those presentation rooms with a VGA projector?

The only thing that the MBP is "pro" compared to, is the MBA.
 
I refuse to pay Apple a differ of $100,000,000,000,000 more for a higher memory config compared to a lower one. If I can't upgrade memory myself for cheap, that's a problem.
 
KohPhiPhi said:
Yeah absolutely. I will buy it with 8gb RAM which should easily be enough for 3+ years, and by then I know I will probably buy a new laptop anyway.

I personally NEVER upgraded any of my laptops, as I buy new ones every 2 or 3 years.
Click to expand...

That sounds kind of wasteful.
 
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