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Apple's 512GB Mac Studio vanishes, a quiet acknowledgment of the RAM shortage

arstechnica.com

21–30 of 264 posts

Re: Apple's 512GB Mac Studio vanishes, a quiet acknowledgment of the RAM shortage

#22
post #6

> Pricing for the 256GB configuration has also increased, from $1,600 to $2,000

Is that a typo in the article? It's $5999 on Apple's website for that configuration

I think this means cost above. As in the extra cost you pay.

Re: Apple's 512GB Mac Studio vanishes, a quiet acknowledgment of the RAM shortage

#23
post #6

> Pricing for the 256GB configuration has also increased, from $1,600 to $2,000

Is that a typo in the article? It's $5999 on Apple's website for that configuration

It’s what toggling the 256GB upgrade costs from the previous ram amount, not the computer total.

Re: Apple's 512GB Mac Studio vanishes, a quiet acknowledgment of the RAM shortage

#24
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What will you do? eBay?

Maybe if I can find an unused one, still not sure tbh... Or I might go for an alternative SBC from AliExpress and compromise on CPU

Old Android phones might also be an option, depending on the use case.

Re: Apple's 512GB Mac Studio vanishes, a quiet acknowledgment of the RAM shortage

#25
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What will you do? eBay?

Maybe if I can find an unused one, still not sure tbh... Or I might go for an alternative SBC from AliExpress and compromise on CPU

I cant personally comment on them since I havent grabbed them yet but these are two Pi clones I was considering:

Radxa Rock 5C and Orange Pi 5

I would do research on them because they are a similar form factor and usually cheaper for more memory… the software will be different.

Re: Apple's 512GB Mac Studio vanishes, a quiet acknowledgment of the RAM shortage

#26
post #10

I'm trying to work out if I should buy a 48GB M4 Pro Mac Mini now, or wait for M5 Pro ones later this year. For AI/ML purposes, mostly. As far as I can tell, the new M5 MacBooks didn't go up much or any for the same amount of RAM?

I wouldn't buy a local machine for AI/ML purposes unless you have an actual defined use case and programs to run (perhaps even being able to test them at an Apple Store).

Otherwise you may end up like others using a high-spec Mac mini to just access online models.

Re: Apple's 512GB Mac Studio vanishes, a quiet acknowledgment of the RAM shortage

#28
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point is the performance advantage of Apple CPUs even worth it if you can't upgrade the ram itself? I'm thinking you might be better off building a PC and putting the absolute bare minimum RAM in it, with plans to swap that out with good stuff in a year or two once the RAM market stops being insane.

are we sure the RAM market will stop being insane in a year or two or could this be the new norm?

I don't know if it'll be a year or two, hard to say exactly when the AI bubble will pop, but I feel quite certain it's coming. The AI stuff is great but most of the money being thrown around to all these different companies is mostly going to be wasted. Investors don't know who the winners and losers will be, just like when people were investing in pets.com instead of amazon.com.

Re: Apple's 512GB Mac Studio vanishes, a quiet acknowledgment of the RAM shortage

#29
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point is the performance advantage of Apple CPUs even worth it if you can't upgrade the ram itself? I'm thinking you might be better off building a PC and putting the absolute bare minimum RAM in it, with plans to swap that out with good stuff in a year or two once the RAM market stops being insane.

It's the RAM bandwidth that's the advantage, 300GB/s for M5 Pro. RAM in slots is way slower, ~50GB/s.

But for ML workloads the comparison isn't between slotted CPU RAM and Apple's unified RAM, it's between Apple's unified RAM and dedicated GPU VRAM, which can more than double even the M3 Ultras bandwidth at up to 1.8TB/sec. Apple Silicon makes a unique set of trade-offs that shine in certain areas but they are still trade-offs nonetheless, so it really depends on what exactly you're doing with the hardware.

Re: Apple's 512GB Mac Studio vanishes, a quiet acknowledgment of the RAM shortage

#30
post #26
post #10

I'm trying to work out if I should buy a 48GB M4 Pro Mac Mini now, or wait for M5 Pro ones later this year. For AI/ML purposes, mostly. As far as I can tell, the new M5 MacBooks didn't go up much or any for the same amount of RAM?

I wouldn't buy a local machine for AI/ML purposes unless you have an actual defined use case and programs to run (perhaps even being able to test them at an Apple Store). Otherwise you may end up like others using a high-spec Mac mini to just access online models.

I do not appreciate you calling me out personally!
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