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How can Apple deal with the memory shortage?

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Re: How can Apple deal with the memory shortage?

#111

Post by iamshs »

thisislife2 wrote: post #108

Just a thought - stop bloody soldering the RAM and the SSDs. That partially transfers the burden on to the customers and makes their product more repairable ... Mac Minis (with un-soldered RAM and HDD / SSDs) used to be sold with minimum 4 GB RAM, if I remember right). This, way, you can still sell devices with lower RAM, and customers can upgrade in the future when supply increases.

Another problem is locked hardware. Newest Synology hardware has lifted the HDD locks but still doesn't allow third party SSD and RAM. Mac Mini storage upgrade is a DIY solution, why not use the standard M.2 2230 slot?

Re: How can Apple deal with the memory shortage?

#112

Post by pjc50 »

thisislife2 wrote: post #108

Just a thought - stop bloody soldering the RAM and the SSDs. That partially transfers the burden on to the customers and makes their product more repairable ... Mac Minis (with un-soldered RAM and HDD / SSDs) used to be sold with minimum 4 GB RAM, if I remember right). This, way, you can still sell devices with lower RAM, and customers can upgrade in the future when supply increases.

It takes up more space and costs more (connectors are surprisingly expensive), as well as adding an electrical overhead, while most (yes, not all) customers don't take advantage of it.

Re: How can Apple deal with the memory shortage?

#113

Post by spider-mario »

iamshs wrote: post #111
thisislife2 wrote: post #108

Just a thought - stop bloody soldering the RAM and the SSDs. That partially transfers the burden on to the customers and makes their product more repairable ... Mac Minis (with un-soldered RAM and HDD / SSDs) used to be sold with minimum 4 GB RAM, if I remember right). This, way, you can still sell devices with lower RAM, and customers can upgrade in the future when supply increases.

Another problem is locked hardware. Newest Synology hardware has lifted the HDD locks but still doesn't allow third party SSD and RAM. Mac Mini storage upgrade is a DIY solution, why not use the standard M.2 2230 slot?

> Newest Synology hardware has lifted the HDD locks but still doesn't allow third party SSD and RAM.

True of NVMe SSDs, but SATA SSDs are no problem.

Re: How can Apple deal with the memory shortage?

#115

Post by nickjj »

astrange wrote: post #56
szmarczak wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple? Sure. What about other developers? Firefox, Chrome already use gigabytes of RAM.

It's the websites that use that RAM, not the browsers. (Often the ads on the websites.)

Browsers still have a lot of memory usage on their own.

I am running Arch Linux here. When I boot my machine into a full desktop environment it uses 1.1 GB of memory total, for everything.

If I open Firefox, it in itself uses about 1.3 GB to have Firefox open with just HackerNews in 1 tab. I have no extensions except uBlock Origin.

Re: How can Apple deal with the memory shortage?

#116

Post by helsinkiandrew »

ruguo wrote: post #31

I wonder if companies like Apple will eventually start making memory themselves.

But memory is a quite a specialist manufacturing process, they couldn't just send a design to TSMC and get the same quality and cost. It would take years (decades) to create their own factories that might be able to produce competitive memory. If they use a third party to manufacture with existing skills (Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron etc) they might as well just use their designs too (and buy their chips)

Re: How can Apple deal with the memory shortage?

#117

Post by andsoitis »

mamonoleechi wrote: post #101
tomalbrc wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me too but the latest macOS version has ruined it for me, I had to switch back to a previous version.

can you still go online with it? do you have access to security updates?

Apple provides security updates for the current and two prior versions of macOS. Occasionally, critical updates for older versions.

Re: How can Apple deal with the memory shortage?

#118

Post by bullen »

thisislife2 wrote: post #108

Just a thought - stop bloody soldering the RAM and the SSDs. That partially transfers the burden on to the customers and makes their product more repairable ... Mac Minis (with un-soldered RAM and HDD / SSDs) used to be sold with minimum 4 GB RAM, if I remember right). This, way, you can still sell devices with lower RAM, and customers can upgrade in the future when supply increases.

100% agree the problem is modular RAM can't handle the timings of the SoC.

There is a new modular RAM standard for precisely that but knowing Apple they will want to make their own.

SSD should be easy but since RAM does not last that much longer you still need to resolder that after 5-10 years!

Re: How can Apple deal with the memory shortage?

#119

Post by khriss »

CuriousRose wrote: post #83
deadfoxygrandpa wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hmm yeah. its cool that musk knows more about this than the entire industry

You could probably apply that logic to any innovation in any industry no? Reusable rockets likely got the same ridicule, as did fast satellite internet, self driving and fully electric vehicles. I can understand that Musk does not have the most palatable personality, but floating ideas and at least attempting innovation regardless of outcome over a long time is a net positive for society and should not be discouraged…

> self driving

Aren't we still waiting for that?

Re: How can Apple deal with the memory shortage?

#120

Post by andsoitis »

deadfoxygrandpa wrote: post #80
CuriousRose wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a point made recently by Musk that the whole clean room idea is outdated if you can just ensure the path the silicon takes from wafer to lidding is clean. Seems solvable to me, but leaves me wondering why it hasn’t been done before. I assume there is no human handling of raw/etched silicon now anyway, so why does the whole room need to be clean?

hmm yeah. its cool that musk knows more about this than the entire industry

think different
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