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New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton

ichilton.co.uk

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Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton

#21

Post by ioquatix »

LinXitoW wrote: post #14
nicksergeant wrote: post #3

How is this news? I think it's well known that the new Retina-MBPs have made some hardware-upgradeability sacrifices in exchange for portability.

Personally, while I understand why thinness might be great for some, I don't understand how they can sacrifice essential features(exchangeable components and ports(GigE)) for a few mms or grams on a laptop that is clearly marked "Pro". I'd think that exactly pros would be the ones that would make use of these features the most.

I appreciate the kind of perspective you have, but I own 3 MBP and I use the ethernet about once a year - normally when doing an initial Time Machine backup. Wireless is sufficient for all day to day tasks in my experience.

* Finally, if it really is a problem, buy the Thunderbolt to GigE adaptor.

Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton

#23

Post by ioquatix »

nicksergeant wrote: post #13
culturestate wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can max it out with 16GB of RAM for an additional $200. I'm not sure I can see myself putting more than that into a laptop during its useful life.

Exactly, and although similar statements have been made in the past, I think 16GB shall be sufficient for at least 5 years out.

I have a current MBP with both 8GB and 16GB of memory. I found that with 8GB, performance is excellent. With 16GB, I normally have about 6-7GB free - Mac OS X normally uses the rest for a filesystem cache but it doesn't really affect performance that much in my experience. 16GB is going to be enough for quite a while...

Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton

#24

Post by dhimes »

rangibaby wrote: post #8

The mechanism Apple uses to allow user-replaceable RAM looks like it won't fit in the new case. (pic) [1] Apple have a habit of charging fairly outrageous prices for extra RAM - $375[2] for 16GB in the current Mac Pro, and that's not even for 8GB sticks. With that in mind, $200 for the upgrade to 16GB is not that bad, which is probably on purpose. [1] https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1270#link1 [2] http://store.apple.c…

It has a funny psychological effect on me that I don't understand: when I see a premium, top-of-the-line (for whatever line you are interested in) machine, and they charge a little more to get it to the extra level (16 MB RAM), I feel like it cheapens the product. It kind of makes me think of it as second-rate. I get a similar feeling when looking at a luxury car for which a stylish interior is an upgrade. I feel like an awesome car wouldn't be sold without the stylish interior, therefore this car is less-than-awesome.

Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton

#25

Post by _b8r0 »

culturestate wrote: post #10
uzero wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thoughts exactly. But I do think that if I would put over $2000 to a laptop I wouldn't like the fact that I'm not able to upgrade memory after few years. It's ok with devices like iPad but $2000 laptop is a device that you expect to use a bit longer.

You can max it out with 16GB of RAM for an additional $200. I'm not sure I can see myself putting more than that into a laptop during its useful life.

I have the late 2011 MBP with 16gb of RAM and I maxed out RAM usage earlier today just with Postbox, Steam, a backgrounded 2Gb VM, a large file copy in forklift and chrome. While that's a rare occurence now, I imagine that over time it will become more common.

Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton

#26

Post by ricardobeat »

smcl wrote: post #9
jlouis wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would guess it is due to a couple of factors: RAM can now be tested in one package on the motherboard and people can't accidentally change it. In the long run it may open some abilities w.r.t using RAM for other things since you know its exact clocking. The production is cheaper since the MB does not need an extra "install ram" step which is probably a human. You can probably win some height space by a couple of mi…

>> The production is cheaper since the MB does not need an extra "install ram" step which is probably a human. I suspect that's not true. I reckon it's more likely they're changing a "slot RAM into place" step with a "solder RAM into place" step. That said they'll probably be able to simplify the case and design the mainboard however they place, since they'll no longer need to provide easy access to the RAM slots.

they had to "solder RAM slot to board" before "slot RAM into place"

Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton

#28

Post by revelation »

People are worried about DRAM soldered to the motherboard?

I'd be much more worried about the Flash that is, just as the RAM, also permanently soldered to the motherboard. With the wear-leveling most chipsets do nowadays, these things will just simultaneously drop dead in three years.

edit: Took another look: http://imgur.com/x0I9x It seems that they might indeed be exchangeable. Looked a lot like they were soldered on with the rest on a first glance.

Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton

#29

Post by raverbashing »

culturestate wrote: post #10
uzero wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thoughts exactly. But I do think that if I would put over $2000 to a laptop I wouldn't like the fact that I'm not able to upgrade memory after few years. It's ok with devices like iPad but $2000 laptop is a device that you expect to use a bit longer.

You can max it out with 16GB of RAM for an additional $200. I'm not sure I can see myself putting more than that into a laptop during its useful life.

Yes

Also, the SSD makes you need less memory, since reading from it is so fast

So 16Gb will go a long way really.

Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton

#30

Post by freehunter »

ioquatix wrote: post #21
LinXitoW wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, while I understand why thinness might be great for some, I don't understand how they can sacrifice essential features(exchangeable components and ports(GigE)) for a few mms or grams on a laptop that is clearly marked "Pro". I'd think that exactly pros would be the ones that would make use of these features the most.

I appreciate the kind of perspective you have, but I own 3 MBP and I use the ethernet about once a year - normally when doing an initial Time Machine backup. Wireless is sufficient for all day to day tasks in my experience. * Finally, if it really is a problem, buy the Thunderbolt to GigE adaptor.

Well for a pro laptop... my pro laptop (Thinkpad) is hooked into a docking station right now. My external monitor, some USB drives, and ethernet are plugged into the dock. When I undock, I'm going mobile so I don't need an external monitor, USB hard drives, and I can work on wifi. In my ~3000 person office, this is by far the norm. Access to some systems are locked down on an IP address basis, assuming you'll be plugged into the wall that gives a static address.

So the point is, it might be called the MacBook Pro, but is it really geared towards professional users? Not even AV professionals anymore, with no Firewire and no disc drive.

Finally, if it really is a problem, buy the Thunderbolt to GigE adaptor.

You shouldn't have to buy accessories on a $2200 laptop which come standard on even a $200 netbook.

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