If you look at the downside and upside for Apple, the decision makes perfect sense. And 8 GB should be OK for almost all their users for the next year or two.
New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton
261–270 of 319 posts
Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But locking down the os and hardware is not going to he good in the long run. You do realize all the "new" limitations of the MBP come straight from the MBA right? And that the MBA's been a raging success?
But the price is different. Much different.
So's the hardware, I'm not sure why that would matter much.
Battery is already soldered (basically), nobody cares. Aftermarket RAM upgrades only matter insofar as their historically being way overpriced at Apple, this seems avoided for now on the new MBP ($200 for the 16GB upgrade, Crucial asks for $160 for 2x8GB SODIMM so the markup extreme — least of all on a $2200 machine), the HDD -> SSD upgrade is irrelevant as it's already an SSD and if it's the same as the Air (no reason for it not to be), it's a semi-proprietary caseless and low-profile SSD module... for which there are third-party alternatives (or will be, in case the pinout is incompatible with 2011 Air pinout, which would be surprising)
Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your assumptions are completely wrong, and it only shows that Apple target customers are not really doing any kind of serious computing. This is true. I for one do all my computing with a goofy grin on my face, while riding a unicycle. In all seriousness, this product will be perfect for me. The lower weight will help with my unicycling, and the 4-core i7 will look great with my butterfly wings.
You're having an argument with a bunch of InstantExperts™ who are clearly motivated by other sources or tied to luddite ideologies. They're more interested in presenting Apple as an evil empire because this fits their personal objectives. Since the overwhelming bulk of computer users(including pro users) have no interest in fiddling with their computer specs post purchase, Apple are simply making a product that fits…
Some of us don't like to be extorted by Apple when looking for BTO options.
Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
Err, it's glued in which is considerably worse: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-with-Retina-Displ... Actually, looking through the entire teardown, I think the battery being glued in is worse than anything as levering it out is likely to cause the Li-Ion cells to blow up. Also consider how hard it is recycling that machine! Their summary: 1. Proprietary pentalobe screws prevent you from gaining access to a…
> 1. Proprietary pentalobe screws prevent you from gaining access to anything inside. Well, there's not much inside for a normal user to replace any more. > 2. As in the MacBook Air, the RAM is soldered to the logic board. Max out at 16GB now, or forever hold your peace—you can't upgrade. Just like CPUs and graphics cards have been for years. > 3. The proprietary SSD isn't upgradeable either (yet), as it is similar b…
> I'm over 2 years in on my 2010 MacBook Pro, and checking the battery right now I see its designed capacity was 6,000mAh while its current, fully-charged capacity is… 5,786mAh.
I don't know what the capacity is on mine, but I used to get about 5 hours on battery, now I'm lucky to get 2.5 hours. Mine is same model, 18 months old.
Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're having an argument with a bunch of InstantExperts™ who are clearly motivated by other sources or tied to luddite ideologies. They're more interested in presenting Apple as an evil empire because this fits their personal objectives. Since the overwhelming bulk of computer users(including pro users) have no interest in fiddling with their computer specs post purchase, Apple are simply making a product that fits…
>>Since the overwhelming bulk of computer users(including pro users) have no interest in fiddling with their computer specs post purchase, Apple are simply making a product that fits the market. No one here is saying we tear down our laptops and assemble them back three times a day. But if something like a RAM gets toast on my machine, I would like to get that replaced instead of replacing the whole machine. Why, you…
> But if something like a RAM gets toast on my machine, I would like to get that replaced instead of replacing the whole machine.
Historically, Apple tends to be pretty good on support worth the price. If something like a RAM chip is toast, they'll usually replace the board, or even the whole machine.
Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
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...
I'm not sure why we keep saying things like this.
"X MB/TB of resource Y will be plenty for a while" is almost always something we laugh about 2 years later.
Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're having an argument with a bunch of InstantExperts™ who are clearly motivated by other sources or tied to luddite ideologies. They're more interested in presenting Apple as an evil empire because this fits their personal objectives. Since the overwhelming bulk of computer users(including pro users) have no interest in fiddling with their computer specs post purchase, Apple are simply making a product that fits…
I am heavily invested in Apple for the record. I use everything from Mac Pro, iMac (all versions), all of their MBPs (no airs), iPhones, iPads etc. I have invested over $30k in their hardware, so that gives me some right to criticize their direction. All of the computers have been updated post purchase. I've put more RAM into iMacs, more RAM and SSDs into MBPs, and Mac Pros got more RAM, video cards, SSDs, HDDs etc.…
> In fact, one of the very first things I do is buy more RAM for my MBPs because it is more economical to do it yourself.
While that is historically true, it's not really the case for the new MBP: the 16GB RAM update costs $200, 2x8GB sticks cost ~150 at crucial. Meh.
> Then if you wait 2 years, you can again double your RAM for extremely low price.
Unless the chipset is at its physical limits, which is usually the case if you upgraded the RAM once on purchase.
Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ripped off is subjective. I want someone else to take care of that stuff for me, so that makes Apple's direction a good one for me. I don't like tinkering with my computer, I don't like fucking around with it to make it do what I need. I do what I do with it and it works, it works better than any of the heap of garbage PCs that I sunk countless hours into before I switched. That's why I use it, and I'm neither an idi…
I didn't level a slur at you, and as I said, I don't think that you're an idiot. Just wealthy. Before, you had the ability to go to the Apple store or website and have them "take care of" your memory woes at point of purchase. They charge like $500 for an $100 memory stick. Most people call paying 5x more for a commodity product "a ripoff".
> They charge like $500 for an $100 memory stick.
That's definitely the case historically, but you may want to look at this one case right there: 16GB RAM upgrade on the new MBP is $200. 2x8GB SODIMM at crucial is $150.
I'm not exactly going to shit my pants over a minor $50 (and 30% of the base part) markup when buying a $2200 kit.
Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
Laptop CPUs have been soldered in for as long as I can remember. We've all come to accept that as a perfectly reasonable compromise. With the exception of some high-end gaming laptops, GPUs are also soldered in. Apple have made the perfectly reasonable decision to maximise portability for the 99% of users who never upgrade any component, over the 1% for whom upgradability matters. To dismiss people with different pri…
Alternatively they have made an expensive professional tool into a disposable consumer gadget.
How is it any more of a "disposable gadget" than the previous generation which has all the same soldered components but the RAM, exactly?
My current machine got its RAM upgraded once, the day I bought it, and will never see an other RAM upgrade in its life because I'm at the chipset's capacity. It's in the exact same position as the new mbp. Has it suddenly become a "disposable computer gadget" where it was an "expensive professional tool" between the moment I received it and the moment I put the new ram sticks in? Even though I hadn't even booted it up at that point, and it's my day-to-day workhorse now?
Re: New Apple Macbook Pro RAM is soldered to the motherboard | Ian Chilton
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
>>Since the overwhelming bulk of computer users(including pro users) have no interest in fiddling with their computer specs post purchase, Apple are simply making a product that fits the market. No one here is saying we tear down our laptops and assemble them back three times a day. But if something like a RAM gets toast on my machine, I would like to get that replaced instead of replacing the whole machine. Why, you…
> But if something like a RAM gets toast on my machine, I would like to get that replaced instead of replacing the whole machine. Historically, Apple tends to be pretty good on support worth the price. If something like a RAM chip is toast, they'll usually replace the board, or even the whole machine.
If you're within warranty. If it's more than a year old (or three if you buy AppleCare), then you're on the hook for a whole new motherboard instead of a commodity stick of RAM.