If 8GB will be a bottleneck for many today, imagine the performance of that non-upgradeable laptop in a few years’ time.
Apple used to sell an iMac with non-upgradable RAM:
we found this iMac has the memory soldered to the motherboard removing any possibility of adding additional memory. Users will be permanently locked in to the 8GB of memory, as there is no Apple factory upgrade option.
The 27" iMac used to have upgradable RAM, but the text for the new version says "configurable to 64 GB", not "upgradable" like it used to. I'd love to be proven wrong, though, I'm considering getting an iMac.
> Just as an example, over at apple.com, the new iMac comes with 32GB of DDR4 2666MHz ECC RAM. To add 32GB (64GB total) they are charging 960€, or 2,880€ to add 96GB (128GB total).
Specifically Apple is well-known for their expensive pricing for better optional components (which is often necessary to pay, since for many models you cannot simply replace the component (RAM, SSD etc.) by another one on your own).
>I could put a Mac Mini on my desk with half a dozen adapters sticking out of it, but even then I still can't upgrade the RAM. The last Mac Mini with user-upgradeable RAM was 2012.
The 2018 Mac Mini is user-upgradeable up to 64GB. Storage is soldered on however.
> Is this the year where Apple increases the memory on the base model above 8GB
Nope, the opposite. They're doubling down.
> In an interview with IT Home, Mac marketing executive Evan Buyze spoke in favor of Macs equipped with 8GB of RAM. According to Buyze, the 8GB of RAM in entry-level Macs is enough for most of the tasks that most users do with these computers. He used web browsing, media playback, light photo and video editing, and casual gaming as examples.
I hope they improve things on the iMac as well. The situation with the current iMacs is ridiculous. The 27 inch iMac has user-accessible SO-DIMM slots, but the 21 inch iMac has the memory glued on.
Even the 27" iMac has a 128 GB RAM SKU, so they're going to need to build a chip supporting external RAM regardless. External PCIe support already exists thanks to thunderbolt. So the architecture will be there, it'll just be a question of how expensive it is to scale up.
> Apple lets customers configure the 15-inch MacBook Air with 8, 16, or 24 GB of integrated RAM
I wish Apple wasn’t as stingy with RAM upgrade options considering this can’t be upgraded later. For all the talk on the part of Apple of being more sustainable and green, allowing more competitive memory options would help extend the useful life of these products.
Well, perhaps nothing was seen. Because the post says:
"I do think it’s true that Apple silicon changed this equation. Perhaps even, as a rule of thumb, by a factor of 2 — that an Apple silicon Mac with 8 GB RAM performs as well under memory constraints as an Intel-based Mac with 16 GB. But base model consumer Macs have been stuck at 8 GB for a long time, and it’s impossible to look at Schaub’s charts and not see that regular increases in base RAM effectively stopped when Tim Cook took over as CEO. Apple silicon efficiency notwithstanding, more RAM is better, and certainly more future-proof. And it’s downright bizarre to think that come this fall, all iPhone 16 models will sport as much RAM as base model Macs. (Supercomputer pioneer Seymour Cray on virtual memory: “Memory is like an orgasm. It’s a lot better if you don’t have to fake it.”)"
>The current Mac Pro supports up to 1.5TB of RAM and with DDR5 memory capacities about to increase, I wonder how Apple will compensate for the much lower RAM.
Probably by just not supporting that market. But maybe they could implement some kind of Optane/CXL type SSD-as-memory solution?
Another source: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/10/23/21-5-imac-has-no-user-up...
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