this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

for everyone that says that it would not cost much to offer 16Gb as base, what they would be forgoing is an easy $200 upsell. cost is not the issue, it is forgone margin

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Apple really needs to stop being cheap 2 months before 2024 and make 16GB the base RAM.

Reminds me of the 16GB base storage model during the early iPhone days.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Apple really needs to stop being cheap with

Why would they? People are going to buy their shit regardless since they managed to turn computer hardware into a brand-name and Apple knows it better than anyone.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

They coulda gone to 12gb, still differentiated slightly from pro line and it would have saved them all this trouble...

I can’t imagine the cost difference between 2x4 and 2x6 was worth this publicity

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm holding a phone with 8GB RAM and it was the cheap version.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I think this needs to stop. I hope we magically hit the hardware improvement wall, at least for phones, and have to optimize the software for like a decade. Bruteforcing shitty bloated code with hardware pains me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Whaaat? 8GB isn't enough for photo and video editing? Who could've known?!?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

The 8 GB M1 Air my girlfriend uses works fine for photo editing and even basic video editing in Final Cut.

The thing is that it was 950€ almost 3 years ago and even back then 8 GB at that price point was below average.

The 8 GB M3 Pro is being sold for 1999€ right now, while even garbage 600€ HP laptops ship with 16 GB.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'll still defend the 8GB base config for a Macbook Air, but it's just not reasonable for a MBP.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I'd defend it if the Air were a $500 machine, but at $1k, 8GB is unacceptable.

12 would maybe be reasonable, but come on, my phone, which was about the same price as a MacBook Air well over a year ago has more RAM (12GB) and more storage (512 GB). That's just totally unacceptable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

of course. Apple really should have a talk with that guy from marketing and stop him from spreading lies.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

a lot of comments in r/apple defending having 8gb in a $1600 pro laptop

the problem isn't apple, if their customer base willingly pays for it, then why wouldn't apple take advantage

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

8GB RAM not enough in almost-2024? Who could have thought?!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Selling a $1600 laptop with 8gb should have earn them as much derision as the apocryphal Bill Gates quote about 640k.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Selling a $1600 laptop with 8gb should earn them as much derision as the apocryphal Bill Gates quote about 640k.

Moreso, really, because at the time that quote was attributed, 640K was at least sufficient for the vast majority of people.

In 2023, 8GB unified RAM isn't adequate for much beyond browsing the internet. These benchmarks clearly show that you lose a huge amount of performance (well over 50%) going with 8GB over 16GB.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Yup, and you can't use the "it's an Air laptop, buy a Pro for workloads like this" excuse in this scenario either.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

But Apple said it is effectively the same as 16GB... this can't be

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

It goes without saying that "you're testing it wrong". Think different (i.e. special)!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Anyone that who has a reasonable understanding of computers would know that nothing other than dedicated GPU RAM (which Apple SoCs do not have) would make a system with less main RAM equivalent to a system with more main RAM (and only in certain workloads).

All claims that somehow the Apple SoC's "unified memory" makes them require less RAM are nothing less than bald face lies!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Yes 16G on a MacBook is better than 8G on a MacBook. Was anyone but YouTubers doubting this?

The real test would be to call out Apple's marketing BS and actually test an 8G MacBook vs 16G Window laptop. But let's be real, 8G on a "pro" machine is ridiculous no matter how you slice it.