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Apple’s MacBook Pro memory problem is worse than ever
(www.macworld.com)
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this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023
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The base models (the air's, not pro's), should have shipped with 12-16GB standard, and the pro's should have shipped with 16-24GB standard. I'd argue that a minimum of 24-32GB should really be the standard on something named a "pro" model.
Apple's M-based laptops are really great - excellent display, best-in-class speakers, good keyboard, industry-leading trackpad...But 8GB of RAM for $1600? Get out of here.
Do they still solder the SSD?
Of course
Well that's not very "green" coming from a company who stopped supplying customers with chargers "because of the environment." When a hard drive craps out the only solution is to replace the entire board rather than a single part with an industry standard connector?
They disassemble those replacements and use them to create warranty parts. Apple is one of the few companies that actually does reduce and reuse first. Any parts that fail testing get recycled.
They desolder components and reuse them or they scrap old laptops and scavenge the good bits like the screen and keyboard? Assuming someone brings in a laptop with a bad hard drive, what components later get disassembled?
All of them. They have machines that strip down the components:
https://www.elitedaily.com/p/heres-how-apple-recycles-old-iphones-into-new-models-by-using-actual-robots-29961761
This article is about the iPhone robots but they also have machines that do this with Macs too. Every Apple device is made with recycled content but the majority of their components are reused in remanufactured warranty devices (remanufactured rather than refurbished because refurbished reuses existing whole components, remanufacturing breaks down components, tests them, and reuses them to create entirely new components from working parts).
Could just solder a new ssd no?
Of course not, the "Bios" is stored on the SSD, so if you replace it your computer won't even boot.
Oh, and if your SSD dies it won't boot too.
Oof.
Removing individual soldered NAND chips directly connected to the motherboard, attaching new NAND chips, and somehow getting a working computer out the other end is so far beyond the abilities of most users that it's not even funny.
It's way beyond the skillset of even most computer repair specialists too.
In fact, in terms of "getting it working again" is concerned, anyone outside of an Apple assembly plant is unlikely to be much use.
People have done it on M1's at least. You'll need a well equipped rework station to do it though, especially since the NAND is essentially glued to the motherboard in addition to solder.
Technically they don’t even have an SSD anymore. They just have a bunch of NAND chips.
The drive controller is in the CPU. Which is great for performance… especially when you’re reading data that is already cached by the drive controller you’re limited by RAM speed instead of PCIe - but it’s a bit of a headache when it comes to upgrades.
The band chips are on a daughter board on their larger desktops. And soldered on laptops and the tiny Mac Mini.
Yes. There is no internal upgradable parts. I believe you can only replace the battery cells, the fans, and the mainboard (motherboard with soldered CPU/RAM(VRAM)/SSD, and all connected modules like the USB chipsets, audio chipset, etc.).
Replacing the motherboard triggers the screen drm and the screen gets all fucked up and won't go to sleep.
Everything is soldered these days, RAM included, hence the issues and complaints. I find it extra comical that they tried to cheapen on the solder as well, but when that resulted in issues with GPU splitting away from PCB, they glued shoe rubber on top the chip so case pushes it to make contact and called it a "solution". Haha. Imagine the amount of savings they made on such a wast amount of solder per PCB. It might even approach range in pennies.
It's not even soldered, they've gone further than that. They literally print the memory and storage onto the system on a chip, as part of the fabrication process. No amount of soldering skill will be able to remove and replace that memory/storage, because it's on the chip itself.
32gb might have been "pro" 5 years ago but not anymore, not when a run of the mill 32gb DDR5 kit can be had for $100
Apple won't even offer that for the 8GB models, the best you can do for those is pay $400 to get them with 24GB included.
And obviously everything is soldered and nothing is upgradeable.
Also, have in mind that main memory shared with igpu, so if we talking about memory heavy tasks like 8k video render with masks, effects and stuff, then this memory will be eaten not only by app, but also with gpu encoder. 64gb would be more close to "bearable minimum" but oh well, magic apple ram I guess.
I meant as a base spec for a "pro" system.
yes, my opinion is that 32gb was the minimum spec for a "pro" system 5 years ago. Nowadays, if 32gb is actually enough as a minimum spec then you're in "enthusiast" territory in my opinion, not "pro". Perhaps that's more telling about my standards as a PC enthusiast though, and about how far PC hardware has come
If you ask me, everyone and everything that’s calling itself a pro isn’t really pro.
And than again John from finance is a professional who want a MacBook Pro. IT gave him a 8gb pro. John is happy and doesn’t know a damn thing about computers.
Disclaimer: I’m in no way trying to defend Apple here.
Saying that X amount of RAM (or any other component spec for that matter) is not enough for a “Pro” computer is not really a universal truth or something, you can’t compare people running multiple instances of Docker with people doing photo editing or web dev for example.
Either of those can be “Pros” within their field, their hardware requirements doesn’t make them professionals or enthusiasts. I know I’m being a bit tangential here, but arguing about the “correct” spec por a Pro computer has always irked me.
That being said, I agree it’s ridiculous that Apple is shipping $1K+ computers with merely 8GB of RAM. Also, it’s known that Apple’s “pro” devices most of the time just mean they’re just their most expensive tier. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Your lack of knowledge shows. Everyone with at least 2 brain cells and capability to read can understand that this is just plain wrong.
Macbook pro for example has a CPU cooler inbuilt (first ever on a laptop BTW)
That part of my comment was a bit of an hyperbole tbh, but it’s also true that Apple just slaps the “Pro” moniker to their most expensive tier without always making them deserve it.
Before the iPhone 15 Pro series, there wasn’t really much “pro” in the Pro models. Same with the iPad Pro, sure they’re way nicer and higher end, but hardly anything “pro” about them.
And don’t get me started with the new baseline 14 inch MacBook Pro, with a regular M3 and 8GB of RAM.
Yeah I was just joking - since the MBA - MBP difference is basically that MBP has a cooling fan