8GB RAM in M3 MacBook Pro Proves the Bottleneck in Real-World Tests (www.macrumors.com)
from L4s@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:00
https://lemmy.world/post/8077213

8GB RAM in M3 MacBook Pro Proves the Bottleneck in Real-World Tests::Apple’s new MacBook Pro models are powered by cutting-edge M3 Apple silicon, but the base configuration 14-inch model starting at $1,599…

#technology

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dhork@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:02 next collapse

Maybe we should all start calling it the “MacBook Semi-Pro”.

Zarxrax@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:12 next collapse

8gb ram has been common for over a decade now. It’s what I would expect in a sub-$400 laptop.

friend_of_satan@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:23 collapse

Or a raspberry pi.

$75, 8gb, and this isn’t even the latest model. microcenter.com/…/raspberry-pi-4-model-b-8gb-ddr4

Matt@lemdro.id on 11 Nov 2023 01:23 next collapse

And Apple charges $200 for just an additional 8GB of RAM.

DarienGS@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 08:03 collapse

The LPDDR4X RAM in the Raspberry Pi isn’t QUITE the same as the on-die stuff in the M3 processor.

coffeebiscuit@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 22:57 collapse

The MacBook amateur. They should be called out on a viral scale.

Decipher0771@lemmy.ca on 10 Nov 2023 20:18 next collapse

Ok but……who the hell runs blender and FFP in 8GB?

The vast majority of users are NOT running pro apps like that.

It’s just a name. If you’re actually running pro stuff, you’d be an idiot to run that on 8Gb no matter what machine.

Apple’s argument that it’s the same as 16gb is dumb, but anyone actually using pro apps on 8Gb is dumber. The majority of browser(with sane numbers of tabs)/iPhoto/office users really are probably not gonna notice.

Fubar91@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:21 next collapse

Unfortunately a lot of consumers don’t understand this. Even if they use “pro” apps daily. These same people will fall for Apples marketing tricks here regardless.

dangblingus@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:28 next collapse

Imagine buying a $1600 US laptop to use blender.

moitoi@feddit.de on 10 Nov 2023 21:01 collapse

My laptop can’t run blender anymore. But, it’s 12 years old.

WalkableProgrammer@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:36 next collapse

No one is running those apps in 8gb, the point was is to prove that you will now need to buy a model up instead of the base model. Proving Apples BS marketing wrong

fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:49 collapse

Well nobody wants to run those apps on those machines.

One of my co workers was unfortunate enough to have to do a lot of heavy photo and video editing on an 8gb ram 13" MBP. He says the machine crawls if he has basically anything open.

xkforce@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 21:15 collapse

Its a 1600 dollar laptop of a supposedly premium brand that has almost as little RAM as the average smart phone.

Sendbeer@lemm.ee on 10 Nov 2023 20:37 next collapse

If it wasn’t $1600 maybe I could buy that. But at that price I am expecting a little bit more and only including 8 gb is pathetic.

sviper@programming.dev on 11 Nov 2023 06:03 collapse

Well if that’s the argument then they are also not gonna notice the M1 or M3 under the hood. Both chips are pretty good.

Heck even an older Intel chip should work fine in 2023 under those workloads.

the_q@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:20 next collapse

Money is the bottleneck.

AlmightySnoo@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:24 next collapse

For $1,599 you’d at least expect 16GB+ RAM given how cheap RAM is…

Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de on 10 Nov 2023 20:27 next collapse

I think Apple gets all their RAM from 2008, because they charge $50/GB for it.

Iwasondigg@lemmy.one on 10 Nov 2023 20:33 next collapse

Don’t they also solder it to the motherboard so you can’t upgrade your RAM as well?

Sendbeer@lemm.ee on 10 Nov 2023 20:39 next collapse

Well yeah, if you were paying $50 a GB wouldn’t you too? Got to lock that shit down!

BorgDrone@lemmy.one on 10 Nov 2023 20:40 next collapse

It’s not so much soldered to the motherboard as much as part of the same package as the CPU. As in: there are no separate memory chips.

EmergMemeHologram@startrek.website on 10 Nov 2023 20:55 next collapse

This is both great, and incredibly annoying because they selected 8gb as the base…

GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org on 10 Nov 2023 20:55 next collapse

But they did indeed solder it in before that, on their old Intel laptops. I think they started doing that in 2013 or 2014 but I forget exactly.

4am@lemm.ee on 10 Nov 2023 22:41 collapse

That has more to do with faster traces; the ram is “closer” to the CPU so the signal is cleaner.

Not defending the move, I’d take upgradability in a laptop.

TwanHE@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 00:35 collapse

Only makes a difference at oc levels of manual tuning. Which apple isn’t doing at their factory I reckon.

4am@lemm.ee on 12 Nov 2023 14:01 collapse

I mean, when you’re the one manufacturing the board, I’m pretty sure you could eek out some more baseline performance without having to tweak each one for OC in the production line, my dude.

TwanHE@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 17:30 collapse

At 100gb/s for the base model there probably actively downclocking the ram to make the higher end models more attractive.

billiam0202@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 22:00 collapse

So wait- if you want to increase your RAM, you have to install a whole new CPU?

lupec@lemm.ee on 10 Nov 2023 22:07 next collapse

That’s soldered as well! It’s theoretically possible but way too involved for most to bother with hiring a professional to get it done or what have you.

BorgDrone@lemmy.one on 10 Nov 2023 22:12 next collapse

No, you just buy one with the amount of RAM you need.

jlh@lemmy.jlh.name on 10 Nov 2023 22:51 collapse

Imagine buying a laptop at all

Sincerely, A Framework user

BorgDrone@lemmy.one on 10 Nov 2023 22:59 next collapse

You don’t buy a laptop, you have your employer buy it for you.

ripe_banana@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 23:43 collapse

Imagine spending $400 for 24GB of ram.

Sincerely, another Framework user

4am@lemm.ee on 10 Nov 2023 22:41 collapse

You buy a whole new Macbook

Petter1@lemm.ee on 10 Nov 2023 20:42 collapse

Lol, the ram is part of the m3 chip That’s a reason why it is so efficient. The storage in m3 is for RAM and videoRAM.

Wikipedia: The M3’s Unified Memory Architecture features up to 24 GB RAM, the M3 Pro up to 36 GB, and the M3 Max up to 128 GB. Like the M2 generation, the M3 SoCs use 6,400 MT/s LPDDR5 SDRAM. As with prior M series SoCs, this serves as both RAM and video RAM.

Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works on 10 Nov 2023 23:46 collapse

That’s literally how Intel integrated GPUs work too

The RAM being shared with the GPU, that is.

DarienGS@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 08:01 next collapse

With Apple’s chips the RAM is all on the CPU die so both CPU and GPU get the performance benefit. With Intel’s, none of it is.

Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works on 11 Nov 2023 17:59 collapse

“What Apple calls “unified memory” is RAM (random-access memory) used as “main memory” (not a CPU or GPU cache and not mass storage either).

The term “unified” refers to the fact that the memory is shared by the CPU cores and the GPU cores. That’s not novel: “integrated graphics” options in Intel x86 chips (like Iris Xe) do the same, as do just about all modern smartphones.”

DarienGS@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 22:56 collapse

I’m not talking about the merits or otherwise of “unified memory”, I’m pointing out that because Apple’s RAM is physically integrated into the CPU, it can provide more memory bandwidth than regular DDR5 DIMMs.

Petter1@lemm.ee on 12 Nov 2023 07:43 collapse

Yea but the RAM is not on the located within the chip design, is it?

xkforce@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 21:11 collapse

How the fuck did Apple manage to be the largest company on the planet doing shit like this? Are Apple users really that fucking dumb?

EatYouWell@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 21:24 collapse

Because they have an extremely consumer friendly UI/UX and a very stable OS.

dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 21:32 next collapse

And they’re much better at marketing than they are at making computers or phones. Apple is probably the most successful marketing company in the world.

tabular@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 21:55 next collapse

Not sure “friendly” is quite the right word… you can argue it’s well designed or cultivated users but Apple is anything but a "friend"ly.

dustyData@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 23:32 collapse

Their UI and UX is shit. You basically can’t use it for many basic tasks without installing a bunch of third party (proprietary and expensive) software.

TenderfootGungi@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 22:11 next collapse

Apple loves under ramming (to give a word a new meaning) and forcing everyone to pay for upgrades. The problem is there are always people that buy the base.

[deleted] on 11 Nov 2023 02:18 next collapse

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stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca on 12 Nov 2023 07:35 collapse

I think the point is to squeeze out a couple extra hundred dollars from customers.

Apple has long done price anchoring with their products just like in this case.

echodot@feddit.uk on 11 Nov 2023 02:35 next collapse

At this point I’m pretty sure the ram costs more than the rest of the laptop.

DarienGS@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 07:58 collapse

Apple’s RAM isn’t as cheap as you might think, because it’s all built directly onto the CPU die. That’s part of what makes its computers so fast.

WindowsEnjoyer@sh.itjust.works on 11 Nov 2023 08:36 collapse

It’s iRAM!

Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de on 10 Nov 2023 20:32 next collapse

Apple had to know these reviews were coming. A new iteration on their custom SOC is obviously going to make every tech site go bananas benchmarking and their claim that 8GB = 16GB is going to make them punish the machine even harder.

It’s like they decided a few bad reviews would cost them less than cutting their markup on RAM to make a 16GB entry level Pro machine for less than $2k.

olympicyes@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:40 next collapse

The worst part is that in many retail chains like Costco, you can only get the 8GB version. I suspect the review reading segment of the population is smaller than we’d expect for such an expensive purchase. Previously they’ve crippled M1 machines that have 256Gb storage, only including one controller instead of two as in the 512+ machines. It’s a shame for MacBook Air, but totally unacceptable for a computer marketed as “Pro”

ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 04:11 collapse

Not a pro cpu, just a pro chassis.

AlmightySnoo@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:42 collapse

What’s worse is that their “8GB = 16GB” claim has a tiny bit of truth in it: many apps that are GPU-accelerated usually load/generate stuff on host RAM and then transfer it to the GPU RAM to launch some shaders/kernels on it and they do this repeatedly. The idea with Apple (also AMD when you consider APUs) is that since the RAM is “unified” you just have one RAM and you probably don’t have that redundancy anymore if those apps are built with that in mind, so in a sense if previously you had a 1GB buffer that had to live on both CPU and GPU RAM, this time it will only live in as a single 1GB buffer on Apple’s “unified” RAM. That’s still very different from the “8GB = 16GB” deceptive marketing by Apple.

CeeBee@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 03:40 collapse

You don’t have to put unified in quotes, it’s the proper term for an SoC that shares the same memory between the CPU and GPU.

The major advantage of unified memory is that it doesn’t have the copy overhead. When using a discrete GPU you need to load data onto the host and then copy it over to the GPU. And then if data on the GPU needs to be processed separately by the CPU (saved to a file, sent over the network, etc) you incur more overhead again. And let’s ignore more specific technologies like Direct I/O and io_uring for this discussion.

On an SoC with unified memory you don’t have this overhead. The CPU can (in theory) access the same memory space as the GPU with zero overhead, and it makes the performance hit from shuttling the data back and forth non-existent.

But there’s a massive downside, and it’s that it drastically cuts down your available memory, because now the CPU and GPU have only a single 8GB pool to use for both. Whereas in a system without unified memory and a discreet GPU would have the 8GB for the CPU in addition to whatever the GPU has. They don’t step on each other’s toes.

For example, if I use a system with 8GB of host RAM and a GPU with 6GB of VRAM to run a model of some kind (let’s say stable diffusion), it will load the model into the VRAM and not clog up the host RAM. Yes, the host will initially use system RAM to load the file descriptors and then shuttle the data to the GPU, but once that’s done the model isn’t kept on the host.

On a Mac it would load it onto the only memory available and the CPU would not have the full 8GB available to it the way an x86 system would have.

The point I’m making is that because of the unified architecture the 8GB is effectively even less than 8GB in a discrete GPU system. It’s worse.

skymtf@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 10 Nov 2023 20:39 next collapse

The sheer idea of selling a 8gb machine in 2023 is kinda wild

fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:46 next collapse

8 gigs of ram for some shitty laptop is fine. Like the air shipping with 8 gigs of ram is fine (not great, but fine)

But for a “Pro” machine, let alone a 1600 dollar computer is insane.

tabular@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 21:50 next collapse

What is someone likely to use a shitty laptop for? Open a web browser to run ~1080p video?

micka190@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 22:56 next collapse

Basically, yeah.

Anything you’d do on a basic Chromebook, I guess.

dustyData@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 23:29 next collapse

You’d be surprised by the amount of people who do video processing on laptops.

superduperenigma@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 00:51 next collapse

I have a Chromebook that I put Linux onto. It’s got a Celeron and 4gb ram. It’s fine for web browsing email, etc on the go. It can play a ton of older games just fine, too; half-life 2 and episodes run surprisingly well. Minecraft with sodium and all settings turned down works okay, too.

Thetimefarm@lemm.ee on 11 Nov 2023 14:45 collapse

My exeperience is lot of people just want an ipad they can type on. The m2 air is basically the same size and weight as an ipad pro, and the screen is more protected if you carry it in a backpack. It’s also probably cheaper, especially if you want any of the accessories that make it “pro” ipad.

jlh@lemmy.jlh.name on 10 Nov 2023 22:49 next collapse

MacBook Air is a $1000 computer too though :/ I bought a Thinkpad t480s with 8gb of (upgradable) ram for less than that back in 2019. currently running it with 24gb.

fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 00:07 collapse

Even Lenovo is starting to drop upgradable ram from their machines. T480 was the last T*4 series with dual upgradeable ram slots. T490 and up all have at least 1 soldered stick, and the AMD machines now don’t come with any upgradeable ram. Their prices to upgrade are at least reasonable unlike Apples.

Shit I got a T16 gen 3(?) for my mom a few months ago and it came with only 8 gigs of soldered ram. That machine is even worse than Apple because AMD locks away 1.5 gigs of ram for just the APU. Intel at least only hard reserves like 256MB or something. Apple gives you the full 8 gigs of ram to play with, no duplicates in CPU memory and GPU memory, plus their really fast swap.

Buddahriffic@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 23:59 next collapse

Lenovo isn’t exactly a consumer friendly company themselves. Weren’t they the ones with the hardware set up to reinstall their preinstalled spyware if you removed it?

Sentau@feddit.de on 12 Nov 2023 03:56 collapse

AMD locks away 1.5 gigs of ram for just the APU

You can change this allocation from the BIOS if you are so inclined. Not that it makes it any better. Sharing 8 gigs between cpu and iGPU is only acceptable when you are doing nothing but web browsing on the laptop/pc

fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 05:05 collapse

I looked and it’s either 1.5 or auto, and auto only does 1.5

Sentau@feddit.de on 12 Nov 2023 05:14 collapse

Hmm must be that different manufacturers allow for different allocations. I am on an MSI laptop and I have the options of Auto, 256M, 512M, 768M and 1024M

Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz on 11 Nov 2023 10:19 next collapse

Maybe you’re not supposed to do any pro stuff with it. Just watch youtube videos and browse FB or whatever it is that grandmas do these days. Many apple products don’t really feel as pro as you’re lead to believe by the marketing team.

Just today I ran into a strange issue with the iMovie on iOS. You literally can’t edit a vertical video in any sensible way. Either you shoot horizontal video or you don’t shoot at all. These are the only options Apple gives for you.

DJDarren@thelemmy.club on 11 Nov 2023 12:32 collapse

You can’t use iMovie for 1:1 video either. You have to edit clips with fat borders at the edges, then export it to Photos in order to crop it square. It’s such a weird thing to miss out.

DJDarren@thelemmy.club on 11 Nov 2023 12:31 next collapse

My kid grabbed an 8/256 M2 Air when they first launched last year, and is still overjoyed with its performance. He has a PS5 for gaming, so the Mac is for uni work and downloading shit. 8gb RAM isn’t inherently bad.

It’s just as you said though; it’s bad for a “Pro” machine.

BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk on 11 Nov 2023 17:35 next collapse

$1000+ for basic word processing and web is bonkers to me.

DJDarren@thelemmy.club on 12 Nov 2023 13:36 collapse

Fair. But he likes using it and there’s more to value than the monetary cost of a device. For a start, there’s the build quality, but also the integration with his iPhone.

BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk on 12 Nov 2023 18:53 collapse

Oh it’s entirely up to him how he spends his money, didn’t mean to suggest otherwise.

laxmanndhotre@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 04:01 collapse

1000$+ for uni shit is the most astounding thing I’ve ever heard

DJDarren@thelemmy.club on 12 Nov 2023 13:38 collapse

Man, you should watch new series of Planet Earth then, because there are some significantly more astounding things on that than someone spending their own money on a computer they wanted.

laxmanndhotre@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 15:45 next collapse

No thanks. People making dumb financial decisions will be always more astounding.

Maybe because I didn’t grow in rich family but okay carry on, I wasn’t judging. It was genuinely fascinating to me

CobraChicken@lemmy.ca on 12 Nov 2023 22:08 collapse

🚑🚑🚑

ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 04:08 collapse

This is the same as the air, but with a better screen (basically).

The M3 Pro MacBook Pro has a minimum of 18GB of ram.

Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works on 10 Nov 2023 20:51 next collapse

I bought a Dell 6core AMD laptop on some sale and it was little 345 after tax and shipping. Then I immediately replaced the nvme with a 1tb one for another 70? I think. Laptop is really nice for the price.

mrfriki@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 20:55 next collapse

Don’t tell that to Nvidia.

eager_eagle@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 21:07 next collapse

I’ve been using an 8GB laptop for a few years now and don’t feel the need to have more. But if I’m paying that much I’d expect at least 16GB.

henfredemars@infosec.pub on 10 Nov 2023 21:14 next collapse

That’s my problem with the 8GB. I even have the Air with that much memory. It’s fine… but I also got it secondhand. For new, I can’t pay that much money for entry level RAM specs.

PeachMan@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 23:25 collapse

Yeah I have 8GB of RAM on my Macbook Air and it works fine, I just need to manage my browser tabs and restart Chrome sometimes. But if I was paying $1600 or more for a “Pro” laptop…the fuck?

agent_flounder@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 21:34 next collapse

No doubt. Even wilder to me is the idea of buying a Mac with 8GB in 2023, speaking as a long time Mac owner. Mine is from several years ago. I wonder if Apple execs ever pull their heads out of their asses. This feels like the late 90s all over again.

kratoz29@lemm.ee on 11 Nov 2023 00:31 next collapse

My company computer had 4 GBs of RAM… And an HDD with Windows 11, the worst fucking experience.

Kecessa@sh.itjust.works on 11 Nov 2023 01:21 next collapse

I open the two essential Excel tools that we use all day + teams and outlook and I’m at 10gb of memory usage…

kratoz29@lemm.ee on 11 Nov 2023 04:10 collapse

Yeah I know, 4 GBs was a fucking nightmare back in the days when I did my colleague homework in 2014… It is even worse now.

bmsok@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 01:45 collapse

HDD in 2023? Why?

echodot@feddit.uk on 11 Nov 2023 02:33 next collapse

The computers from 1921. As a standard in a corporate environment

redcalcium@lemmy.institute on 11 Nov 2023 03:30 next collapse

Meanwhile my i7 thinkpad with nvme somehow is not compatible with windows 11.

kratoz29@lemm.ee on 11 Nov 2023 04:12 next collapse

That was the weird thing as well, only my PC was eligible for an upgrade lol.

scottywh@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 23:21 collapse

Well neither is my surface pro 4 but I don’t want 11 and that machine still works great anyway.

kratoz29@lemm.ee on 11 Nov 2023 04:12 next collapse

Dumb company decisions ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Alexstarfire@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 06:14 next collapse

Based on everything else, price.

BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk on 11 Nov 2023 17:42 collapse

I think it’s so you can write 1000GB on it and have be cheaper than a 256GB machine. My folks had a 2019 laptop with an HDD, I’m not even being figurative here, they literally could not use it, 10+ minutes to boot it and load a program. Constant 100% I/O usage. Stuck some RAM and and a SATA SSD in it, it’s been a daily driver ever since.

filister@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 09:31 collapse

Same with NVIDIA, who are stubbornly refusing to give their overpriced GPUs the VRAM they deserve.

LifeLikeLady@lemmy.world on 10 Nov 2023 21:49 next collapse

My current phone, and my last phone both had more ram. For significantly less money.

Anomalous_Llama@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 07:20 collapse

100 percent in agreement that apples ram pricing is lunacy

But my brother. Wtf do you need that much ram in a phone for lol. Mine has 6gb (12 pro lmao) and that causes me zero issues. Granted, I don’t game on my phone. But is phone gaming really eating that much ram these days?

PrefersAwkward@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 21:59 collapse

I also have 12 GB. There are usage patterns where additional RAM wull be useful or even necessary on a phone. When you have more RAM, the phone can sleep tasks and leave background apps alone without having to discard their contents from RAM. This means fewer cold startups. Also, more contents can be cached, which means faster app startups. Both of these techniques also reduce CPU usage and improve battery life. You can also achieve more tabs in your browsers and more and bigger apps running at the same time. More RAM also means fewer situations where swapping is done or needed, so additional CPU and disk cycles are saved and battery usage is reduced. Some apps will actually require more RAM or spin more when memory is scarce. Examples can be advanced content creation apps in audio, video, or picture/photography. Also, some games, especially in high settings.

Are these additional GBs necessary? No. And most people would not notice them, as even 6 GB is overkill for quite a number of peoples’ usage patterns. Your phone does maybe 95% of what it does just about as well, even when you have a low-midrange CPU and GPU that is from a few years ago, and just 4 or 6gb of RAM.

This holds true for iOS and Android. They’ve both done a fair bit of housekeeping and software improvements to reel in excessive resource usage gen over gen. I think Android was doing some catch-up here for a while, but I don’t know how they go toe to toe on this anymore, and it’s difficult to empirically compare the two in this area.

onlinepersona@programming.dev on 10 Nov 2023 22:40 next collapse

They’ll still sell like hot cakes 😂

sviper@programming.dev on 11 Nov 2023 05:59 collapse

Apple is the proof Marketting >> Quality.

They sell the premium dream making the user think it’s the best.

makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml on 11 Nov 2023 00:28 next collapse

“Pro”

Ahem. Yeah right

[deleted] on 11 Nov 2023 06:03 next collapse

.

saze@feddit.uk on 11 Nov 2023 07:33 next collapse

Bravo 👏🏼

olafurp@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 12:35 collapse

Macbooks are both fit and pro at the same time

the_seven_sins@feddit.de on 11 Nov 2023 23:56 next collapse

It looks like the 24 GiB (?) real-Pro MacBook.

ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 04:09 collapse

The cpu is the M3, the same one they’ll put in the air. NOT a “pro” cpu, just a “pro” chassis.

makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml on 12 Nov 2023 04:57 collapse

With all the ports a pro needs, right. Right? 😅

I tell you what, i do love my lenovo x1 carbon. I used to have a real macbook pro from back in the day. Loved it. Upgradable, ports everywhere. Fast. Beautiful.

I had to move to Linux and a machine like the lenovo as i was not going to put up with 1 port and a fuck you very much.

However, they also have soldered in parts now, so next machine will be something else.

[deleted] on 11 Nov 2023 01:53 next collapse

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echodot@feddit.uk on 11 Nov 2023 02:32 collapse

What level of greed are you comfortable with?

You should get that model

Joker@discuss.tchncs.de on 11 Nov 2023 05:23 next collapse

It’s hard to take the Mac seriously. This is even more dumbfounding because they have an excellent processor. Then they pair it with anemic RAM and make demonstrably false statements about the system’s performance. I don’t get it.

nutsack@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 11:44 collapse

soldering in an unusably low amount of memory or storage into the base model is classic bait and switch. they get to advertise a much lower price than what you will end up paying

ours@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 12:59 collapse

And if people buy the low-end one, they’ll feel like they need to upgrade sooner.

BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk on 11 Nov 2023 17:32 collapse

Surely they’ll just get a rep for poor performance?

Buddahriffic@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 23:55 next collapse

If that was really a danger for them, the original iMac would have killed the company. At least it had a nice colourful case to look at while waiting for it to do things or restart after its latest crash.

laxmanndhotre@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 03:58 collapse

They won’t. Because Apple is the best and very customer friendly. /s

HarriPotero@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 05:46 next collapse

My 350€ three-year old phone has an SoC with 12GB of RAM.

sunbeam60@lemmy.one on 11 Nov 2023 06:30 next collapse

The people to whom this discussion ought to matter (the prospective buyers of an 8GB RAM machine) are utterly oblivious to this discussion. They’ll continue to walk into an Apple Store and buy these machines. We are like body builders arguing about how obese people should stop eating shit.

And009@reddthat.com on 11 Nov 2023 10:54 next collapse

This matters to the prospective buyers of 16gb machines too… Who want it for cheaper.

Thetimefarm@lemm.ee on 11 Nov 2023 14:30 collapse

Us power lifters over here looking around nervously while double fisting big macs lol.

Buddahriffic@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 23:45 collapse

You’re much better off double fisting big PCs.

1847953620@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 06:10 collapse

or double fisting your mom

heh, wrecked.

Synthead@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 06:35 next collapse

Ah it’s cool, you can just open the little door in the back and upgrade the RAM anytime you want.

Right??

NotSoCoolWhip@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 13:10 next collapse

Sir, this is apple.

Gotta buy their apple 5 point screwdriver

Open back

Remove adhesive & battery

Dismount motherboard and keyboard

Find out it’s soldered ram

Kill self

Thetimefarm@lemm.ee on 11 Nov 2023 14:32 collapse

With a hot air rework station anything is upgradable, laptops, phones, babies… ok not babies, but like lots of other stuff.

Synthead@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 19:00 next collapse

Maybe, in the future, lamps will be permanently wired into house walls. Who even needs outlets? Just buy a new house if you don’t like the lamp anymore.

flyingacesnoopy@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 20:03 next collapse

Isn’t that what ceiling recessed lights are?

Buddahriffic@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 23:52 collapse

Yeah, I get OP’s joke, but “permanent” doesn’t really apply to anything about houses. “Wired into wall” just means you need a screwdriver and a circuit breaker flip to change it, or maybe cutting into wall panels.

Thetimefarm@lemm.ee on 11 Nov 2023 23:03 collapse

I mean it doesn’t matter if the house around the wiring falls apart first. Most modern construction is like one step above paper mache.

echodot@feddit.uk on 12 Nov 2023 03:54 collapse

It’s Apple so they probably do some kind of bullshit key pairing nonsense to prevent you being able to upgrade the RAM even with the soldering iron.

I really wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not actually possible

ZapBeebz_@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 07:14 collapse

Oh it’s not even close to being user-upgradeable. As in, the RAM module is part of the silicon M3 chipset. You can’t upgrade it because it is literally part of the CPU die.

Of course, apple could address this by also offering expansion slots that users can install ram in, but that would mean being nice to consumers, which we all know apple is fundamentally opposed to.

little_hermit@lemmus.org on 11 Nov 2023 12:58 next collapse

Perhaps with an SSD, memory swapping is less intrusive, hence you won’t noticed any performance issues. This is referring to the vast majority of users. At least for a few years. They will have an intolerable machine later though, when the OS becomes more bloated, and they can’t figure out how to upgrade those soldered RAM modules.

xts@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 13:52 next collapse

This is referring to the vast majority of users. At least for a few years

The “vast majority of users” do not know what RAM is and they don’t know what expandable memory means. Nor will they ever open their own laptops. If the laptop is slow after a few years they will just get a new one.

CaptPretentious@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 14:49 collapse

SSDs are far slower than RAM. And adds extra wear on the SSD.

CalicoJack@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 11 Nov 2023 20:33 next collapse

And in the case of these Macs, the SSD is also soldered. So you’re screwed when you wear it out with the excessive swapping.

little_hermit@lemmus.org on 12 Nov 2023 00:32 collapse

You missed the point of my statement. SSDs are far faster than physical HDDs, therefore you can get away with providing less RAM. And the lifespan of a modern SSD is the same as a HDD. But yes, they are cheaping out by providing only 8GB, unless you pay hundreds more.

echodot@feddit.uk on 12 Nov 2023 03:52 collapse

SSDs are faster than HDDs but they’re not as fast as RAM.

Like if you’re going to fanboy Apple at least make sense

[deleted] on 11 Nov 2023 17:58 next collapse

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Kethal@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 19:28 next collapse

I don’t have an Mac. How much RAM does it use just to turn it on? Windows 10 needs an astounding 4 GB just to see the desktop.

pathief@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 20:05 next collapse

Windows RAM allocation depends on your ram size. If you have more ram, it will allocate more. Unused RAM is wasted RAM

DaPorkchop_@lemmy.ml on 12 Nov 2023 19:20 collapse

Anecdotal evidence, but I’ve seen many old windows laptops with 8GB RAM use around 3-4GB on the desktop with no programs or background apps running.

pathief@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 20:06 collapse

Yes, 50% allocation is pretty normal and healthy.

BigT54@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 23:54 next collapse

At least 4GB, my previous employer was a young guy that was an Apple simp. He bought a bunch of Mac minis as desktop computers and they only had 4GB of RAM. They were the most garbage piece of shit computer I have ever had the displeasure of being forced to use. It really wasn’t even usable, it would lock up just trying to open any web browser or even the file explorer (or whatever Apple calls it). It really amazes me how Apple continues to shit in their customers mouths, tell them it’s chocolate ice cream and they believe them

Asudox@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 00:53 next collapse

Windows doesn’t use it all to load the desktop. It caches the rest so the files and software you use often loads faster. There’s also the reserved RAM for the hardware…

laxmanndhotre@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 03:55 next collapse

Every os uses certain % of ram to preload services and applications. So that when you launch them they open faster. And when they aren’t needed and you want to do ram intensive task, those unnecessary processes are killed.

pascal@lemm.ee on 12 Nov 2023 16:36 collapse

I got gifted an old MacBook (I never thought of buying one myself) and started using it mainly because I liked the UI, but I’m generally speaking a windows user at work and Linux sysadmin at home.

When I checked up the MacBook systems, I see it has 4 GB of RAM and I thought “that’s pathetic!”

But surprisingly enough, the Mac OS handled everything I throw at him with decent performance and I’ve never felt the OS was overwhelmed.

I don’t know if this is a testament of how well integrated and optimised Mac OS is (after all, it’s still BSD) or how bad Windows is.

But still, for the price they’re charging for these machines, adding at least a couple of gigs of RAM would be expected!

grayman@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 20:40 collapse

I think Unix got a smidge better and windows got insanely bad.

Showroom7561@lemmy.ca on 11 Nov 2023 19:32 next collapse

My four year old phone has more RAM than an expensive macbook? LMFAO 🤭🤭🤭

Darken@reddthat.com on 11 Nov 2023 20:27 collapse

Um actthually mac is so oPtimized so 1gb mac = 12.3gb windows 🤓

STFU it physically has less ram than a potato while costing the price of a nasa rocket

HauntedCupcake@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 23:45 next collapse

Also Apple™ RAM costs like 4 to 8 times as much. Being $200 for 8GB. So assuming fantasy land Apple™ iMagic™ means 8GB = 16GB it’s still a minimum of twice the cost per dollar

echodot@feddit.uk on 12 Nov 2023 03:51 next collapse

Apple ram actually is just more dense. They can fit more binary in each gigabyte.

T00l_shed@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 13:34 collapse

Ok, so a tech neophyte here so please dont crucify me. Would that not be adding more transistors to the ram? And, would that not affect clock speed?

charliespider@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 16:10 next collapse

You done got whooshed 😂

sergih@feddit.de on 12 Nov 2023 17:46 next collapse

an explanation of the joke :D, he is saying more binary in a gigabyte, I get what u mean with the transistors but he aint talking about that, he talks about being able to fit more data (binary, the raw data, ones and zeroes) in the same space (one gigabyte, like 1024^9 or around 1billions spaces for the ones and zerors) bc ofc, it’s apple so they somehow can save morr info in the same amount of space, that’s whatvhe meant :)

T00l_shed@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 19:42 collapse

Thanks for the clarification! I appreciate it. I guess I was equating the binary, ones and zeroes, to the transistor gates either been on or off. Again, thank you!

rikonium@discuss.tchncs.de on 12 Nov 2023 17:51 collapse

Echo Dot’s joking, more binary per gigabyte doesn’t actually make sense

sergih@feddit.de on 12 Nov 2023 17:42 collapse

and if u spend another 200 it goes from 16 to 32, so apparrntly somehow 8gb can cost 200 or 100 bc apple

Showroom7561@lemmy.ca on 11 Nov 2023 23:45 collapse

Who mentioned Windows??

Did you watch the video? The 8GB model is like 1/4 the speed of the 16GB model.

It’s a bottleneck, clear as day. I just thought it was funny that Apple is so stingy that they’d even consider putting an offensive 8GB of ram on this laptop.

HauntedCupcake@lemmy.world on 11 Nov 2023 23:55 next collapse

Apple did macrumors.com/…/8gb-ram-m3-macbook-pro-like-16-gb…

It’s not directly mentioned in this conversation, but the excuse as to why they put such a pathetic amount of RAM in the laptop is that “Macs use it more efficiently”

edit: The quote is “Actually, 8GB on an M3 MacBook Pro is probably analogous to 16GB on other systems. We just happen to be able to use it much more efficiently.”

Showroom7561@lemmy.ca on 12 Nov 2023 00:16 collapse

Apple being apple… marketing at it’s worst.

Sure, it’s “more efficient” than other operating systems if you want to look at how much space is being utilized, but other operating systems don’t seem to have the same catastrophic performance bottlenecks as this apple laptop apparently does.

The fact that going from 8gb to 16gb improves system performance by 4-5x is something you’d never see happen in a “less efficient” operating system, so what’s Apple’s excuse for using it?

Noodle07@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 18:06 collapse

so what’s Apple’s excuse for using it?

Money

T00l_shed@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 00:19 next collapse

Darken was poking fun at the Mac fan boy trope.

Showroom7561@lemmy.ca on 12 Nov 2023 03:22 collapse

LOL. That went over my head. 😂

echodot@feddit.uk on 12 Nov 2023 03:49 next collapse

✈️
🙄

emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works on 12 Nov 2023 04:27 collapse

Normally I hate emojis, but I have to admit that they are a powerful and very concise language.

[deleted] on 12 Nov 2023 15:59 collapse

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Showroom7561@lemmy.ca on 12 Nov 2023 17:32 collapse

Yeah, no your post went right over my head. LOL

Tom_bishop@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 00:04 next collapse

With that kind of memory swapping, the soldered ssd gonna be toasts within 1 or 2 yrs. Its already a known problem in previous macbooks, where people runs memory intensive programs and find thier mac book dead after even 6 months to 1 yr

captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works on 12 Nov 2023 01:00 next collapse

Does it swap to the SSD or does it use a compressed area of RAM?

echodot@feddit.uk on 12 Nov 2023 03:47 next collapse

Pretty sure it just doesn’t do anything. I’m not going to get one and test it because I’m not insane but from the performance specs of people are putting out it looks like it just maxes out the ram and then does nothing.

I was saying this when the M2 was first announced. It’s impressive for what it is, but what it is, is actually kind of crap.

captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works on 12 Nov 2023 04:27 next collapse

  1. It’s purely academic to me, as I have no intention of buying any Apple products or any desktop not assembled myself.
  2. interesting how I asked an honest question and am being downvoted without further comment. Have the Steve Jobs fuckbois already infested the fediverse?
orangeboats@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 06:44 collapse

“it just maxes out the ram and then does nothing.” is absolute nonsense. The programs need memory to operate.

If your RAM is maxed out and the programs seem to operate just as fine, the OS is doing something behind the scenes, it’s just a matter of what that something is. And memory swapping / virtual memory is a well-known method of alleviating RAM overuse, at the cost of murdering your SSD/HDD lifespan.

Tom_bishop@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 06:58 collapse

Yup this.

Tom_bishop@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 06:24 collapse

From what i read the previous cases it uses the ssd. Thus the ssd write cycle maxed out after 6 months leaving the mac dead. And then Apple sent a replacement, the guy use it as he usually did, and in 6months dead again.

some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org on 12 Nov 2023 16:16 collapse

I think selling an 8GB laptop with a Pro moniker is a terrible move. But you’ll need to cite examples (more than one, because sometimes components just fail under the best of circumstances).

filister@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 09:33 next collapse

And then wonder why Mac sales tanked 27% in their last financial report. Selling 8Gb laptops is an offence.

And seriously for their price, I would much prefer a laptop like Framework that I know I can easily swap components and make it workable even after a while.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 12 Nov 2023 17:01 next collapse

I have a 2015 Macbook for work reasons and I have no problem with it other than the battery being mostly kaput and that’s replaceable if I feel like paying someone to do it. When Apple stops supporting it, I’ll install Linux on it. When I finally have to buy another machine, I’ll probably just get a $300 Chromebook because I have another computer to run the work software and this Mac is now just a glorified web browser. But I’m sure as fuck not buying a Macbook.

WuTang@lemmy.ninja on 12 Nov 2023 17:19 next collapse

Vote with your wallet. Well, those buying this kind of mac are basic users (non-pejorative), so it will continue to be there.

I love when back in the day people said that mastering the hardware and software would help to drive cost down, well their cost. :)

[deleted] on 13 Nov 2023 01:25 collapse

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