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I'm not saying that I prefer the soldered-in versions, but back when I had a Mac with user-replaceable memory, the RAM would get unseated from time to time as m

by curun1r 10y ago

I'm not saying that I prefer the soldered-in versions, but back when I had a Mac with user-replaceable memory, the RAM would get unseated from time to time as my machine got jostled around in my bag and I'd have to open it up to fix it. I imagine that the Genius Bar saw a non-zero number of people bringing in computers that wouldn't boot because of this. Also, soldered-in saves space and thus helps with their pathological need to make MBPs thinner. It's hostile to users who want to upgrade RAM, but pretty friendly to everyone else. It gets into the point of this article...when Apple looks at both demographics, the group that doesn't upgrade is much larger. Apple used to make decisions that would cater to the more non-mainstream use cases of their pro users. Now, they're focused almost entirely on the mainstream users.

pas 10y ago
Huh? I'm using a Dell Latitude E7440, it's about 3 years old, and I carry it everywhere. It has a few dents here and there. I've gone to the pub with it a few times and only God (and Google location services) know how I got back, luckily with the notebook still in my backpack, and the backpack somehow inside my place. The RAM never dislodged. http://17c4dcd7f91259d8cc66-f5932f6db0039e8c02f89a70c334ff0e.r2.cf1.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2-E7440-internals.jpg http://17c4dcd7f91259d8cc66-f5932f6db0039e8c02f89a70c334ff0e... But of course, soldering them in is not surprising. It cuts costs. A lot I guess. You need less connectors, you need less time assembling the laptop, less time supporting the very rare cases when there's a problem with the RAM.
- slantyyz 10y ago
  >> But of course, soldering them in is not surprising. It cuts costs. Unfortunately these cost savings don't get passed to the customer. RAM bumps in Apple BTOs cost notably more than socketed RAM of equivalent quality. And because the RAM is pre-soldered, you can't chalk the price premium to the cost of some guy popping RAM into sockets.
  - pas 10y ago
    > Unfortunately these cost savings don't get passed to the customer. You don't get to be the most profitable enterprise by passing on savings to the customer. The premium price is there because people buy it. As simple as that. Peer fucking pressure. (Because no one wants to be the lame duck fiddling with a subpar device, even if the only thing that really SHIES is the polish on the same Intel turd.) Consumerism. It works very well.
devopsproject 10y ago
> he RAM would get unseated from time to time as my machine got jostled around in my bag this seems like a pretty big stretch
mhermher 10y ago
He specified desktops though. Pretty sure you don't have a desktop jostling around in your bag.

by curun1r 10y ago

pas 10y ago

Huh? I'm using a Dell Latitude E7440, it's about 3 years old, and I carry it everywhere. It has a few dents here and there. I've gone to the pub with it a few times and only God (and Google location services) know how I got back, luckily with the notebook still in my backpack, and the backpack somehow inside my place. The RAM never dislodged. http://17c4dcd7f91259d8cc66-f5932f6db0039e8c02f89a70c334ff0e.r2.cf1.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2-E7440-internals.jpg http://17c4dcd7f91259d8cc66-f5932f6db0039e8c02f89a70c334ff0e... But of course, soldering them in is not surprising. It cuts costs. A lot I guess. You need less connectors, you need less time assembling the laptop, less time supporting the very rare cases when there's a problem with the RAM.

slantyyz 10y ago
>> But of course, soldering them in is not surprising. It cuts costs. Unfortunately these cost savings don't get passed to the customer. RAM bumps in Apple BTOs cost notably more than socketed RAM of equivalent quality. And because the RAM is pre-soldered, you can't chalk the price premium to the cost of some guy popping RAM into sockets.
- pas 10y ago
  > Unfortunately these cost savings don't get passed to the customer. You don't get to be the most profitable enterprise by passing on savings to the customer. The premium price is there because people buy it. As simple as that. Peer fucking pressure. (Because no one wants to be the lame duck fiddling with a subpar device, even if the only thing that really SHIES is the polish on the same Intel turd.) Consumerism. It works very well.

devopsproject 10y ago

> he RAM would get unseated from time to time as my machine got jostled around in my bag this seems like a pretty big stretch

mhermher 10y ago

He specified desktops though. Pretty sure you don't have a desktop jostling around in your bag.