3 ms·

Fear: the solution will be proprietary memory DIMMS where each one comes with a flash backing store.

maxharris 16y ago
I don't care about this because I don't build my own computers anymore. Almost no one builds their own cars (hot rodders aside). Even fewer build their own laptops, and I've never heard of anyone building their own cell phone. So if a company can make the whole device that I buy smaller, faster, more reliable, easier to use, etc., that's going to be something I'll pay for. I honestly don't care at all how they do it, as long as it makes the device better by the standard I just enumerated. You can talk about how open something is until you're blue in the face, and that has nothing to do with whether most users will want it or not. Walk into an Apple store and count how many customers ask about what kind of RAM is in the white plastic MacBook they're about about to buy, or about Mac OS X's POSIX compliance, or even how to bring up a shell. The number you come up with will average close to zero. What's more, this isn't a bad thing!
- jonhendry 16y ago
  Not many people build their own these days. But it's not uncommon to add RAM after purchase. At the moment, you can buy RAM anywhere, so you're not limited to the vendor's overpriced offerings, if they even sell RAM upgrades. But if Apple came up with RAM units that included on-board Flash backup, they'd be the only source for it, so adding RAM later would depend on Apple's inclination to sell upgrade packages, and would be priced higher than current RAM prices.
  - maxharris 16y ago
    OK, but why is that important? If they did that well enough, their computers would be improved and have increased value for me. I'm more than happy to pay more for something that is better. At any rate, I don't think that we'll have to worry about upgrading the memory in our computers. The RAM in my phone is soldered in place, and I've never thought once (until now) about adding more. This might seem shocking, but ask yourself: with the rise of the laptop, where have all the expansion slots gone? Why doesn't anyone miss them? They seemed like such a big deal twenty (and even ten) years ago, but now we all get along fine without any of them.

I don't care about this because I don't build my own computers anymore. Almost no one builds their own cars (hot rodders aside). Even fewer build their own laptops, and I've never heard of anyone building their own cell phone. So if a company can make the whole device that I buy smaller, faster, more reliable, easier to use, etc., that's going to be something I'll pay for. I honestly don't care at all how they do it, as long as it makes the device better by the standard I just enumerated. You can talk about how open something is until you're blue in the face, and that has nothing to do with whether most users will want it or not. Walk into an Apple store and count how many customers ask about what kind of RAM is in the white plastic MacBook they're about about to buy, or about Mac OS X's POSIX compliance, or even how to bring up a shell. The number you come up with will average close to zero. What's more, this isn't a bad thing!

jonhendry 16y ago
Not many people build their own these days. But it's not uncommon to add RAM after purchase. At the moment, you can buy RAM anywhere, so you're not limited to the vendor's overpriced offerings, if they even sell RAM upgrades. But if Apple came up with RAM units that included on-board Flash backup, they'd be the only source for it, so adding RAM later would depend on Apple's inclination to sell upgrade packages, and would be priced higher than current RAM prices.
- maxharris 16y ago
  OK, but why is that important? If they did that well enough, their computers would be improved and have increased value for me. I'm more than happy to pay more for something that is better. At any rate, I don't think that we'll have to worry about upgrading the memory in our computers. The RAM in my phone is soldered in place, and I've never thought once (until now) about adding more. This might seem shocking, but ask yourself: with the rise of the laptop, where have all the expansion slots gone? Why doesn't anyone miss them? They seemed like such a big deal twenty (and even ten) years ago, but now we all get along fine without any of them.