4 ms·

I am not sure what the end-game for releasing those under-powered machines is, tbh. I am a bit more extreme in that I am not buying any machine below 32GB given

by iSnow 5y ago

I am not sure what the end-game for releasing those under-powered machines is, tbh. I am a bit more extreme in that I am not buying any machine below 32GB given RAM is no longer upgradable, but even if my mom came and asked me about those iMacs, I'd tell her to not buy. It's a shame that Apple is so great at greenwashing and at the same time spits on every way they could help create truly sustainable products by just dropping a few percent of their bottom line.

thefz 5y ago
> I am not sure what the end-game for releasing those under-powered machines is, tbh The lowest and highest tier exist only to shift consumers towards the middle tier, where Apple profits the most and where lies less value for the consumer. It is a marketing strategy invented by Apple IIRC (it's been a long time since my marketing exam).
- MobileVet 5y ago
  The strategy is called ‘anchoring’ I had no idea it was invented by Apple. That feels a little too recent...
- iSnow 5y ago
  I know, but AFAIK those new iMacs ALL feature just 8GB of RAM? There isn't really a middle-tier, that what makes it so weird. you'd expect one machine with top SSD and 16 GB (and space grey, lol). Probably going to be the next iteration of the 27" iMac, spanning from 8GB/256GB (LOL) to 16 GB/1TB or something.
  - tempay 5y ago
    You can upgrade them to 16GB. Having been developing heavy applications in a M1 Mac mini for since they were released they’re definitely adequate for most users. Obviously some people need ~100 cores and ~1TB of ram (myself included for other parts of my job) but that segment is always going to be better served by companies other than Apple.
  - masklinn 5y ago
    > AFAIK those new iMacs ALL feature just 8GB of RAM? No. But people are confused because the RAM is (annoyingly though not entirely nonsensically) tied to the SSD.
    - Toutouxc 5y ago
      I don't think it is. They usually offer a couple of configurations at different prices, but you can get a BTO machine with just the upgrades you want. The SSD+RAM are tied together in the new M1 iPad.
      - masklinn 5y ago
        Ah you're right, i'm the one who confused the two and remembered the weird setup of the iPad, the iMac's Tech Specs page does just state "8GB (configurable to 16GB)" for the entire range (whereas it's quite clear that the "low end" iMac with only 7 GPU cores can only be BTO'd to 1TB SSD, versus 2 for the 8-cores).
- czzr 5y ago
  Of course it wasn’t invented by Apple, that would be ridiculous. It was actually invented by Goldilocks.
throwawayzRUU6f 5y ago
Reading this discussion thread makes one psychological quirk clear. People, even well informed professionals, are rarely comparing Apple to the best available alternative on the market (arguably Ryzen U line processors). They're comparing 2021 Apple products to their last experience with an alternative, which for many ppl stuck in Apple's ecosystem could very well be from 2010. So what's Apple's end-game? Milking (predominately US) professional class in perpetuity. It's not like they're going to switch, especially if they perceive the alternative to be sluggish heavy bricks whose battery barely lasts 2 hours. For sales, perception is more important than reality.
- read_if_gay_ 5y ago
  > Reading this discussion thread makes one psychological quirk clear. Is that so clear? It sounds more like a huge assumption to me. It’s not like having an Apple laptop makes it impossible to see how the competition is doing. Doubly so for people with friends in tech.
dr-detroit 5y ago
We are in a period of technological regress it is well documented that the trend is to power down your devices and make your computer into a passive experience like TV
thehnguy 5y ago
I think that's a bit dramatic. I'm using a 16GB M1 Macbook Pro as my daily driver doing standard, boring professional work (lots of email, tabs open, PDF manipulation, Word, Excel, etc). It performs as well if not better than the 2018 Macbook Pro it replaced with 32 GB of RAM and an i7. And it cost less than that one. The iMac will perform comparably (probably a bit better due to better thermals). My point is that these are not bad machines and I don't see why you'd steer someone away from them. However, the price is still quite high compared to other manufacturers and options. But that's always been the case.
theshrike79 5y ago
Apple has WAY more statistics about what kind of computers people buy and use. I'm pretty sure they're not nickle & diming people with 8GB RAM M1 machines, someone somewhere has calculated that as being enough for most users. HN hardly is the place to compare what is "min spec" :) (As I'm writing this, my i7 MBP sounds like a jet taking off, CPU capped near 100%. Normal day at the office.)

by iSnow 5y ago

thefz 5y ago

> I am not sure what the end-game for releasing those under-powered machines is, tbh The lowest and highest tier exist only to shift consumers towards the middle tier, where Apple profits the most and where lies less value for the consumer. It is a marketing strategy invented by Apple IIRC (it's been a long time since my marketing exam).

MobileVet 5y ago
The strategy is called ‘anchoring’ I had no idea it was invented by Apple. That feels a little too recent...
iSnow 5y ago
I know, but AFAIK those new iMacs ALL feature just 8GB of RAM? There isn't really a middle-tier, that what makes it so weird. you'd expect one machine with top SSD and 16 GB (and space grey, lol). Probably going to be the next iteration of the 27" iMac, spanning from 8GB/256GB (LOL) to 16 GB/1TB or something.
- tempay 5y ago
  You can upgrade them to 16GB. Having been developing heavy applications in a M1 Mac mini for since they were released they’re definitely adequate for most users. Obviously some people need ~100 cores and ~1TB of ram (myself included for other parts of my job) but that segment is always going to be better served by companies other than Apple.
- masklinn 5y ago
  > AFAIK those new iMacs ALL feature just 8GB of RAM? No. But people are confused because the RAM is (annoyingly though not entirely nonsensically) tied to the SSD.
  - Toutouxc 5y ago
    I don't think it is. They usually offer a couple of configurations at different prices, but you can get a BTO machine with just the upgrades you want. The SSD+RAM are tied together in the new M1 iPad.
    - masklinn 5y ago
      Ah you're right, i'm the one who confused the two and remembered the weird setup of the iPad, the iMac's Tech Specs page does just state "8GB (configurable to 16GB)" for the entire range (whereas it's quite clear that the "low end" iMac with only 7 GPU cores can only be BTO'd to 1TB SSD, versus 2 for the 8-cores).
czzr 5y ago
Of course it wasn’t invented by Apple, that would be ridiculous. It was actually invented by Goldilocks.

throwawayzRUU6f 5y ago

Reading this discussion thread makes one psychological quirk clear. People, even well informed professionals, are rarely comparing Apple to the best available alternative on the market (arguably Ryzen U line processors). They're comparing 2021 Apple products to their last experience with an alternative, which for many ppl stuck in Apple's ecosystem could very well be from 2010. So what's Apple's end-game? Milking (predominately US) professional class in perpetuity. It's not like they're going to switch, especially if they perceive the alternative to be sluggish heavy bricks whose battery barely lasts 2 hours. For sales, perception is more important than reality.

read_if_gay_ 5y ago
> Reading this discussion thread makes one psychological quirk clear. Is that so clear? It sounds more like a huge assumption to me. It’s not like having an Apple laptop makes it impossible to see how the competition is doing. Doubly so for people with friends in tech.

dr-detroit 5y ago

We are in a period of technological regress it is well documented that the trend is to power down your devices and make your computer into a passive experience like TV

thehnguy 5y ago

I think that's a bit dramatic. I'm using a 16GB M1 Macbook Pro as my daily driver doing standard, boring professional work (lots of email, tabs open, PDF manipulation, Word, Excel, etc). It performs as well if not better than the 2018 Macbook Pro it replaced with 32 GB of RAM and an i7. And it cost less than that one. The iMac will perform comparably (probably a bit better due to better thermals). My point is that these are not bad machines and I don't see why you'd steer someone away from them. However, the price is still quite high compared to other manufacturers and options. But that's always been the case.

theshrike79 5y ago

Apple has WAY more statistics about what kind of computers people buy and use. I'm pretty sure they're not nickle & diming people with 8GB RAM M1 machines, someone somewhere has calculated that as being enough for most users. HN hardly is the place to compare what is "min spec" :) (As I'm writing this, my i7 MBP sounds like a jet taking off, CPU capped near 100%. Normal day at the office.)