3 ms·

Are you sure about that? My work MBP is a mid-2009 2.6 GHz Core 2 Duo; upgrading the RAM to 8 GB means I can keep Chrome (with 30+ tabs open) running while wor

by self 12y ago

Are you sure about that? My work MBP is a mid-2009 2.6 GHz Core 2 Duo; upgrading the RAM to 8 GB means I can keep Chrome (with 30+ tabs open) running while working in Xcode or Android Studio. This wouldn't have been possible if I was stuck with the 4 GB it shipped with. It probably cost a lot more to configure it with 8 GB in 2009 than it did to upgrade the modules last year.

hcarvalhoalves 12y ago
Please notice you're comparing the 2009 hardware with the 2014 market - 5 years. The Mac Mini has a RAM cap that is just 2x the amount you have right now, which you already judge is enough. What's the logic in making it upgradeable? Just buy it maxed out now. It's not like you would be able to upgrade it to 64GB in 5 years if it had a slot. Actually, it's likely you won't even find a RAM module with the right specs in 5 years, the industry is changing specs every 6 months.
- fakename 12y ago
  I also have a 2009 macbook pro. I bought it with 2gb ram (or was it 1gb?--can't remember) upgrading to 8gb at the time would have cost me like 3-400. I upgraded to 4gb for about $50 in 2011, and upgraded to $8gb in 2013 for another ~$50.
  - to3m 12y ago
    I did something similar too. This is actually very bad for Apple - because I've now had the same Macbook Pro for 5.25 years, and it's remaining serviceable thanks to RAM upgrades and a modern high-capacity SSD. I'm sure it will end up lasting 5.5 years and it seems like there's a fair chance it will (Apple software support and wobbly ports permitting...) last for 6. But if they'd forced me to pay for all the upgrades up front, I'd probably still have bought the same spec (the 8GB RAM option was eye-wateringly expensive at the time, and the SSDs were comically pricey) - and then I'd have had to buy a whole new one after 2 years. Which probably wouldn't have had an SSD, because they were still expensive back then. So I'd probably be buying another one round about now, if not before, and Apple would have had 3 purchases out of me rather than just one.
- IkmoIkmo 12y ago
  The point is that you essentially have a group of people who are 100% content using 50% of the max RAM cap today and for the next 3 years and aren't looking to dump hundreds of dollars extra to cap it out, but are perfectly happy to pay just $50-100 to upgrade their ram 4 years later when software requirements necessitate it for them. Multiple people have posted in this thread they were fine with 1-2 GB in 2009, and are happy to upgrade to 4-8gb today, but wouldn't have had the money or even the need for 4-8gb 5 years ago. And the Mac Mini just removed that option, one of the cool things about PCs that we'd all love to see in laptops and phones: modular hardware we can switch out, increasing the lifespan of hardware, reducing costs and giving users autonomy over their own machines. Saying soldering RAM is fine because you can just max out your ram when you don't need it, paying a high price to do so, because you will need it a few years later, instead of simply buying some a few years later for much less, just sucks. I mean I agree with your point completely in that it's not the end of the world. And I agree that a lot of people who want to upgrade after 5 years probably will just want a new machine. But the soldering of parts still sucks, and even if it's got a small impact, it goes against some of the principles I think we should be cautious with to throw out. Don't want to get into a big slippery slope argument here but for a manufacturer to act as if soldering parts is imperative and unavoidable to me has a high burden of proof. You need to make a case for it. In phones I see that imperative mostly. In a Mac Mini? Not so much.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]

by self 12y ago

hcarvalhoalves 12y ago

Please notice you're comparing the 2009 hardware with the 2014 market - 5 years. The Mac Mini has a RAM cap that is just 2x the amount you have right now, which you already judge is enough. What's the logic in making it upgradeable? Just buy it maxed out now. It's not like you would be able to upgrade it to 64GB in 5 years if it had a slot. Actually, it's likely you won't even find a RAM module with the right specs in 5 years, the industry is changing specs every 6 months.

fakename 12y ago
I also have a 2009 macbook pro. I bought it with 2gb ram (or was it 1gb?--can't remember) upgrading to 8gb at the time would have cost me like 3-400. I upgraded to 4gb for about $50 in 2011, and upgraded to $8gb in 2013 for another ~$50.
- to3m 12y ago
  I did something similar too. This is actually very bad for Apple - because I've now had the same Macbook Pro for 5.25 years, and it's remaining serviceable thanks to RAM upgrades and a modern high-capacity SSD. I'm sure it will end up lasting 5.5 years and it seems like there's a fair chance it will (Apple software support and wobbly ports permitting...) last for 6. But if they'd forced me to pay for all the upgrades up front, I'd probably still have bought the same spec (the 8GB RAM option was eye-wateringly expensive at the time, and the SSDs were comically pricey) - and then I'd have had to buy a whole new one after 2 years. Which probably wouldn't have had an SSD, because they were still expensive back then. So I'd probably be buying another one round about now, if not before, and Apple would have had 3 purchases out of me rather than just one.
IkmoIkmo 12y ago
The point is that you essentially have a group of people who are 100% content using 50% of the max RAM cap today and for the next 3 years and aren't looking to dump hundreds of dollars extra to cap it out, but are perfectly happy to pay just $50-100 to upgrade their ram 4 years later when software requirements necessitate it for them. Multiple people have posted in this thread they were fine with 1-2 GB in 2009, and are happy to upgrade to 4-8gb today, but wouldn't have had the money or even the need for 4-8gb 5 years ago. And the Mac Mini just removed that option, one of the cool things about PCs that we'd all love to see in laptops and phones: modular hardware we can switch out, increasing the lifespan of hardware, reducing costs and giving users autonomy over their own machines. Saying soldering RAM is fine because you can just max out your ram when you don't need it, paying a high price to do so, because you will need it a few years later, instead of simply buying some a few years later for much less, just sucks. I mean I agree with your point completely in that it's not the end of the world. And I agree that a lot of people who want to upgrade after 5 years probably will just want a new machine. But the soldering of parts still sucks, and even if it's got a small impact, it goes against some of the principles I think we should be cautious with to throw out. Don't want to get into a big slippery slope argument here but for a manufacturer to act as if soldering parts is imperative and unavoidable to me has a high burden of proof. You need to make a case for it. In phones I see that imperative mostly. In a Mac Mini? Not so much.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]