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Apple is Robbing People with SSD Upgrade Prices...
- Thread starter jsnuff1
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Yes, that is more accurate.
Windows yes. I don't consider Chromebooks PCs when they're glorified Chrome browsers, which now also badly run Android apps sort of.
It's not that excuse, if you wish to interpret it that way it's your choice. However, look for memory chips that support the standards in M2. Then get back here.
Okay I'm back here with the fact that they charge the same prices for storage upgrades on Intel Macs so that excuse doesn't cut it either.
Do you understand about the different standards per component per revision? Apparently no.
I can't disagree. Apple charges $400 for an upgrade from 1TB to 2TB in the Mac Studio Ultra. A Samsung 980 Pro 2TB PCIe gen 4 NVME costs $269 at Microcenter, and that's probably the best gen 4 nvme drive on the market. Granted, Apple's NVMEs are some custom size, but I am sure that they don't pay anywhere near $400 for it. I am aware that they deserve to make a profit selling computers and I don't expect it at cost, but the cost is higher than it needs to be. This is why Apple is so profitable.
With that said, I actually bought the upgrade to 4TB, and have a 10GB network with a NAS on a 10GB SFP switch. External thunderbolt drives, SSD or NVME are available as well.
With that said, I actually bought the upgrade to 4TB, and have a 10GB network with a NAS on a 10GB SFP switch. External thunderbolt drives, SSD or NVME are available as well.
I do and Apple has been using the same SSDs since the T2 implementation and has nothing to do with the Silicon chips. Still doesn't justify their artificially high costs.
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Show me proof that they're using different SSDs in Silicon Macs than the Intel Macs with a T2 security chip.
Apple likes to force us to BTO because base models aren't that profitable. Base models also go regularly on sale because way more stores have them in stock whereas the stores that provide BTO options never do sales.
A big brain move would be to petition the EU to force Apple to update specs for the base models over environmental concerns. All that unnecessary shipping for BTO machines and the limited lifespan of crippled out of the factory Macs aren't that eco-friendly.
Resources are scarce on the planet and we need to manage them more efficiently especially in this period of recession and market disruptions.
A big brain move would be to petition the EU to force Apple to update specs for the base models over environmental concerns. All that unnecessary shipping for BTO machines and the limited lifespan of crippled out of the factory Macs aren't that eco-friendly.
Resources are scarce on the planet and we need to manage them more efficiently especially in this period of recession and market disruptions.
Yeah pretty much, I can't ever pick up any laptop below 16GB it's just not feasible for me. And If I want to use local VMs instead of Cloud/Home ones I'd have to go for 32GB.
Neither your nor my individual experiences account for anything in the grand scheme of things.
We obviously see different on things. If I have a problem, and it is resolved when replacing something, I don’t actually care if the part I replaced was faulty. Maybe the mainboard had an issue that only presents itself with perfectly functioning RAM block A and not with perfectly functioning RAM block B. I don’t care, I care about my issue being fixed.
I don’t care that if I run around in circles and stand on my head I might find a Windows PC that actually works. The fact is that with the last three Windows PC’s I’ve had I ran into an issue that required a reboot within 24 hours of receiving it, while only using MS Office programs. In one case my IT department fixed Skype not working by replacing the entire PC with an identical one! They still can’t tell me what the issue was.
Why bother continuing to find a workable Windows PC when I already have a solution: Use Macs that cause ME(!) much less (albeit not zero) issues?
Apple is and always has been pricey. Nothing really new here.
Do you guys also feel “robbed” by Rolex, Tesla, Sonos or Bose? Or you just buy products from other brands, which are more affordable?
Honestly, if anyone is feeling “robbed” by Apple - it’s time to change the platform to PC.
I wonder why the hesitation, what’s stopping you?
It’s all pink unicorns and rainbows over there. ASRock, AOpen and other renowned companies 🤪 Land of milk and honey. You can even build your own, if you want. And everything costs peanuts. Well, except for Nvidia graphics cards, but who would ever need those? Oh, wait… 🤣🤣🤣
Do you guys also feel “robbed” by Rolex, Tesla, Sonos or Bose? Or you just buy products from other brands, which are more affordable?
Honestly, if anyone is feeling “robbed” by Apple - it’s time to change the platform to PC.
I wonder why the hesitation, what’s stopping you?
It’s all pink unicorns and rainbows over there. ASRock, AOpen and other renowned companies 🤪 Land of milk and honey. You can even build your own, if you want. And everything costs peanuts. Well, except for Nvidia graphics cards, but who would ever need those? Oh, wait… 🤣🤣🤣
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If the RAM and SSD price issue had suddenly appeared with the M1 (or even the T2) you might have had the start of an argument.
However, Apple have been charging the exact same BTO rates. for RAM and SSD since at least 2017[1] - $200 for 256 to 512GB SSD, $200 for 8GB to 16GB RAM whether it is M1, M2, Intel, or even pre-T1/T2 machines that used bog-standard parts - that was over-the-odds then, and 3rd party RAM and SSD has since only got cheaper.
Even the current still-available Intel Mac Mini has a $200 8-to-16GB RAM upgrade consisting of standard DDR4-2666 SODIMMs - DDR4-2666 from Crucial costs $33 per-8GB (whatever permutation you get it in). Same for the only-recently-departed 2020 5k iMac.
The BTO RAM and SSD prices have nothing to do with any underlying "bill of materials" issues. It's all, ultimately, commodity DRAM or Flash (whether it's DIMMs, blades or loose SMT chips) bought in huge wholesale quantities by one of the biggest consumers of such chips.
Nobody here knows how much Apple pays for chips, but If Apple are charging 6x retail price (i.e. already marked-up to allow Crucial to sleep indoors and eat hot meals) for the difference between 8GB and 16GB of perfectly ordinary DDD4 then you're gonna need some pretty compelling evidence to convince anybody that they're suddenly being more generous with M1/M2 because of some (unspecified) secret sauce in the chips they're using.
(OK, we can ignore comparisons with super-cheap SATA SSD blades - but even higher-end PCIe x4 blades - which include a controller chip - start at ~$100 for 512GB and go up about $50 per 512GB).
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[1] When I got my 2017 iMac (Intel, and not T1/T2-based) Apple already charged $200[2] for a BTO upgrade from 256 to 512GB SSD and $200 for a BTO upgrade from 8GB to 16GB RAM.
At that stage, I got a pair of 8GB SODIMMS from Crucial for a bit over $100 and ended up with 24GB RAM for half the cost of Apple's upgrade to 16GB. And the Crucial sticks were (apart from capacity) the same spec and brand (Micron) as the ones that came in the Mac.
[2] actually the difference between the $100 256GB option and the $300 512GB option
iMac "Core i5" 3.4 21.5" (4K, Mid-2017) Specs (Retina 4K, Mid-2017, MNE02LL/A, iMac18,2, A1418, 3069): EveryMac.com
Technical specifications for the iMac "Core i5" 3.4 21.5" (4K, Mid-2017). Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.
Nice in theory - but such moves usually end in well-meaning but completely inept interventions with unintended consequences. See: cookie consent boxes, USB-C sockets on phones...
This is a good point. I build my own gaming PCs and they aren’t exactly cheap either. My M1 MBA is far cheaper LOL.
It's a different issue. Here Apple will be in serious trouble because the climate change and environmentalism grift is at its strongest. (the phenomena are real but the solutions and the industry that profits from the inevitable change due to absolutist myopic policies towards "green" energy is a scam of monumental scale) They'll have to cave in but we have to push them strategically .. problem is the boomer politicians don't have the wits and tech knowledge to handle the richest company in the correct way.
Hope you get paid to defend their business practices otherwise this is embarrassing.
It's a good thing the iMacs and Mac Studio has so many ports on it that you can just permanently plug in thunderbolt drives to it for expansion, but yeah it's insane. Like, why are the Macbook Pros 512gb when most need 1tb? Almost $200 just to bump it to 1tb, for a laptop that already costs over $2000.
What’s embarrassing is people who can’t afford to buy expanded Macs moaning about not being able to afford them 🤣
If you don’t like their business practices, why on Earth would you like to buy an Apple computer? 🧐
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No, you are not getting scammed either. You get exactly what was advertised.
@dylanthomas
So you like their products, but want to somehow “change their nasty capitalist ways”. Which basically means for Apple to make cheaper computers and upgrades just for you. Fascinating…
Honestly, I’ve heard that Huawei makes really nice laptops which ape Apple products really well for a fraction of price. Perhaps check there 😏
So you like their products, but want to somehow “change their nasty capitalist ways”. Which basically means for Apple to make cheaper computers and upgrades just for you. Fascinating…
Honestly, I’ve heard that Huawei makes really nice laptops which ape Apple products really well for a fraction of price. Perhaps check there 😏
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