How can Apple sell a Mac with 8GB of RAM in 2023 and call it "Pro"

[rachislenska]

Base modes are there just for name sake I guess. To provide an entry to new customers at a reasonable price (Or what apple thinks as reasonable ). 8 gb in 2023 on such an expensive machine is laughable whether its Air or Pro.4 to 5 major software updates, and your laptop will start showing its age.
But when I first bought an apple product, ipad2, it had a huge 16 gb storage!😂 I was running out of space in short time and few software updates down the line, it was incredibly laggy. And my first MacBook...MacBook Pro retina 2013 had a huge 128 gb storage and 4 gb ram. Learning the lesson from iPad 2 I didnt update it beyond 3 or 4 major versions and it lasted me 8 years.
And this time I got a M2 air with 16 gb /512 combination. More profit for apple, but thats the way apple operates...and when I upgrade my current iPad 10.5 pro I certainly wont be getting the base model as 64 gb is too small , laughably small for an iPad these days.

So I guess apple makes this "joke" ram/storage for "convertors" and existing apple customers are expected to shell out premium for more ram and storage.
And I don't think any "convertors" will be disappointed due to performance of 8 gb ram coming from windows. The optimisation and power efficiency in apple silicon are too much ahead in real life practical use case.

 

[6916494]

This rather non-sensical idea that an OS needs more and more RAM over the years. Every second post seems to be about that. These times are over – we are not in the 90s or 00s anymore! I'm a programmer, I know macOS quite well, I know the Objective-C runtime quite well, and I was an early adopter of Swift. 8 GB is just fine for most use cases.

At my company we all have MBA 15" with 8GB RAM for office work, a complex LAN-based JVM-business application, our accountants access a tax advisor software via remote desktop, a lot of Photoshop (average TIFF size is around 350 MB for RGB and towards 500 MB for CMYK files), application development (Xcode with Swift, Intellij for Java & Kotlin), etc. Never one complain since we switched from the old Intel ones to these MBAs.

The whole discussion in this thread is in the end about money. And is superfluous because Apple will never lower the prices. It would start a downward spiral. Other brands have done this (most famous example might be Dell, and it almost killed them at that time).

 

[amancalledsun]

And the platinum elite credit card is not for elites. What is it about their branding decision that upsets you?

What is it about their misleading product representation that you are so supportive of?

 

[NT1440]

What is it about their misleading product representation that you are so supportive of?

Go on, what have you been mislead about? Are the spec configs hidden from you?

They demonstrated, on video, the customer they’re targeting with each machine. Literally acted it out for the world to see. Did you see the base M3 being used for medical imaging? No. We saw it in a living room recording a bass and keyboard while two college aged kids hang out together.

Are you offended when your “3D white” toothpaste has no bearings on an x,y, or z axis?

 

[Conjurer]

This is so true, Apple thinks people will buy 2010 base specs in 2023 and 2024.
The base specs for the Macs should be at least 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD (1 TB SSD for the Pro Macs).

 

[Ethosik]

This, right here, is you carrying water for a corporation that has decided to allow base storage and ram to stagnate (in some macs for more than a decade) so that they can charge exorbitant prices for upgrades having made third party upgrades impossible.

Then people will complain that Sonoma requires 16GB to even function. The problem with raising a floor is that developers get more lazy. So then 16GB becomes the next 4GB.

 

[Ethosik]

8 GB ram is the starting point for most of the industry PC or Mac so until PC makers eliminate 8gb as a starting place like Surface devices I don't see Apple changing anything.

At least someone else mentions this finally. Well said! I smacked my head when my client told me they bought Lenovo PCs for $2,000 each and it only had 8GB of RAM and 256 GB SSD.

It’s not just Apple, so just stop the insane hate people.

 

[Ethosik]

Next you'll be telling me that my MacBook Air isn't as light as air. I guess "MacBook 1.24kg" doesn't roll off the tongue.

Jokes aside, it's important to remember that the names are just branding and they're largely meaningless.

Agreed. The problem with complaining about the name is there will ALWAYS be someone else that complains about it. As an example, to some having just 128GB of RAM is not pro. So that means ZERO MacBooks can be called Pro. There are those that consider the Mac Pro not Pro. So Mac has ZERO pro computers then.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Maybe they should rename these to PowerBook M3

 

[amancalledsun]

Go on, what have you been mislead about? Are the spec configs hidden from you?

They demonstrated, on video, the customer they’re targeting with each machine. Literally acted it out for the world to see. Did you see the base M3 being used for medical imaging? No. We saw it in a living room recording a bass and keyboard while two college aged kids hang out together.

Are you offended when your “3D white” toothpaste has no bearings on an x,y, or z axis?

So you agree that when Apple brands a product as Pro it’s not actually a pro product? Glad to hear. Which part of that is not misleading or misrepresentation? Your argument is much like Trump claiming the value on his properties. I mean, $1 billion doesn’t actually mean $1 billion. Except when we want it to. You can debate the semantics, but if your entire point is that only the semantics matter, you e already proved my point.

 

[JCsHands2]

and the majority of the users (your wording) are not allowed to buy a "pro" MacBook, that suits their needs?

and you can configure it up to 128GB for your "pro" needs ...

We are stating that if Apple wants to call it a Pro machine, don't start it with the same amount of RAM as the consumer machine. I know that we can pay (configure) to have more RAM, but if I'm already paying $500 more for a "Pro" machine, I'm not going to be happy that I have to drop another $200 to get 8 GB more RAM.

 

[concentricity]

I'm so incredibly disappointed in the 14" M3 MacBook Pro. There is NOTHING about that machine that is "Pro". 8GB of RAM in a pro machine is a joke, as is only being able to drive a single external display and having only two Thunderbolt ports. The 512GB SSD is merely "acceptable", which is fine in the base machine I suppose. What's aggravating is that Apple had to TRY to neuter this machine. This is better than the 13" Pro it's replacing, but just barely. I'm continuing to hold out for an M3 Air 15". I'm sure it'll only be $200 cheaper, but I'm not paying extra for the 14" non-Pro.

Have you tried an Apple Silicon mac (any flavor) with 8GB RAM? I'd bet good money you haven't. If the base M1 Mini with 8GB RAM can absolutely crush at running an actual recording studio, I think the premise that 8GB Macs can't be called "Pro" is absurd. Should you buy more RAM if you can afford it, and want to future-proof, or have specific apps that would actually benefit? Sure, go for it.

 

[mode11]

Agreed. The problem with complaining about the name is there will ALWAYS be someone else that complains about it. As an example, to some having just 128GB of RAM is not pro. So that means ZERO MacBooks can be called Pro. There are those that consider the Mac Pro not Pro. So Mac has ZERO pro computers then.

'Pro' just means 'deluxe' in Apple parlance. 8GB of RAM (or 256GB of storage) is obviously not a deluxe experience; it's like buying a Jaguar with cloth seats and steel wheels. Some people will consider the savings worth it, but ultimately it's a mean experience and worth less on resale too.

 

[boss.king]

So you agree that when Apple brands a product as Pro it’s not actually a pro product? Glad to hear. Which part of that is not misleading or misrepresentation? Your argument is much like Trump claiming the value on his properties. I mean, $1 billion doesn’t actually mean $1 billion. Except when we want it to. You can debate the semantics, but if your entire point is that only the semantics matter, you e already proved my point.

It’s going to blow your mind when you find out Apple is a consumer electronics company and not a literal piece of fruit.

 

[nathansz]

It's more like 8gb on Mac is 64gb on Windows due to Windows bloat and necessary security suites scanning everything you do.

Let’s not conflate architecture with os

8GB on apple silicon macOS is not 64GB on intel macOS

It’s a ridiculous small amount of ram

 

[headlessmike]

So you agree that when Apple brands a product as Pro it’s not actually a pro product? Glad to hear. Which part of that is not misleading or misrepresentation? Your argument is much like Trump claiming the value on his properties. I mean, $1 billion doesn’t actually mean $1 billion. Except when we want it to. You can debate the semantics, but if your entire point is that only the semantics matter, you e already proved my point.

Has Apple ever confirmed that the Pro in their product names actually stands for Professional? What if it stands for Pressure-retarded osmosis or any other term abbreviated Pro? 🤔

 

[amancalledsun]

Has Apple ever confirmed that the Pro in their product names actually stands for Professional? What if it stands for Pressure-retarded osmosis or any other term abbreviated Pro? 🤔

Don’t be intentionally naive. You’re debating semantics yet again.

 

[mode11]

Has Apple ever confirmed that the Pro in their product names actually stands for Professional? What if it stands for Pressure-retarded osmosis or any other term abbreviated Pro?

Then it would be capitalised, like any other acronym. Pro to me suggests someone making a living from an activity, e.g. music creation or photography, rather than doing it as a hobby. So the machine can be more expensive, is likely to see more use (so may need to be more durable), and feature capabilities that are useful in a professional context (e.g. a wide gamut display) but are not something a consumer would typically see value in.

But in practice, it just means "Deluxe" really. Particularly for iPhones and iPads.

 

[amancalledsun]

It’s going to blow your mind when you find out Apple is a consumer electronics company and not a literal piece of fruit.

WHAT?!?!? And all this time…

 

[headlessmike]

Don’t be intentionally naive. You’re debating semantics yet again.

This whole thread is. People are arguing about what “Pros” need, when everyone’s need is different and many actually can comfortably get by with just 8GB.

I actually agree with the sentiment of the OP, that a computer in this price range should come with more than 8GB. But some of the absolutes that are thrown around in this thread are silly.

But in practice, it just means "Deluxe" really. Particularly for iPhones and iPads.

Exactly, it doesn’t really mean anything here. It’s just a moniker like Air. A way to differentiate products in Apple’s lineup.

 

[mode11]

I guess Apple prefers Pro to Deluxe (or similar), as it likes to cultivate an image for its products as being tools for creativity / productivity, rather than luxuries or status symbols. Though inevitably, they're both.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Maybe they should rename these to PowerBook M3

No, because then it’d be “THERE’S NO POWER THERE!” Apple knows that they only have to sell around 20 million Macs a year for it to be a profitable venture. So, even if there’s 2 billion folks complaining about every move Apple makes, there’s still 6 billion other folks in the world of which they only need 20 million to purchase a new Mac. That’s why Apple has the luxury of ignoring those folks that don’t like how they do business. Their dollars don’t even factor into Apple’s future plans.

 

[mode11]

Apple knows that they only have to sell around 20 million Macs a year for it to be a profitable venture. So, even if there’s 2 billion folks complaining about every move Apple makes

Yeah, but Apple isn't merely looking to break even. If they seriously thought they could sell 100m Macs a year at a decent profit margin, they obviously would. But there aren't enough rich people that Macs appeal to.

Ultimately, Apple aim to squeeze the maximum possible profit from the maximum number of Mac users. To substantially grow the user base though, they'd probably need to substantially lower their prices. But they're BMW, not Ford, so that's not a route they're interested in.

 

[NT1440]

So you agree that when Apple brands a product as Pro it’s not actually a pro product? Glad to hear. Which part of that is not misleading or misrepresentation? Your argument is much like Trump claiming the value on his properties. I mean, $1 billion doesn’t actually mean $1 billion. Except when we want it to. You can debate the semantics, but if your entire point is that only the semantics matter, you e already proved my point.

You’re going to have to draw a clear distinction as to what the computer industry deems “Pro” before you can get upset about being somehow mislead.

What specifically are you being misled about?

 

[amancalledsun]

You’re going to have to draw a clear distinction as to what the computer industry deems “Pro” before you can get upset about being somehow mislead.

What specifically are you being misled about?

The industry already has. How is Apple’s use of the term not misleading?