I think the pitiful storage and and low RAM are what they're hoping will be the sneaky ways to make these products obsolete before too long.
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New M3 MacBook Air Models Expected Around March 2024
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Possible, yes, but if you're going to buy a Mac for 4-5 years (which, statistically, you are), you'll run into more and more limitations.
I think increasing the base to 12 would give Apple more breathing room for five years or so.
The Memory Pressure panel is as good as it gets as a measure. If it turns yellow, you could benefit from more RAM for your current usage. If it turns red, well, you have a problem.
That macOS uses as much RAM as it likes is, by design, separated from the Memory Pressure panel. That's why macOS avoids talking about "free" RAM, because it's a misleading figure.
Apple unfortunately limits itself to the point they can't offer 12 GB RAM options. The M3 processors have two configurations that can only allow 8,16, or 24 on the lower end models. When you upgrade to MAX it goes by 18 and 36 due to the processor architecture.
For all intents and purposes Apple SHOULD simply bump the base specs to 12 GB except that would kill off one of their favored upgrade options for $200 extra. We know greed reigns supreme for Apple, thus they wouldn't go with 12 GB base even if they could.
For all intents and purposes Apple SHOULD simply bump the base specs to 12 GB except that would kill off one of their favored upgrade options for $200 extra. We know greed reigns supreme for Apple, thus they wouldn't go with 12 GB base even if they could.
No, it's 8 GB x 2 or 3. For some reason there are modules done in different intervals between the standard and the Max.
Do you think Apple just added 2 GB to the MAX to make it 18 GB out of the goodness of their hearts? This appears to be a factor of 6GB x 3 to reach 18 GB. Do you not think Apple would offer a 36GB option for lower end products if they extract another $400 upgrade cost?
M1 M2 M3 all have only memory channels enough to fit 2 DRAM modules, they are physical routes on the edges of the silicon. And the M2 and M3 started using 2 pieces of 12GB to achieve the 24GB total. It is physically impossible for them to use more than 2 pieces.
The M3 Pro, binned or not, has 3 sets of channels to 3 DRAMs. But Apple decided to limit BTO choices in 3x6GB=18GB and 3x12GB=36GB.
On the M3 Max, the binned has one set of the 4 memory channels disabled, so this gets 3 sets of them.
The options are 3x12GB=36GB, 3x32GB=96GB (they purposely don’t let you choose other configs to push people to the full Max)
The full (“unbinned”) Max has 4 sets of channels. 4x12GB=48GB, 4x16GB=64GB, 4x32GB=128GB.
So anyway. 6GB modules exist in Apple supply chain, they are used in the M3 Pro base 18GB model. And the M2 and M3 are shown to be able to support 12GB modules, similar circuitry as the 6GB. Apple just decided to not use them.
It was base spec, I didn't pay for an upgrade in 2014. It shouldn't be the base spec in 2023 when prices have gone down and requirements for apps have gone up. I'm not asking for anything for free, and it's rude to imply that.
I don't do refurbs and I didn't ask you for buying advice.
Countless posts are now saying what are basic expectations and needs are. Whatever desire you have to discredit that is meaningless.
8gb isn't sufficient.
I can push it, but it would limit me, and I don't want to be limited on a brand new computer. I need a 16gb computer, and if I'm spending $200, then I want the newest tech instead, but that's a $1700 computer, which is too much.
I don't buy refurbs.... and I'm not interested in a 2 year old model today.
You don't grasp the economics of the consumer needs, and the budgetary limits, but nobody asked you to. I didn't ask for buyer advice.
The solution is very simple, Apple needs to upgrade the base models across the line, it would cost them peanuts and boost sales in addition to performance. The pricing games they're playing are hurting their sales.
I think you are the one who doesn’t get it. The state of their sales is independent of whether their Macs come with 8 gb or 16 gb of ram, because users in general are not holding out due to existing offerings being underpowered.
Right, they want a 1-2 year cycle like with phones. They're going to pull the rug on 8gb computers in 2 years unless right to fix becomes standard. They would be limiting the software if they don't.
This is boring. Their sales are poor, and the internet is full of people disgruntled with the specs, so it's baseless to say it's not a factor.
As a general rule of thumb, I tend to not pay too much attention to the vocal minority here at Macrumours. They have proven to have a fairly poor track record of what Apple ought to be to stay afloat, and they are not representative of Apple’s user base. Their complaints invariably revolve around “Apple needs to cut prices to boost sales” and when has Apple ever done that, even as they recently hit the 3 trillion market cap again?
I don’t deny that including more ram might incentivise a few extra sales in the short run (assuming the people banging table here even intend to vote with their wallets), but it will likely be a rounding error that barely moves the needle in terms of Mac units sold.
Needless to say, I don’t see this being on the books anytime soon. But what do I know.
That isn't going to happen. If anything, the phone cycle is going to move up (it already has, to 2-3 years); the laptop cycle isn't going to move down.
Mac sales are not poor. 2020-22 were an aberration mainly due to COVID (and perhaps secondarily due to the architecture switch). If you take those out of the chart, sales are actually better than ever.
I mean, sure, but that's a story as old as time.
Look, I agree that Apple should bump the base to 12 or 16 in the next year or two. 8 has been the base since 2012; for eleven years. That's quite long. But you're mistaken if you think this is a reason ordinary people aren't buying Macs. They are, because this spec doesn't matter to them that much.
Im sure you can find nice PC laptop within your budget.
Buy a base spec 16” MBP. It has all the ram you need. No need to pay for a ram upgrade at all then
You’re comparing your 2014 MacBook Pro to a base model MacBook Air. And yes you paid for all the ram in your laptop last time. Nothing came for free.
It’s easy. If you need 16GB of ram then buy a computer with 16GB of ram. It couldn’t be simpler.
You just expect 16GB ram for the price of an 8GB ram MacBook. It’s not going to happen. But keep yelling at clouds if it makes you feel better.
If 8GB of RAM were so “restrictive” for most people, then most people wouldn’t be buying them… 8GBs is more than enough for most people. And for those who need more RAM? Apple offers options for them too! 👍🏻. It’s called buy the spec you want or need, instead of expecting for whatever reason it will become the cheap base model…🙄. “I need 128GBs of RAM to support my web browser tabs habit, that should be the base RAM for MacBook Air”. Anyone can just fill in their desired spec and whine that it isn’t base spec…
That’s a stacked comparison. He claims the Windows computer he’s using there is a 16GB RAM system, and it technically is, but what he doesn’t mention at any point in his video is that it also has a dedicated graphics card with it’s own 8GB of RAM that can be used for file exports in Adobe Lightroom and Davinci Resolve and other graphics related tasks, so it’s really more like a 24GB RAM system in those cases. This also explains the performance difference with file exports “while multitasking”. And it should be noted that even with the deck stacked in this comparison, the 8GB RAM M3 MacBook Pro was still very close on most things, it was only a couple of things were the extra graphics RAM in the Windows laptop gave it a bit of an advantage. Also, I highly doubt that video editors or heavy photo editors are going to be buying the lowest spec possible of the MacBook Pro. They’ll probably gravitate more towards the M3 Pro chip configurations anyways…
Apple builds to a price and to an average margin and spreads that across its lineup. Lower cost machines may have a lower gross margin to hit a price point, making up the lost margin with BTO upgrades because Apple knows how many people will upgrade their MacBook Air to more RAM or Storage. The more expensive MBP’s may have a higher gross margin that helps offset the lower margin machines and Apple knows that based on their own internal data. Apple has always cared more about gross margin than almost any other metric when we hear the quarterly conference calls. If upgrading the base spec to 16GB isn’t going to be an actual value add for those customers that are in the market for an Air then it’s money wasted and margin lowered and may take away from the higher margin models, thus making it harder for Apple to make its margin targets for quarterly results.
Your viewpoint is from a non-business tech perspective and Apple’s is from a business/sales perspective first. Make peace with that and you’ll be fine, pay the upgrade cost or go find another vendor. It’s that simple.
The M1 MacBook Air has two clear advantages over the M2 MBA: The first is 'no ugly notch'. The second advantage is the vastly superior ergonomic wedge design that makes the front edge of the computer much thinner, and is more comfortable for the hand to sit on. I hope the M3 gives us back these advantages soon. Until then, I'm sticking with the superior M1 design.
I like both designs, I love the new MacBook Air design, I actually like the display notch. And I also like the uniform color thickness, because even at it’s thickest, it’s thinner than the M1 MacBook Air.
You can likely find the real answer in Apple’s refusal to offer the M3 MacBook Pro in Space Black.
I speculated earlier in this thread that with the M3 MacBook Pro shipping with Ventura, the plans for space black might not have been finalized yet.
Great, then the rest was hot air. You have no reason to doubt the "vocal minority" who are no longer a minority based on the premise that Apples sales aren't what they hoped. I gave you real world examples of how RAM cripples productivity by limiting new software features, and you ignored that too. You can't relate and it doesn't effect you personally, but nobody asked.