News Apple's new MacBook Pro blocks upgrades

The ram upgrade cost is worse than the £72 cost of buying the modules. You aren't paying £160 for 16GB, you are paying £160 for an additional 8GB.

 

If you think this don't go near engadget or the verge. You'll cry.

 

Gareth, you're half right on this one. OCW still make the third party "blade" SSDs, and have pledged to release them for the new MacBook Pros. You're right that there was some legal kerfuffle over this, but I think Apple backed off.

I for one ordered the new machine. Yes, there are a few sacrifices, namely the non-swappable battery, but the previous models weren't exactly easy either, and it's simply what you have to accept for the slimness of the notebook. If you want removable, you need to expect a fatter computer. The MacBook Air is very similar, and a lot of other Ultrabooks too.

Equally, I know for my usage 8GB of RAM is plenty, and the 256GB SSD is also enough for 'on the go' use - my photo library will be on an external drive that sits on my desk.

 

said this about 2 years ago when they replaced the `latest` OS - apple are moving away from end users and within themselves - will only be a matter of time, as they have generated the appeal , when `you want the new OS? buy a new iMac/phone/pad etc - as your current kit ont be able to use it.

only a matter of time till that happens - and the sheeple will lap it up

 

Apple can do this because they are the only people who make this kind of laptop. If every other maunfacturer was making 2880x1800 displays then Apple might make some different descisions. Also, I don't really mind the non-fixing philoshophy, as it means they can make the laptop a lot thinner, which I prefer to user replacability.
Also, very few people are going to want 16gb+ RAM on laptop anyway.

 

Would you have bought one had they made all three user upgradable?

 

To be honest, in a laptop I don't really mind that much. Given the quantity of RAM available to begin with, upgrading shouldn't really be necessessary for a while, if you're worried just pop for 16 and the higher price. As for storage, again upgrading isn't a problem as one would have all their bulky files on a big external HDD system or desktop, I'd much rather have portability.

All in all I just see this more as a refinement to what the use of a machine like this is: stylish, portable and powerful. I'd be more worried if they said that the new iMacs and Mac Pros had no upgrade paths instead. The battery is the only issue I would have.

 

...yet. Mac users expect their laptop to last a long time, I know many still using first gen Core 2 Duos, and they basically said their laptop is unusable with the default 1 or 2 Gb of RAM with the latest OSX's. Eventually an OS update will come out that uses more than 8Gb.

 

You'd have to fork out for a license to run Windows, but I'm assuming the bootcamp utility/drivers are still available?

 

Depending on what you do 8GB is already not enough (Why I'm buying mine with 16GB). The thing is if you're using this for 'pro' tasks then by the time you're editing content that absolutely has to have more than 16GB of RAM then you'll want a faster machine anyway.

It's unlikely though that an update to OSX will ever demand more than say 4GB for running the OS quite happily. It's app use and content of those apps thats the demand. The apps I use aren't too demanding (the Xcode IDE, photoshop, lightroom) so I've never encountered a problem with only having 8GB of RAM in my current MB.

At the moment if you can't fit your dataset (3D, Photography, Video, Database etc) within 16GB of RAM then you probably need more than a quad core i7 anyway if you're going to do your work justice.

My RMPB will last me a good few years (if I or my kids don't break the damn thing). I think it's more likely I'll be needing (desiring?) a faster CPU before I have an issue with 16GB of RAM.

 

So a year or so down the line you get a duff memory module and need to replace it...Oh wait its soldered on, guess you are going to have to fork out for a new logic board. That will be £1400 please.

 

Criticism where criticism is due, but unfortunately this comment doesn't demonstrate the reality of the configuration. Yes the memory upgrade is considerably more expensive than a typical pc, but then again your typical laptop doesn't come with the ram chips soldered to the motherboard. In such a circumstance if a ram chip dies it's just a matter of replacing the faulty dimm. However in this configuration if a ram chip dies apple has to replace the entire motherboard, hardly a cheap or efficient repair. I don't doubt apple will make a nice profit of these laptops, but a large portion of the memory upgrade cost will most likely be to cover the extra expense of warranty claims.

 

Oh wait, that's why we have warranties.

 

You are missing the point. Even under warranty your MacBook Pro has to be taken to an Apple registered service provider (or an Apple store) it has to be diagnosed, stripped, replacement parts ordered, faulty parts sent to Ireland/China for re-working or scrapping. Your new logic board arrives, its fitted, tested and finality makes its way back to you.

So thats probably at least a 2 week turn around depending on how busy they are?

All this because Apple have decided to solder everything to the bloody logic board. SODIMM slots would not add much to the weight or thickness of the divide, especially as you can get hight density modules these days. In the same token I've recently stripped a Macbook Air, the SSD is user servicible, why not in the latest Pro?

 

I have to pop in here, and say that I approve of it.
I do not know ANYBODY (in person) that has ever upgraded a laptop. Most people don't even upgrade desktops.
Most upgraders go as far as maybe some more RAM/HDD and a new GPU on desktops, and then they bail.

The price tag of the MBP dictates that most people will spec it out nicely, and it (likely) won't need more than 16GB RAM anyway (keeping in mind that OSx is compiled for the specific hardware - much like linux - and uses less RAM by default).
In terms of harddrive space: well, there's Thunderbolt and externals. Everyone uses externals anyway.

Batteries soldered in has been a "point of contention" since the first gen iPod, but quite frankly: 7 hours battery life on a 3-year old MBP... I have yet to see another laptop that does that. So that's a non-issue in my books as well.

Blackbox computing is cool, if done right. In this case, apple can't do much wrong...

 

Just hope it doesn't go wrong, and make sure you get a warranty that lasts for ever because if it does it'll take a long time to fix, and if it goes wrong out of warranty you are screwed. My PC is great, if a memory module fails I buy a new one, it arrives the next day, job done. With a macbook you have to send the whole thing back, wait several weeks while they get a new motherboard (cause you can't replace broken ram), then get it shipped back. If it goes wrong 1 week out of warranty (as these machines always do) then you have to bin the whole machine and buy another one.

 

this makes me glad i bought a macbook pro last year! I've already upgraded from the stock 4gb of ram, first to 8gb, then to 16gb. Next up is upgrading the included 128gb ssd.

Why would I pay Apple to upgrade from 8gb of RAM to 16gb for $200 when you can buy it for less than $100? Seems like just another way for them to force you to buy Apple Care....grrrr.

 

Its not just about the upgrading, i agree its a pretty beefy machine to start with!

My gripe is that from a service and repair point of view... you have drastically reduces the amount of components that can be changed.

The lead time on repairing your MPR in or out of warranty seriously increases in both cost and time.

You attempt to boot, you get a memory error....Whole new logic board.