Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | Printerisreal's commentslogin

Lowest tier comes with 16 gb of memory, same memory size with lowest M. air, why Apple?


It looks like the highest tier is 32GB, which really surprised me. I guess we'll have to wait for the M5 Pro / M5 Max for more memory than that.

Bad news for anyone who buys the M5 MacBook Pro as an "AI" machine and finds it can't fit any of the more interesting LLMs!


It has always been this way. Base M1's max RAM was 16GB, M2/M3's was 24GB, M4's was 32GB.


Base m1 was like 4-5 years ago. did we have that much ram with oldest macs too, 30 years ago? 4-5 years at same base RAM is incredibly cheap behaviour from Apple. Some phones are literally close to that RAM now.


Base M1 had 8GB RAM base and 16 max. Where are you getting “same base ram”?


%100 ram growth in 5 years still very slow and cheap.


I think 8GB was also what we had in ... 2012? Or am I wrong. Memory has been going so slow.


First Retina MacBook Pros 13" were with 8 GB base memory. That was either 2013 or even 2012, so, yeah.


You could (unsupported) run 16gb ram on 2010 rMBP models, back before it was soldered on. Worked great, not to mention swapping the spinning drive for an SSD.

At this point, I get the soldered on ram, for better or worse... I do wish at least storage was more approachable.


Indeed. RAM is the tool of planned obselecence (and profiteering for that matter).


Get an ad blocker and then get all the people writing Java/Electron apps to fix their memory usage and you'll be good.

Exceptions apply to those running local LLMs.


They are running out of ways to differentiate their products.


Wait what!?!? My MacBook M1 has 64GB of memory for crying out loud.


M1 maxed out at 16 GB, if you have 64 it’s an M1 Max.


Wait what!?!? You may have a MacBook Pro M1 Max for crying out loud.


The Pro sales page says their RAM is unified, which is more efficient than traditional. Anyone have a concept by how much more efficient unified RAM performs vs RAM?

Their sales copy for reference:

"M-series chips include unified memory, which is more efficient than traditional RAM. This single pool of high-performance memory allows apps to efficiently share data between the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine.... This means you can do more with unified memory than you could with the same amount of traditional RAM."


It just means it's shared between GPU and CPU. Has its advantages in specific workloads, but dedicated super fast GPU RAM usually is better. Everything else in this statement in marketing bullshit and Apple trying to look like they invented the wheel and discovered fire.


The fact that it's unified just means it's shared between CPU/GPU usage which can be a good thing. A lot of the performance comes from more channels and a more stable distance from the CPU itself... Getting really fast performance from RAM is more difficult with a detachable interface in the middle, and longer traces.

Still not the fastest ram, that they use for dedicated GPUs, but faster than most x86 options.


RAM has always been unified on every M series CPU.


It's unified on the Air too though?


yes, all Mx processors have unified ram


Because the MacBook “pro” with a base (not pro or max) M is and has always been an air with better cooling.


Well, they could continue the 8gb joke so let's appreciate the fact that they finally switched to 16gb base models (and similarly stopped the 128GB SSD madness, these models were outdated when bought).


Search for memory wall. Moore’s law died a decade ago for DRAM


For perspective I have a 12 year old MacBook with 8 gigs of ram and it’s still perfectly usable for all the things I do on it. If you need more RAM because you are video encoding, compiling, or gaming (why!?) then you aren’t a basic consumer.

I’m not trying into be a fanboy and maybe it’s a little bit “cope”, but apple has always put as much RAM as is necessary for the computer to work—and not a lot more—in their base models.


The $1599 M5 Macbook Pro: Good enough for a guy who thinks a 12-year-old MacBook with 8 gigs of ram is "still perfectly usable"

:)


I know it’s silly, but I think I represent over 90% of apples customers in that way. I just need something that reads emails and shows me porn.


> I know it’s silly, but I think I represent over 90% of apples customers in that way

You're not silly, you're just able to see reality.

Apple knows who is buying the bulk of their computers, and it isn't power users ... most people buying computers don't have a clue what RAM is even used for.

I'd hit beachballs, but macOS balances 8GB of RAM fine even with Tahoe for regular users


That 90% are perfect candidates for the even cheaper Macbook Air lineup.


And a "pro" computer that comes with half a tb of storage by default with a $200 premium for another 0.5 tb of storage. Oof. Just gross.

I know people complain at every release. But I look at the three choices presented and they are all disappointing to me. It's a huge turnoff to see the only initial differentiator presented to be a choice between "measly" amounts of RAM and storage to "barely acceptable" amounts.

To get even close to the specs on my Surface Pro I'd have to hit the configurator and spend at least $1000. Even more to hit the config of my work issued HP notebook.


Truth is out people. They are confessing it now.


They're trying to get out in front of a market crash that everyone knows is coming, after shoving it down every CEO's throat for half a decade.


Sadly this + unsustainable love for social welfare will lead Europe to lose long term life quality and possible wealth. They don't like innovators there now, that is for sure.


most important technology transition in the history of humankind but Nvidia itself is not leading the software part? Are they selling shovels or why would they give that part of being the head develop the AGI and GOD?


> most important technology transition in the history of humankind

Get real.

Farming? Plow? Steam engine? Combustion engine? Electricity? Air conditioning? Computers? Internet?


Creating a true digital brain would be humankind's greatest (last?) invention.


By what metric? In my opinion actually solving all of the problems we currently have and man we have a lot of them past the obvious ones like climate change, that would be our greatest achievement.


The optimistic thinking is that with thousands/millions of tireless 24/7 brains at work on these problems we could address more problems in biology, chemistry, physics, materials science, etc. faster. It's a bold, but not unreasonable belief.


But that’s not something actually actionable. This isn’t a plan, it’s pure hope that maybe potentially if we just put enough money and energy into this, it will just magically solve our problems. Call me a luddite but that’s a crazy amount of copium.


Lots of hope for sure. This is the biggest most expensive scientific endeavor in my lifetime. I can think of a lot worse things to spend the money/carbon on.


They just committed to invest $100b (!) in OpenAI and said $100b is only the start.


This time they have fiat money and government on their side. so that is also different.


It just means we're all going to be hurt by the collapse, not just investors. In line with socialized loses, privatized profits.


That is also true :)


xai is %100 behind in AI game and development. remember, co founder left few weeks ago.


"Rules for thee, but not for me"


instead of sticker, they can just code something like dog tag, that is thing for century or more


YES and I feel like "Planned obsolescence" needs to be taught to every engineer and web developer and tech people. They will understand why or how some corp. decisions are made and what is the aim.


I agree with you, but is awareness among that cohort really the problem? “Planned obsolescence” is engineered by tech people, after all. It certainly wasn’t divine intervention that came up with internal Li-Ion batteries (IMHO the most brazen example, where manufacturers effectively stick a 3-year timer inside your gadgets).


It wouldn't matter so much if they were standardized. With all the billions of devices sold, there could easily be a standard set of a hundred sizes. Someone petition the EU...


Investors are forward looking, except when it's micron in 2000.

Anthropic have several similiar competitors with actual real distribution and tech. Ones that can go 10x are underdogs like Google before IPO or Amazon, or Shopify etc. Anthropic current stock is beyond that. Investors no longer give any big opp. to public. They gain it via private funding


Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: