8GB RAM in M3 MacBook Pro Proves the Bottleneck in Real-World Tests::Apple’s new MacBook Pro models are powered by cutting-edge M3 Apple silicon, but the base configuration 14-inch model starting at $1,599…

      • Iwasondigg@lemmy.one
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        10 months ago

        Don’t they also solder it to the motherboard so you can’t upgrade your RAM as well?

        • BorgDrone@lemmy.one
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          10 months ago

          It’s not so much soldered to the motherboard as much as part of the same package as the CPU. As in: there are no separate memory chips.

        • Petter1@lemm.ee
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          10 months ago

          Lol, the ram is part of the m3 chip That’s a reason why it is so efficient. The storage in m3 is for RAM and videoRAM.

          Wikipedia: The M3’s Unified Memory Architecture features up to 24 GB RAM, the M3 Pro up to 36 GB, and the M3 Max up to 128 GB. Like the M2 generation, the M3 SoCs use 6,400 MT/s LPDDR5 SDRAM. As with prior M series SoCs, this serves as both RAM and video RAM.

          • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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            10 months ago

            That’s literally how Intel integrated GPUs work too

            The RAM being shared with the GPU, that is.

            • Petter1@lemm.ee
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              10 months ago

              Yea but the RAM is not on the located within the chip design, is it?

            • DarienGS@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              With Apple’s chips the RAM is all on the CPU die so both CPU and GPU get the performance benefit. With Intel’s, none of it is.

              • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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                10 months ago

                "What Apple calls “unified memory” is RAM (random-access memory) used as “main memory” (not a CPU or GPU cache and not mass storage either).

                The term “unified” refers to the fact that the memory is shared by the CPU cores and the GPU cores. That’s not novel: “integrated graphics” options in Intel x86 chips (like Iris Xe) do the same, as do just about all modern smartphones."

                • DarienGS@lemmy.world
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                  10 months ago

                  I’m not talking about the merits or otherwise of “unified memory”, I’m pointing out that because Apple’s RAM is physically integrated into the CPU, it can provide more memory bandwidth than regular DDR5 DIMMs.

        • Sendbeer@lemm.ee
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          10 months ago

          Well yeah, if you were paying $50 a GB wouldn’t you too? Got to lock that shit down!

      • xkforce@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        How the fuck did Apple manage to be the largest company on the planet doing shit like this? Are Apple users really that fucking dumb?

          • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            And they’re much better at marketing than they are at making computers or phones. Apple is probably the most successful marketing company in the world.

          • tabular@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Not sure “friendly” is quite the right word… you can argue it’s well designed or cultivated users but Apple is anything but a "friend"ly.

          • dustyData@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Their UI and UX is shit. You basically can’t use it for many basic tasks without installing a bunch of third party (proprietary and expensive) software.

    • TenderfootGungi@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Apple loves under ramming (to give a word a new meaning) and forcing everyone to pay for upgrades. The problem is there are always people that buy the base.

      • stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        I think the point is to squeeze out a couple extra hundred dollars from customers.

        Apple has long done price anchoring with their products just like in this case.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      10 months ago

      At this point I’m pretty sure the ram costs more than the rest of the laptop.

    • DarienGS@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Apple’s RAM isn’t as cheap as you might think, because it’s all built directly onto the CPU die. That’s part of what makes its computers so fast.