this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2024
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Even Apple finally admits that 8GB RAM isn't enough (www.xda-developers.com)
submitted 4 months ago by sverit@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.world
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There were a number of exciting announcements from Apple at WWDC 2024, from macOS Sequoia to Apple Intelligence. However, a subtle addition to Xcode 16 — the development environment for Apple platforms, like iOS and macOS — is a feature called Predictive Code Completion. Unfortunately, if you bought into Apple's claim that 8GB of unified memory was enough for base-model Apple silicon Macs, you won't be able to use it. There's a memory requirement for Predictive Code Completion in Xcode 16, and it's the closest thing we'll get from Apple to an admission that 8GB of memory isn't really enough for a new Mac in 2024.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 44 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (6 children)

HP seems to think 4 GB is an acceptable amount of RAM to put in a modern notebook (although they don't charge even close to what Apple charges).

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Micro-edge-Microsoft-14-dq0040nr-Snowflake/dp/B0947BJ67M

Edit: Thinking about it, this is worse. Apple isn't targeting low-income people. This is HP selling the poor a computer that doesn't work properly.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 37 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Shipping with Windows S. That's Microsoft's version of a Chromebook for some light web browsing for 188 dollars. I wouldn't buy it but this doesn't look like a rip off at this price point.

[–] cordlesslamp@lemmy.today 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

They could just raise the prize to $198 and slap another 4GB of RAM on it.

[–] n0clue@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago (1 children)

And if they raised the price to $250, they could go with a faster processor and better wifi!

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 months ago

And if they raised another 2000$, they could add an RTX 4090 graphics card

[–] purplemonkeymad@programming.dev 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

S mode does allow you to turn it off, so it's more like a hobbled version of home.

The computer is as bad as one I saw several years ago with 64g emmc and "Quad core processor." not a quad core, it was literally the name that showed in system. It did have 4 cores: at 400Mhz, boosting to 1.1Ghz. Buyer changed their mind and we couldn't give it away.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago

Of course that notebook is bad but for the price point of shitty hardware, you get shitty hardware. Apple sells shitty hardware at the cost of premium hardware.

[–] homura1650@lemm.ee 17 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

At a $188 price point. An additional 4GB of memory would probably add ~$10 to the cost, which is over a 5% increase. However, that is not the only component they cheaped out on. The linked unit also only has 64GB of storage, which they should probably increase to have a usable system ...

And soon you find that you just reinvented a mid-market device instead of the low-market device you were trying to sell.

4GB of ram is still plenty to have a functioning computer. It will not be as capable of a more powerful computer, but that comes with the territory of buying the low cost version of a product.

[–] uis@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago

If they wanted it to be as cheap as possible, they could have installed Linux on it.

[–] nossaquesapao@lemmy.eco.br 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Now let me present you the laptops with 2GB of RAM still being sold here in Brazil: https://www.zoom.com.br/notebook/notebook-multilaser-legacy-cloud-pc132-intel-atom-x5-z8350-14-2gb-windows-10-bluetooth

[–] uis@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago

And it's not on Linux! Wow. Sounds so horrible.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

At that point you gotta wonder if it can keep up with an $80 Raspberry Pi, especially if HP tries to shoehorn Windows into that

[–] homura1650@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

In addition to the raw compute power, the HP laptop comes with a:

  • monitor
  • keyboard/trackpad
  • charger
  • windows 11
  • active cooling system
  • enclosure

I've been looking for a lapdock [0], and the absolute low-end of the market goes for over $200, which is already more expensive than the hp laptop despite spending no money on any actual compute components.

Granted, this is because lapdocks are a fairly niche product that are almost always either a luxury purchase (individual users) or a rounding error (datacenter users)

[0] Keyboard/monitor combo in a laptop form factor, but without a built in computer. It is intended to be used as an interface to an external computer (typically a smartphone or rackmounted server).

[–] 31337@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I was looking at notebooks at Walmart the other day, and I was amazed that they almost all had less or the same amount of RAM as my phone.

[–] homura1650@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago

Miniaturization is amazing. The limiting factor to how powerful we can make phones is not space to put in computational units (processors,ram,etc). It is the ability to deal with the heat they generate (and the related issue of rationing a limited amount of battery power)

[–] cultsuperstar@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Sounds about right for HP.

[–] PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee 6 points 4 months ago (3 children)

I don't even understand how HP still exists. Can anyone name a single product they've made in the last ~15 years that wasn't a complete piece of junk?

[–] RunawayFixer@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

I really like their pagewide xl printers, but those are purely aimed at businesses. Just to name one thing I like :D

And those xl printers are the only thing that I can think off. I won't even consider buying a current HP computer/laptop/small printer/...

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 months ago

HP printer ink, that is their main source of revenue

[–] uis@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago

And worst part: they installed Windows on it.

[–] vingetcxly@thelemmy.club 1 points 4 months ago

4gb is acceptable. Some people just want a phone with a keyboard and bugger screen. Depends on the use case tho.