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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2014-04-29, 21:31

Maybe between the SSD and how Mavericks does some of the RAM tricks, it's not the bite or crisis it might've been a couple of years ago? I don't know. These things probably zip right along for those basic tasks. FWIW, most folks I know are just casual users (Mail, Safari - Facebook! -, iTunes and iPhoto...maybe a dash of Word and some sort of game every now and then). They probably do okay and wouldn't know 4GB from 8GB if it bonked them on the head.

I figure anyone looking to do some heavier lifting would also be the type who'd know to upgrade to 8GB.

I do wonder how much it would cost Apple to go with 8GB onboard instead of 4GB? $10? $75? I don't know those kinds of numbers. I can overlook a dinky amount of RAM on a Mac with easy access/upgradeability (Mac mini, 27" iMac, etc.), but we all see where things are heading (soldered-on, and "buy what you think you might need in a year or two because there's no adding it afterwards!"). If that's the case, then I think Apple should double their base offerings on soldered on RAM, across the board, especially if it's mere dollars for them to do so. All Airs come with 8GB (and if you need more, you can BTO to 16GB). I figure that'll come along in about 3-4 years, once 8GB is seen like 4GB is today. God forbid Apple kinda jumped out ahead and made to where the regular, non-techie/upgrading schmo can just get a really solidly-equipped, no-apology machine without online BTO and extra wait. Would be nice to walk into a local store (in a city like mine with no Apple Retail) with $899 -1,099 and get a machine I can feel good about for the next three years, RAM-wise.

I've got 3GB in my iMac. I, too, probably don't know what I'm missing. But I also can't bring myself to drop any money on upgrades to such an old machine for such a minimal result.
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