[Brave Ulysses]

Long argument short. I think a strong case can be made that 8GB of RAM should be standard on a $900 laptop that can't be upgraded later.

FWIW, I believe 16GB should be standard on the MacBook Pro for the same reasons.

Disagree if you want, that's fine, but the reason for it surely comes down to margins more so than any other excuse you listed. Apple has always been stingy with standard RAM and people have always complained (as you noted). The big difference now is that you are stuck with that amount of RAM for the life of the machine. With that in mind, I truly believe Apple should be a bit more "generous" and provide a more adequate amount in stock configurations that will allow the machine to have a more acceptable lifespan and handle many of the tasks that a wide range of users may throw at it, and not just the "Facebook" crowd.

[drewprops]

I agree, conditionally.

A sealed machine should be maxed out from the get-go, so that it responds well to greater requirements put on it by software over the life of the machine.

Anything that falls short of long-term excellence provides many opportunities for complaints.

If customers cannot afford the "excellent" product then let them buy a lesser product, and make sure that you have products that respond to these various price ranges.



...

[turbulentfurball]

Just out of interest, when did apple stop selling MacBook Air with 2GB RAM as standard? I don't think it was all that long ago, and 2GB is the minimum requirement for Mavericks. The first OS X version that requires 4GB may piss people off considerably.