Apple iMac and iPad Pro updated with M1 CPUs

[kompukare]

Well, while having the memory in the packaging has brought the M1 great memory performance for their workload (the IGP is even more impressive than the CPU) Apple being Apple you have to wonder if putting it in their with zero ability to upgrade was solely for technical reasons.

Sure, a hierarchy of memory would be harder to manage but someone wanted to I see no reason why the 8GB onboard could not be supplemented by a SoDIMM or two.

Or even if the hierarchy was supplemented with some NVMe SSDs / Optane etc. to use as super fast swap (although swap and wearing out the build-in SSD is probably a sore point for anyone who has bought a M1 device - another brilliant bit of planned obsolescence by Apple as the SSD is soldered on too AFAIK).

Everyone watches Apple, so I expect more of that kind of throw-away consumer junk with planned obsolescence. All the more pity that ARM / Qualcomm etc. are nowhere near the M1 in terms of CPU performance.

[3dcandy]

Well, while having the memory in the packaging has brought the M1 great memory performance for their workload (the IGP is even more impressive than the CPU) Apple being Apple you have to wonder if putting it in their with zero ability to upgrade was solely for technical reasons.

Sure, a hierarchy of memory would be harder to manage but someone wanted to I see no reason why the 8GB onboard could not be supplemented by a SoDIMM or two.

Or even if the hierarchy was supplemented with some NVMe SSDs / Optane etc. to use as super fast swap (although swap and wearing out the build-in SSD is probably a sore point for anyone who has bought a M1 device - another brilliant bit of planned obsolescence by Apple as the SSD is soldered on too AFAIK).

Everyone watches Apple, so I expect more of that kind of throw-away consumer junk with planned obsolescence. All the more pity that ARM / Qualcomm etc. are nowhere near the M1 in terms of CPU performance.

Yes and Yes. But Qualcomm etc. are pretty close in performance, Apple just optimized for their own OS and put a lot of transistors in to do that. The soldered components are just par for the course with Apple. I'm getting a lot of mates and people asking me about issues they are having now with machines that are close to the end of their Applecare and actually getting Apple to fix them. Preferred action now seems to be forcing you to "upgrade" to a new system. I have no issues with soldered stuff if that how they want to play it, but to then quibble the care plan you take out because you know this could happen is just plain wrong

[3dcandy]

Linus not happy with Apple again....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U59OzyB6lBM

[Xlucine]

Shows how long it's been since I stared at a Pi circuit board, you are dead right it isn't stacked. OTOH, that looks like a BGA chip on my Pi 4. I wouldn't expect it to fail, so that's not really an issue, but it would be a real git to replace for upgrade. That seems a good compromise in something as cheap as a Pi 4, but upgradable ram and storage was the first thing I looked for when getting my son a laptop recently.

I recently replaced my Android tablet for the simple reason that the old Nvidia one only has 2GB of ram and that just doesn't seem to be enough these days. My old phone seemed to be getting iffy with 3GB. Things becoming obsolete through simple lack of ram annoys the heck out of me.

And all the apple fanboys cry "but it's really fast RAM!", as if that makes up for the pagefile hammering the soldered SSD...

And bang, right there, is what I've been saying. A cheap SBC or a small board I'll take the ram being fixed. But after that - nope I won't. The 8 gig fruity devices will be passed off when they no longer run stuff to someone who thinks they are getting a bargain

This is one reason Windows ARM struggles. No decent chip (see post about Ryzen performance down at the same power levels) and then being stuck with zero upgrades. Until someone produces a decent chip it's not going to happen, the demand isn't there, repeat until end

Windows on ARM is basically set for 99% of computing, i.e. as a bootloader for your browser of choice. Especially once we get the ARMV9 chips (for future proofing), they'll be very useable