Apple, I'm done

For the last 7 years this issue has been building in my mind and I finally decided it needed a whole video. Apple's storage pricing is simply out of control! They have abandoned all semblance of reality and descended into madness with their outrageous pricing structure. It's absolutely unacceptable and damaging to not just the consumer, but their own product stack! Today we're going to examine this issue and see why Apple is a ripoff!!
Don't give Apple your money, buy these instead:
Samsung T9 4tb: amzn.to/3THbknl
Acacis NVME enclosure: amzn.to/47jhcpZ
4tb Samsung PCIe gen 4 SSD: amzn.to/48f3xBy
Crucial PCIe gen 3 SSD: amzn.to/48esc9n
Time stamps
0:00 This has to change..
1:21 Apple’s storage prices are nonsense
2:46 Contextualizing the insanity
4:48 What about other laptops?
6:12 The Mac lineup is worse now
7:36 Don’t give Apple your money!!
8:38 My SSD of choice
9:32 SSD upgrades DEPRECIATE!
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[@eliezerestrada6924]

There’s a 3rd option: Vote with your wallet. Don’t buy it. Don’t support a company that does this kind of thing.

[@Lee.S321]

When their products are so shiny, expecting people to vote with their wallet is a stretch. Sometimes when I tell people on here that I upgraded the SSD on my ASUS S13 (from 512 GB to 4 TB) I find some KZbin commenters dismiss me as poor because it cost me 1/5 the price Apple would charge & refusing on principle to not pay for ludicrously overpriced upgrades is unconscionable in their eyes. Oh well.

[@worldoflonelyfool]

@@Lee.S321 "dismiss me as poor" i see no problem being seen as poor.

[@johnroberts2905]

I did. Mac laptop user for 20+ years. Framework 16 arriving in a few weeks.

[@Lee.S321]

@@worldoflonelyfool It's not being thought of as poor (i'm not) that bothers me, it's the mentality of some people to overpay for the sake of overpaying, seemingly just to be able to tell people you overpaid for something & look down on those who didn't/wouldn't. That's the thing I can't get my head around.

[@hwy9nightkid]

that's the only thing apple respects.. buy used and fuck this shit!!

[@JackCarlson]

Apple’s pricing for upgrades to storage has always been outrageous. But at least back in the day you could buy storage for less elsewhere and do the upgrade yourself. Then they started soldering the parts in place for no better reason than to thwart us, and now with integrated chips we’re completely locked out. It’s one of the worst standards Apple has adopted.

[@FastGuy1]

May I ask how you’re verified with only 5 Subscribers??

[@NeoHellPoet]

Yeah. Soldered CPU/GPU/SoC? That tracks, the slot takes up real-estate that you just don't have on a laptop and by virtue of being by far the most expensive thing on a board, it's not like replacing just the SoC is a significant saving. Soldered memory? There is a bit of performance you can get from that. It's extremely iffy, has the very serious downside of your RAM dying forcing you to replace your whole board with the SoC, but if you really squint I guess that maybe you can make an argument for this not only being a cash grab. But soldered storage? The gains are nonexistent, the downside of having to replace everything else if the storage dies stays but additionally, if anything at all dies on the board, your data is effectively gone. Obviously there are services that can recover it, but these can be incredibly costly, results aren't guaranteed and if you really need your data now, you're just out of luck. It takes a minor issue of taking out your storage and plugging it into another machine and turns it into a a massive headache for absolutely no benefit to the user. But as long as people keep buying that stuff, they have zero reason to change. This isn't a new issue. Jobs was the guy who put custom screws on the first Macs so that it was really hard to open and work on them, at a time when users would in fact be ready to solder on their own parts

[@WorldGamma]

read my comment and tell me if i am wrong please

[@pauldavison5382]

I’m seeing that in the overall laptop market. Dell/HP/Lenovo are all soldering parts onto their motherboard.

[@MLTAKOS]

@@FastGuy1it’s fake I think, just a symbol

[@ThisSteveGuy]

Apple has trained its customers to not just happily accept getting ripped off, but to look forward to it.

[@john_mega]

this is a highly original opinion that I have never heard before

[@ThisSteveGuy]

@@john_mega A hit dog will holler.

[@rupertchappelle5303]

they lost me.

[@sina_1239]

​@@john_megaso what. Your opinion isn't original either

[@BillAnt]

LMAO good one mate. :D :D

[@Techno-Universal]

It’s even worse for other markets like in the UK where everything is priced the same as in the US but in pounds so it’s actually 30%-50% more expensive!

[@datatwo7405]

You're not taking into consideration a few differences. They generally earn more money than we do, and their increased dollar value is across the board. Meaning yes, the exchange rate may raise the cost of a computer from $2,500 to $2,600, but so too is it the same for income. If they're you're taking home $1,000 per week and their income is the same per se', they're taking home $1,200 or so. Exchange rates apply to all money, not just what you buy. Besides, they tend to have larger discretional incomes as well due to many of the things we pay for exuberantly being included for free in their system. Sadly, the U.S., despite it still producing the largest amount of cash per year, we've lost the highest standard of living rating years ago. Our income disparity is grossly out of whack and is now reducing overall income as a result. Which is why, despite our unemployment numbers being as low as they were in the 1950s (we've been fully employed for over year now ranging between 3.4 and 3.9 percent). Yet we're not experiencing the same kind of spending boom. People are not making the kind of money their great grandparents did (considering inflation) back then. Speaking of inflation; Forbes released a study proving that the reason industries across the nation hiked their prices, so high these past two years had nothing to do with the higher cost of labor, supply and distribution issues, etc. They intentionally raised their pricing hiding behind the fact that inflation existed. It is so bad, that Forbes determined that 56% of the inflation rate was due directly to that. All the while, industry after industry companies were reporting record high profits. Greed, and we paid it gleefully without complaint, or action. In my day? There would have been protests blocking the entrances to shopping plaza parking lots and other tactics. Today? I can't figure it out, such lazy complacency. Heck, there would have been screaming for congressional industry wide hearings. Now all we care about are... well really. What do we care about? Anything at all but ourselves? I'm at a loss with that one. So, when comparing economic situations between nations it is rarely apples and oranges. In fact, it is a lot like comparing an Apple to a PC.

[@euuIgor]

You think 50% more is expensive? Try buying a Mac in Brazil. It's literally double the price. Just for comparison, the base model MacBook Air M3 with 8gb of ram and 256gb of storage costs $2508 US Dollars. The RAM upgrade from 8gb to 16Gb costs $399.81, and the same price goes to storage upgrades. The minimum wage in Brazil is R$1412 or $282.26 US dollars. It's insane, and it's no wonder I don't ever see anyone using a Mac

[@Techno-Universal]

@@euuIgor Yikes! Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s extremely high taxes for those sorts of products that are imported to Brazil while a ton of US and Canadian game developers, film studios and animation studios are extremely dependent on cheap labour from remote workers like digital concept illustrators who are based in Brazil.

[@fVNzO]

This issue singlehandedly takes apples products from being an actually good value and turns it into jokes. Not only is the practice extortionate. They don't even use the "best" RAM and storage on the market, far from it - LPDDR5X exists, similarly much faster flash exists especially on Airs. But most importantly, it's the most dissonant and mind numbingly stupid decision you could possibly make from an environmental perspective. Apple saves low single digit % on the MSRPs of these machines by specing them as low as is humanly possible. To make them obsolete as quickly as possible. As long as this remains standard at Apple, all of their gleeful keynotes about how forward thinking and green they are remain hollow and miscreant. It's anti consumer and anti environment.

[@stonefist]

Their greenwashing is 100% bs. All just an excuse to really just save their bottom line. No charging bricks with iPhones? Even on the new USB-C models? Get real

[@AbiyBattleSpell]

the value is only there for the base model or there refurbs. otherwise ya its crazy dumb the prices

[@Epicgamer_Mac]

Despite being an Apple fanboy I agree with everything you said Apple will never win the respect of the hardcore PC buyer market until they couple their revolutionary silicon, and great software, with similarly great RAM and SSD configs and pricing! If you’ve lived your whole life swapping huge drives into your computers on the cheap, why would you “upgrade” to a computer that charges you two or three times as much for half the RAM and a quarter of the storage?! Which is more important, performance per watt, or being able to Have room to actually store all your files on your computer?

[@Demopans5990]

@Epicgamer_Mac And with how much of a walled garden Apple insists on, a lot of open source devs just won't bother with directly supporting Apple silicon without the use of pre configured build targets. To my knowledge, Pytorch and Tensorflow are still pretty flaky on Macs.

[@joelv4495]

@@Epicgamer_Mac The real story with upgradeable storage is portability when you upgrade everything else! I've had a 1tb Samsung 950 pro that's lived in 4 different computers over the years and now continues to serve in an external USB enclosure.

[@cangus]

I'm glad that more channels--and as a result, consumers--are starting to talk about this pricing problem more and more. With the price of flash storage dropping like a stone, it's becoming harder and harder to justify Apple's price points for storage and RAM, especially when these machines are unmodifiable and can't be user configured out of the box. Hopefully this video will help shine a brighter light on these shady business practices and either force Apple to reconsider, especially with other laptop companies and OSes hopping on the ARM bandwagon. Otherwise, they'll probably get left in the dust once other corporations catch up.

[@DarkxPunk]

What kinds surprised me (and I know largely it’s that Apple knows people will pay) is that Apple doesn’t simply spec their base models out with (at least) 512GB SSD 16GB RAM, and offer decent prices for higher storage and ram. Their quality/value of their product would blow the competition away so much that they’d probably see a further increase in sales overall.

[@SweetSweetCandyBoyz]

It’s not just the price, they don’t even stock potential upgrades in store, so if you want something with decent storage and RAM the day you walk into the store, you’re forced up the upgrade ladder.

[@uglyasian4164]

@@l.g.4425 i can run macos on my pc right now. the only reason people have to pay the apple tax is because of casuals who want to look like they have more than the $30 they have in their bank accounts

[@AA-ed6ek]

Consumers? Lol.

[@Epicgamer_Mac]

@@SweetSweetCandyBoyzSorry for the massive comment I’m just really pissed. So I agree with what you said except they don’t even sell the upgrades in store. Two examples of this: First, I’ve been trying to get a new MacBook Pro locally since launch day. I can’t go to Best Buy and get an M3 Pro in higher than base configuration. And I can’t get an M3 Max in ANY configuration according to the app. In ANY store in the state of NE. A Best Buy rep told me outright that they weren’t allowed to by Apple, who provided the products they wanted to see on the floors. Why?? Secondly, once again Best Buy, but also Target, Walmart, everywhere… won’t let you WALK OUT THE STORE with a new iPhone without connecting it to either AT&T or Verizon, sometimes T-Mobile. Wtf?! I’m trying to throw my money at you! But I’m on Mint and I don’t plan to change so that means you’ve lost my business. However, I think I figured it out. In the first case, Apple doesn’t WANT you to get the best or highest tier devices, as they know you’ll likely keep them for years. They prefer the planned obsolescence forcing you to upgrade. And if you do insist on whatever it takes to get the highest tier? That’ll be $4000 please. Now for the second case, I believe either Apple or the stores themselves are approached by the carriers and offered large incentives to force activation of all devices prior to finalizing purchase. That way you have to go with one of those two (sometimes three) Big Wireless. And even when you have something like Verizon unlocking all phones 60 or 80 days after purchase or whatever it is, are you really going to want to go through the process of switching carriers immediately? Your service is “good enough anyway”… Gotcha. And now Apple and Best Buy take a decent cut.

[@sanriosonderweg]

With a PC I don't have to worry about how much wear and tear the SSD is taking as its so easy to replace and frankly mirror.

[@kirkydaturkey]

I was without a computer for a month while visiting family over the holidays. I swapped a new SSD into my mother's 8 year old laptop, and it was more than usable for the video work I was doing. Really annoying that I can't do the same with my MacBook 😢

[@peterparker2068]

@@kirkydaturkey depends on what year Macbook. I'm still holding onto my Macbook Pro mid 2012 with upgradable storage and Ram. It's the last generation of easy self upgradable components. I upgraded my hard drive to an SSD. I want a new Macbook but overpaying for upgrade has made me reconsider if I need that upgrade. As for now my Macbook still does what I need it to do but I wouldn't mind the new features. It's Apple lost that I haven't made the jump.

[@MESSY-AF]

ill better pay more than use Windows

[@dohnjoe9211]

​@@MESSY-AFI'll pay nothing and use Linux Mint.

[@peterparker2068]

@Trensharo. It's true that the 2012 MacBook wouldn't be ideal for everyone, especially for heavier creative work. But for basic tasks it does a great job. For users like me who don't need a powerhouse, it gets the job done. Luke does a great job outlining that getting older machine can be a great bargain based on the cost and performance. Of course, if I future-proofed for creative endeavors like VM machines or coding, I'd definitely upgrade to a machine with more muscle. My main gripe is the base configuration's measly 8GB RAM. It feels like Apple kneecaps users with that spec, forcing them to jump to a higher tier for just a bit more wiggle room.

[@lukeflyswatter3203]

I'm torn by my love for the platform and Apple's super-greedy prices.

[@rafadydkiemmacha7543]

Apple is a bully.

[@misterpara5754]

I'm sorry but their IOS and OS X platform is lacking. Don't believe me, just look at how many tutorials on how to add music from a Macbook to iPhone there is online.... Now that's telling!

[@SOULSEEKERBEATS]

The platform sucks 😂 so closed off to any sort of customisation and because it's so closed you have no idea about telemetrics being taken

[@rafadydkiemmacha7543]

@@misterpara5754 every system is lacking in some fields though. Most things are easier on mac comparing to Windows or Linux.

[@PraveenSriram]

@@rafadydkiemmacha7543definitely agree Apple 🍎 is a bully

[@RodrigoVazquez91]

It’s great to finally see that even the biggest fans of the brand like AppleExplained and many others are finally speaking out about this issue.

[@christopher480]

too little too late......speaking out isnt enough.......stop buying them. If it cant be fixed or upgraded easily then dont buy it.

[@JackNormalMemes]

@@christopher480 Exactly they helped create this by shilling blind tribalism and letting Apple become peak anti consumer.

[@sihamhamda47]

@@christopher480 Waiting for the EU to begin cracking down on this problem too

[@the.regulargamer]

As a huge apple fan, their pricing on these upgrades is ridiculous. Cant defend it even if I wanted to.

[@ricarmig]

I bought a cheap Mac Mini M1 for my macOS work and a windows PC for everything else. Why to spend 2k to 3k to have a very limited Mac, if I can have a good cheap Mac and an excellent PC for everything

[@aintrxiden]

never defend corporations

[@benlow46]

⁠@@ricarmigExactly what I’m going to do when i have the money, i’m undeniably an apple fanboy, iphone and macbooks all the way, but I’ll never buy a iMac or Mac pro if i have a choice

[@Kmodoe]

​@@aintrxidenbe a fan of what works not a logo. I can't with apple fans

[@GrillMasterP88]

@@Kmodoe Amen

[@urbanman1516]

I love how you just get straight into the topic at hand without all the intro bait and chatter. Great channel!

[@neelsfer]

Agree 100%, they are scamming people, with these out of control prices. So sad

[@edwardnihal248]

As long as sheeple are buying, they are good 👍

[@stonefist]

The price of flash storage is so damn cheap. They’re just seeing how far they can go with this garbage pricing

[@ricarmig]

Everything that depends on me, they won’t get my money. I bought a decent windows laptop for most demanding stuff. It’s cheaper than just having a Mac with upgrades…

[@williambryant7686]

As much as I loved my macbook and macos, the lack of upgradability plus the crazy markup on memory and storage led me to pick up a Framework laptop and running Linux as my main machine for the foreseeable future. I'm glad so many creators are calling this out.

[@ioannisvisvikis8157]

Will do the same, I will get a Framework running Linux as my next machine. Either the AMD or even better, a Qualcomm ARM by then. Apple needs to take a lesson for treating it's customers so bad

[@MitchPickelsimer]

I am going to do the same as well. Framework will be my next laptop. I love Linux and use it more than Mac OS now anyway.

[@telcobilly]

That's exactly what I did. I still have my M1 base MBA, but I picked up a Framework i7 in '22. It's barely thicker than the MBA. I overkilled it with 64GB RAM and 2TB M.2 storage. I'm running Linux as well. I upgraded the lid to the stiffer CNC lid and I have the 80db speakers waiting to go in when I get home. I wish Framework made smartphones because I would buy one in a second. I escaped Apple's walled garden except for their stock.

[@jazzlover10000]

Apple sucks.

[@DKLHensen]

This. Now all we have to do is get rid of having to use MS Office + Teams and we have an almost perfect world

[@trshcln6937]

I'm not buying another mac until the base config comes with at least 16GB RAM and 1 TB Storage.

[@armyxveteran]

I miss the Intel based Macs with easily upgradeable storage and RAM. Still rocking my MBP 2010. I bought a 2021 macbook pro and quickly sold it because having only 256gb of space is impossible to work with in my profession.

[@ValTek_Armory]

I still run my 2012 model as my DJ and music production machine. It shows it's age when running a project with a lot of tracks and effects, but the DJ software is relatively light since I mostly spin MP3s and WAVs

[@ValTek_Armory]

Not even mentioning the flexibility of running boot camp and having the best of both worlds on one machine.

[@armyxveteran]

that too. Bootcamp helped me run Windows games while overseas. @@ValTek_Armory

[@PappaMike-vc1qv]

As a stockholder, this makes me nervous. They are pushing the edge and abusing their customer base.

[@pingpong1727]

This issue has existed for years, I think this issue is already priced into the stock.

[@jameslopez9661]

I used to have the same dilemma but consumers eat it up

[@Richmondthefish]

Explain as a stockholder how Apple is going to make more money by making the storage upgrades cheap? Apple's issue is that their SOC's are actually too fast meaning people on M1 don't even feel like their machines are the least bit slow. This was never the case in the Intel days.

[@syncMixer]

It should make you happy that they have a loyal customer base that will pay the price.

[@l21n18]

@@Richmondthefishmaybe they’d n make more

[@NickLetsom]

The other thing people don't talk about much when discussing price comparisons in storage is we're looking at the retail price of an entire M.2 SSD on Amazon, and not considering the wholesale price of just the actual chip that Apple is soldering onto a board that already exists. It makes the disparity even wider

[@skeennah1927]

very true, the wholesale price for millions of units, will cut the price by at least 30%

[@michvod]

@@skeennah1927 and no need to make a whole nvme board, just get two chips. the chips alone are probably $10-20 if you buy them in bulk

[@WorldGamma]

read my comment and tell me if i am wrong please

[@mygarart2764]

Price are outrageous. 2009 I bought the top of the line 3 tera, highest processor 17” MacBook Pro, full memory for around 2500$. Nowadays equivalent model of the line up is over 6000$. That’s just insane.

[@SaraMorgan-ym6ue]

well that's called capitalism baby

[@wasserman63]

You have to imagine it, you buy a house and the house builder gives you the key to the back entrance that lets you into the kitchen and the bedroom and all the furniture is welded to the floor, the windows are just painted on the wall and if you turn on the heating because it's too cold, the house builder tells you have to buy a new one because otherwise you would destroy the house

[@Myoshin.]

Apple pretends to be all Green and Eco friendly, but who can deny that soldered on SSDs results in very many expensive laptops finding their way to a landfill dump way before their time because of SSD failure?

[@Demopans5990]

Would be nice to see them rerefurbed by some Alibaba seller into a mega-Pi or something. The cpu and ram is still usable after all

[@billy5688]

@@Demopans5990 All closed sources. Youd see Jesus born again first before Apple releases development tool and blobs/drivers for their hardware

[@formerlycringe]

worst part is that m2/m3 storage is serialized. M1 storage wasn't. Apple literally knows what they're doing.

[@onigvd77]

but you wouldn’t throw electronics away surely it would get recycled which is what apple wants to happen. it shouldn’t be the option tho stuff should be easy to upgrade or be cheaper

[@red_ben3487]

its called greenwashing, and all companies who claim to care about the environment do it

[@halcyo]

Dude, the analysis paralysis I've experienced in preparing myself to upgrade to Apple Silicon (from an Intel Mac Mini) is profound. It's like no matter way you try to just slightly upgrade the different models just makes the cost so ridiculous. But if you don't upgrade storage, you get SLOWER storage! And you can't upgrade RAM later. It's just crazy. Stressing about the upgrade paths has literally probably caused me to postpone my upgrade purchase for almost a year now. I literallly watched the M1 generation go by and now nearly the M2 as well. Simple fact is, the base model specs on Storage and RAM are inexusable. 256gb storage and 8gb or ram is just too low.

[@chasenhorizons]

Feeling that majorly right now. I recently purchased a fantastic Windows desktop PC for $700, with excellent specs from Micro Center - with all off the shelf parts. Now, I’m considering getting a laptop from Apple (again, after years away)…and wow what a sticker shock it was/is. I just cannot justify it. May actually look second hand

[@madonnasplasticsurgery]

You could buy a refurbished Mac from apple, that would help you save on cost, especially if you have an Apple Card, you can get 3% back

[@squ1r7y]

Does the right to repair with apple not bother you? Apple will tell you to pound sand if your device has a failure.

[@Kmodoe]

Don't need to buy a Mac

[@angelapeden]

Going through the exact same situation. My 2015 Intel Pro runs great as an every day computer, but for design work (which is what I bought it for) it's struggling to keep up these days. I'm happy to pass it on to a family member or friend as I've been eyeing an upgrade since the M1 release, but I can't justify the price of upgrading to any of the new MBPs with even the bare minimum configurations I need. Considering either the used market or just building a PC for the home office and keeping the 2015 MBP for travel because the sticker shock when ordering directly through Apple is just not it. Love Apple, but have been really tired of seeing the direction they've been going in for a while now.

[@franz2934]

this is one of the things that consumers should have pushed forward to be looked at by legislators. this is unacceptable with today’s demand in terms of longevity of devices especially with how pretty much unrepairable and expensive these devices are.

[@hynekd]

Hate to tell you that even the most foolish of legislators won’t attempt to tell a company how to price its products and services. The market will decide if Apple’s pricing is out of line not Luke’s infantile videos. If you don’t like, or can’t afford, Apple laptops & desktops, simply buy a PC. There are many great ones out there for far less than Apple products cost. I don’t have a problem with the pricing of Apple products & don’t mind spending more for the specifications I want. I do have a problem with fools like Luke who whine about the pricing but keep buying the products. Move on man, get over it already.

[@franz2934]

@@hynekd nah, you’re making an excuse for a large tech company to limit their hardware and overprice said hardware for its users. for what? sure, market dictates what the market wants… that’s what this is all there is under the guise of competing with different brands, anyway, right? however, the market didn’t ask for a unified piece of soldered hardware, where you don’t have a safety net when 1 or 2 of those soldered components get broken. this was patented by the tech company with little workaround on options for people to salvage its part for repair. clearly, it’s not an ideal world. those foolish legislators you say have managed to push for apple to switch their cables to a universal standard and look at where we are now, we have an iphone that adheres to a universal standard port for portability, use-case and even impacting a good on the environment a little bit. it’s little but it’s progress. staying mum about these type of issues only lets tech companies get away with these things instead of championing the rights of users with the devices that they own. also, what are you losing if you voice out complaints on the products that you buy, i don’t get it? you’re not losing your dignity by making reasonable arguments as a consumer that ram and storage prices in devices shouldn’t be priced this way, anyway?

[@pedromanafaia]

I agree. This is holding me back from buying one and I think it is the same with thousands if not millions of people around the world.

[@aiconic10]

LMAO @ the most nonsensical statement of 2024. HILARIOUS!!! 😄😁😆

[@pedromanafaia]

@@aiconic10 I'm glad I could be of service for your own entertainment! 😉😄

[@JayaMadhavadas]

APPLES BECOME A'' RIP OFF COMPANY'' --AND I LOVE AND USE MAC PROS AND ITS DESKTOPS I SPENT THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO APPLE...--- NO MORE ---

[@Epicgamer_Mac]

Kudos to Luke for the honesty and decision to make this video. I have been an Apple fanboy for years but I can’t keep singing their praises and defending them when they screw customers over like this. No, Apple’s pricing and tier system designed to fool people is not defensible in any way!

[@eitanyochanan8586]

I couldn't agree more.

[@Anth369]

The thing is; they don’t need to do this. They have enough money. They could make upgrades much more affordable and thus; sell more units. Why they do this is beyond me, it just seems exploitative at this point.

[@InXLsisDeo]

Greed is a hell of a drug

[@PvtAnonymous]

you don't become a trillion dollar company by being nice to your customers.

[@timbukstu9861]

It’s not quite greed. They are playing the long game. If they drop prices then people will shop on price, so they have to emphasize value. There are hundreds of hardware companies who went out of business once because of pricing and not focusing on value. Gateway, compaq, machines, and HP. The real problem is their M1 is too good. Less than 20% actually need an M1 Pro and less than 10% need an M1 Max. Scale to M2 and it’s in the mid single digits. Now scale to M3 and it’s low single digits. How many companies make a v1 product that’s so good very few people can take advantage of v2 or v3?

[@jomerci2113]

@@timbukstu9861Did you estimate these numbers or did someone do any math on this? It sounds perfectly right to me but I would be interested to watch/read about this in more detail :)

[@Terra_Lopez]

They have more free cash lying around than any company on Earth, don't they?

[@lawrencecavens5760]

It should also be said Apples design of soldered on board is a dangerously stupid - cause if the hard drive gets hit with a power surge then your beautiful $2000 or $3000 machine becomes a glorified paper weight and your data is gone and your machine is DEAD permanently.

[@AdrianIII]

Real trouble if/when the internal soldered-in storage fails.

[@leemanwrong]

Yep thats the reason i will not buy a macbook.

[@CampervanCookout]

Louis Rossman shows that it burns out the board if the SSD fails, and even if it doesnt you can't even boot from another drive. It seems like its intended to end the whole device. SSDs have limited life anyway so why else solder it in?

[@wibs0n68]

@@CampervanCookout Money. Why fixing the issue when customers can just buy a new one?

[@denisruskin348]

Imagine spending 1200 USD on a laptop and getting a 256GB disk. I had that amount of storage on my 2017 iPhone X. Yes, a phone from now 6+ years ago.

[@WalterKnox]

My Dell Latitude D630 from 2006 has more storage than that (yes, it is an SSD.) Quite honestly, the soldered on storage and RAM thing really bothers me. Really, that should be more of a cost cutting measure which should be passed on to the consumer, but this is apple we are talking about.

[@yestertechnet]

@@WalterKnox The memory is different issue, as it is die bonded directly to the CPU, but yes, the storage is a big issue to power users - maybe a hint to who they feel their customer base is...

[@WalterKnox]

​@@yestertechnet It doesn't matter the justifacation, the memory should be user up-gradable as well. I would sort of be okay with it if it were a $200 Wal-Mart Chromebook, but if you are paying apple money, I want something that is going to last for years and be upgradable. Especially pro grade machines. I am still using a mac pro from 2009, which is only possible because it is hugely upgradable. Same thing with my 2011 macbook pro, and 2010 mac mini. I also have a 2011 iMac which had a failed GPU, and if it were a modern machine, it would have gone into the trash, but because it is older, the graphics card could be replaced easily.The move to soldered on and integrated parts is quite honestly disgusting, and people justifying it is as well. I don't care how thin and light it is able to make a machine, it is in reality a cost cutting measurement as well as insuring that the consumer will have no choice but to buy a new computer after a couple of years because they are stuck with the factory configuration. It is not just an Apple issue, however like many other stupid tech trends which make things have less functionality but are "for the greater good" I guess, Apple is the worst and the leader in it.

[@definingslawek4731]

@@yestertechnet I don't think it suggests their customer base are people who don't need storage... I think it suggests they know that their customers who buy their computers to do heavy workflows, can afford to pay 4x markup for storage and (idk how much)X markup for ram, as they make good money anyway.

[@BillAnt]

Even worse, doing that knowing full well what you're getting into. lol

[@budgetkeyboardist]

Agree 100%. Apple has gone way too far and they're abusing their customers. I bought a M1 Mac Mini for $439 and added an external 2 TB drive for a hundred bucks. It's external, but it works fine. Sadly you can't externally update the RAM. But if people are willing to pay the high prices, Apple has no motivation to change.

[@DKLHensen]

This was always already a problem. Glad that you're done with this and that you voice your concern

[@gpdoyon]

I couldn't agree more! I recently was in the market to buy a new laptop to use for traveling. I needed at least 16GB of RAM and 500GB of SSD space. As a lifetime Windows users but having the rest of my family using only Apple products, I really wanted to buy a Macbook Air. I could not believe the amount of money to upgrade to my minimu requirements!!!! I purchased an ASUS Zenbook S13 OLED that has 32GB or RAM and 1TB of SSD for $1,100!! C'mon, Apple...these prices are ridiculous!

[@_shreyash_anand]

How are you liking it?

[@gpdoyon]

​@@_shreyash_anandI love it! I have no regrets.

[@lunchtime2960]

Apple is crazy with those storage price bumps. Its nuts.

[@manoz6194]

They've been doing it for ages. This is why I love my mid-range Samsung Galaxay phone with microsd card slot

[@harmonicdissent]

@@manoz6194 They've been doing it for ages, but back in the day we at least had ways to upgrade things on our own. Now they literally make it impossible. No they need to get shamed into shape.

[@NarcFreedom]

The pricing and the soldered chips are outrageous. The consumer should be able to upgrade the internal storage and the RAM. Honestly, this may need to come about through law like USB-C did…

[@neubauerjoseph]

Well dell is working on a project that should fix it CAM memory. It’s basically m.2 but ram.

[@Milos596]

And to replace processor!!! Don't forget that as well!

[@alastairleith8612]

yep. amazing it took the EU not US consumers or US Congress to force Apple into sanity on the lightening issue. i was bitten by it the other day. was carrying dozens of USB-C cables on me but my car lightning cable was charging slower than the iphone was sucking power and it kept bottoming out at “0%”. had a few usb-c to lightening cables on me but couldn’t find a spare USB-A to lightening to use with my cigarette lighter usb-A socket

[@SilverJoystix]

Hopefully, the EU will lead the way towards forcing Apple to adopt change. Lord knows this legislation won't come from the United States.

[@SenileOtaku]

@@Milos596 Ah, replaceable processors would have some extra problems. Biggest issue is it would make the machines thicker because a socketed processor takes up more space. Not so much of a problem for myself as I'm not so comfortable with machines that are too thin but the market seems hell bent on paper-thin hardware. Legislation like theEU's mandate for USB-C may not turn out as well as one might think. For one thing, it may prevent the development of even better replacements. And the USB specifications have become such a mess that the USB-C you have for one device may *still* not be quite adequate for another. A great idea done with the best of intentions (and you can see from kzbin.info/aero/PLBuns9Evn1w9XhnH7vVh_7C65wJbaBECK how well that often turns out).

[@Nexalian_Gamer]

People using external storage gangsta till Apple starts making the USB ports proprietary

[@steffiesing5449]

My trick was i bought a lenovo laptop , on their website they even have manuals on how to open the laptop so you can change / upgrade memory and storage , install any operating system you want and pay less then half of a standard macbook.

[@MG-im8ku]

Best way to go. About 10-15 years ago I bought an Alienware M15 laptop. It was insanely priced, kinda like Apple products. But highly customizable, even to do yourself. It literally took unscrewing 4 screws to get it opened up, and everything you could possibly think of to upgrade or repair was easily accessible, as if they ENCOURAGED people to do their own repairs and upgrades. I eventually upgraded my ram, and hard drive in a matter of minutes. I miss that computer. It's outdated now, I gotta see if I can find a motherboard I can put into it compatible with current components.

[@Ultrajamz]

Apple does this so they can basically “lie” about their “starting at” price.

[@starsk13]

absolutely

[@danielseddon3177]

Correct. The base prices are “loss leaders”.

[@sigiligus]

Finally, someone gets it. All these shitty “tech KZbinrs” can go on here and market apple as selling “Amazing laptops for only X starting price,” but 256GB storage and 8GB memory is a joke even for non-power users. Thats wretchedly horrendous value for a product that has an extremely limited use life due to its specs and the fact that the parts cannot ever be upgraded.

[@Ultrajamz]

@@danielseddon3177 not even sure if they are loss leaders per se, they probably still make money on those… but maybe harder to determine because depends on if you use costs to develop (and produce) that 1 model as the basis or if you count R&D for future models into it.

[@danielseddon3177]

@@Ultrajamzyes, I’m sure there isn’t really a loss. The main benefit to them will also likely be greater market reach and therefore a reduction in the costs you mention.

[@cjeelde]

Totally agree about Apple's "RAM scam". It's freakin expensive! For both RAM and SSD! It's just so sad. So sad!

[@eliaserke5267]

The worst thing isn't the upselling. It the fact that if you don't upgrade, your laptop becomes obsolete quicker, and apple still wins.

[@nothinguntouchedpodcast]

"There's no reason to change when they know people will pay the price." Says some marketing guy

[@fromdreamtostream]

Thank you, Luke! Apple consumers have desperately needed someone with your experience, technical expertise and influencer acumen to describe and articulate the problem in greater detail. This absolutely has to change and that begin with raising consumer awareness and empowering them to be more critical when making their purchases. Apple's marketing is highly effective!

[@Ajay-pf6bv]

Thanks for pointing this out, Luke. Apple's prices made me switch from MacOS to Linux almost 4 years ago and since then I have only experienced freedom and publicly available documentation and I benefit from it professionally.

[@hynekd]

Yes, it took Luke to point this out. Most of us who follow, or followed, him have grown tired of his BS whining. His business acumen is poor and his message is at best childish. Grow up Luke.

[@Ajay-pf6bv]

@@hynekd the more who state that, the better.

[@TThoMusic]

I'm a huge Apple fanatic, but I agree that you really can't beat good old Linux for many applications and basic tasks. You definitely won't get anything super fancy (e.g. UI, features, apps, cross-platform convenience, aesthetics, security/privacy, etc. etc.) but you will get something that works, is silent, and gives you access to countless open-source, by-the-people-for-the-people software. And you also have your choice of which Linux OS you desire based on your specific needs. Oh, and the vast majority of it is 100% free which benefits countless people all over the world. 💯 But there's no need to limit yourself to just Apple or just Linux... I like to have many different technologies and systems to keep me as tech-savvy as possible. 💎 Just no Microsoft. Never Microsoft. I've has absolutely horrendous experiences with Microsoft to the point where I will never support this company ever again. 👎

[@cammy1568]

I've been interested in buying a Mac for a while, either a 15" Macbook Air, or a 16" Macbook Pro and re-visit this every once in a while. Once I add the RAM and storage I'd like it becomes outrageously expensive and I just close the tab again. I'm sure I am not alone with this. They are missing out on some sales from people who are not willing to be extorted for RAM and storage upgrades.

[@julianburkert]

Same here!

[@julianburkert]

A 15inch air with 16gb ram and 1 tb ssd is 2080€ or 2270$ here in Germany!

[@alistermccallum]

Yeah it's the old adage do you want 80% of something or 100% of nothing?

[@SonicHakeem]

I did the same thing and found a previous year 16 inch model refurbished for 1000$ off on Amazon, from 2800 to 1800. Not sure if the deals are there right now but it's always worth checking for refurbished.

[@Turborider]

Same. I refuse to spend 200 bucks for 8 bloody gigs of ram or laughable 256gb of extra storage

[@javiermoralesds]

I bought an M3 MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM/512GB SSD off of PC Connection for $1,499. Florida currently also has a sales tax holiday so I got a slickdeal. Insane how I paid ~$2500 for the same specs on a 2017 MacBook Pro, deals could be found. Don't pay the Apple Tax!

[@b1ueocean]

Lol I tried to warn friends in 2004 trying to grab MacBook Airs - it’s one big heist - and I can’t even blame Apple. My Linux laptop is Intel i9, 16 Core, 64GB Ram, 17” 4K screen, 1TB SSD, spare SSD slot, Nvidia GPU, HDMI + 2 Display Ports, 3 USB3 slots and still a fraction of the price of a less specced Mac - let alone an equivalent spec. Corporates are shoving these macs down the throats of devs - as a software engineer myself I’ll never understand it - cost on the budget wise as well as productive efficiency wise when working across the entire tech stack locally 🤷‍♂️ The sick joke is I actually run simultaneous Mac and Windows VMs that boot off of icons on my local desktop. Access to XCode, Excel and other bits needed from time to time. It’s amazing being an objective and independen thinker going on 20 years 😊

[@noelsaw]

Apple was ahead of the game in 2012, the 1st gen MBP Retina 15” came standard with 256 gbyte SSDs but for whatever reason they’ve stayed at the base 256 gbytes for over a decade now. They’re a bit too greedy with their profit margins.

[@Mastermind12358]

That's crazy, because back then 256gb was real big. Most people back then were buying a 64gb SSD.

[@michvod]

and those 2012 were still upgradeable. also they came stock with 8gb with ram on those which is still the base configuration even 12 years later...

[@walkingtheearthin4k]

As a stockholder, you want them to make as much as they can.

[@peterc4082]

@@michvod Yes I still run mine with a 2TB OWC SSD.

[@peterc4082]

@@walkingtheearthin4k Who knows, maybe more people would buy if these machines were upgradable.

[@Kliffy77]

I agree, Apple’s greed needs to be stopped! I hope EU will force SSD & Ram upgradability!

[@towys007]

+1000000

[@andrewbagnall5430]

I completely agree that something needs to be done so any electronic device lasts longer. But you know what will happen? Apple will put the price up of the MacBook. But yep something needs to happen.

[@SaulidSnake]

Yeh still don’t understand why both are soldered on in the first place.

[@davidkorcak]

It hurts performance & efficiency. They just need to make the upgrades cheap.

[@00jmjl]

Damn I literally just commented the same before seeing your comment!

[@Keith80027]

I was a long term Apple person (over 25 years) who left Apple and went to PC in 2017 when Apple quit supporting my Apple hardware and required me to buy new hardware. The new Apple hardware had extremely low about of memory like 16 gb and 512GB SSD were my PC has 64 GB with 32 tb of disk space at 1/3 the cost. I am a graphic designer and photographer and need the storage and the ram space. The Apple Mac Books are Ok for doing office work at 2x the cost. I supper glad I switched as my hardware lasts a lot longer with OSs and I can upgrade my current PC hardware with newer stuff.

[@tibelchior]

When I changed from freelancer to employee, I had to move from MacOS to Windows as this was their base for the whole team. But I still kept my Macbook Pro and iMac at home for some of my own works. This was in 2018, now 6 years later I am completely adapted to work on Windows machines and find outrageous the pricing of anything Apple releases. It's sad to see that they pushed me away from our 20+ years relationship even for my private use at home. I used to have the whole Apple ecosystem, now I only have iPod Video (which I was able to upgrade the storage).

[@MrSyphon28]

The ram part is insane. That impacts the longevity of the device. You can add external storage and cloud no issues. Under 16gm in 2024 will be stupid!

[@daki025]

This is honestly the main reason why I am avoiding to go fully into the Apple Ecosystem. As soon as you go beyond the base configurations, that's when Apple hits your wallet like a MF, and it is necessary to upgrade as the main config are outdated. As long as people keep paying for these upgrades, the prices will not change.

[@leebeeskee]

Exactly. So why would Apple change anything? Would be stupid for them to stop.

[@Martin_from_SC]

I agree. I've been an iPhone/iPad user since the beginning, but I just can't justify Macs in their current state, these prices are just unfair.

[@PvtAnonymous]

honestly, and this is so funny, I've actually made the correct decision when I bought my 16" M1 Pro MacBook Pro earlier this year. The M2s just came out and I was deciding between the M2 and M1, which would've been a price difference of roughly $300. Only a month or so ago I saw a video comparing M1 Pro, M2 Pro and M3 Pro models for DAWs (digital audio workstations) and guess what? In most professional DAWs (Logic, Pro Tools and some others) the M1 Pro outperforms the other chips due to having more performance cores and those DAWs utilizing those exclusively. What a time to be alive when a 2 year old computer beats the current one.

[@lunarholiday]

Another option that I've been using is the shargedisk enclosure + compact nvme drive (the 2230 M2 format). You end up with something that fits in your pocket and doesn't require a cable, and still transfers around 1GB/s.

[@jukeofearl]

It’s been 17 years and I still can’t get a number row on the keyboard. Apple just doesn’t give a flip.

[@stillmattwest]

Apple needs to find out a better business model for its devices. There's just no way 256GB of SSD space should cost $200. It's insane.

[@bout2cooku425]

No computers base model should START with 256GB period. 10 years ago, sure… 2024? Hell no.

[@theglowcloud2215]

@@bout2cooku425 same with 8GB of RAM. Imagine selling a laptop with "Pro" in its name and offering a base config with 8GB RAM lmao

[@superdopesamples]

Right lol. I got my external 1TB SSD for $100

[@SuperMerlot]

Well, people are buying...

[@aleckravt3848]

Any business model has a purpose of making money for the company and NOT what is best for the customers. In this case their business model works perfectly well for Apple.

[@walpoleandworcester]

Ah the infamous Apple Tax! Even Apple Explained complained about this of all people. 😂

[@Huru_]

Where?

[@jamtart22]

As a software developer i would rather pay double for the same specs than deal with the dumpster fire that is windows

[@labamba3011]

i work at an Apple Store and often say to potential customers, as I say to you: Apple isn't for you, it's for more sophisticated people that aren't so poor... I mean 'price sensitive'. You have to prioritize where your earnings go, as obviously right now it's a little skewed incorrectly.

[@snerkjen]

Fully agree with you Luke! Apple doesn’t seem to realize how much resentment and hatred they cause among their customers! There is a difference between expensive and pure unfettered greed!

[@WorldGamma]

read my comment and tell me if i am wrong please

[@maadaaraa9344]

They don’t, and they won’t, because people are buying

[@TheSubsven]

I'm still fascinated by the fact that the 2012 iMac 21.5" was the first iMac that came with an 8GB RAM base configuration and the upgrade to 16GB was $200. And now it's 2023 and the base iMac still has 8GB and the upgrade costs exactly the same as it did 11 years ago.

[@starsk13]

indeed

[@davidnagy510]

Interesting fact

[@TechGuyB]

Thank you for this dose of reality that people need to hear. Being primarily a Windows user, this pricing scheme was unexpected; No laptop over $2000 should have less than 1 TB of storage or 16 GB RAM. On a Windows laptop, you just pop it open and add components. The 16" M3 Max 16/40 core was tempting with everyone saying "well it's only $500 more than the base model" but the realization that this was such overkill and overpriced set in. After research, the base M3 Max seemed to be the most sensible option, and ended up being the same price as the spec'd out M3 Pro. It's great for audio and video editing and I can always add external storage.

[@earthangel2522]

Thank you for that tip. My eyeballs were spinning from indecision.

[@dalekstrauss]

Luke you are right - Apple's pricing for RAM and SSD is criminal. I'm new to MacBooks, but eBay can be your friend if you are cautious. I came across an M1 Max, 32gb ram, 24c gpu, 2tb model with AppleCare+ through March 2024 for $1725. Sure, I'm now two generations behind (thanks for the early release of M3 in November Apple - NOT), but all my studying showed that for a productivity worker, there's virtually no difference between M3 and the M1 Max, and even for heavy content creatives the M1 Max is not being replaced by many users UNLESS they are upgrading for more RAM/SSD. The AppleCare+ is also annually renewable for $99, so this is essentially a long term investment for a 40 year Microsoft (DOS/Windows) veteran.

[@scmojo55]

Now we need to find a way to call Apple out for Ram specifically. The markup is absurd and there is no external option available.

[@joelv4495]

Yup. IMO the pricing wouldn't be so egregious if the baseline models weren't penalty box configs. 8gb memory on a "pro" machine in 2023?? 🖕

[@PvtAnonymous]

@@joelv4495 nah, don't forget that Apple was shipping 8GB as base config in 2012 on their Pro machines, just another 4-5 years and 16 is gonna be standard. Surely...

[@andyH_England]

@@PvtAnonymous Dell, HP, MS and Samsung, et al, shipped 8GB in 2012. Guess what they are still doing it now, as well. Apple gets blasted, but never Windows. Inevitable as Apple is a small player (

[@PvtAnonymous]

@@andyH_England maybe they do, but there's 2 differences: RAM is user upgradable in many of these machines and even if it is soldered, the prices are not as insane as Apple's. This is what Apple really gets blasted for, not the 8GB per se.

[@boshi9]

@@andyH_EnglandThey do make billions on Macs though, look at their financial statement. They lost market share in 2023 however despite launching 2 generations of silicon.

[@HALDikopter]

It's tragic how apple has become the evil they wanted to fight. Apple's slogan once was 'Does more. Costs less' - Now it's the other way around.

[@Vict0o0o]

They always been.

[@PsycosisIncarnated]

What are you on about. They have always been the damn same, its just silly slogans that peabrained normies fall for. They ALWAYS did the same anticonsumer anti-right to repair nonsense.

[@kuronosukami]

What are you talking about?? Apple has always been the most expensive in anything, while providing less than anyone else, who've also always done it for far less money?? Total confusion about your comment.

[@hendrx]

They were never good, remember "you are holding your phone wrong?"

[@Sycokay]

An Apple was always the bohemian computing device for people who can and want to afford it. People always paid extra for the brand, already back in the 80s. The very first Mac had about the same specs as the Amiga and was more than twice as expensive.

[@macandmore6768]

I've also been annoyed by Apple's far too high prices for RAM and storage for many years. If "entry-level models" become much more expensive than "high-end models" simply because of more RAM and storage, all meaningfulness is lost. It's been a topic for years, but Apple doesn't give a ...That's why I think it's good that you address and use your reach for it.

[@kimura317]

I've been looking at going back over to the PC side for this very reason, plus the designs becoming increasingly hostile to repairs. My work laptop is a very fast Linux machine with 64GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD that cost about $2000 last year.

[@dominicstocker5144]

Nice, what model?

[@inqian]

This was the reason why i left Apple and bought a normal laptop: the freedom to replace memory/disk/wifi/etc. Also better repairability, even at home...

[@SmellsLikeNirvanna]

this is a stupid reason and shows you dont know what you're doing if you wanted freedom but still bought Apple in the first place.

[@eastlondonhustler]

@@SmellsLikeNirvanna No it's not a stupid reason when you consider the fact that when your Apple product develops a fault, Apple will tell you that it's more expensive to have it repaired than to buy a new one. You're either on the Apple payroll or you don't know what you're talking about yourself, so which is it ?

[@SmellsLikeNirvanna]

@@eastlondonhustler read my comment again. Which part tells you that I am an Apple Fanboy? LOL. Is English your second language?

[@aeriskabkr1110]

​@@SmellsLikeNirvanna you can't handle the truth

[@SmellsLikeNirvanna]

@@aeriskabkr1110 stupid people cannot tell from my comment that Im a PC user

[@SweetSweetCandyBoyz]

"Oh, you want 16gb of ram on your M3 MacBook 'Pro'? Just add $200 (now totaling, $1799) and wait 2-weeks for us to ship you your machine OR spent just $200 more, get the binned M3 Pro AND 16gb of RAM, and what do you know... we just happen have that in stock today...." Apple wants you to spend $2,000, minimum, for a usable machine that takes full advantage of the hardware - it's why the RAM upgrade prices are what they are, and why they don't stock anything but the base models from the Air's to the lesser-Pro's at Apple stores. I had an 8gb RAM model, then returned it for a 16gb model. The performance difference, regardless of the use-case, was noticeably 3-fold (I just happened to get lucky with an "open box" deal at Best Buy). But if you're expecting to walk into an Apple Store and get a machine that takes full advantage of the base M2/M3, you're going to be disappointed with your purchase. Do NOT get the base M2 Macbook Air and absolutely do NOT get the base M2 MacBook Pro.

[@firstnamelastname-oy7es]

The M3 Pro has 18 gigabytes of ram, instead of 16, and it's cheaper than a base M3 macbook pro with a ram and storage upgrade. That's the part that makes no sense to me at all. It makes zero sense to buy a base M3 macbook pro with the pricing and the specs.

[@4th_wall511]

Yeah, the storage price gauging is the only reason I haven't upgraded from the base m1 air yet

[@carlwiddows6536]

It certainly is a threat to continuing with Apple. My financial situation simply cannot cope with these price hikes.

[@TheRealLink]

It was a pleasure helping some family members double the RAM and quadruple the storage on some of their older Mac laptops. Now they all have M-Series and while they've not asked me, when and if they do it's going to be some unfortunate news. While I'm a PC-oriented user, my choice is simple, won't buy Apple since they solder everything together and really offer no post upgradability. Great on you Luke, for calling this out yet again.

[@Kmodoe]

As a PC guy. People who still defend apple I just can't understand

[@paolaanimator]

I have a Windows laptop and I was able to upgrade up to 64 GB RAM and 8TB storage myself (waited for a sale). It feels like a new laptop even though I've been using it for few years already. I was considering an Apple laptop with M3 Max chip, extra RAM and storage (for video editing, animation, coding stuff). But these huge price increases made me consider to keep my Windows laptop longer and upgrade the internal parts, it was more cheaper and I saved a lot of money that way.

[@Demopans5990]

And even if Windows becomes a problematic os to use, there's always Linux Mint or whatever to make it feel all new and fast again.

[@WorldGamma]

read my comment and tell me if i am wrong please

[@olnnn]

Sadly soldered memory and to a lesser degree storage is more and more of a thing on windows laptops too, especially on lower end ones.

[@andyH_England]

Most buyers of expensive Macs will upgrade every cycle as a new chip means faster performance and time is money. It's a tax-deductible investment that pays for itself many times over. I have seen comparisons for developers between the M1 Max and M3 Max, and the M3 can do it significantly faster. At the top end, SSD and RAM are moot compared to CPU/GPU/co-processors.

[@antonioytm]

​@@Demopans5990Why are you linux users so cringe and always trying to mention it even tho it is not needed? He is likely to have far more problems on linux than on windows and macos

[@Michelangelo94]

I consider myself fairly plugged in on Apple stuff, and after all the research and reading, the best choice if you need to have one of their products is to go purchase the previous version for cheaper than buying the new shiny toy right away. A perfect example is the 14-inch M2 Pro MacBook Pro is the exact same price as the new base model M3 MacBook Pro and is better in nearly every way. M2 iPad Pro? Get the M1, or even the A12Z before that (since that is what the M1 chip is based on). Apple Watch Ultra 2 - does it even need to be said? The first one is damn near identical and hundreds of dollars cheaper. Otherwise, voting with your wallet always works too. Don't buy from them.

[@picxlmedia7856]

Price, lack of innovation, extremely low RAM, meh display, and I will NEVER buy a laptop with a NOTCH! Absolutely not! That’s ridiculous. There’s so many Windows options that put it to shame honestly. I’ve owned so many MacBook Pros and have always been a fan of them. But now with the notch, no way.

[@themistoclesnelson2163]

I'm glad you are talking about this. The more big names we have talking about it, the more pressure it will hopefully put on Apple.

[@Lee.S321]

The only way Apple will listen is if customers vote with their wallet, which is unlikely to ever happen, so things won't change. Since the M-series chips came out MacBooks have seen their largest ever cut of market share, & zero upgradability has been a core component of their line-up, so there's no incentive for Apple to change anything.

[@amnrao1969]

I have always felt this way. Because of that, I just updated my late 2013 MBP with a logic board upgrade from the 2.0 GHz/8MB RAM to 2.6/16GB, the SSD from 256GB to 1TB and a new battery all for a total of $350! I get a "new to me" MacBook Pro and am really happy with the upgrades.

[@paceoneil4065]

Who are we kidding? Anyone who's used Apple products knows the value in purchasing their devices. They just work well, look modern, and they are built like tanks. The ONLY issue is the cost. The consumer always wants more, the mega-company will always provide the bare minimum. As a corporation they must legally put their shareholders first. Apple exists to make money. The marketing department knows what features we want so they keep them scarce until a future iteration, as we chase the bait year after year. They fan the flames of dissent in order to keep us hungry and ready for the next model. We just have to get smarter. For instance, I used your video about using my old 27 inch 2015 iMac as a monitor for my new Studio M2 Max. It works perfectly at 5k. That beautiful Retina display has a second life and I have the same LCD panel as a new Mac Studio Display.

[@sarcof]

I think the work around for this would be allow the installation of apps on external hdd and move the icloud drive folder too

[@flashforum939]

This exact thing is why I have an infrequent upgrade cycle. Their pricing is just insane. I have also recommended friends and family to strongly consider alternative brands where I in the past would most often tell them to buy a Mac…

[@JasonTech96]

I always buy refurbished and save some money. I bought a MacBook Pro recently that has upgraded RAM for $450.

[@williamcalderini6370]

The sad truth, from a performance standpoint, soldered components Do provide a bit of an upgrade, so I can see why the industry may follow suit, with everybody SO focused on the even MINUTE bumps in performance. Thankfully though, other Manufacturers have apparently been able to keep those costs competitive. But yeah, there is nothing stopping them from price gouging as well.

[@peterc4082]

Apple's benefit is only the operating system. If Mac OS ran on any computer, people would be installing them on better machines. Not everyone needs so much battery life, we have power sockets here and even airplanes have power sockets these days.

[@williamcalderini6370]

Well. Replied to the wrong person. Was really talking to @williamCox95

[@rumchaser1able]

​@@JasonTech96you're still buying second hand crap all because of them ripping you off stop being a simp

[@WilliamCox95]

The scary part is other companies are starting to do this too. I just can’t wait for the gobs to force right to repair to cut down on e-waist.

[@Soren0]

Not every company, check out framework for example. Totally upgradable

[@joel9909]

I'm patiently waiting for this

[@daveindezmenez]

An now Apple is considering taking a page from Adobe's playbook and going with a hardware subscription model where you would be on a rental treadmill.

[@WilliamCox95]

@@daveindezmenez at that point I am swapping to full Android.

[@Soren0]

@@daveindezmenez Do you have proof?

[@cysecgnz]

The one thing that makes it difficult to justify switching is soldered components. It's not such a huge issue when it comes to my phone or tablet, but it's a HUGE issue when it comes to my laptop because of the read and write cycles on the SSD, increasing storage demands the more I create and store and transfer from my phone to the laptop, etc. I need the ability to swap out at least the ram or SSD as demands increase, or as these components fail. Why should I have to go and spend $2500+ on a whole new computer because the SSD Apple chose to solder on failed, when I could spend $150-$200 for a new SSD? Makes absolutely no fucking sense.

[@triforcefx]

The other good reason to use external drives as your primary storage is so that you don’t wear down your internal NAND storage as quickly. If your internal storage goes out, that’s a very expensive repair, or a new machine altogether

[@thinkabouthelogic]

Not to mention critical data goes --poof--

[@YoanIgnatov]

The more people speak about this issue, the better!

[@hidingmyrealname]

wont make a difference. apple users will continue to buy apple products.

[@SilverJoystix]

@@hidingmyrealnameThis is what needs to ultimately change. I'm not 100% sure how or when this will happen though.

[@harmonicdissent]

💯

[@antonioytm]

​@@hidingmyrealnameWell Macos have much lower market share compared to last couple of months

[@user-vl8sh7ih8c]

I was going to replace my iPad this past holiday season. The entry iPads with 64gb are not even close to what I wanted/needed. The price for memory upgrades made me look at android tablets. I bought two android tablets with expandable storage for less than half of a 256gb iPad. This was my first foray out of the Apple ecosystem in years. Truth be told the android tablets work just fine (a lot better than they used to), they took a little getting use to. They work well. They run the same apps (some minor variations). When my iPhone 12 pro dies I'm going to shop Android phones. The cost of living has been going up so I'm not going to blindly shell out for Apple's excessive prices anymore when there are significantly less expensive products that work almost as well.

[@Adiu72]

I have ip12 too and I suppose I will do the same - when it will be very old I will switch to android. With time I will also switch from MacBook M1 Pro to a laptop with windows. I have decided 2 years ago that I will test Apple. After those 2 years I feel that I can safely go back to the better feature with at least not as bad companies as Apple…

[@jr4android]

i just got the pixel tablet and it works amazing in my home as a google home user

[@janushomer9111]

I love a happy ending !

[@rodrigogirao8344]

Tip, you can install different launchers to override Android's interface (to some extent). Some even replicate iOS.

[@YukiPyro]

This is why I don't buy Apple products. They're too expensive. I can buy a Samsung phone or tablet etc and get more from it than some of these Apple products.

[@eyeque7]

You know what bothers me more than all of this… how much more money does a company need?! They’re already a trillion dollar company…when Is enough, enough. The nature and the mindset of this organisation is very greedy. Most people are already trying to make it through life and this company just wants more and for what?!

[@ErnestJay88]

Apple back in 1980's, 1990's, and early 2000's "You can customize your Macintosh as you want, create your own Mac !" Apple today = soldered SSD (you can't even add an extra storage or extra RAM), oh wait ? i'm still can using an external drive !, apple only give you SINGLE USB C for data transfer, power supply etc.

[@Daniel-jb9rs]

I remember when a family member bought a MBP, and later they complained that it slowed down to a crawl within a few months. Was shocked when I looked at it and it only had a 128GB drive, which naturally filled up quickly. Apple can pound sand, they've been ripping off consumers for ages now with this upgrade BS and borderline crippled base models.

[@boxoffisa]

That's how they made multi trillion dollar company.

[@pac7025]

Apple's strategy is to create a pricing ladder that is so closely rung that you are enticed to move up. Every rung is so close to the last that it makes you feel that moving up is a good value proposition, and you'll keep going up til you simply can't afford anymore. Apple gives customers a nice entry point just to get them on that ladder then walk them up it so they spend all that they have.

[@bikeman7982]

Yeah, it works. Instead of the MBA M2 15 M2 with 16GB/512GB, I went with the base MBP M3 Pro.

[@DouglasFouts]

Truth.

[@lukapogo]

Just a heads-up. The T7 and T9 are exactly the same speed on any mac, because the additional speed of the T9 is only achievable thru the USB3.2 gen2x2 standard, which isn't supported on any mac currently. So if you're buying an external SSD for use with a mac, you don't need to pay extra for the T9 over the T7. You'll get no benefit. Both will run about 1GBps read/write.

[@FirstnameLastname-ty1qd]

M3 pro or M3 max?

[@lukapogo]

@@FirstnameLastname-ty1qd None of those. Support for gen2x2 is not mandatory for the USB spec, Apple didn't bother.

[@user-ec8zd8zp4x]

The pricing is absolute bonkers! I finally needed to upgrade my 2012 Macbook Air 8GB/1TB (Samsung SATA SSD). 256GB internal storage would have been a big problem. I needed extra storage in the Mac instead of an external SSD dangling on a cord from a USB port or a stick sticking out. (That's very annoying when traveling and/or when you don't have a lot of desk space.) 512GB was the bear minimum. So I bought a used M1 Air as new (only 99 battery cycles) with 16GB mem/512GB storage, new price €1700,- for €1100,-. I also sold some of my older tech that I didn't need anymore and all in all my "new" Mac cost me about €600,-. Be smart buy and sell used stuff. It's better for you and the planet and that way you don't (directly) support the insane pricing of Apple.

[@nicolaisteensgaard]

Unfortunately, the only way it’s gonna change, is when we stop buying them…..😢

[@andyH_England]

Then it won't change; Apple will give up selling unprofitable laptops as it is a tough market where all OEMs are feeling the pain, as consumers demand more and more and are willing to pay less and less.

[@JB-fh1bb]

They already sell basically zero laptops (compared to iPhones). They’re not trying to sell hardware, they’re trying to lock people in to the ecosystem and that’s a whole different playing field.

[@SchmidtHappens]

The other thing you have to factor in with these lower storage SSDs, is the total TBW. The lifespan just isn’t there with the smaller amounts and once the chips are done, you’re petty much out of luck.

[@mooganoid]

VERY good point, raised by Louis Rossmann on his channel. The whole Apple thing is wrong, and I'm slowly taking myself away from it.

[@tim3172]

Have you (somehow) not figured out that all non-enterprise SSDs have their TBW values listed as a WARRANTY amount? There are two standards: TBW and JEDEC endurance. TBW is simple: 1/3/5 year warranty OR a specified TBW value, whichever happens first. JEDEC endurance ratings are when they... you know... actually test the drives to determine the actual endurance. Your SSD should withstand a solid 3x the stated TBW value (in much the same way your engine doesn't blow through the hood of your car at 50,001 miles or 4 years and one day... the warranty just expires.)

[@frankhovis]

@@tim3172 There's a big difference between "should" and "actually does".

[@carstencroessmann]

It's not only the TBW, some IC'S can fail too the TP62180 for instance and this one shortened your NAND get 12V and is dead, that's why I bought an external drive right away.

[@LouRao]

You bring up a good point, and it's valid. As long as consumers continue to buy, Apple will never bring down the price. And that is just it-consumers have to have it, so they think. Like any company, overcharging they will get away with it because consumers are spoiled and think they need it or have to have it, willing to pay for overpriced products. For those who are not willing to give their money away, they can easily buy a Windows computer and respectfully get the RAM size and SSD space they need for far less than what Apple is charging. It's that simple.

[@david2207]

my way around this is to go with the base spec and use USB-C sticks, which are also pretty fast meanwhile. The ram issue remains 😞

[@user-zd7id9rx3f]

If I remember correctly Alex Ziskind had a video where he booted one of the new Macs directly from a $79 external drive (plus price of enclosure) and the read/write performance was just as good as booting from the internal Mac drives.

[@nickwest1337]

Any chance you'd be able to point me at that video, please?

[@seemoremacstuff]

Not surprisingly. Apple doesn’t seem to be interested in using cutting edge storage for whatever reason.

[@bartvandenpoel8568]

Sure but dangling around with a drive on a cord makes your laptop a sit on a countertop and make sure no one disonnects the cable computer.

[@user-zd7id9rx3f]

@@bartvandenpoel8568 Agreed but the point is to show there is nothing special about the SSDs Apple uses. On many Apple forums people will claim that the SSDs that Apple uses are superior to the rest of the market and so the higher price is justified because of superior performance. But if you can boot from an external drive and have speeds on par or better than internal Apple drives, especially after having to go through additional data layers and time delays to connect the drives externally, it shows that Apple internal SSDs aren’t anything special.

[@user-qf6yt3id3w]

The first Mac I had was a 2012 13" Macbook Pro. It came with 4GB of Ram and a rotating hard disk but it you could swap that out for 16GB of Ram and an SSD. So the cost wasn't really all that different to a PC. Now they solder down everything you basically need to buy the machine you'd end up upgrading to and they've massively jacked up the cost of the options you need to include. Looks like I'm going back to Windows, which MS have unfortunately completely ruined in the mean time.

[@TimurTripp2]

I'd never go back to Windows. But Linux exists, is free, and is good enough for what I do.

[@user-qf6yt3id3w]

@@wpj1362 I've tried it and I'm not going back.

[@antonioytm]

Could you please say what MS ruined about Windows? I saw few comments about that but there is no explanation about it I understand if you don't like it and that is personal preference but there are billions of people who like Windows so saying its ruined by MS is ridiculous

[@user-qf6yt3id3w]

@@antonioytm Loads of bloat and the touch centric UI they've been pushing since Windows 8.

[@antonioytm]

@@user-qf6yt3id3w Bloat this, bloat that... people now complain about Ubuntu being bloated so where is end? At that point everything is bloated for some users A bit modern UI doesn't hurt.. you cant live on Windows XP or Windows 7 UI forever it needs a bit of upgrade Windows always get criticism for bloated but when Google bloat their Android together with a vendor which has their own version of Android, UI and apps so you get double bloated its somehow not an issue? From my point of view im more than happy with Windows and Android i use

[@_mikeusa]

I just recently returned my ~$5K device for this reason. The juice was not worth the squeeze and the upgrades felt like extortion. I value my configuration at ~$2700. Buyer’s remorse won out.

[@xelar23]

Another very good option that you haven’t mentioned and that I use daily is a SD card in a form factor adapted to the MacBook Pro 14 and 16, that always stays in without hanging out. I got 1TB for around 100$, it’s of course not a fast storage, but for just storing things it’s a great option !

[@whazzat8015]

Prolly why they did away with SD slots

[@A2theC]

I bought a 1tb ssd for $35 & an enclosure for $15, I don't need it every minute so it sits below my desk.

[@whazzat8015]

@@A2theC The SD slot ( not SSD) is also a plus and hard holders are to be had. Both, while useful, as you are doing for secondary storage, are inelegant and hard to protect. I need to look for a right angle USB-C cord and Velcro to even pretend it's a portable, and protected. Slot failure from tugging injury is one of the reasons the Magsafe is so popular in helping prevent mother board slot failure..

[@sejtaridiss]

That's why I love Thinkpads. You can get them used in perfect condition when companies sell them out after warranty ends. But that's not a problem, as resellers usually give their own warranty for resold TPads (at least in my country). A years extended warranty is the standard, but sometimes or with extra $ you can extend it to 2 years. Sure, these laptops are a few generations behind, but for almost everything I'd need they're more than fine. And if I need to upgrade them - no problem. Buy any NVME you want, pop it in and you can have 2TB for like 120$. My Thinkpad's reseller does the disk swapping for free under their warranty. The same goes for RAM. And battery? No prob, you can just swap the old one with a pristine new one, which you can get for like 70$. Whole operation takes literally 5 seconds. Sure, new Thinkpads are much more expensive, but still nowhere near Apple prices. And most of them still have the same ease of part swapping. I'm never gonna ditch them, unless they go Apple way hard.

[@sihamhamda47]

Newer Thinkpads after T490 models are shifting to full soldered LPDDR4 RAM which limits the upgradability if you want more RAM in the future. T480 is the sweetest spot, as it has everything: 2 RAM slots, upgradable SSD, swappable battery, very good amount of ports, and still officially supported by Windows 11 (Intel Core 8th gen)

[@sejtaridiss]

@@sihamhamda47 that's the exact Thinkpad that I own. It's great :)

[@Lucrativecris]

Looks like I found a thinkpad comment just as I was thinking about my thinkpad while looking in the comments section!

[@tdm3bros]

those 7TB are double the price of my fucking gaming PC + Peripherals 🗿🗿🗿🗣️🗣️🗣️💀💀💀😭😭😭

[@jeffhu4770]

I’ve thought for awhile that if Apple just halved the upgrade prices, they’d still make an outrageous amount of money, and probably sell more machines. I went with option 3, I bought a cheap Dell Inspiron, because getting a 16GB/1TB mac mini put the cost of an entry level machine into the mid-range borderline high end desktop price range. Just couldn’t justify the price. macOS isn’t that much better.

[@TheSaintsVEVO]

Their greedy practices also encourage all other manufacturers (especially in the smartphone space) to follow Apple and do this kinda bs.

[@SynthLizard8]

Apple customer: Don't ask questions, just consume product and get excited for next product.