One of the most absurd things Apple has ever done...

bodhi · February 14, 2003 11:51AM

I received a 12" PB for a client last night. I open it up and begin setting it up for him. I decide to go in ASP to see what brand HD he has and low and behold:

The new 12" Powerbooks ship with 256MB of RAM...which are TWO 128 CHIPS, ONE BEING SOLDERED ON THE MB <img src="graemlins/surprised.gif" border="0" alt="[surprised]" />

I realize that one would have been soldered but I find this to be the most petty cheap ass thing Apple has ever done, why didn't they just solder 256 on the MB? I mean for anyone to upgrade the ram they are stuck with a 128 chip...christ, just ship it with 128 and make it cheaper.

Sorry...I just found that to be the most ridiculous thing I have seen Apple do in a long while.

<img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[oyvey]" />

brussell · February 14, 2003 12:09PM

Yeah, and 640 is the max for the same reason. They've been doing the same with the iBook for quite some time. What's particularly stupid about it with the 12" PowerBook is that you can't even buy it with 128MB of RAM. They ought to just solder 256 in there to begin with.

outsider · February 14, 2003 12:25PM

Exactly my problem too. Hell solder 512MB.

I hope when the 1GB DDR SoDIMM modules come out, they will be supported.

torifile · February 14, 2003 1:23PM

I agree. It is the stupidest thing I've heard of in a long time. I mean it's "for real" stupid, not just a gripe stupid. WTF am I supposed to do with this 128 chip? Everyone who has a 12" powerbook has one, so it's completely useless. I can't even sell it.

At least the 512 I put in to replace it wasn't too expensive.

murbot · February 14, 2003 1:26PM

It really is pathetic.

I guess you could sell it to a new 1GHz iMac owner who has an empty slot that will hold it... to bump their memory to a mind-blowing 384 MB.

Or hey, you could BTO a 512 in there from Apple... I wonder if they thought of that...

kecksy · February 14, 2003 2:31PM

When I upgraded my iBook from 256 to 640, I just slapped the extra stick in my Titanium PowerBook.

bodhi · February 14, 2003 2:48PM

But this is DDR ram...

mimac · February 14, 2003 3:05PM

Sh!t.. I realise that just about every company "cuts a few corners" to save on production costs abeit without much detriment to the final product, but I can't understand Apple (for which one of their main product selling points is build quality) producing a cheap ass solution inside one of their most coveted machines :eek:

Exactly how much in $$$s are they actually saving doing this given that RAM is pretty cheap at the moment?

kecksy · February 14, 2003 3:06PM

[quote]Originally posted by Bodhi:

But this is DDR ram...<hr></blockquote>

Well.... ****!

frostymmb · February 14, 2003 3:46PM

Such anger for such a petty thing. As mentioned before, this is also the state of the iBook, and has been since it's introduction (the white iBooks). So it's nothing new. I wouldn't call it the most absurd thing apple has ever done (that title is reserved for charging for .Mac), and it doesn't anger me, but I agree that it should be 256 soldered on with the slot open. It's a waste to put that 128 in the slot when everybody replaces it, and who will you sell it too? This sort of thing sure doesn't belong in a Pro machine.

serrano · February 14, 2003 4:11PM

Let's see.

640 - 512 = 128

Yep. 128 is soldered to the board. Did this really need a thread?

Apple infomercial is the most absurd thing Apple has ever done.

murbot · February 14, 2003 4:26PM

The anger is more over the fact that they stick you with a useless 128 MB chip, not the soldered-on 128.

If you want to up the RAM, you're stuck with an expensive drink stirrer.

objra10 · February 14, 2003 5:15PM

serrano..

yeah you seem to be missing the point. like murbot said.. why even include the second 128, or at least offer the option of not having it in there since it's just going to get thrown away anyway!

ir0nman · February 14, 2003 5:53PM

Probably because they're overstocked. I guess Apple bought tons of 128MB sticks a couple of year ago when they thought it would be standard for some years. It seems they were wrong

it's that or they are just ****ing stupid <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />

serrano · February 14, 2003 6:18PM

[quote]Originally posted by murbot:

The anger is more over the fact that they stick you with a useless 128 MB chip, not the soldered-on 128.

If you want to up the RAM, you're stuck with an expensive drink stirrer.<hr></blockquote>

I see now, I still vote for Apple infomercial.

icruise · February 14, 2003 7:21PM

[quote]Originally posted by IR0NMAN:

Probably because they're overstocked. I guess Apple bought tons of 128MB sticks a couple of year ago when they thought it would be standard for some years. It seems they were wrong

it's that or they are just ****ing stupid <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <hr></blockquote>

They bought tons of 128MB DDR RAM years ago? Impressive, since no mac laptops used DDR until the new Aluminum models.

I agree it is dumb, but I ordered mine from Apple to get the hard drive upgrade and superdrive, so I just had them install the memory at the same time. Didn't have to throw anything away.

[ 02-14-2003: Message edited by: icruise ]

agent69 · February 14, 2003 8:38PM

I just want to point out the max supported may actually be higher. According to Apple's 12" PB technote, it could support a 1GB stick of memory if someone was to manufacture such a beast.

i-bent-my-wookie · February 14, 2003 10:35PM

Dont mind me saying most crappy laptops in the wintel world are exactly like that, if they are upgradeable at all (some really crappy ones arent). Only the better laptops have two fully accessable sodimm slots.

cosmo · February 14, 2003 11:46PM

My confusion comes with the fact that a consumer machine (the imac) has the capacity to hold more ram than a pro machine (the 12" Al)

I'm sure rev. B 12" will have 2 fully accessable slots. and if the timing is right hopefully i will be the owner of one such machine

:cool:

kesh · February 15, 2003 12:11AM

Jeeze, people. Just sell the 128 to someone with one of the new iMacs.

frostymmb · February 15, 2003 12:27AM

[quote] My confusion comes with the fact that a consumer machine (the imac) has the capacity to hold more ram than a pro machine (the 12" Al)

I'm sure rev. B 12" will have 2 fully accessable slots. and if the timing is right hopefully i will be the owner of one such machine <hr></blockquote>

Where's the confusion? The iMac isn't packing all the internals into a tiny rectangular enclosure. There's room in the dome of the iMac and room on the motherboard for more than one slot. Not the case for the PowerBook. I disagree with the certainty you have that the next revision will add another slot. Extremely unlikely; this would require a new motherboard and some serious reworkings of the arrangment of the components, among other issues.

[ 02-15-2003: Message edited by: FrostyMMB ]

One of the most absurd things Apple has ever done...

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