“While it’s disappointing to have soldered Apple RAM on the MacBooks, most Apple customers accept the limitation as a fair trade for slimmer and lighter designs, and Apple has certainly delivered on that end with the Retina MacBook Pro and MacBook Air,” Jim Tanous writes for TekRevue. “But when it comes to desktops, the consumer doesn’t get much in return for losing the ability to upgrade RAM after purchase.”
“We’ve recently discussed the terrible 2014 Mac mini update, and while many factors contribute to the system’s sorry state, a big one is soldered RAM,” Tanous writes. “Despite some improvements in recent years, Apple is notorious for high RAM prices on custom configurations. This was easy to overlook when all Mac models offered user replaceable RAM, but it’s much more of an issue now that the majority of the company’s Macs utilize soldered or practically inaccessible memory. That means you’re stuck paying whatever Apple wants for RAM on all MacBooks, the 21.5-inch iMac, and, now, the Mac mini.”
“Compared to the lowest current price, Apple charges almost double for a 32GB RAM upgrade, and well more than double to go to 16GB,” Tanous writes. “So what’s the good news? Well, it looks like Apple has finally acknowledged the insanity of their RAM prices and taken some steps to address the issue. Thanks either to lower component costs or a desire to be seen as a bit more customer-friendly, Apple has indeed decreased RAM upgrade prices on some Mac models with soldered RAM. The 2014 Mac mini, for example, saw its $300 cost for a 16GB RAM upgrade at launch quietly lowered to $200 in recent days (we’ll just go ahead and take credit for that). The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display also offers a 16GB max upgrade for $200, which is about market price for memory with identical specifications.”
Read more in the full article here.