> Overpriced would be "costs more than it should for what it is," not "costs what it should but is more product than I can afford."
But it's also that, because their bottom configurations are weird/crippled.
It's hard to find a PC laptop with a 4k screen for much less than $1000, but then the $1000 machine has 12 cores and 32GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Apple's $1000 laptop has 8 cores and 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, i.e. overpriced.
Okay, but DDR5 is ~$3/GB and NVMe SSDs are ~$0.10/GB, so really that's only a value difference of like $100 and you could just upgrade it. Except that Apple charges $25/GB for DDR5 and $1.28/GB for storage and then solders everything, so you'd actually have to pay an extra $800. Except that the Macbook Air isn't available with 32GB of RAM, or more than 8 cores, so then you need the Pro, which is even more.
The bad part of Apple DRAM is that it's not upgradable or replaceable unless you can figure out how to open up the M3 multi-chip-module and nanosolder a new RAM module.
The good part is that the DRAM is connected to the GPU as well as the CPU.
Nothing stops them from doing both together. Put 8GB or 16GB on the APU package and then have a couple of SODIMM slots for more. The more wouldn't have the same bandwidth but it doesn't need to, because you're using it for browser tabs and filesystem cache, to keep that stuff out of the fast memory and preserve it for what needs it.
Moreover, they could put the APU in a socket and then if you wanted more of the integrated memory you could replace the APU without having to replace the entire machine.
But it's also that, because their bottom configurations are weird/crippled.
It's hard to find a PC laptop with a 4k screen for much less than $1000, but then the $1000 machine has 12 cores and 32GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Apple's $1000 laptop has 8 cores and 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, i.e. overpriced.
Okay, but DDR5 is ~$3/GB and NVMe SSDs are ~$0.10/GB, so really that's only a value difference of like $100 and you could just upgrade it. Except that Apple charges $25/GB for DDR5 and $1.28/GB for storage and then solders everything, so you'd actually have to pay an extra $800. Except that the Macbook Air isn't available with 32GB of RAM, or more than 8 cores, so then you need the Pro, which is even more.