The base models (the air's, not pro's), should have shipped with 12-16GB standard, and the pro's should have shipped with 16-24GB standard. I'd argue that a minimum of 24-32GB should really be the standard on something named a "pro" model.

Apple's M-based laptops are really great - excellent display, best-in-class speakers, good keyboard, industry-leading trackpad...But 8GB of RAM for $1600? Get out of here.

People could rage about the memory cost all they want but as long as people keep buying the expensive upgrade, Apple wouldn't give a fuck. Why would they voluntarily shut down the money hose?

I will be the devil's advocate here and say that having the 8 Gb ram config on their cheapest machines (MBA, Mac Mini) is perfectly fine, but having it as the base config on the MBP is borderline false advertising.

Laughs in ThinkPad running Linux.

Yeah I’m a fan boy but I agree with this 100%. In the old days I’d just buy lowest ram config and then replace with after market but obviously we dont have the option anymore. It sucks because I could use at least 64 in my m3 but it was cost prohibitive.

I’m positive the minimum went up to 16gb like a generation or two back. It’s sickening that they went back over.

I have a couple of work MacBooks with 8gb for managers and they often complain of them going slow as molasses when having a good few tabs open in chrome. I’m talking less then 10 though, but heavy sites like email and AdWords and other horrible sites.

That's okay, because their 8GB is the same as 16GB on other machines. They are just that better. /s

I think what Apple has done with their M series of chips is actually incredible and very interesting. However actually purchasing their hardware is just out of the question when I'm just going to run a Linux distro on whatever I purchase.

The base model isn’t really the base model. If you are buying a Mac you just have to accept you are spending $2k on it

Apple has surpassed its peak age. Downfall is coming.

Remember the G4 iBook? I used the crap out of that machine, it was built like a tank. I upgraded the ram, installed a new wifi card, swapped the broken keyboard and bought a new battery, all by myself. The little beast still runs, albeit suffering a lot with new modern, web based tasks.

The Macbook M1 I got from work makes me terrified to even use it, because it feels so fragile in comparison. I don't carry it around like I used to do with the iBook.

11GB idling?? Maybe not as optimized as it seems…

There's absolutely nothing wrong since their ultra zealous base will continue to buy their complete asinine bullshit products at their shitty premiums and anti consumer practices.