Op-ed: AI has been a cure for $1,600 computers that start with 8GB of memory.
The tradeoff of integrated, non-upgradable RAM is not worth it though. I know SOCs have many benefits, but gradually destroying the modularity of computers is probably the most anti-consumer and wasteful trend in technology.
I wish more people understood this. Not being able to upgrade is going to generate so much e-waste.
I’ve got 8 year old desktops that I can throw a shitload of memory in (like 512gb or more in some cases) that make neat homelab virtualization servers. One of them is even a Mac Pro. And they are still very useful. A brand new M2 Mac Pro that is 8 years old that I can’t upgrade will not be as useful.
i’ve had an 8gb m1 mac mini since the days of the pandemic and it runs just fine for my use. i’ve not had any issues whatsoever with it.
if 8gb ram is a barrier to ai services running in the background, then personally for me those are machines to use exclusively.
(aside, if ai is so intelligent and all, why can’t it figure out how to run itself on lesser memory?)
if 8gb ram is a barrier to ai services running in the background, then personally for me those are machines to use exclusively.
You know, if you care about managing what programs run on your hardware, there are ways to do this other than limiting its capacity…
you are correct for now. but one can foresee the day when ai is mandatorily baked into the computing experience. and this is something that isn’t too far into the future, either.
the hope is that having limited hardware makes it difficult to have such mandatory “value adding services” forced upon you.
They made it so Windows 11 won’t run on hardware without a TPM, and Windows 10 is ending support next year. Easy to imagine the same kind of thing happening with some sort of built-in local AI. If you want to have the ability to make those sorts of decisions, I think open source computing is going to be the only real option going forward.
Lol Chromebook user behavior.
the roots of your response may lie in derision, but it is–in essence–accurate.
i did have a chromebook immediately before the mac mini but i switched for two reasons: (1) the androidification of it really slowed things down and (2) i just gave up on chrome as a browser around then.
some of us have such simple needs that a low-powered machine is actually viable. one can understand how that may seem worthy of scorn to other users, but it works for me and i wouldn’t change that behaviour even if it means that i have lost the respect of random internet users.
Remember netbooks? I miss those
I need to dig out the eeePC I have. If I could get a netbook with a better screen resolution, it would probably become my daily driver.
I still use my Acer c720 with Mint and FydeOS often when I don’t feel like grabbing my adult laptop. But that’s just got a quick Google or reference.
Sure! Everything you said is valid. However, power users cringe when others pay 2k for a glorified iPhone on an HDMI port.
Who tf is paying $2k for a Chromebook? Most of the ones I’ve seen top out at $500
Asus, Lenovo, Samsung, and HP all sell $1k+ Chromebooks. But I was referring to people spending 2k on a MacBook with 8gb of ram as a glorified Chromebook. Even when insulting Mac users you have to account for the “Apple Tax™”
8GB is more than enough RAM. Windows is artificially inflating minimum requirements and the mainstream tech nerd will eat it up because they fundamentally don’t know anything different.
It really depends on what you’re running. I have a T480 rocking 8GB with Mint installed and it works great for casual use. I’d still want to upgrade it if I want to do something more substantial though.
