Thursday, 25 April 2024
Following up on (a) my publish earlier this week regarding on-device LLM features being RAM-hungry, and (b) my publish concerning Mark Gurman’s declare that M4 Macs will start shipping late this year, I’ll direct your consideration to a report from MacRumors again in January that all iPhone 16 models will include 8 GB of RAM. With the iPhone 15 fashions, the non-pro models have 6 GB, the Pro models 8 GB. If true, one incongruity shall be that new iPhones could have the identical quantity of RAM as most base-model Macs.
This got here up on the latest episode of ATP, and their present notes embody these two charts posted to Mastodon by David Schaub, displaying (a) the base RAM for all-in-one Mac desktops from 1984 onward; and (b) the base RAM in consumer Mac laptops from 1999 onward. It has all the time been the case that Apple has been open to criticism for base-model RAM being “one click on” too low. E.g. when base RAM was 1 GB, it ought to have been 2 GB; when it was 2 GB it ought to have been 4 GB; and so forth. Nevertheless it was additionally all the time the case that Apple elevated the bottom RAM each two years or so. Not anymore. iMacs have been caught at 8 GB of base RAM since the 27-inch iMac from late 2012. MacBook Airs have been stuck at 8 GB base RAM since 2017.
I do suppose it’s true that Apple silicon modified this equation. Maybe even, as a rule of thumb, by issue of two — that an Apple silicon Mac with 8 GB RAM performs as properly underneath reminiscence constraints as an Intel-based Mac with 16 GB. However base mannequin client Macs have been caught at 8 GB for a lengthy time, and it’s unattainable to have a look at Schaub’s charts and never see that common will increase in base RAM efficient stopped when Tim Cook dinner took over as CEO. Apple silicon effectivity however, extra RAM is best, and positively extra future-proof. And it’s downright weird to suppose that come this fall, all iPhone 16 fashions will sport as a lot RAM as base mannequin Macs. (Supercomputer pioneer Seymour Cray on virtual memory: “Reminiscence is like an orgasm. It’s loads higher when you don’t must pretend it.”)