Well, they could decide to not gimp their base models and make storage and RAM upgrades cheaper, like you say. The new base M3 MacBook Pro only exists to upsell you to a M3 Pro MacBook Pro.
If they feel like they have to have a normal M3 MacBook Pro model, they at least shouldn’t gimp it and give it 16 GB of RAM as default. Also, add another display controller to the base M3. We all know you don’t do it just so you can upsell to an M3 Pro.
Like I said in another thread, Apple (like all companies) always try to upsell and that’s fine as a concept, but these days some of the lower-end products sole reason of existence is to upsell the customer to a more expensive product. Make these lower-end products good products.
And yeah, storage and RAM upgrades should cost half as much at most. 16/512 should absolutely be the minimum default on $1,000+ computers as well.
Also, why would people upgrade from an M1 or M2 based Mac to an M3 based one? The vast majority of people won’t.
Similarly to you, I hate some of the bullshit moves that Apple pull. But I installed windows in a VM, just to get an idea of where it’s at these days, and Jesus fucking christ, it’s abysmal.
There’s just no way I could justify switching to that.
If you haven’t tried Linux, for many people it’s a great option. I’ll keep my regrettable Apple purchase until it doesn’t work anymore and then go back to Linux.
They are good enough for the vast majority of their customers. You have to remember that the vast majority of laptop users only use their laptops for email, social media, and occasionally word processing; they aren’t using Baldur’s Gate III or Final Cut Pro or some other app that needs the extra RAM. You don’t need more than 8GB of RAM for that.
And why exactly would these customers get a MacBook “Pro”?
I can see how a MacBook Air with low base specs (8/256) has its audience. I recommended a base spec M1 Air to my aunt 1-2 years ago and she absolutely loves it. She got it for about 950,-€ I think, and with her coming from Windows laptops costing half as much at most, there was no way she would’ve spent more than 1.000,-€. She does some surfing, mailing, word processing, video conferencing and photo library management (using iCloud Photos). It’s completely fine - might even say pretty great - for that.
Nowadays you can find some deals where the base M2 Air is < 1.000,-€, and that’s also a decent deal.
The base model M3 MacBook Pro is 1.999,-€. Now Apple magically added 200,-€ after accounting for taxes and exchange rate ($1,599 is about 1.500,-€, add taxes to that and you’re at 1.785,-€, so 1.799,-€ should’ve been the price, but they made it 1.999,-€ anyway), but even if third party sellers sell it for like 1.800,-€ in a few months, it’s still 800,-€ more than the base model Air. I know you get more ports, a way nicer screen etc., that’s not my point. My point is that people who are looking for a “good enough for simple tasks” laptop usually don’t shop in that price range, and people who do usually have higher requirements than 8 GB of RAM.
Hope everything goes down in price a bit. Honestly Apple could afford it just to earn a bit of good will.
I think for the base price you get a really really good product despite 8gb memory. Most people just need it to perform and it does. But yea once you start upgrading it’s insanely ridiculous and it’s insulting to those who want more out of the best product they’ve made in a long time.
Yes, the volume controls on the USB-C EarPods work with Android.
The playback controls work as well, but they’re a little different on Android than they are on iOS. Holding in the middle button summons Google Assistant, for instance, instead of fast forwarding. But the all-important pause/resume control works the same way.
Just tested the USB-C Earpods on my Galaxy S7, and can confirm they do everything you want!
Pressing the buttons turns the volume up, down, and pressing the centre plays/pauses.
As I said in my previous post, be warned that since it’s usb-c, not all devices may support it (e.g. I put the same earpods in my OLED switch and it didn’t even detect them).
I’ve now tested them in the following:
Steam Deck - Works perfectly Galaxy S7 - Works perfectly OLED Switch - Does not work at all Macbook pro - Works perfectly iPhone 15 pro max - Works perfectly
Commenting so I don’t forget - I have the usb-c EarPods, and have a Galaxy s7, so will test in a bit once the 5 month old in my arms falls asleep and I charge the dev device.
I tried the EarPods in my oled switch and it didn’t work, so I’m curious too
Good to know, I wasn’t sure that was even an option. Turns out my partner uses Apple News+ almost daily so I guess I’m screwed. I also have used the fitness trainer thing occasionally and its pretty great.
You can look at reviews for second gen AirPods Pro. They’re practically the same with port change and a slight change inside that only affects compatibility with the vr headset that’s not even out. I got the usbc ones but don’t have an android to test sorry
Looks like the new M3 chips are a significant upgrade from the M1 chips, a very significant upgrade from the Intel/Radeon chips, and a super significant upgrade from the Intel Macs with no discrete GPU. Except for 3D content creation, gaming with games that actually support Metal ray tracing, and video production, it’s not that significant an upgrade from the M2 chips.
And I see people on social media bashing it for the default configuration only having 8GB of RAM. It’s like they don’t realize Apple intentionally keeps a low end, compromised, and cheap configuration around for the large amount of MacBook users that just want a cheap-but-not-uselessly-so laptop for email, social media, and the occasional word processed document. The people bashing it on social media are free to buy a less compromised model; Apple does sell them.
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