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Comment by asendra | Hacker News Reader

I don't know, the only component I could see myself needing replacing is the SSD, and I never end up doing it with any of my laptops.

Intel laptop line of CPUs only accept 16gb [1], so there's no reason to no max it out from the start if you need it, really. The battery, unless you are confortable with buying chinese parts, you should only be buying a replacement for Apple, so I don't see the problem with having them replace it for you. Granted, this is easier having Apple stores close by.

And SSD hardly ever fail, compared to old HDDs at least, so unless you want to increase capacity, there in't much need to compared with before, and Apple gives you the option to buy the biggest SSD you can put in there from the beginning.

Edit: [1] I believe since Skylake, they support more than 16gb! I thought that was only with the new Xeons for laptops.

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> Intel laptop line of CPUs only accept 16gb [1], so there's no reason to no max it out from the start if you need it, really.

I agree about the "if you need it really" part. But otherwise, I can think of a couple of reasons to get a smaller SSD initially and upgrade later. Firstly, storage needs usually grow with time, and hence a smaller SSD may be enough to start with (though in 2016 the majority of people cannot afford to store all their stuff on SSDs). Secondly, and this is related to the first one, the cost of a larger SSD (as with most hardware) would drop over time, allowing one to not spend a lot upfront and instead use a lot less of 'future money' to upgrade to one's needs.

Of course, Apple's SSD prices have always been quite high compared to third party replacements, and that makes this "upgrade as you go" scheme more worthwhile monetarily.

For those who use these machines as "it pays for itself" kind of work, it may be worth it. For most others though, the flexibility of being able to upgrade the SSD or RAM make a big difference on the expense, the experience and lastly, the amount of e-waste generated.

My 4th gen Haswell supports 32 GB of RAM in my m4800 Dell Precision.

Haswell i7-4700MQ supports 32GB (http://ark.intel.com/products/75117/Intel-Core-i7-4700MQ-Pro...).

That is a 47w CPU. That is way higher than the TDP of most laptops allows for (displays, discreet GPUs, etc). The 15" MBP only has an 85W charger, which must both charge the battery and power the laptop simultaneously, how is there room for this thirsty a CPU in a MBP style chassis?

Plenty of laptops aimed at the market the MacBook Pro is ostensibly aimed at come with a 4700MQ (or 6700MQ). If the design of the MBP only allows for an ultrabook-type CPU, it's not really fit for purpose.

I take back what I said, they do use the higher end variant of exactly that cpu: I7-4980HQ although it's probably aggressively clocked and or binned.

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