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Comment by selsta | Hacker News Reader

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selsta·

Apparently RAM and SSD are no longer soldered.

https://twitter.com/axi0mX/status/1194621631856967688

Edit: Tweet deleted, info is most likely wrong.

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One only needs to take a look at the press images to see that they remain soldered on - https://www.apple.com/newsroom/images/product/mac/standard/A... for example, there's just no space for SODIMM's to fit.

Really annoying they continue to do this, especially given they charge excessive markup on memory upgrades (2x32GB DDR4 SODIMMS average $250-300, Apple charges you $800 for 64GB of memory).

> Really annoying they continue to do this, especially given they charge excessive markup on memory upgrades

This is exactly why they solder it on - so they can charge those prices. They've created a monopoly on hardware upgrades and repairs for their machines. This is why a lot of people refuse to buy Apple laptops these days.

You can't upgrade a MacBook Pro after it has been purchased so not sure what monopoly you think Apple has.

And the reason why they solder it is because it reduces the thickness of the laptops. Those clips/connectors don't come for free.

Those clips/connectors don't come for free, but the ability to price discriminate is obviously highly valuable to Apple.

They have a monopoly on repairs. And with other laptops, you can certainly upgrade at least the SSD independently. With Macs, you have to buy a whole new machine.

And that's on top of the amount you are already paying for the base 16GB, so in reality it is $800+the cost of the 16GB

That is speculation based off the wording they used in the description. He reached this conclusion because it said RAM/SSD were "not user accessible" and they used to say "built into the computer" - no one really knows the answer. I imagine they remain soldered.

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