I agree with that as far as it goes, but the inability to upgrade RAM is suggestive of inbuilt obsolescence
No current laptop - Mac or PC -
with LPDDR (low power) RAM can be upgraded. Until very recently there was no low-power equivalent of plug-in DDR4/5 DIMM modules. Part of the power saving relies on having the shortest possible connection from the RAM to the CPU without any loss/interference from sockets etc. LPDDR memory was
only available as surface mount chips. Systems like the Framework are great, but take a power/performance hit by using dull-power DDR sticks. Apple Silicon also squeezes extra speed out of LPDDR by mounting it directly on theprocessor package. In the last year,
a new system (LPCAMM) for user-upgradeable LPDDR RAM modules has been released but it is not widely adopted yet. I doubt Apple will adopt this - doesn't look like it will fit their design of directly driving the RAM chips from the CPU, but it does conjure up a lovely image of a M4 Max
with wings...
Then we're supposed to recycle aluminum cans but throw away 30+ lb of aluminum desktop that cost $7K
That's kinda a read herring. If I took an old Mac Pro to the local tip, the totters would be on that 30lb of aluminium like flies on dung - it
will get recycled. The problem is the plastic and other crud that's leftover, which you'll also generate when you throw away your old DIMMs, M.2 SSDs and GPU cards... Also, my experience with home-assembled PCs is that technology moves on and after a couple of years most upgrades involve replacing the whole motherboard. Apple Silicon
has drastically reduced the size of the main board in many Macs.
Thing is, that $7K Mac Pro should still be useful to someone as a working system for years to come, even when it is no longer cutting edge - stripping the RAM and SSD to use on your new system is what will send it to the tip.
That said, It wouldn't have been rocket surgery to make the AS Mac Pro with the SoC on a plug-in, upgradeable, daughter board separate to the PCIe backplane, or to upgrade a M1 Mini/Studio to M2. Trouble is, by the time you add the labour costs and subtract the value of a second-hand Mini/Studio it probably wouldn't be economical.
The real problem with RAM is Apple's extortionate upgrade prices & low base RAM specs (really both the same issue - if Apple charged a realistic price for RAM it wouldn't be worth them making 8GB SoCs) which encourages people to skimp at the time of purchase. 16 or 24GB RAM on a >> $1000 machine shouldn't be an expensive option and would be plenty for foreseeable future proofing.
RAM Requirements aren't doubling every year any more - it's just that Apple has been stuck with 8GB as standard on (say) the entry level MBP
for the last 10 years - and charging $200 per 8GB increment since at least 2017. The only reason I got a mere 4GB MBP in
2011 and an 8GB iMac in 2017 was that the Apple upgrades were stupidly expensive and 3rd party upgrades were cheap & easy. I didn't think for one moment that those were going to be
enough.
If the SSDs were socketed (even with a proprietary Apple connector), you could take your 2TB/4TB/8TB SSD from your existing Mac and put it into your new Mac,
Now, SSDs are a different beast to RAM, and the fact that the SSDs
are socketed & replaceable in the Mac Studio and Pro debunks any technical argument for soldering them in. Also, SSD is still
perishable - with a finite maximum number of write operations before it breaks down - in a way that RAM isn't, even though the theoretical lifetimes
shouldn't be a problem in practice, perishable components just shouldn't be soldered in. On the other hand, that does make moving your old, worn SSD to a new machine less attractive.
