This rumor states that Apple is testing a configuration with 256gb of RAM, not that it’s the highest build-to-order configuration of this to-be-announced machine.
Hopefully they go a hybrid approach. 256gb next to the package and expandable slots up to 2TB.
256GB should only be limiting to certain audio applications afaik.
So I wonder: why do Threadripper motherboards support up to 2 TB of RAM, if nobody needs that?
Only ThreadRipper Pro mobos support that much as far as I know. ThreadRipper Pro CPUs are AMD EPYC server grade CPUs that are customized/rebranded for the workstation market segment. The regular “gaming CPUs” and motherboards support only 64-128 GB of RAM. Some have 4 DIMM slots, but the CPU still has only 2 channels, so with 4 DIMMs you won’t get any memory access throughput increases, just more space for caching stuff to avoid disk IOs. EPYC/TR Pro have 8 memory channels…
Every TR has at least 4 channels
Because they're intended for another market, where people do use that. You don't buy a Mac Pro to use as a server, for example...
Some would like to use it as a iOS / macOS CI server. So server hardware features designed for a data center & rack mount options would be appreciated. Yes you don't need the 2TB of ram in that case, but other parts would be helpful!
Its addressing range, not advertisement
Even for the pros, there aren't many sample-based orchestral templates that don't fit into 256GB.
And most are going to stream samples on demand from a fast SSD anyway. Fitting all your libraries in memory is mostly a forum bragging rights thing. It's silly to load it all up when you're only going to use a small portion of it in any given project.