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Comment by xw3090 | Hacker News Reader

> computers marketed as "Pro" devices

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Which is the problem in a nutshell. No one knows what it means.

The parent worked as a dev for a year with the machine and was happy with it. I am also a dev, and am still on a M1 8gb Air that I got in early 2021, and I'm very happy with it. Probably the best laptop I've ever had the pleasure to work on.

For my workload, I don't think the difference between a 8gb and 16gb machine would be measurable. Some people really would prefer the $200.

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We can talk about what "Pro" doesn't mean - a compromised, crippled machine that has to use swap memory from day 1.

https://youtu.be/hmWPd7uEYEY

So watch that and tell me again why you think the difference ‘isn’t measurable’.

Tell me after watching that video you think the 8gb machine which is performing up to 5x worse than the 16gb model is "Pro"

Imagine the reverse - if Apple had a new cpu that performed 5x better they would be screaming it from the rooftops. And yet they have absolutely no qualms selling a machine thats 5x worse performing on the base model compared to the $200 upgrade.

They are basically scamming us and people like you are defending them for it. They need to be shamed and people like you need to stop defending the trillion dollar company doing it.

It should be noted that I'm not saying they should sell the 16gb model for the 8gb price - I'm saying they shouldn't be selling 8gb in a pro model at all. Or at the very least, they need to make it CRYSTAL CLEAR to people buying these 8GB machines at the checkout page that they are far far worse performing than the 16GB machines and the SSD's will wear out quicker.

Like others here I am a dev, I'm fine with 8Gb. I skimmed through the video and the measurable slowdown was in image intensive apps like Lightroom and Blender. Why exactly should I be subsidizing those users?

This is the problem with skipping through things like this - you missed the part about real world chrome performance. It’s okay to be happy with 8gb, but it doesn’t mean you are right. Ignorance may be bliss but try not to spread it

You know, instead of being rude and berating someone who makes a good faith effort to watch an 11 minute video to try and find your argument, you should instead just go ahead and just make your argument. I don't know why you'd expect me to spend my time trying to find a needle in your haystack.

You are the one arguing in bad faith to satisfy the cognitive dissonance created by being scammed buying a computer at way too high price considering its real-world performance in the configuration you got.

If anything, you are the one who really needs to prove why he feels the need to defend the indefensible commercial choices of an extremely rich company.

At best you are like a weirdo using short in 5°C winter and telling everyone it is fine and do not understand why everyone is telling him he is crazy and that must be uncomfortable. At worst you are the used car salesman minimizing every single problem the car he is selling to keep the price high.

In any case, your behavior is not normal nor commendable, you shouldn't be the one requesting better behavior from other people...

Don't you use docker or build tools? Those are what use of all the memory on my computer.

In that video, it looks like the 8gb starts swapping when running blender and processing photos Lightroom?! Those are the very definition of tasks requiring a memory upgrade, IMHO. The 8gb model is meant for web browsing, communication, watching YouTube or Netflix and the such. Light computer work.

Don’t get stuck on the Pro monitor, real Professionals simply buy more memory because they know they need it and they should be able to afford it. Apple offers the 8gb models for regular folk with light computing needs who like a nicer machine, be it called Air or Pro.

I think it’s pretty clear that Pro Max stands for profit maximization. ;)

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