Apple Says New Macbook Pro Has Only 16Gb Of Ram To Save Bat

That's pretty nifty, but it's all user mode. I don't see how it's any different than cygwin. Edit: Huh. OK. After digging in a bit, it's more like WINE in reverse than cygwin. It runs unmodified Linux executables under a reverse-engineered compatibility layer. There's still no Linux kernel though, and it's strictly command line.

I totally understand. I have classes like chemistry or math where we have to write down formulas and draw chemical structures and thats really hard to emulate on a computer so handwriting does the job. However, for a class like writing I'll most definitely be using a computer because I can type much quicker than I physically write. It all depends on how your workflow works.

In some sense, yes, programmers have gotten lazier. In the past we used to use very low level languages like Assembly Language or C for everything. These languages can do everything that modern languages can, but they require a lot more work from the programmer to get anything done. In exchange for the programmer doing extra work, an application written in C generally runs faster than the same application written in a higher level language, say C# or Java. So if C is faster than Java why do we still write apps in Java? The first big reason is portability. A language like C requires you to be aware of the low level details of the hardware and operating system you're coding for. Being aware of these details allows you to make your code more efficient, but it also means that your code probably won't run on any other system. Modern languages put an abstraction layer between the programmer and the hardware. Now your code will run on anything, but it will be a little bit slower because it can do the same thing 10 slightly different ways depending on what system type it's running on. The other big reason is that modern languages have faster development times. I can create a somewhat useful app in Java or C# in a day. Writing the same app in C will take me twice as long, will be more prone to bugs, and will support less hardware. Fortunately it's not black and white in reality and most large applications will mix high and low level code to find the right balance of application and development speed.

The superficial consumer fascination with "thin = new" is to blame, here. Years ago, when Apple failed to make the iPhone 4 and 4S thinner than the competition, there were all sorts of articles about how this suggested they were becoming uncompetitive. The phone could've literally had a quantum processor and 256 GB of RAM, and people would've obsessed over how thick it was. I miss the days when Apple basically just told you what you were getting, and when they were usually right for doing so (removal of the floppy drive, supporting FireWire, thunderbolt, etc.). Nowadays, they're constantly playing keep-up with everyone else, making some good innovations but ultimately not setting the trends like they used to. I'd love for them to make an iPhone with twice the thickness and then tell people, "Screw you; we decided a 4-day battery was more important" (figuratively speaking).

[Bill Gates never said it](http://www.computerworld.com/article/2534312/operating-systems/the--640k--quote-won-t-go-away----but-did-gates-really-say-it-.html). [Actually, actively worked](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanded_memory#Expanded_Memory_Specification_.28EMS.29) to allow DOS more RAM.

Can you imagine if Tesla focused on aesthetic design over function? People reading this comment wouldn't even know what that company does. There is room for both, but you have to remember that you are creating a product to perform a function that people need. You don't keep charging them more and taking away function. Shareholders should be at their wits end with Tim Cook at this point. You can look past one or two mistakes or backlash. You can't have them piling up on top of each other like this with every indication that there is absolutely no vision for the company beyond the next annual meeting. With this kind of leadership, they should completely abandon the car project. That's too complicated and important for the current leadership to manage. You make computers. If they want to focus on other things, break off the divisions into separate companies. Apple makes computers. This sub makes ios devises. This sub focuses on content and services. This sub makes cars. If I were to take over Apple we'd change the vision for the next year and make the #1 priority be 'focus' and we'd buy adderall by the semi.

It's often faster and easier to get work done with a *nix shell than it is to use a GUI. First thing I do with any new Mac: Install XCode, then install Homebrew. After that, it's only a command to install most of the software you need and it installs in seconds (or sometimes minutes if it is larger/more complex). There's just something nice about needing to find a line of data in a directory of large CSVs and only having to do: `cat * | grep $SEARCH_TERM`

I think it's really cool how they put all those technical features straight into the marketing material (interleave without table lookup, etc.). Back then you could still expect the primary target audience to actually understand how their systems worked. Today, the most they'd put on there would be something like "includes patented XCOMP SpeedFast™ technology to give you the fastest speeds and the speediest fasts!"

Except it isn't. WSL runs native linux ELF binaries. That means you can use apt, zsh, poll, ssh, awk, sed, grep, and almost every other linux binary native on Windows. This means that you can do native linux development on Windows, full stop. It is still in beta, but the team that is working on this is active and constantly improving it. People have managed to get full linux compiled GUI programs up and running on it. If you think that WSL is simply cygwin then you haven't used the two side-by-side because they are night and day different.

I have 600GB of VMs on my MBP right now. I have 16gb of ram. I use multiple VMs all the time and the main reason I wanted to upgrade laptops is to get more ram. I can't use a desktop since I'm a traveling consultant and I am running out of ram with what I have now. I would happily take something slightly thicker to get more ram and battery. I didn't think my laptop needed to get any thinner from what I have now.

This thing is awful. Not enough performance coupled with a strange idea for touch. Why not just put in a touch screen and also the operating system to work with it? Most software developers I know use Macs. I have yet to see one excited about this unit. I think a lot of them will be switching to PCS with Linux.

I had the same decision to make and went with a surface pro 4. It's my first non apple device in over 10 years and I am absolutely in love with it. Being able to have full functionality apps with a file structure is paramount for grad school. No futzing around figuring out how I can transfer a file from spot a to b in order to edit or mark up. OneNote on a touch device with full functionality is a game changer. Plus being able to have a computer that has an infinite number of position adjustments instead of just a 45 deg angle... Oh and apple "pencil" doesn't have right click or an eraser like the surface pen. When writing notes on ppt in onenote, an eraser is so handy! Apple has seriously lost their innovation edge, at least in the last year or two when compared to MS. Take the new surface AIO as exhibit a.

[This](https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/59yrxg/the_true_reason_the_mbp_doesnt_come_with_ddr4_or/) is the entire explanation. TL;DR: Intels Skylake processors, that the new MBPs use, doesn't support more than 16GB LPDDR4 (LP = Low Power). Edit: As u/extreme_kiwi said below, Skylake does not support LPDDR4. Thanks for pointing that out! Apple says on their website that they use 16GB LPDDR3 in the new 15" MBP. There is no limitation for not using 32GB of LPDDR3 RAM (as stated in the post i linked) except for maybe sacrificing battery life. So the headline in this post may not be so "sensationalist" after all. Edit2: I checked out the XPS 15 and it seems to be using 32GB of DRR4 memory, so I am a bit confused now.

Sort of. Ram idles at <50mw, peaks at 4W. That was under DDR3, [although DDR4 isn't much better at idling](https://us.hardware.info/reviews/6678/10/skylake-ddr4-vs-ddr3-review-power-consumptionnigp). In any case, the 16 GB limit isn't justified for the market they're attempting to cater to. This is a mis-step as big as the headphone jack (love that this has one), and there's no real need for it.