On 2024-03-05 16:51, Alan wrote:
> On 2024-03-05 12:02, Alan Browne wrote:
>> On 2024-03-05 12:48, Tyrone wrote:
>>> On Mar 5, 2024 at 9:12:45 AM EST, "Alan Browne"
>>> <bitbucket@blackhole.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 2024-03-04 19:15, Your Name wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> New models of a Mac that is rather pointless. It's now even less
>>>>> differentiated from the MacBook Pro models. Apple should just drop the
>>>>> "Air" and "Pro" names and have a single "MacBook" product line.  :-\
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>      Apple Announces New MacBook Air Models With M3 Chip
>>>>> <https://www.macrumors.com/2024/03/04/apple-announces-m3-macbook-air/>
>>>>>
>>>>>      Apple Quietly Releases New M3 MacBook Air Lineup
>>>>> <https://www.idropnews.com/news/apple-quietly-releases-new-m3-macbook-air-lineup/209627/>
>>>>
>>>> Look at the options and memory (RAM and storage) for the real story.
>>>
>>> The "real story" being that the Air is the low end MacBook.  Not
>>> everyone
>>> needs a $4000 laptop.
>>>
>>>> The low end version of this has 8GB of RAM.  Wholly inadequate.
>>>> 512 GB of SSD.  Barely adequate.
>>>
>>> For you perhaps. More than adequate for most people. Again, this is
>>> the low
>>> end MacBook.
>>>
>>>> 16 GB is barely adequate and 24 GB is the most you can get.  And
>>>> compared to commodity value of memory (even of this level), it's
>>>> grossly
>>>> expensive.  Worse for SSD.
>>>
>>> Except that Arm Macs don't use commodity anything. The
>>> RAM/CPUs/GPUs/NPUs/SSD
>>> are all custom and integrated onto a single chip.  So the performance
>>> beats
>>
>> The RAM is not integrated onto the chip.  It is soldered onto the chip
>> carrier.  It is commodity LPDDR5 memory from a memory supplier.  In
>> the case of my M3 iMac, the supplier is Micron[1].
>>
>> Indeed some people have changed the RAM on their Apple Silicon Macs by
>> heating up the RAM carriers and putting in larger RAM of the same
>> kind. (This requires a lot of skill and the proper solder masks to
>> carry off).
>>
>> The SSDs are completely separate chip carriers soldered to the
>> motherboard.
>>
>> RAM performance is better due to it being directly mapped to the
>> various IO functions, as such many operations need only pass a pointer
>> to a memory block for output or input rather than shuffle blocks of
>> data between device and system memory (or v-v).  This accounts for a
>> large amount of performance gain.
>>
>> However, when I work I always have the same basic list of apps loaded
>> at all times.  With the i7 iMac it uses less memory than the M3 iMac
>> at any given time (on the order of 2 GB more).
>>
>> [1] From System Information | Memory:
>>    Memory:    24 GB
>>    Type:    LPDDR5
>>    Manufacturer:    Micron
>>
>
> 1. Do they have the same amount of RAM?

Yep. 24GB.
>
> 2. Do they run the same version of macOS?

Nope. The i7 is a few versions back. Can't go further. I see where
you're going with that but it would not account for 1 .. 2 GB of RAM.

That said, the claim with Apple Silicon was that you didn't need near as
much memory. That is BS.

--
“Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.”
- John Maynard Keynes.

On 2024-03-05 14:48, Alan Browne wrote:
> On 2024-03-05 16:51, Alan wrote:
>> On 2024-03-05 12:02, Alan Browne wrote:
>>> On 2024-03-05 12:48, Tyrone wrote:
>>>> On Mar 5, 2024 at 9:12:45 AM EST, "Alan Browne"
>>>> <bitbucket@blackhole.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 2024-03-04 19:15, Your Name wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> New models of a Mac that is rather pointless. It's now even less
>>>>>> differentiated from the MacBook Pro models. Apple should just drop
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> "Air" and "Pro" names and have a single "MacBook" product line.  :-\
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      Apple Announces New MacBook Air Models With M3 Chip
>>>>>> <https://www.macrumors.com/2024/03/04/apple-announces-m3-macbook-air/>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      Apple Quietly Releases New M3 MacBook Air Lineup
>>>>>> <https://www.idropnews.com/news/apple-quietly-releases-new-m3-macbook-air-lineup/209627/>
>>>>>
>>>>> Look at the options and memory (RAM and storage) for the real story.
>>>>
>>>> The "real story" being that the Air is the low end MacBook.  Not
>>>> everyone
>>>> needs a $4000 laptop.
>>>>
>>>>> The low end version of this has 8GB of RAM.  Wholly inadequate.
>>>>> 512 GB of SSD.  Barely adequate.
>>>>
>>>> For you perhaps. More than adequate for most people. Again, this is
>>>> the low
>>>> end MacBook.
>>>>
>>>>> 16 GB is barely adequate and 24 GB is the most you can get.  And
>>>>> compared to commodity value of memory (even of this level), it's
>>>>> grossly
>>>>> expensive.  Worse for SSD.
>>>>
>>>> Except that Arm Macs don't use commodity anything. The
>>>> RAM/CPUs/GPUs/NPUs/SSD
>>>> are all custom and integrated onto a single chip.  So the
>>>> performance beats
>>>
>>> The RAM is not integrated onto the chip.  It is soldered onto the
>>> chip carrier.  It is commodity LPDDR5 memory from a memory supplier.
>>> In the case of my M3 iMac, the supplier is Micron[1].
>>>
>>> Indeed some people have changed the RAM on their Apple Silicon Macs
>>> by heating up the RAM carriers and putting in larger RAM of the same
>>> kind. (This requires a lot of skill and the proper solder masks to
>>> carry off).
>>>
>>> The SSDs are completely separate chip carriers soldered to the
>>> motherboard.
>>>
>>> RAM performance is better due to it being directly mapped to the
>>> various IO functions, as such many operations need only pass a
>>> pointer to a memory block for output or input rather than shuffle
>>> blocks of data between device and system memory (or v-v).  This
>>> accounts for a large amount of performance gain.
>>>
>>> However, when I work I always have the same basic list of apps loaded
>>> at all times.  With the i7 iMac it uses less memory than the M3 iMac
>>> at any given time (on the order of 2 GB more).
>>>
>>> [1] From System Information | Memory:
>>>    Memory:    24 GB
>>>    Type:    LPDDR5
>>>    Manufacturer:    Micron
>>>
>>
>> 1. Do they have the same amount of RAM?
>
> Yep.  24GB.
>>
>> 2. Do they run the same version of macOS?
>
> Nope.  The i7 is a few versions back.  Can't go further.   I see where
> you're going with that but it would not account for 1 .. 2 GB of RAM.
>

It very well could.

> That said, the claim with Apple Silicon was that you didn't need near as
> much memory.  That is BS.

So post the screenshots.