The advent of the M-series Macs signals that Apple sees its computers as “appliances”. The days of purchasing a Mac you could augment and upgrade are behind us. In essence, the Mac is no different to an iPad or iPhone or toaster – what you buy is what you’re stuck with.
Today’s Macs are very different to traditional computers. In the old days (up to about three years ago!), computers had five main bits: a CPU, a graphics card/GPU, memory (RAM), storage (HDD or SSD) and a main circuit board these bits were connected to.
Over the years, Apple has limited the upgradability of its Macs. A few years ago, I was able to swap out the HDD in a MacBook Pro for a faster SSD. And I added memory to my iMac by opening a small cover. A Mac mini I owned had a RAM upgrade and faster SSD installed although I did get a friend to do that as opening a Mac mini was beyond my capability.
The M-series Macs no longer have those as discrete parts. They are all integrated as a system on a Chip (SoC). This offers many benefits such as lower power consumption and better performance. But it has come at the cost of not being able to upgrade systems – we can’t even add memory like we did just a few short years ago.
Apple has been making its computers into appliances. No one I know wants to upgrade their kettle or toaster by swapping out components. Apple seems to have adopted a “computer as an appliance” strategy. Your new Mac is as upgradeable as the toaster on your kitchen bench.
When you buy a Mac today, you are stuck with that Mac until it reaches the end of its life with you. You can boost the storage with an external drive – new SSDs connected over USB-C are pretty fast – but you can forget increasing RAM.
This is why, when I’m asked what computer to buy by friends, I start with the budget and buy the fastest Mac with the most memory and storage they can afford.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.