Re: The 2011 one still works
re: soldered RAM
Apple don't want to make computers, they want to make appliances.
If you make some devices upgradable, people will notice the restrictions on the appliances.
Compute-power and RAM now generally exceed what people need - so we don't upgrade. Apple is busy downgrading compute and upgrading screen resolution, adding the "touch bar" and soldering in memory to create a future upgrade requirement.
I came across a similar thing in the enterprise space. A vendor (the market leader) put a large price tag on the hardware (which was just a branded PC) rather than the user-count. The client didn't know their capacity requirements up front. If they bought too low, adding more hardware was prohibitive; pushing them to over-provision - the upgrade. The client did the sensible thing - they ditched the vendor and went for a provider who billed per user - i.e. cost scaled with function.
Apple appear to be going one step further, they restrict the memory in things like the MBA so you can't over-provision and either purchase twice or buy newer kit which has a higher-price-tag for lower cpu specs. Yes it has a better screen, but I need glasses - that ultra-high res is all slightly blurry for me anyway.
So yes, I still run a desktop, with a large screen. If I need something small/quiet, I run an old laptop and hide it like a book near or inthe cupboard under the telly. I find the AI in WOPR frequently ahead of its time - "The only winning move is not to play."
Biting the hand that feeds IT
