News M4 iPad Pros with 8GB of RAM may actually have 12GB — teardowns reveal possible Apple hijinks

[Admin]

MacRumors forum posters seem to have identified Apple's M4 iPad Pro RAM modules on 8GB RAM models as a pair of 6GB modules, creating a total of 12GB RAM onboard.

M4 iPad Pros with 8GB of RAM may actually have 12GB — teardowns reveal possible Apple hijinks : Read more

 

[Deleted member 2731765]

They are creating too much of a fuss out of this. Apple hijinx ?

Currently there are no 4GB chips that run at LPDDR5X 7500, which is required for the M4 iPad's 120GB/s memory bandwidth. We only have 6GB, 8GB and above variants. It can't get less complicated than this fact.

Also since the M4 is still using a 128bit memory bus, so in this case 2X6GB, it is much cheaper/easier to disable the extra RAM, instead of acquiring new 4GB modules.

 

[Sippincider]

Well better than claiming 12 in the specs and only having 8 on the device.

Or charging hundreds for a BTO option to 12, when it's already there.

 

[Deleted member 2731765]

That would be a blunder/disaster for Apple if they advertised 12GB on paper/specs, but physically it only sports 8GB. But obviously, no company can make claims like these though.

 

[thisisaname]

Could be they are using broken ram and the 8GB modules only have 6GB usable?

 

[peachpuff]

Maybe 4gb is used for video memory?

 

[Notton]

Maybe 4gb is used for video memory?

There is no way Apple would do that without plastering it all over their adverts.

Could be they are using broken ram and the 8GB modules only have 6GB usable?

I think this is unlikely. I can't find stats on LPDDR5X yields, but I doubt they are that bad.
"Bad" DRAM is usually binned at a slower speed, not fused off.
Can they be fused off to begin with? They aren't logic chips made from blocks you can disable.

 

[hushnecampus]

They are creating too much of a fuss out of this. Apple hijinx ?

Currently there are no 4GB chips that run at LPDDR5X 7500, which is required for the M4 iPad's 120GB/s memory bandwidth. We only have 6GB, 8GB and above variants. It can't get less complicated than this fact.

Also since the M4 is still using a 128bit memory bus, so in this case 2X6GB, it is much cheaper/easier to disable the extra RAM, instead of acquiring new 4GB modules.

That doesn’t justify disabling a third of the RAM.

 

[CmdrShepard]

That doesn’t justify disabling a third of the RAM.

So, the fact that 4GB chips at required speed do not exist doesn't justify using 6GB chips and disabling 2GB per chip?

And you know better than Apple hardware designers whether those additional 4GB total would make a sensible differences in performance?

Right.

 

[JeffreyP55]

MacRumors forum posters seem to have identified Apple's M4 iPad Pro RAM modules on 8GB RAM models as a pair of 6GB modules, creating a total of 12GB RAM onboard.

M4 iPad Pros with 8GB of RAM may actually have 12GB — teardowns reveal possible Apple hijinks : Read more

Proprietry everything is why I don't want anything to with Apple. I was forced to use an old desktop CX to do cad work. My wife has an iPad. Good for her. Don't miss Apple. So what platform is compatible M1-M4 series CPU?

 

[Thunder64]

So, the fact that 4GB chips at required speed do not exist doesn't justify using 6GB chips and disabling 2GB per chip?

And you know better than Apple hardware designers whether those additional 4GB total would make a sensible differences in performance?

Right.

Come on, that's clearly anti-consumer, right? Do you think it is OK selling Macbooks in 2024 with 8GB of non upgradable memory? Good for them though, as it seems people are buying their products.

 

[JWNoctis]

Probably restating the obvious, but this is after all essentially not so different from CPU vendors fusing off cores, or GPU makers fusing off bits of GPU, stream processors, video encoders and decoders, what have you. I think you used to be able to flash back the missing features with a different video BIOS(Don't try this anymore), or with luck restore a Phenom X3 to X4 in not so distant past.

tl;dr Fusing off perfectly good silicon for product segmentation is not new, even though slightly more unpalatable for RAM, which you could never have enough, unlike CPU and GPU cores, especially when there's only 8GB to start with.

Now what would be infuriating and maybe anti-consumer is if they would offer to unlock that extra 4GB for a payment at some point, like some car makers would offer to "unlock" heated seats for a payment, with hardware that's already physically present in a car physically bought, weight penalty and all.

 

[FransFebri]

For me it is a combination of no 4GB chips and Apple simply prefer to upsell. Not sure why the writer even suggest that Apple want to avoid unfamiliarity with 12GB of RAM. That kind of reasoning is stupid.
In the end of the day, if you think 8GB is too small you need to pay an extra $600 minimum to buy the 16GB. Yes, that extra $600 also gives you an extra core (from 3 P-cores to 4 P-cores + 6 E-cores) and 768GB more storage on top of the extra 8GB of RAM (which cost wise, technically an extra 4GB of RAM). There is no way those things cost $600.
Now imagine if instead of 8GB, they give you 12GB. The upsell will be much harder. A lot of potential buyer probably will just buy the lowest model or maybe pay $200 extra for 512GB storage (which is still ridiculous amount of money for 256GB more!). In order to make the upsell more attractive, they gimped the lower end model to 8GB. The BOM for cost for 1TB vs 256GB model is probably an extra $200 at best.

 

[CmdrShepard]

Come on, that's clearly anti-consumer, right?

I'll pretend this part of your comment had an /s and carry on. You were sarcastic, right?

Do you think it is OK selling Macbooks in 2024 with 8GB of non upgradable memory?

- Nice try, but this isn't a Macbook -- it's an iPad
- Yes, even for a Macbook (or Mac Mini) 8GB is ok for people who don't need more -- I own an M2 Mac Mini 8GB and it is perfectly fine for general computer use

Good for them though, as it seems people are buying their products.

That only means that they know what most people need. Apparently most people don't need more than 8GB on a Mac yet. On the other hand, sselling Windows PC with 8GB RAM would be criminal.

The problem seems to be that a lot of tech-savvy people who criticize this are used to Windows PCs which really suck with 8GB RAM even for simple office and web browsing usage.

What happened here is that Apple needed to make a product with 8GB RAM, they couldn't get 4GB chips, they probably paid a higher price for 6GB chips, and they disabled 2GB bank in each chip in order not to waste battery power on something that will in 95% of users' hands go unused.

 

[CmdrShepard]

Now what would be infuriating and maybe anti-consumer is if they would offer to unlock that extra 4GB for a payment at some point, like some car makers would offer to "unlock" heated seats for a payment, with hardware that's already physically present in a car physically bought, weight penalty and all.

You mean like Intel already does with VROC hardware key to "unlock" full software RAID functionality?

I'll never understand people who have such raging boners with Apple when others are far worse.

 

[Thunder64]

I'll pretend this part of your comment had an /s and carry on. You were sarcastic, right?

- Nice try, but this isn't a Macbook -- it's an iPad
- Yes, even for a Macbook (or Mac Mini) 8GB is ok for people who don't need more -- I own an M2 Mac Mini 8GB and it is perfectly fine for general computer use

That only means that they know what most people need. Apparently most people don't need more than 8GB on a Mac yet. On the other hand, sselling Windows PC with 8GB RAM would be criminal.

The problem seems to be that a lot of tech-savvy people who criticize this are used to Windows PCs which really suck with 8GB RAM even for simple office and web browsing usage.

What happened here is that Apple needed to make a product with 8GB RAM, they couldn't get 4GB chips, they probably paid a higher price for 6GB chips, and they disabled 2GB bank in each chip in order not to waste battery power on something that will in 95% of users' hands go unused.

Battery power is your argument now? Ha! That's a good one. Clearly you forgot the /s.

 

[CmdrShepard]

Battery power is your argument now? Ha! That's a good one. Clearly you forgot the /s.

Whatever the situation and arguments are -- haters gonna hate.

 

[hushnecampus]

So, the fact that 4GB chips at required speed do not exist doesn't justify using 6GB chips and disabling 2GB per chip?

And you know better than Apple hardware designers whether those additional 4GB total would make a sensible differences in performance?

Right.

lol, OK buddy

 

[CmdrShepard]

lol, OK buddy

ChatGPT would hallucinate more intelligent response than that.