New Macbook Pros Released

[Keith B]

With the soldered in RAM you almost have to go with the $200 upgrade. In a year or two, 8gigs is going to be very modest. Even the batteries are GLUED in. Resale values on these will plummet without upgradable RAM and user replaceable batteries. Apple is really scaring me these days. They are kind of bullying everyone into buying a new machine every two years, like iPhones.

It looks like the Mac Pro will be coming back into style for pros. That is if they keep their promise to ACTUALLY update it next year.

[Dr Croubie]

With the soldered in RAM you almost have to go with the $200 upgrade. In a year or two, 8gigs is going to be very modest. Even the batteries are GLUED in. Resale values on these will plummet without upgradable RAM and user replaceable batteries. Apple is really scaring me these days. They are kind of bullying everyone into buying a new machine every two years, like iPhones.

It looks like the Mac Pro will be coming back into style for pros. That is if they keep their promise to ACTUALLY update it next year.

Wired.com just wrote a bit of a write-up about the soldered-in RAM and battery. The RAM is fine, if it works fine now it'll work fine in a few years if you keep your installed programs in check. It's the battery that's a worry, as he says, it's a built-in death-clock.
Fair enough if you're the kind of person who only uses a laptop for 2 years and ditches it anyway, difference with the new macbooks is that you don't get a choice (and you probably won't be able to re-sell it as easily as a normal laptop). As long as you're informed enough that it's got a limited lifespan, then there's no problem (except that my inner-Greenie is moaning...)