[colejohnson66]

I’m thinking it’s a psychological thing: when one buys software, they tend to feel entitled to do what they want with that software, such as installing it wherever they want. But when one buys hardware, they tend to feel entitled to do what they want with that hardware, such as installing whatever they want. I’m reminded of open source software where criticisms of said software are usually met with, “Well, it’s open source. Just fix it yourself.”

Besides, why shouldn’t they charge for a RAM upgrade? It costs them money to add more (RAM chips aren’t cheap), so they pass that cost on to the customer with a markup that the customer is willing to pay.