[pryce]

> Because technology caught up with them..... a good CPU is good enough for a very long time

This is an excellent point but surely it lampshades that the exact opposite case is true for RAM. How many of apple's laptops become unusable when we know they would be fine for years more with the single addition of increasing the ram? Aside from those ruined by physical damage, it feels to me that this is the way the majority of those devices end their productive life years earlier than they would with a single change.

My opinion regarding RAM is meant to in no way dispute your excellent points about CPU soldering.

[philistine]

You're right that more RAM would help when RAM is already low. But a good amount of RAM is good enough for a long time. But Apple solders its RAM directly on the chipset nowadays. Again, not because they're preventing you from upgrading; because that's the way they decided to achieve the performance they want without having to over-engineer their logic boards.