[Spooky23]

Agree with you up a point. But I don't think this is a BMW/Ford issue.

I do think that glued in memory is a dumb thing. Memory is almost like a consumable and prices tend to vary dramatically within the service life of a laptop. Bigger chips come out, prices drop, etc. If 1% of the population is capable of doing a trackpad or screen replacement, 15% are capable of doing a ram upgrade.

Also your needs change. I never did video editing, ever -- then we had a baby. That new need drove me to upgrade my 2008 iMac, as it just didn't have the juice. Memory is different, there are lots of elegant ways to approach that problem without compromising the design aesthetic -- in fact Apple has done this with other computers.

Saying "buy a Ford" isn't a useful response. Apple is the sole owner of the Mac OS platform. I can buy an HP laptop, but I miss out on the value that the platform brings -- I don't want Windows or Linux.