We already know up to three Apple processors for Mac: M1, M1 Pro and M1 Max. All of them offer impressive performance in the teams, having completely changed the paradigm of the same and shaking more than one competitor. They also have many advantages in terms of autonomy, temperature management and even allowing equipment to be cheaper. But is everything they offer good?
Well, like everything in life, no. Macs with these chips also have some limitations compared to their predecessors with Intel processors. It is not that they are very determining aspects or at least not for all audiences, but they are relevant enough to count them. It is the case of the RAM, which cannot be changed on these teams.
Why don’t you let me change the RAM?
When buying a Mac M1, M1 Pro or M1 Max you will see different options that you can configure. Among them, as expected, is the possibility of choosing internal storage (ROM) and RAM. This also happened in the Intel, but the difference is that in these the RAM could be changed more or less easily.
Although it is true that in laptops it was not an easy task, despite being able, the steps to change the RAM in an iMac are extremely simple and especially in the 27-inch model that, by the way, is still on sale still. However, in the new Macs it is an impossible task today, either in official technical services or third parties.
The rationale is that they are on-chip memories. In other words, there is no M1 chip on the board and there are separate RAM modules, but there is a single chip that brings everything together. Therefore, Apple manufactures as many chips as RAM memory possibilities offer (currently the M1 support 8 and 16 GB, while with the M1 Max they reach 64 GB).
Are there advantages to onboard memory?
It is clear that making a bad decision in the choice of RAM memory pays dearly with these Macs, since the only option to improve your hardware will be to acquire another equipment in its entirety. However, you should know that as standard there are several advantages offered by having integrated RAM, at least in the case of Macs and unlike what is seen in those same computers with memory on the board with Intel chips.
You will have noticed that they offer lower capacities than previously and it is precisely because with a smaller quantity you get a higher yield or at least it is equivalent to higher capacities. It is not the most accurate to say that 8 GB of RAM in an M1 are equal to or better than 16 GB with an Intel chip, but in a way it would not be very wrong.
In the management of temperature It is also notable that the integrated RAM is proving to be more efficient in this regard and requires little use of heatsinks and fans (in fact in the MacBook Air there is only one heatsink). This in the end favors that the device does not have to lower the clock speed and therefore ends up being more powerful.
