Apple tries as much as possible not to engage in discussions about RAM for most of their devices. For a long time they haven’t disclosed the amount of RAM on their phones - I am not sure if this has changed. Why is that? Well your supreme leader is here to discuss this and share his insights.
Before we segue into that discussion, I would like to discuss my recent laptop RAM purchase. When buying a laptop I ensure that most things are upgradable - RAM, SSD, WIFI Card - sometimes battery. Last year I bought an ultrathin laptop - at the time it was the lightest 14" - laptop in the world 970 grams to be exact. - The title is currently held by AsusPro B9440 (880 grams).
I can’t buy RAM in Kenya, because besides being overpriced, most of it is slow and has a high latency. This is not just a Kenyan problem coz if you check Amazon, Newegg and everywhere else you will find most RAM on sale has a latency of CL22 and above. The Nyamgondho can only buy RAM that is CL19 and below. True to himself, wuod Ombare purchased a 16 GB 3200 MHz CL16 RAM. - I paid top dollar as this RAM cost me twice as much as ordinary 16GB RAM
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Picture of the backside below
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But the lower the latency, the higher the price. RAM with very low CL# is not even available for consumers as it’s made mostly for industrial servers. Why does latency matter? Well you can read for yourself or engage me in the comments section for further clarification.
My laptop came with a single stick of 16 GB as the manufacturer knew that people like me use computers with RAM sizes 16 - 64 GB and may have little use for 8GB sticks. This additional RAM will get my laptop to 32 GB but in future I might move to 64GB RAM.
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And now back to Apple. So why won’t apple engage in discussions about RAM? Because they simply install smaller RAM sizes on their devices as compared to competitors but make these RAMs perform incredibly fast such that in real world 4GB RAM performs almost like 8GB RAM. One of the secrets is to get a low latency stick as it avails memory to the laptop much faster than sticks with high latency -,even if the speed is the same.
Instead of allowing competitors to subject them to negative marketing ati “Our devises have more RAM than Apple’s”. Apple simply talks about the general speed of the device and waits for reviewers to carry out real world tests where iPhones and iPads obliterate the competition. How do they achieve this?
- Clever tweaking of communication between ram and processor
- Using RAM with a low latency (Nyamgondho style)
- Clever placement of RAM on the Chassis - so that it’s close to the processor and is easily cooled. RAM usually generates heat when in use - which could throttle performance. high quality desktop RAM usually comes with a heatsink to remedy this. but you can also add a heatsink to your desktop ram if you so wish.
- Soldering RAM. This can help you easily achieve all the above while reducing the amount of power required by the RAM - Less power means less heat, plus you can put the RAM anywhere in the chassis where it suits you best as you don’t have to worry about upgrades etc.
- Also, running RAM in duo channel increases speed 8GB x 2 > 16GB - Apple doesn’t do this though
Comparing my new RAM with what was in the laptop (pictures below) you can see the new RAM comes with a branded aluminum sticker which acts as some sort of heat spreader with an underlying thermal paste - this speeds up cooling. The old RAM is CL 22 so clearly speed was the last thing in their minds when they assembled this.
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