Mokka mit Schlag » 2025 » June

Apple has a well deserved reputation for overcharging for simple things: $500 for a set of wheels, another $500 for a height adjustable stand for the Studio Display, $79 for an iPad cover, $1200 to upgrade a MacBook Pro to a 4TB SSD. Some of this added cost is because Apple doesn’t sell crap, or really anything less than the top of the line. The Mac Studio $1200 4TB SSD is several times faster than the $200 4TB SSD you picked up in the bargain bin at MicroCenter. The Apple $79 iPad case actually holds up an iPad, unlike the $20 knockoffs on AliExpress. The Apple Pencil lasts more than a month, unlike the $27 Vistaike I stupidly bought from Amazon.

Nowhere is Apple excoriated for overpricing more than in RAM upgrades on Macs. But when you compare Apples to, well, not Apples, then it rapidly becomes apparent that Apple’s RAM isn’t just more expensive. It is a *lot* better than third party alternatives on PCs and Linux computers in ways that really matter. And when you look at why that’s so, getting anywhere near RAM that performs as well as Apple’s does will cost you more than buying a Mac, and you still don’t get as much.

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No, this isn’t yet another LLM generated, SEO-optimized “Best 10 Refrigerators/Electric Cars/Laptops” listicle of badly written English designed to collect affiliate revenues. This was written by an actual human being with a real opinion, and contains no affiliate links. If you want to buy one of the monitors I mention here, you know how to use Google, right?

I decided to write this because the answer is actually relatively simple (unlike for PCs). There simply aren’t many choices, and it’s fairly straight-forward to pick the one that fits your needs, not that you’d know that if you just went to Amazon or Best Buy and started browsing.

I’ll order them from least to most expensive, which not coincidentally is also worst to best quality.
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