Predictive code completion, a new feature for Xcode that, as its name might imply, helps developers by completing lines of code automatically thanks to the power of a machine learning model, will require not only a Mac running on macOS 15 that features Apple silicon, but also 16 GB of unified memory, according to the release notes that Apple has published for the latest beta of its integrated development environment (IDE) for macOS. The news comes a few months after Evan Buyze, an Apple marketer, mentioned that 8 GB of RAM was enough for most tasks as part of an interview regarding the new MacBook Air and its memory specifications.
Apple on the new features and requirements behind the Xcode 16 beta:
- “Xcode 16 includes predictive code completion, powered by a machine learning model specifically trained for Swift and Apple SDKs. Predictive code completion requires a Mac with Apple silicon and 16GB of unified memory, running macOS 15. (116310768)”
- “Copy and paste from the build settings editor now uses xcconfig file syntax. (14333348) (FB5925390)”
- “The Project Navigator’s ‘Open As’ context menu now supports choosing default editors per file type (24666459)”
A look at predictive code completion in action:
From an April 2024 interview (machine translation):
We know that the starting memory and storage of the MacBook Air are still 8GB+256GB, and this combination does not seem to be very friendly in terms of cost performance, long-term use, and office experience. In this regard, Evan Buyze from the Mac product marketing team said that 8GB of memory is actually suitable for many tasks , such as browsing the web, doing some streaming media, or sending messages, light editing of photos and videos, including some casual entertainment games, running productivity-related apps, etc. 8GB is a very suitable memory choice for these user scenarios.
Discussion (8 replies)
Join Discussion →I haven't read Apples original statements, but "Many Tasks" is not "All Tasks", so it's not as if there is an issue here.
I would also say “most” people using Macintoshes aren’t running Xcode or using predictive code completion.
That said, while I think 8G is indeed fine for a “typical” consumer use case for MacBooks, anytime a company goes out trying to justify it as being enough there is always justifiable blowback. Apple shouldn’t be trying to justify it - they should work on making models with more capacity at a good price point.
I don't think Apple knows what this phrase means.
I haven't been in an Apple store in close to a decade.
Last time I was there, a friend of my better half was looking to buy a laptop (She wanted a Macbook Air) and since I was "the computer guy" I was dragged along for advice.
I can't remember the actual numbers at this point, but at the time the MacBook air still shipped with a hard drive. (Either that, or it was a uselessly small SSD, I can't remember).
They offered a larger (512GB if I recall) SSD at some ridiculous price. Like $400 over the base models price. At the time I could have bought an equivalent SSD and installed it myself for like $79.
...except there was no straight forward way to open it and access the drive, and the existing drive may even have been soldered in place.
As long as Apple does shit like this, they will never get as much as a penny from me.
They intentionally make devices non-upgradeable just so they can push buyers into over-spending on premium models charging between 4x and 10x as much for common storage and memory components compared to what they cost from Amazon/Newegg etc.
This ought to be illegal.
Which, to be fair, even to me most of the time, is at the level of a glorified Chromebook. Or better put, a nice tablet with a keyboard and trackpad. Something like a Macbook Air 13" makes a great laptop for a whole lot of work, even with just 8GB of RAM.
Now that basically everything they produce is an SoC, I feel that this criticism is obsolete. At least for their mobile products. For their Mini / iMac / Pro desktop models I'm definitely less charitable.
Would much rather use internal NVMe than something external over TB4 / USB4, if only for better access times (lower latency) and less jankiness.
I mean sure, there is a benefit to NVMe latency to have it on the SoC, but that is so far beyond what is noticible to the user as to be irrelevant. standard PCIe is plenty fast, with PCIe latency in the nanoseconds. It literally does not make a difference.
Its there for Apple cost / profit purposes only.
I still have this useless Samsung NVMe drive I pulled out of my better halfs 2014 27" iMac after it died to rescue the data.
Looks like a normal m.2 drive right?
Wrong. Take a closer look at the connector and its keyings.
Those fucktards at Apple intentionally redesigned an industry standard just so they could lock readily available hardware out and make life as difficult as possible for users needing spare parts or upgrades.
I had set up Apple Airport Time Capsule emulation on my NAS to back up her machine, but it turns out absolutely nothing can read Apples data format on the thing, unless you have another mac, so I had to pull the drive and rescue the data the old fashioned way...
The only good thing to come out of this was that my better half seeing the extremes I had to go through to remove this little drive from her computer to save the data after the motherboard unceremoniously fried when it was only 4 years old (heat gun to loosen adhesive, suction cups to remove glass from screen, etc. etc. not to mention my hunting high and low to find a ghetto adapter that would allow me to read the drive to grab the data) is one of the main reasons we no longer have any Apple products in the house.
She finally realized what I was talking about.
Good riddance to that Apple garbage. It will never be found in my house again.
I wish the rest of apples
customershostages would wake up and realize this too.That shit show of a company makes me absolutely see red.
Counter point. My wife can seamlessly move music, data, and whatever she wants between any of her iDevices. I used to have to do endless tech support with just total junk android stuff (don’t get me started on her Note 3), her windows laptop, and the kodi box for home theater. She had a Mac for work, so I let her talk me into an iPhone, then an iPad, then an Apple TV. No more tech support. No more “I can’t get X to Y”. She has walked into an Apple Store and gotten the very rare tech support and I haven’t had to mess with any of it.
I don’t care what the markup on all the things we’ve bought is - it’s been worth every penny twice over.