599 is not low end, sort of low mid range. Well, at least before AI shortages came along.

But 8gb puts it in low end I guess, as it's not user expandable. 599 and only 8GB isn't low end it's a ripoff (comparatively, as 8gb is actually plenty as a consumption device).

We need numbers we can understand, saying 10 percent is too simplistic.

They could pass a law in the state requiring a 90 percent tax on prediction market earnings. Winning IS income.

Top notch Journalism takes time to verify before printing. Today that doesn't work well when several Joe Blows have already put out a blog post on the same topic with no fact checking and even if completely wrong no one will bother to read the Journalist's equivalent in a few days after all the verification has been done.

It's a terrible place to be for those that want to deliver actual Journalism. And just as bad for those that welcome actual Journalism. The noise to signal ratio is just that bad.

That's how I know it's working (the ad blocker).

No, we speak English and bad English here. Is that like English NG?

-making sad typos when critiquing grammar or spelling is king of ironic, don't ya think?

No, it gets lumped into the porn category.

Now starting with a 'wtf ...' type question google happily gives an unrequested AI response - it's at the point we can't turn it off. We lost the game.

Running it and being sufficiently responsive are two different things, I guess for background tasks sure. I would only use inference for entertainment and for that, it better be near-real time.

- AI is thinking, please wait...

What the AI conglomerates did is give it away as a taste for free while driving a huge hardware shortage fueled price apocalypse that even once they jack up their prices towards sustainability no one will be able to afford switching to run on local hardware that now costs a small fortune, if you can even find it in stock anywhere.

It is devious and evil, but shows a lot of forward thinking.

Anyone that comes out with a user expandable unified memory architecture using mostly common components could be a real winner in the next five years. No, Apple is not user expandable.

Nothing in life is free. What is your soul worth?

I assumed OP was adding that ram to a system with unified ram, but I don't think Apple hardware allows user expansion anymore. What else is there?

This is not about intelligence, it is about laziness and the willingness to remain lazy even when you know something is wrong.

More people are willing to turn their brain off than you think, especially when they think no one will notice or care (i.e.), no consequences (yet).

- 'mailing it in' since birth

Considering all the expensive data center build-outs, acess is still cheap right now. I hope soon all AI services bill at the actual cost of 'running the AI.'

Right now AI is in the equivalent of a drug dealer's 'hook em for cheap, then run up the cost once they are addicted.' Or, the bubble bursts and any remaining survivors will have survived by billing at a rate to sustain the business, instead of debt on debt on debt while claiming a 'free tier.'

See? Not so stupid, its just that the good names were already taken.