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@andrewt@mathstodon.xyz

Post #510660

2026-03-02 13:44 UTC

As much as I'm all in favour of blaming AI bros for the RAM shortage, there was always going to be a squeeze on RAM prices for some reason eventually, and we really did make sure it would be maximally painful for ourselves when we started treating RAM as functionally free. RAM prices in 2026 are about the same as they were in 2008 when the original MacBook Air launched. It had 2GB of RAM and it ran like a goddamn dream. There is absolutely zero technical reason we couldn't ship an even better computer with 2GB RAM today — except everything these days is a JavaScript app running in a dedicated Chromium instance and needs at least its own gigabyte to run around in. That said, it's probably pretty safe to blame AI bros for everything being a Chromium instance — I'm willing to bet it's largely the same people trying to ship something that just about works with the absolute minimum of time and effort now as it was then

Replies (10)

  • @wohali@timeloop.cafe 2026-03-02 13:46

    @andrewt Absolute minimum of time and effort Yup, that describes most LLM users I know.

    Open ##1658295

  • @rysiek@mstdn.social 2026-03-02 14:17

    @andrewt while I generally agree with you about our RAM hogging problem, OpenAI literally cornered the market on RAM wafers: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/dram/openais-stargate-project-to-consume-up-to-40-percent-of-global-dram-output-inks-deal-with-samsung-and-sk-hynix-to-the-tune-of-up-to-900-000-wafers-per-month It is absolutely correct to blame the AI bros for this one.

    Open ##1658296

  • @andrewt What's less bad: an application built as a Chromium instance, or a native application that ends up unavailable to most users because Linux and Windows don't implement the Cocoa API of macOS?

    Open ##1658318

  • @BrKloeckner@piaille.fr 2026-03-02 18:01

    @andrewt I love that the game developpers Mega Crit are ensuring Slay the Spire 2 will be playable on the worst potatoe PC they can. We need more of this state of mind (meanwhile, Path of Exile is burdening the f*** CPU? Come on!)

    Open ##1658327

  • @Yza@plush.city 2026-03-02 18:46

    @andrewt moore's law's greatest contribution to computing is in allowing software developers to optimize their code less and less as the years have passed who cares if it takes 10x the RAM if current hardware is 20x as powerful? what, some people are using old hardware? well they should just upgrade it then! i hardly see how tha'ts my problem it's a symptom of overconsumption, the attitude of not doing more with less, but just throwing endless resources at an roadblock you run into

    Open ##1658329

  • @rhysmorgan@mastodon.social 2026-03-02 20:59

    @andrewt I hate that every major app is now a massive 500MB of RAM behemoth, because every app includes a Chromium instance plus an entire UI framework, etc.

    Open ##1658331

  • @grayrattus@mastodon.social 2026-03-03 07:40

    @andrewt "there was always going to be a squeeze on RAM prices for some reason eventually," it's like saying that "we run out of water on earth but we would exhaust it for some reason eventually" xD Sorry but it's clear. Big data centers require RAM. This memory was bought by money that do not exist. I don't have such money as I need to work every day to afford basic meal but Sam Altman and Microslop could afford it by fucking up economy. It's clear that it's work of big tech.

    Open ##1658332

  • @grayrattus@mastodon.social 2026-03-03 07:45

    @andrewt Also 32G of RAM is still something not really needed for most of personal use computers. If you don't play games, make water simulations, run own server or learn how to alocate big chunks memory in C, 16 gigs seems to be a fair amount. If you scroll Instagram or TikTok having 32G of ram seems to be waste of memory XD Idk man. It's sad that something which used to cost penies now fucks up my finances only because big tech wants to get rid of personal computers in the first place.

    Open ##1658333

  • @patricus@gts.posix.live 2026-03-03 11:46

    @andrewt I feel insulted. I am not an AI bro but I am a person who hates writing C code for GUI and stuff, all non browser GUIs suck to write.

    Open ##1658334

  • @skro@social.zocradio.info 2026-03-04 07:17

    @andrewt may i temper this with two counter arguments: 1/ the quality of visual medium has exploded (4K video is 16 times more consuming than 720p for example), needing more ram to process 2/ virtualisation (namely Docker) has become a thing and you need ram to set up a virtual machine on the fly (and docker is cool for leaving AI bros - did I hear self-hosting?)

    Open ##1658337