I came across this on Mastodon and it has me wondering, what has changed is the OS that in 2003, OS X 10.3 would run on a laptop with 256MB RAM.
256 MB. I still have my 12" 2003 PB, just booted a few weeks ago.
Looking at the software that came with a 2003 Mac and thinking back to the performance of that software and OS, I have to wonder, what has changed that 8GB is not not enough? Is it primarily the web browser? I mean, yes, of course, now we have on-device AI and that changes everything. But that aside, what else is it?
Subtract out the modern web and Siri AI, what about the other apps and the OS. Mail, Calendar, Tasks, text editors, word processors, spreadsheets. Do any of these modern apps actually require so much memory? The first version of Pages in 2005 certainly didn’t require the kind of memory we have now. It’s been awhile but I recall it being a fairly full featured and capable app.
Is it not the software but certain aspects of the hardware, for example, the larger, high resolution displays that require it? Seeing that image just left me a bit flabbergasted.
I’m going to go outside now and yell at the sky.
