AndrewMar 2

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

Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦Mar 2

@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.

OpenAI's Stargate project to consume up to 40% of global DRAM output — inks deal with Samsung and SK hynix to the tune of up to 900,000 wafers per month

Working at scale.

Tom's Hardware
Show threadTzimisce FleshMar 2
@rysiek @andrewt The beginning of Andrew's post is a bit, so to speak, clickbaity, but I think he didn't mean to deny the AI bros causing the current squeeze and was moreso pointing out that some kind of issue like this was bound to happen eventually and we should've been better prepared.
Show threadUsagiMar 2
@flesh @rysiek @andrewt Do you have a personal bunker? ​​
Show threadTzimisce FleshMar 2
@bunny @rysiek @andrewt That's classified and not really what was meant by "prepared".
Show threadUsagi
@flesh @andrewt @rysiek It's the same mindset, though ​​
Mar 2 at 8:55pmWeb
Show threadTzimisce FleshMar 2
@bunny @rysiek @andrewt I mean, not really? Like, the underlying idea is to not take respurces (in this case, RAM) for granted and be ready in case of a shortage. It's less "personal bunker" and more "don't cover your room in redundant low-efficiency lightbulbs running all the time".
Show threadUsagiMar 2
@flesh @andrewt @rysiek warmmm ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​