Be sure to order your MacBook Pro 'Retina' with 16GB memory.

My information is that the 2012 Apple MacBook Pro 'Retina' has its memory SOLDERED TO THE LOGIC BOARD.

Meaning that if you get 8GB memory, you are screwed if you later want 16GB. Sorry for the use of overly technical terminology there, but the 'f' key was not working on my keyboard.

The failure of Apple to mention this critical buying fact sets a dismal low in product marketing. How many potential buyers will figure out that the choice at the time of purchase is a permanent limitation to a “pro” model. The verbiage about “clock cycles” is so irrelevant compared to the fact of “non-upgradable”.

“Increasing the amount of memory in your Macbook Pro is an easy way to improve performance”.

Except that you cannot increase it. Cannot upgrade from 8GB to 16GB after purchase. Ever. It’s contemptible for Apple to omit this key fact for a $3000 laptop, especially when blathering on about memory speed and clock cycles, missing the forest for a tree.

Buy a MacBook Pro through this site’s links. Thank you.

UPDATE June 18, 2012

The non-upgradable memory fiasco now includes a note buried at the very end of “Learn More”, which normal buyers will likely never see, let alone read.

Note to Apple marketing bozos (and to Tim Cook, who ultimately is responsible for this marketing)— the sin of omission of a critical limitation is still contemptible.

The only acceptable solution is to spell it out, not to hide it. It should not require user action and user tchnical expertise to learn about and understand this limitation.

Burying a note inside an obscure litany of technical mumbo jumbo about MHz, DDR, SDRAM, is contemptible, as was the complete omission at launch. This is the kind of bullshit that insurance companies and banks engage in— bury the important stuff so as to sell the feel-good bullet-points.

Isn’t Apple supposed to make things easier? Hide the nonsense technical crap, and spell it out in all-caps in red type without hiding it under “Learn More” at the end Because most of that stuff is useless mumbo-jumbo that no one needs there in the first place (MHz, etc belongs under tech specs, and is about 1% as important as the non-upgradable aspect).

The hapless non-technical buyer who fails to click “Learn more” will see this:

Buried at the very end of the fine print (gibberish to most buyers), is a note about your feelings (“If you feel...” — what the duck do feelings have to do with with facts, and how would regular users even know?!). Evasive marketing is contemptible.