So now it is about benchmarks, before it was mostly the "feel" of 8GB*. Previously showed many examples of how 8GB is/were keeping these Macs down. And it is an apple's to pear's comparison: iOS is less of a multitasking OS, while Mac OS is. And talking about benchmarks: the latest Cinebench GPU does not even run on 8GB Macs:
https://www.maxon.net/en/tech-info-cinebench Now lets compare Cinebench R24 GPU scores of a M3 with 8GB vs. M1Pro 16gb: the lattter will score infitely better....
"More RAM can allow more processes to run simultaneously without being binned, that’s it."
Exactly, totally agree. That was the whole point of this thread! Yes, an M3 can go screaming fast if you just give it 1 task (except Cinebench GPU). But now try using it as an actual multitasking computer instead of babysitting open windows and see it get bogged down by lack of ram.
*I definetly notice when the "feel" of my computer seems off and somewhat slow. And lo and behold: my memory pressure was yellow. Of course, still useable, but annoying hickups during typing in large documents etc. Let alone doing more heavy lifting in Lightroom or similar apps at the same time.
Benchmarks have never proved 8GB models are “useless” or “incapable of multitasking” as you people repeatedly have tried to claim… And while benchmarks aren’t the only standard, (I do think that personal use and experience with the system is generally more important), we were talking about the existence of 8GB M4 chips and their performance, so a benchmark in this case is quite relevant for comparison. Furthermore, again, GeekBench is running on both, so the benchmark scores are comparable because they come from the same source running the same test. The OS is irrelevant to that. That’s why we can make benchmark comparisons between Windows and Mac, Android and iOS, etc…
No, the whole point your side wanted to make in this thread is that Apple’s “cheating” customers, is big bad stingy company that doesn’t give nice things away for free, is “anti-consumer”, “greedy”, that no-one can multitask with 8GB of RAM (not true), no one can run more than 3 apps with 8GB RAM (also not true), that 8GB Macs can’t support “pro” workflows (forget about all the professionals using 8GB Macs for their professional duties and insert arbitrary idea of some niche “pro workflow”…), etc. These were the claims leveled by your side of the debate. And none of them have been proven, and have actually been soundly disproven repeatedly. And yes, I’ve never debated that more RAM can mean more simultaneous processes running. The thing is though, this isn’t necessary for the vast majority of base-spec users. Let’s say the 8GB configuration supports 20 apps open at once (it actually can support more than that), then a higher RAM spec may support more simultaneous apps, but 20 apps is likely more than most people leave open at once, and more than most people likely need for multitasking or their professional duties even. At some point the difference is meaningless for average base-spec users because they never exceed that limit anyways. It would be like saying “look, this configuration has enough RAM to support a million Safari tabs open”. What difference does it make if you never exceed 400?
As I have said before, I can run Affinity Photo with several large projects open, Affinity Designer with several large projects open, Blender with a fairly large 3D model open, plus various background apps like Safari with around a dozen tabs open, Notes, Photos, Calendar, and other smaller apps all at once, with no slowdowns or beachballs…. This is far from an average workflow you’d expect from a typical base-spec customer, and it runs beautifully on the 8GB M1 Mac…
The problem is that your side of the argument has made dozens of wild claims and accusations against Apple that you still can’t prove. Not to mention all of the claims that are just wild, like “you can’t run more than 3 apps at once on an 8GB Mac”. What utter nonsense of a claim… And let’s also not forget that many of these people are admittedly non Apple customers, and anti-Apple. They’re coming here into a Mac fan forum to try to create trouble over an artificial scandal propped up by some clickbait shisters…. Again, Apple choosing to change specs on a new model of product doesn’t mean they were wrong for not doing so on prior models, or were somehow being “greedy” or “stingy”… Every new model includes some spec changes.
