Yeah we installed upgraded third-party RAM and felt like computer techs ;~). But we also often paid high RAM prices even third-party.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
8GB RAM in M3 MacBook Pro Proves the Bottleneck in Real-World Tests
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The first gen Air was a compromised laptop with a piss poor user experience. They still became a multi-trillion dollar company.
Agreed, my M1 Mini and M2 Pro are both 16GB but my HP Z2 and Think Pad T-14 are both 32GB mainly because its so inexpensive to just have the extra headroom, not so much on a Mac.
What standard is that? The something for nothing standard? Apple makes excellent MBP laptops with up to 128 GB RAM available. Anyone too cheap to buy enough RAM is just someone too cheap to buy enough RAM.
We're talking about one product here.You're going to list one product (and be overly dramatic about how well it performed) in a large lineup of products for Apple? Seriously, are you still trying to argue that Apple has become a trillion dollar company by selling terrible products?
You're the one desperately taking this thread into multiple directions because you're unable articulate a valid argument as to why a prosumer product still has 8GB of RAM 😆
It's right in the description details on RAM usage the handful of you want to point out. Putting all the responsibility on the user yet disavowing apple for their blatant contradiction of what a professional would likely need in a laptop is abhorrent.
All the criticisms are rightfully justified in this case.
Yeah because they upgraded the RAM themselves…which isn’t possible in newer MacBooks. So the value proposition is greatly reduced, and many people will not be buying. Watch Mac sales continue to tumble, as they should. ♡ Isn’t the free market marvelous?
Pay better attention. I have "articulate a valid argument as to why a prosumer product still has 8GB of RAM" here many times, including prior to this thread: Granny watching Netflix and using email appreciates the superior MBP display, better speakers and smoother operation rather than lesser boxes - - and granny gets by fine on 8 GB RAM.
The rest of us of course are not granny and should order higher RAM levels when we buy. Duh.
Well, in this case Toyota sold the public a Tercel but slapped an Camry sticker on it.
Since you are so certain "Mac sales continue to tumble" you should short AAPL and get rich. /s Good luck with your business analyses...
Enough of them that apple decided it was best to use terms like "casual gaming" and "everyday productivity apps" to describe the entry base model of a pro laptop with 8GB as opposed to a broad set of professionals looking to use a laptop.
Seems like Apple is working hard to make it clear to their last followers that they are being ripped off.
That statement right there tells me I need 16GB and the 8GB is useless for a Pro.
We shouldn’t have to pay anything extra for 16GB since we pay $1600 already. IMO its $400 extra the M3 base isn’t for Pro’s either. Professionals want to be able to have a dual monitor set up at the minimum if their MacBook is there only computer. The 8GB model truly is the Starbucks TikTok laptop.
Apple is the fourth largest PC vendor and IMO makes the best PCs (except not at the highest 2 percentile of performance for games, etc.). Whatever do you mean "their last followers"?
Last edited:
Would a true computer professional be satisfied with 8GB, nope. But that same professional probably wouldn’t be satisfied with just a plain M3 notebook either.
The term “Pro” is effectively meaningless especially with regard to Apple products. Apple have overused Pro so much and so often the term Pro is now meaningless for Apple products.
M3 Pro ARM Silicon processor chip
A17Pro iPhone processor chip
MacBook Pro laptop
MacPro desktop computer
iPad Pro
iMac Pro
iPhone Pro
iPhone Pro Max
Apple Vision Pro
Pro Display XDR
AirPods Pro
Beats Fit Pro
Powerbeats Pro
Final Cut Pro software
It is to the point, that since so many things are “Pro”, nothing is actually “Pro” anymore.
There are real issues with some Apple 8GB products for many people. But using the excuse that it’s inappropriate for a Pro laptop is nonsensical, since the term Pro means absolutely nothing with regards to any product from Apple. Might as well complain “how can it be a true Apple product if it isn’t red, green or yellow”
This test is flawed because they are comparing Mac to Mac with only memory differences. Of course the 16gb will outperform the 8. Apple didn’t claim the 8 gb Mac would perform as well as a 16. They claimed it would match performance of a similar intel machine with 16gb. That’s what they should’ve have compared to test apple’s claim.
He said he'll be doing a video showing that next. I wonder what excuse people will have to disparage the video after that one.
I've yet to see one video proving what Apple claimed yet.
They’ve been gimping the performance of their CPUs and GPUs with all the swapping that has to be done.
I’d also like to chime in with a few facts:
A 512GB Kingston SSD costs $29 on Newegg, Apple can get them for even cheaper.
16GB of LPDDR5 RAM costs $20, Apple can likely get that for cheaper too with their scale.
I’d also like to chime in with a few facts:
A 512GB Kingston SSD costs $29 on Newegg, Apple can get them for even cheaper.
16GB of LPDDR5 RAM costs $20, Apple can likely get that for cheaper too with their scale.
You know when you look up professional in the dictionary it has the following
- Conforming to the standards of a profession.
To be somewhat fair about this, I wasn’t expecting blender to be run on these models. I do believe 16 should be standard for a laptop labeled as “pro,” but I would like to see more of what social media content creators would use. Premiere Rush, iMovie, affinity photo, small projects. I think that’s what this model is marketed for. Small content creators that aren’t as tech savvy, but need a dependable device.
I would like to see someone with low tech skills that needs these types of app in real world scenarios. For a low end user, I would assume they would just have the browser open with one or two apps opened.
I would like to see someone with low tech skills that needs these types of app in real world scenarios. For a low end user, I would assume they would just have the browser open with one or two apps opened.
Agree, the term “Pro” is meaningless …
And to this thread, but the right tool for the job, simple.
RAM was always the king! Even 16GB is quite limiting. 24GB should be the base configuration. It's pro line not air!