Apple defends 8gb in laptop

[MacCheetah3]

I’m not suggesting people throw out their Macs and get Pis - just pointing out that there are plenty of sub-$500 options that will happily serve basic computing needs, but Apple simply doesn’t address that market.

Objectively, most users/consumers would be satisfied with a Pi. The Raspberry Pi OS is generally very simple/basic. Furthermore, the recommended installation includes:

• Chromium: Web browsers are one of the most used apps, especially because the Web is now Web apps and not simply static pages. Plus, of course, common consumption is social media — which, again, most are available as Web apps/platforms.
• LibreOffice: Generally compatible with MS Office, and what kind of “advanced” features do most people use?
• VLC: While most media is streamed or consumed via Web browser, the option to download and watch offline is still significant enough.
• Claws Mail: It’s there, however, to be honest, most users would probably opt to use their email provider’s Web app/portal. In other words, from what I’ve observed, users prefer mail apps with some flare, elegance, and extras.

One of the hurdles, possible deterrents would be a lack of default messenger despite many popular (compatible) clients being available:

Pi-Apps - Apps List

Raspberry Pi App Store for Open Source Projects.

pi-apps.io

The only other obvious hurdle would be software updating/upgrading as it’s only done via CLI. Not complicated, but plenty of users may still be deterred nonetheless.

 

[Gravydog316]

Here: Firefox with 1 YouTube page open: 9.6GB ...

 

[bobone]

Here: Firefox with 1 YouTube page open: 9.6GB ...

View attachment 2381689

well - if Firefox loads the entire video into memory instead of using disk cache.....

 

[iHorseHead]

Here: Firefox with 1 YouTube page open: 9.6GB ...

View attachment 2381689

well - if Firefox loads the entire video into memory instead of using disk cache.....

It was 750mb for me.

 

[dmccloud]

Here: Firefox with 1 YouTube page open: 9.6GB ...

View attachment 2381689

"FirefoxCP Isolated Web Content" - the browser is caching the video in RAM. The issue isn't the 8GB of RAM, it's your copy of Firefox caching everything into RAM rather than either streaming or saving to disk cache.

 

[Sami13496]

Why people go and download something like Firefox when you have Safari that is made specifically for Mac 🙄

 

[iHorseHead]

"FirefoxCP Isolated Web Content" - the browser is caching the video in RAM. The issue isn't the 8GB of RAM, it's your copy of Firefox caching everything into RAM rather than either streaming or saving to disk cache.

People still don't get how RAM works and we've had the issue since Lion. Or at least when I first noticed.

 

[hoodlum90]

The base M4 iPad PRO has 2x6gb RAM modules, but only 8gb of the 12gb available is enabled. So it must me cheaper for Apple to use the 6gb RAM modules now. I am thinking we will see 12gb in a new M4 device very soon.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1794071111979938167

 

[ric22]

The base M4 iPad PRO has 2x6gb RAM modules, but only 8gb of the 12gb available is enabled. So it must me cheaper for Apple to use the 6gb RAM modules now. I am thinking we will see 12gb in a new M4 device very soon.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1794071111979938167

That's fascinating... bizarre!!!!

 

[Gravydog316]

Why people go and download something like Firefox when you have Safari that is made specifically for Mac 🙄

...because Safari sucks, literally takes 10 minutes to open, crashes, has no ad blocking, &...

 

[Gravydog316]

"FirefoxCP Isolated Web Content" - the browser is caching the video in RAM. The issue isn't the 8GB of RAM, it's your copy of Firefox caching everything into RAM rather than either streaming or saving to disk Yes

"FirefoxCP Isolated Web Content" - the browser is caching the video in RAM. The issue isn't the 8GB of RAM, it's your copy of Firefox caching everything into RAM rather than either streaming or saving to disk cache.

Yes, but what do I do about it? & is macOS supposed to be useless when that happens?

 

[Torty]

Yes, but what do I do about it? & is macOS supposed to be useless when that happens?

Stop watching activity monitor.

 

[avro707]

Here: Firefox with 1 YouTube page open: 9.6GB ...

View attachment 2381689

I have a video streaming here with 9 tabs open and only 3.25gb memory usage:

I have enough RAM that I'm not worried.

 

[Zest28]

Why people go and download something like Firefox when you have Safari that is made specifically for Mac 🙄

Because Safari sucks.

I only use Safari on my iPhone / iPad because all browsers on iOS are using the same underlying engine basically.

 

[Sami13496]

Because Safari sucks.

I only use Safari on my iPhone / iPad because all browsers on iOS are using the same underlying engine basically.

It’s a great browser that many people enjoy. If you don’t like it doesn’t mean “it sucks”. Firefox or whatever works better for your needs? Great! Enjoy your preferred browser.

 

[MrGunny94]

Moving more on topic here, I was hoping to get an M3 Air but with the M4 announced at this point I'm waiting for the M4 Air to get a small laptop to use on the go.

Hoping for the 12GB RAM base model.

Because Safari sucks.

I only use Safari on my iPhone / iPad because all browsers on iOS are using the same underlying engine basically.

I mean FireFox and Safari should be the only two browsers we should use in order to not let Chrome take over the internet

I use Chromium only for work honestly or when a specific website doesn't work

 

[bombardier10]

This is video about Macs with only 8 GB memory. How much memory you need
for any Macs and what are the consequences of not having this memory.

 

[Gravydog316]

Stop watching activity monitor.

???

 

[Chuckeee]

This is video about Macs with only 8 GB memory. How much memory you need
for any Macs and what are the consequences of not having this memory.

Tried watching while following along with the closed captioning in English.

Seems like this is from a company the makes intel based hackintoshes. I’m not sure if they have any understanding about Apple Silicon & unified memory. It appears discuss how swap is bad for intel processors so it is bad (and over priced) for Apple Silicon too. Zero comprehension that memory pressures using Apple Silicon are very different than using an Intel processor. The even state the type of processor makes no difference!!

The bulk of their analysis is based on using Active Monitor (ignoring that the memory pressure is always green) and Adobe Premier (a known memory hog) with multiple other programs simultaneously.

Also seem like a bit of a self serving appeal about the deficiencies of Apple Silicon from a company/person in the business of making intel based hackintosh.

Perhaps some can offer a better translation?

 

[fl010]

Seems like the limits of the base 8GB ram of a 1500$ mac pro are already hit.
16GB ram for predictive AI code completion are needed:

Xcode 16 Release Notes | Apple Developer Documentation

Update your apps to use new features, and test your apps against API changes.

developer.apple.com

 

[frou]

Seems like the limits of the fantastic 8GB ram of a 1500$ mac pro are already hit.
16GB ram for predictive AI code completion are needed:

What makes that particularly stark is that 16GB is not just recommended, it's flat-out required!

 

[bombardier10]

Zero comprehension that memory pressures using Apple Silicon are very different than using an Intel processor. The even state the type of processor makes no difference!!

As in this video it is pointed out that there is no difference between Intel and Silicon processors on this subject. The principles are exactly the same regardless of the system whether it is macOS , Windows or Linux. This is due to the principle of the swap file and the cooperation of the processor with ram memory. If it were otherwise, Apple wouldn't offer expansion to 24 or 128 GB of RAM . The ideal situation is when you don't use the wap file on your computer at all.

 

[thebart]

Seems like the limits of the base 8GB ram of a 1500$ mac pro are already hit.
16GB ram for predictive AI code completion are needed:

Xcode 16 Release Notes | Apple Developer Documentation

Update your apps to use new features, and test your apps against API changes.

developer.apple.com

Well hopefully nobody using xcode would buy an 8gb "pro" machine. Right? Right?

Though I saw one YouTuber showing build times between 8gb and 16gb Macbooks and saying it was fine. So no doubt somebody took it that way

 

[Manzanito]

Well hopefully nobody using xcode would buy an 8gb "pro" machine. Right? Right?

Though I saw one YouTuber showing build times between 8gb and 16gb Macbooks and saying it was fine. So no doubt somebody took it that way

Hopefully not. Still, they are forced to pay 200$ for an upgrade that would cost apple almost nothing if 16 gigs were the base.

 

[theluggage]

Well hopefully nobody using xcode would buy an 8gb "pro" machine. Right? Right?

Nobody buying a $1500 laptop (when you can get an entry-level Mac for $1000 or less, or a basic PC for under $500) would expect to write code on it… Right?