Do I need 36 GB of ram

[smirking]

AND you're using swap! So even if it is working ok, its slowly but surely wearing out your SSD. Thanks for the info.

People are getting too worked up about swap. You don't need to stress out about that unless you're doing some seriously insane things with your computer that puts it under extreme daily stress. Swap is meant to be used. Buy 96GB and you'll still use swap.

Most people also have an exaggerated assumption of how badly swap is degrading their drives. I'm on a 16GB M1 Pro. As a Dev and a Photographer, I have a far heavier workflow than most people reading this. I run VMs constantly, compile software in XCode and Android Studio, and use Capture One Pro daily. Sometimes Windows 11 is also running at the same time.

You'd think my laptop would be wreck, but here's are my drive health stats after 2 years of not paying any attention to the color of my memory pressure chart or obsessing about swap numbers.

My DriveDx report shows 98% health on a 2TB drive. To be fair, most people probably have a smaller drive, but even if I was doing this on a 512GB drive, I'd still have an over 90% health rating on my SSD.

Buy whatever you need to buy to make yourself feel more secure with your decision, but if you bought way less than you believe was smart, I wouldn't lose any sleep unless you find that your computer staggers and you can't get your work done.

 

[HawkTheHusky1902]

People are getting too worked up about swap. You don't need to stress out about that unless you're doing some seriously insane things with your computer that puts it under extreme daily stress. Swap is meant to be used. Buy 96GB and you'll still use swap.

Most people also have an exaggerated assumption of how badly swap is degrading their drives. I'm on a 16GB M1 Pro. As a Dev and a Photographer, I have a far heavier workflow than most people reading this. I run VMs constantly, compile software in XCode and Android Studio, and use Capture One Pro daily. Sometimes Windows 11 is also running at the same time.

You'd think my laptop would be wreck, but here's are my drive health stats after 2 years of not paying any attention to the color of my memory pressure chart or obsessing about swap numbers.

My DriveDx report shows 98% health on a 2TB drive. To be fair, most people probably have a smaller drive, but even if I was doing this on a 512GB drive, I'd still have an over 90% health rating on my SSD.

Buy whatever you need to buy to make yourself feel more secure with your decision, but if you bought way less than you believe was smart, I wouldn't lose any sleep unless you find that your computer staggers and you can't get your work done.

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If i buy such an expensive computer, i would want to use it for more than 5 years. So, if you get a 1tb drive, and i do have as heavy workflow that you do, it would be degrading slowly, but surely. And since you can't replace it, the computer is literally degrading with the drive.

 

[jav6454]

Going to buy the Macbook Pro M3 pro 2TB 18GB or 36GB

I'm a fulltime photographer, mostly using Lightroom and Photoshop, sometimes also editing 4K video in FCP

So, do I need 18GB or 36GB, I have no idea, i'm now using an imac with 48GB ram

Always get the highest you can afford.

 

[smirking]

If i buy such an expensive computer, i would want to use it for more than 5 years. So, if you get a 1tb drive, and i do have as heavy workflow that you do, it would be degrading slowly, but surely. And since you can't replace it, the computer is literally degrading with the drive.

You make an excellent point. Now do the math. On a 1TB drive, the equivalent burn rate would be doubled.

So if I’ve burned through 4% of my computer’s lifespan in 2 years of heavy swap use, how many more years does it have left?

 

[jido]

No, but you will see better if your one eye isn’t covered.

Best first comment of the year.

 

[geta]

Going to buy the Macbook Pro M3 pro 2TB 18GB or 36GB

I'm a fulltime photographer, mostly using Lightroom and Photoshop, sometimes also editing 4K video in FCP

So, do I need 18GB or 36GB, I have no idea, i'm now using an imac with 48GB ram

If you asking, then no. But if you can afford, then why not.

 

[theluggage]

People are getting too worked up about swap. You don't need to stress out about that unless you're doing some seriously insane things with your computer that puts it under extreme daily stress. Swap is meant to be used. Buy 96GB and you'll still use swap.

"Using" swap is not the problem - what matters is the frequency of page faults (which seem to have disappeared from Activity Monitor, but are presumably worked into the "memory pressure" calculation). If the system is continually having to move actively-used data in and out of swap then it will be slowing down the processor.

Thing is, it is 2023 and 32GB of RAM is not a huge amount for a "content creation" system - if you were building a PC for photo/graphics/video from components today then putting less would probably be a false economy for the sake of saving $70 bucks or so. MacOS may be somewhat more efficient at using RAM than Windows - and the all-round speed up of Apple Silicon might disguise the fact that its being throttled by swapping - but the only statistic in which 8GB on Mac is worth 16GB on Windows is the price tag...

 

[smirking]

"Using" swap is not the problem - what matters is the frequency of page faults (which seem to have disappeared from Activity Monitor, but are presumably worked into the "memory pressure" calculation). If the system is continually having to move actively-used data in and out of swap then it will be slowing down the processor.

OK then. So, swap is not a big deal after all. It's the terrible performance of swap usage that's the issue... Except that I'm not having any performance issues that are noticeable.

I'm creating content. I'm working with video. I'm compiling software. I run VMs. I'm running Windows 11 too. I use lots of Web browsers. It works. It's not slow. It doesn't stutter... well, at least my combo of programs don't.

My normal purchasing habit was to buy way more RAM than I think I'd need, but I started encountering so many people who were crushing it on 8 and 16Gb machines that I decided to go against my deeply held RAM religion and get less RAM than I believed I needed.

It wasn't a money thing. I can afford a max spec machine. I wanted to run a real world experiment on myself and see if it was tolerable. I'm happy to report that it's more than tolerable.

This doesn't mean I'm going to only buy base spec machines from now on. I'll probably go back to a 32GB in my next cycle, but it does mean that if for some reason circumstances force me to go with an 18GB model I know I'll still be able to get my work done just fine.