Do you think the M4 series Macs will come standard with 12 GB of memory for base configuration?

[staypuftforums]

I personally think the M3 series will be the final Macs to ship with 8 GB of memory at base configuration.

Thinking about the entry level MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and iMac, which all ship at 8 GB currently.

Those Macs currently at 16 GB maybe get bumped to 18 GB to retain a large enough gap from base?

 

[StoneJack]

U never know

 

[Chuckeee]

No.

Apple can continue to make more profit charging for RAM upgrades to 8GB base machines. And RAM requirements are not going to grow that much more over the next 12-24 months. And 8GB will still work for many users.

All about maximizing Apple profits

Better chance seeing final end of 256GB SSD

 

[JoeG4]

Nope. I think they'll stick with 8gb until they can't get 8gb chips anymore lol.

 

[Tagbert]

Not sure if it will happen with M4 or later but at some point they will probably bump up the base. 12GB seems more likely than 16GB. It’s a little more room but most people with any non-basic needs will still want to upgrade.

 

[antiprotest]

No, if anything, Apple will say the M4 is so fast that they will start us with 4 or 6 GB of RAM.

 

[Citizen45]

Stupid me thought that the M3 would start with 12GB standard lol.

 

[thenewperson]

As @Citizen45 wrote, a lot of people thought this was going to happen with M3, and instead we’ve got Apple having an exec on an interview claiming 8GB on Macs is analogous to 16GB on PCs so I’m not hopeful.

 

[leman]

I surely hope so. But who knows with the current Apple excecs and their love for revenue optimization. Then again, things might not be what they seem. At Apples scale including more RAM in popular models might potentially crash the DRAM market.

 

[JustAnExpat]

No. I doubt it. I expect the M4's to be released sometime late next year (or early 2025). 8GB is still going to be enough for general office work (word processing/ writing letters, accessing websites, etc). Why? Look at the history of memory in Macs:

What was the default RAM in Macs, how long did it stay, and when did it change? For simplicity and ease of research, I’ll start from the Steve Jobs era, and I will only focus on consumer portables. All information from MacTracker https://mactracker.ca/.

- 32MB. This was used in the iBook and iBook Special Edition in July, 1999 until it was discontinued in September, 2000. It lasted 14 months.

- 64MB. This was used in the Firewire iBooks from September 2000 until the Dual USB iBooks in October 2001. It lasted 13 months.

- 128MB. This was used in the late 2001 iBooks released in October 2001 through the iBook G4, discontinued in April, 2004. It lasted 32 months.

- 256MB. This was used in the Early 2004 iBook G4 released in April, 2004 through the late 2004 iBook G4 released in October 2004, sold until July, 2005. It lasted 15 months.

- 512MB. This was used from the Mid 2005 iBook G4 released in July, 2005, until the Mid 2007 MacBook, which was sold until November, 2007. It lasted 28 months.

- 1GB. This was used in the Late 2007 MacBook released on November, 2007 until the MacBook Late 2008, discontinued in January, 2009. It lasted 25 months.

- 2GB. This was used in the Late 2008 AL MacBook released on October, 2008, until the MacBook Air 11”, Mid 2011, which was discontinued n June, 2012. This lasted 44 months.

- 4GB. This was used in the MacBook Air 13”, Mid 2011 released in July, 2011 until the MacBook Air, 13” Early 2015, which was discontinued in June, 2017. This lasted for 71 months.

- 8GB. This was used as standard on MacBook Air, 2017, released on June, 2017 until now, in November, 2023. 77 months and counting.

Clearly, the amount of time machines stayed at 1GB was half what the time for 2GB, which was almost half of what 4GB. I expect 16GB to become standard in another 40 months (or about 4 years) or thereabouts, if trends continue.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Why would they?

 

[Pressure]

Nope. I think they'll stick with 8gb until they can't get 8gb chips anymore lol.

Apple does not use 8GB chips for the base 8GB of unified memory configuration though 🤷🏼‍♂️

They use two 4GB chips for a total of 8GB of unified memory.

I mean it's super hilarious to make fun of (for the thousandth time) but it only works if the joke doesn't reveal how technical illiterate half this community apparently are.

 

[Blaine]

I too thought the M3's would start with more

 

[kiranmk2]

No. I doubt it. I expect the M4's to be released sometime late next year (or early 2025). 8GB is still going to be enough for general office work (word processing/ writing letters, accessing websites, etc). Why? Look at the history of memory in Macs:

What was the default RAM in Macs, how long did it stay, and when did it change? For simplicity and ease of research, I’ll start from the Steve Jobs era, and I will only focus on consumer portables. All information from MacTracker https://mactracker.ca/.

- 32MB. This was used in the iBook and iBook Special Edition in July, 1999 until it was discontinued in September, 2000. It lasted 14 months.

- 64MB. This was used in the Firewire iBooks from September 2000 until the Dual USB iBooks in October 2001. It lasted 13 months.

- 128MB. This was used in the late 2001 iBooks released in October 2001 through the iBook G4, discontinued in April, 2004. It lasted 32 months.

- 256MB. This was used in the Early 2004 iBook G4 released in April, 2004 through the late 2004 iBook G4 released in October 2004, sold until July, 2005. It lasted 15 months.

- 512MB. This was used from the Mid 2005 iBook G4 released in July, 2005, until the Mid 2007 MacBook, which was sold until November, 2007. It lasted 28 months.

- 1GB. This was used in the Late 2007 MacBook released on November, 2007 until the MacBook Late 2008, discontinued in January, 2009. It lasted 25 months.

- 2GB. This was used in the Late 2008 AL MacBook released on October, 2008, until the MacBook Air 11”, Mid 2011, which was discontinued n June, 2012. This lasted 44 months.

- 4GB. This was used in the MacBook Air 13”, Mid 2011 released in July, 2011 until the MacBook Air, 13” Early 2015, which was discontinued in June, 2017. This lasted for 71 months.

- 8GB. This was used as standard on MacBook Air, 2017, released on June, 2017 until now, in November, 2023. 77 months and counting.

Clearly, the amount of time machines stayed at 1GB was half what the time for 2GB, which was almost half of what 4GB. I expect 16GB to become standard in another 40 months (or about 4 years) or thereabouts, if trends continue.

I think one thing that is different now is that RAM increases don't need to be a double. Previously I (and many others) thought M3 would launch with 12 GB as the base, but now I think that given the 18 GB base for the M3 Pro, we may se a bump to 10 GB when the base is upgraded (whenever that is).

 

[ric22]

Yes. There's a decade's worth of owners with less than 12GB RAM on their Macs and this would help sell it as a worthwhile upgrade.

They might even give us this bump mid-2024 when they release the M3 MacBook Airs. The base M3 MacBook Pro could receive the bump at the same time.

 

[kiranmk2]

My impression is that this really is penny pinching to drive short term profits at Apple to combat falling device sales. By keeping M3 at an 8 GB base, Apple have left themselves open to the following mid- and long term problems:

• Consumers who buy the base spec and find their Mac struggling in a year or so (or if they try to do anything beyond "basic" tasks) may think that paying the premium for an Apple computer isn't worth it and go back to Windows at the next upgrade
• Created less incentive for M1 owners to upgrade: as has been pointed out, M1 is perfect for basic tasks and it is likely that M1 will start to struggle at the same time that M3 starts to struggle with RAM so why bother upgrading?
• Unless Apple cuts device support early (which will again put off the consumers from the first point), they will have to ensure that the 2028 MacOS supports and runs well on 8 GB RAM. This means any prospective features (like LLMs) will have to be made to work with 8 GB

Given Apple is still pitching M3 as being suitable for Intel owners to upgrade from I would have thought that any RAM uplift at the base will be needed to start enticing Apple silicon owners to upgrade. At the current rate, I think 2024 MacOS will only support 2019/2020 Intel Macs and then 2025 MacOS will be the last version to support any Intel Mac which is probably around M5 release time.

 

[kiranmk2]

Yes. There's a decade's worth of owners with less than 12GB RAM on their Macs and this would help sell it as a worthwhile upgrade.

They might even give us this bump mid-2024 when they release the M3 MacBook Airs. The base M3 MacBook Pro could receive the bump at the same time.

The die is cast for M3 I think. The only 2024 bump I can see is if yields improve, then the base M3 Pro / Max chips could get more CPU/GPU cores.

 

[ric22]

The die is cast for M3 I think. The only 2024 bump I can see is if yields improve, then the base M3 Pro / Max chips could get more CPU/GPU cores.

I think you're likely right. The base M3 Pro might thankfully get a free bump because it's a bit disappointing as it is, with poorer graphical performance than its predecessor. Let's hope the yields improve.

 

[Abazigal]

I personally think the M3 series will be the final Macs to ship with 8 GB of memory at base configuration.

Thinking about the entry level MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and iMac, which all ship at 8 GB currently.

Those Macs currently at 16 GB maybe get bumped to 18 GB to retain a large enough gap from base?

It would depend on whether people's workflows evolve in the next few years to the point where 8gb ram proves insufficient for even basic computing tasks, and you need at least 12gb.

Else, only a small minority of Mac users upgrade their ram, and I doubt this results in any meaningful profit for Apple.

 

[Ethosik]

Why would they? 8GB is very usable today and the PC industry has workstations come with 8GB at $2,000 price tags.

 

[JustAnExpat]

Consumers who buy the base spec and find their Mac struggling in a year or so (or if they try to do anything beyond "basic" tasks) may think that paying the premium for an Apple computer isn't worth it and go back to Windows at the next upgrade

Can you give me an example of an 8GB barrier? I have an 8GB MacBook Air M1 and anything I throw at it - from programming with Xcode and Visual Studio Code, VMs with 4GB of Ram and Windows 11, making movies using FCP - it all works just fine. What more can I do to push my machine where it should start to struggle?

 

[hagjohn]

I personally think the M3 series will be the final Macs to ship with 8 GB of memory at base configuration.

Thinking about the entry level MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and iMac, which all ship at 8 GB currently.

Those Macs currently at 16 GB maybe get bumped to 18 GB to retain a large enough gap from base?

No. If it did, Apple would just raise the price for the extra memory.

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

We will be lucky if they come with anything more than 8GB this next release, and the next as well.

AND

If they do...

Do NOT be suprised if it is only 10GB, not even 12GB.

12GB is the MAXIMUM expectation over the next couple of releases.

10GB is the next....

And still being 8GB is still very possible.

 

[CalMin]

Software not hardware will dictate this.

Right now, MacOS runs beautifully with 8GB for the majority of most 'normal person' computing workflows, ie. email, internet, vacation photos, a little iMovie, some MS Office etc..

The user experience for most of these people is not significantly enhanced with 16GB RAM. I am not saying that 16GB RAM is not better than 8GB - it clearly is, but my Dad simply wouldn't benefit if his M1 Mac mini had 16GB RAM, and neither would my wife. Both are entirely happy with the way that their computers run.

As software evolves, at some point we will get to the point when 8GB won't adequately run MacOS plus your email, internet, vacation photos, some MS Office etc.. Only then can I see Apple being motivated to up the base RAM specifications to something more than 8GB.

 

[magbarn]

No. I doubt it. I expect the M4's to be released sometime late next year (or early 2025). 8GB is still going to be enough for general office work (word processing/ writing letters, accessing websites, etc). Why? Look at the history of memory in Macs:

What was the default RAM in Macs, how long did it stay, and when did it change? For simplicity and ease of research, I’ll start from the Steve Jobs era, and I will only focus on consumer portables. All information from MacTracker https://mactracker.ca/.

- 32MB. This was used in the iBook and iBook Special Edition in July, 1999 until it was discontinued in September, 2000. It lasted 14 months.

- 64MB. This was used in the Firewire iBooks from September 2000 until the Dual USB iBooks in October 2001. It lasted 13 months.

- 128MB. This was used in the late 2001 iBooks released in October 2001 through the iBook G4, discontinued in April, 2004. It lasted 32 months.

- 256MB. This was used in the Early 2004 iBook G4 released in April, 2004 through the late 2004 iBook G4 released in October 2004, sold until July, 2005. It lasted 15 months.

- 512MB. This was used from the Mid 2005 iBook G4 released in July, 2005, until the Mid 2007 MacBook, which was sold until November, 2007. It lasted 28 months.

- 1GB. This was used in the Late 2007 MacBook released on November, 2007 until the MacBook Late 2008, discontinued in January, 2009. It lasted 25 months.

- 2GB. This was used in the Late 2008 AL MacBook released on October, 2008, until the MacBook Air 11”, Mid 2011, which was discontinued n June, 2012. This lasted 44 months.

- 4GB. This was used in the MacBook Air 13”, Mid 2011 released in July, 2011 until the MacBook Air, 13” Early 2015, which was discontinued in June, 2017. This lasted for 71 months.

- 8GB. This was used as standard on MacBook Air, 2017, released on June, 2017 until now, in November, 2023. 77 months and counting.

Clearly, the amount of time machines stayed at 1GB was half what the time for 2GB, which was almost half of what 4GB. I expect 16GB to become standard in another 40 months (or about 4 years) or thereabouts, if trends continue.

I think this is more relevant:

- 8GB. This was used as standard on MacBook Pro, 2014, released on July, 2014 until now, in November, 2023. 111 months and counting.

I agree with the poster above, Apple will finally upgrade the base stat when they can't even procure 4gbx2 memory modules any more. Then again, I can see Timmy just putting 1x8gb module and cutting the memory speed in half, just to save a buck.

Some of us still remember when Apple was hawking 2gb machines and claiming that memory compression will make them perform like 4gb...