Has anyone bought a base 8GB memory Mini and wished they had upgraded?

[jasoncarle]

As the title states, I am wondering if anyone here has used the base M1 Mini and wished they had upped the spec to 16GBs of RAM instead.

What made you decide that the 8GB wasn't enough?

Thanks.

 

[ivnj]

No, 8gb was / is good enough.

 

[Apple_Robert]

OP,

It would make more sense to state your current day to day usage and ask if 8GB would be enough with a M1, versus asking such a vague and open-ended question that really doesn't mean anything without context. It would help make sure you get more meaningful replies.

 

[dmccloud]

Not the Mini, but I went with the 8GB/512GB M1 MBP and haven't regretted it for a moment. If I was using the machine for 4k video editing, then I'd have probably waited for a 16GB model, but I have another machine I can use for that purpose already.

 

[MarkAtl]

I’ve run into a few memory issues on my 8GB/256 M1 MBP with a ton of tabs and Google docs open, where I’ve had slowdowns and beach balls. But it’s not common.

My base M1 Mini has been fine as I’m using it more for Zoom calls and document sharing on Zoom.

 

[Lowhangers]

No, I have the 8GB and it’s working very well for me. I see no need for the extra RAM. It would have cost significantly more and would not have made much difference for what I use my Mac mini for each day.

Unless you handle huge video files, or similar use cases, I see no need for the extra RAM.

 

[jasoncarle]

OP,

It would make more sense to state your current day to day usage and ask if 8GB would be enough with a M1, versus asking such a vague and open-ended question that really doesn't mean anything without context. It would help make sure you get more meaningful replies.

Same thing I do every night Pinky, try to take over the world...

 

[jasoncarle]

I’ve run into a few memory issues on my 8GB/256 M1 MBP with a ton of tabs and Google docs open, where I’ve had slowdowns and beach balls. But it’s not common.

My base M1 Mini has been fine as I’m using it more for Zoom calls and document sharing on Zoom.

What is "a ton" of tabs for you? I can often have say 5 or 6 open at a time, email, and music playing.

 

[ksloth]

No probs, no regrets with the 8GB MacBook Pro. Even when it runs into swap memory, the SSD is so fast that it isn't noticeable to me.

 

[theanimala]

I came from a late 2012 I7 16GB Mac Mini to an 8GB M1 mini and I have no regrets. This thing is a beast in comparison.

 

[Coheebuzz]

I do exceed its capacity fairly often and writing to swap memory but i am not feeling it, i tested it on some of my larger 1Gb+ Photoshop posters that aren't even on the fast drive and everything goes smooth, i can copy the entire thing in the clipboard and it feels as fast as copying a line of text.

If you are not that budget conscious then by all means go for the 16GB for good measure, but if the question is 'would you pay any amount of money for a hardly perceivable improvement' then the answer is no.

 

[theSeb]

I do exceed its capacity fairly often and writing to swap memory but i am not feeling it, i tested it on some of my larger 1Gb+ Photoshop posters that aren't even on the fast drive and everything goes smooth, i can copy the entire thing in the clipboard and it feels as fast as copying a line of text.

If you are not that budget conscious then by all means go for the 16GB for good measure, but if the question is 'would you pay any amount of money for a hardly perceivable improvement' then the answer is no.

I assume you have tried the same workflow for multiple days on an M1 Mac with 16 GBs to be able to declare that the performance difference would be a hardly perceivable improvement?

My cached files in memory alone right now is 9 GBs. Memory is and always will be A LOT faster than the fastest SSD.

 

[Coheebuzz]

I assume you have tried the same workflow for multiple days on an M1 Mac with 16 GBs to be able to declare that the performance difference would be a hardly perceivable improvement?

My cached files in memory alone right now is 9 GBs. Memory is and always will be A LOT faster than the fastest SSD.

10 molecules are 10 times bigger than 1 molecule yet they are still imperceivable to human perception.

 

[xylitol]

Nope, this base model Mini is just a dipping a toe in the water -machine for me. If and when I want more than 8GB, I want at least 32GB.

 

[BeatCrazy]

8GB M1 mini here, no regrets. But I recently started using more "professional" software (RX 7 Standard), and noticed some slowdown/odd behavior when I was working on bigger projects. But my memory pressure looked just fine, I think it was only using 2GB for that particular program.

So I think it was just because it's an Intel application, I think the more ARM apps we get and the more macOS revisions we get, the better the performance will continue to improve.

 

[jerryk]

For me, the 8GB has proved sufficient. The M1 seems to require less memory than Intel-based systems and has proved sufficient for my needs.

 

[alien3dx]

waiting software like i work on 16 gb equal in m1 then m1 worth 16gb ram. now still not worth.

 

[Tev11]

I got the 16 GB RAM Mac mini and I don't know if the added RAM has helped me ... yet. We'll see in the near future.

 

[InwardMomentum]

the 8 gb for me was just not enought , even at 16 gb right now , I am max out the CPU and I utilize 13 GB all the time.

 

[scgf]

I'm very pleased I went for the base model. Paying the extra for 16GB would have been a complete waste of money for me. The problem is that people are so used to the way Intel Macs manage memory they assume they will need that extra RAM. I would say 8GB on an M1 Mac is easily the equivalent of 16GB on an Intel Mac. I've not heard of anyone hitting any sort of barrier in normal use, only those who have been trying to catch it out and looking hard for problems.

 

[fmacmac]

***No problems with the 8GB
***BUT when I put side by side with the 16GB I did see the advantages of more memory.

 

[jerryk]

Another thing is that the M1 is 1st generation of Mac AS SOCs. The rumors imply a new SOC in a year or less which makes sense when you consider 14" and 16" MBP replacements, Because of this I decided not to overspend on a M1 based system.

 

[Leon1das]

I am on 8Gb MBP.

Yes 16Gb is better for multitasking and large files manipulation like video editing.

But Mac with 8Gb will also encode video with bigger swap use.

One scenario where I see 16Gb as an absolute must is virtualization...
If you are running memory demanding x86 app in virtualized Windows 10 - you probably need 16Gb... as you need to split/allocate your RAM between host and virtualized machine and leaving 4Gb each may not be enough...

 

[scgf]

Another thing is that the M1 is 1st generation of Mac AS SOCs. The rumors imply a new SOC in a year or less which makes sense when you consider 14" and 16" MBP replacements, Because of this I decided not to overspend on a M1 based system.

It's actually not a new product as such. The M1 SOC is pretty much what Apple uses in its iPhones and iPads - it has been refined and improved over many years and tweaked to work with macOS. That's partly why I was more than happy to buy the base Mac Mini model. I didn't feel I would be using a first generation product as such.

 

[jerryk]

It's actually not a new product as such. The M1 SOC is pretty much what Apple uses in its iPhones and iPads - it has been refined and improved over many years and tweaked to work with macOS. That's partly why I was more than happy to buy the base Mac Mini model. I didn't feel I would be using a first generation product as such.

I agree with that, but moving to Macs has it's own issues that phone/iPad does not have to deal with and must be resolved with computers. Things like multiple monitor support for more than 2 monitors, support for a host of external peripherals from keyboards to drives to .., high-performance internal and external GPUs, etc.

I have no doubt that Apple managers and engineers have already thought about these issues and a lot more. But know these are things that likely will require updates to the Mxx architecture.