I am really torn between 8GB vs. 16GB RAM

[Booji]

I am ready to push the button on my M1 Pro but am leaning towards 16GB as I have always chosen to upgrade RAM in the past and have never regretted the decision. My use case where I think I might need is for video and photo editing in Adobe.

I am now reading so many reviews that the M1 is a new paradigm and 8GB seems to be more than enough for anyone but the most demanding users.

Making it harder is the fact that all of the models available through third party re-sellers like Amazon offer discounts of up to 5%, but they are limited to 8GB models.

I am biased to go for the 16GB anyway, but still foregoing the discount makes the net price of the upgrade very expensive.

 

[NJRonbo]

I feel your pain.

The biggest problem is the lack of knowledge any of us have about memory in these new M1 devices.

Allegedly, you can't compare memory to an Intel machine.

Allegedly, 8GB is the new 16GB and 16GB the new 32. However, that all depends on who you listen to.

Apple is just not explaining any of this to us. They don't want us knowing their secret sauce.

I would definitely go 16GB, however.

 

[ArPe]

I feel your pain.

The biggest problem is the lack of knowledge any of us have about memory in these new M1 devices.

Allegedly, you can't compare memory to an Intel machine.

Allegedly, 8GB is the new 16GB and 16GB the new 32. However, that all depends on who you listen to.

Apple is just not explaining any of this to us. They don't want us knowing their secret sauce.

I would definitely go 16GB, however.

There are myths spread around that UMA has different memory consumption. That’s wrong. The way it moves data around is different from the x86 architecture (which has various interconnects to memory and GPUs) but the amount of memory the operating system, apps and documents/files consumes doesn’t change.

It will always be preferable to use real RAM than swapping to disk. The latter will age your drive faster. If you’re a creative or developer you should get more RAM every time.

 

[Booji]

I feel your pain.

The biggest problem is the lack of knowledge any of us have about memory in these new M1 devices.

Allegedly, you can't compare memory to an Intel machine.

Allegedly, 8GB is the new 16GB and 16GB the new 32. However, that all depends on who you listen to.

Apple is just not explaining any of this to us. They don't want us knowing their secret sauce.

I would definitely go 16GB, however.

Thanks! I am not a power user, but in my current Intel machine with 8GB I am feeling the pain right now and it seems crazy that Apple would sell a "Pro" machine in 2020 with 8GB unless that secret sauce really is something special.

 

[Moakesy]

Have a read of this thread...

I must admit, I'm very impressed with how my Mac mini (M1, 2020) is performing

Subject: I must admit, I'm very impressed with how my Mac mini (M1, 2020) is performing After listening to the Apple event introducing the M1 models I will admit I was a bit skeptical about all the claims being made. I started reading up on the various Reviews who mostly were applauding Apple's...

forums.macrumors.com

Ok, it’s a Mac mini rather than a MBP, but it’s an 8gb model, so basically the same.

Personally, if I were in your situation, I’d go for the saving over the 16gb. Any limitations of 8gb don’t appear to be that significant.

 

[acidfast7_redux]

Honestly, everything is lightening quick with 8GB RAM. I don't think that the upgrade is worth 20% of the cost of the machine. If one upgrades the SSD as well, then it's 40% of the cost of the machine.

At that point, I'd rather just upgrade the entire machine.

I am very green (walk to work and have family walk to schooling) so this saddens me quite a bit but hopefully I could get my older machine into someone else's hands second-hand to decrease the overall usage footprint of that first machine.

 

[NJRonbo]

The mini is not a PRO machine. Maybe I read that wrong. However, it outperforms some pro models.

My situation with memory is that I have over 2 dozen programs at startup that work in the background or easily accessible from the menu bar. I would choke on a 16GB Intel machine. However, I am wondering if I would get the same result on a 16GB M1 configuration.

 

[acidfast7_redux]

The mini is not a PRO machine. Maybe I read that wrong. However, it outperforms some pro models.

My situation with memory is that I have over 2 dozen programs at startup that work in the background or easily accessible from the menu bar. I would choke on a 16GB Intel machine. However, I am wondering if I would get the same result on a 16GB M1 configuration.

Is be stunned if they didn't work flawlessly with 8GB.

Also, I think you need to stop throwing the PRO moniker around like it pulls any weight as the difference between the MBA and the MBP of this iteration are minimal.

 

[NJRonbo]

Is be stunned if they didn't work flawlessly with 8GB.

Also, I think you need to stop throwing the PRO moniker around like it pulls any weight as the difference between the MBA and the MBP of this iteration are minimal.

Two things here...

First, you are saying I could bloat my startup programs (I run over two dozen of them), which would normally choke a 16GB Intel but would probably make no impact on an 8GB M1 model?! Just want to be sure I am reading that opinion correctly.

Secondly, these may act like PRO machines but in the near future Apple lineup at this moment, they aren't. We know this because Apple is introducing much more powerful machines next year. And there is a difference between the AIR and the MBP as far as the word PRO is concerned: the MBP won't throttle like the AIR will. It also has the touch bar which to date is a PRO feature.

However, we can agree that the difference between the AIR and MBP is minimal and that these machines are currently as powerful as the top Apple Intel Pro machines in many aspects.

 

[Moakesy]

All of the M1 machines are basically the same but packaged in a different form factor. Some with fans, some not etc. Performance will only suffer under sustained heavy load, which appears to be around 10mins at max, according to tests.

Your 20+ startup programs will be fine on a 8gb machine. There hasn’t been a single review I’ve seen where the M1 has struggled. Much like with Covid, we have to get used to a new normal, only this time in a much more positive way!

 

[NJRonbo]

All of the M1 machines are basically the same but packaged in a different form factor. Some with fans, some not etc. Performance will only suffer under sustained heavy load, which appears to be around 10mins at max, according to tests.

Your 20+ startup programs will be fine on a 8gb machine. There hasn’t been a single review I’ve seen where the M1 has struggled. Much like with Covid, we have to get used to a new normal, only this time in a much more positive way!

That's very encouraging news. That being the case, I would still go 16GB just to future-proof.

Now I just have to see if the M1 Mini can drive a 46" Ultrawide screen display but that's in another thread...

 

[IowaLynn]

These are 1.0 entry level teasers. The pool of memory is efficient and reduces latencies.

You can write 100's of TB for years on SSDs.

The m1 MBP probably should've been just MB but that could be confused with the 2016 MB.

The iMac is probably next up late spring WWDC time. The iMac "Pro" - who knows, fall? And the real Mac Pro might take longer and wait for 2022. A16-series on 4nm. 64/128GB RAM.

For context, look at what people paid for Mac Plus in 1987. SE in 1988. $4-6,000 for SE/30. Or IIx and IIfx, like the IBM PC-XT -AT etc in 1980's. We are at the Mac Plus waiting for the Mac IIcx/ci.

A computer for less than iPhone 12 "pro" Max. (Why not just "Max?" Keep it short and sweet.)

Th fall edition of the Intel Mac Mini has 85% speed of the SSD in the m1, 2200 vs 2800. Can upgrade memory yourself to 64GB for US$200. For ~$1500.

 

[NJRonbo]

These are 1.0 entry level teasers. The pool of memory is efficient and reduces latencies.

You can write 100's of TB for years on SSDs.

The m1 MBP probably should've been just MB but that could be confused with the 2016 MB.

The iMac is probably next up late spring WWDC time. The iMac "Pro" - who knows, fall? And the real Mac Pro might take longer and wait for 2022. A16-series on 4nm. 64/128GB RAM.

For context, look at what people paid for Mac Plus in 1987. SE in 1988. $4-6,000 for SE/30. Or IIx and IIfx, like the IBM PC-XT -AT etc in 1980's. We are at the Mac Plus waiting for the Mac IIcx/ci.

A computer for less than iPhone 12 "pro" Max. (Why not just "Max?" Keep it short and sweet.)

Th fall edition of the Intel Mac Mini has 85% speed of the SSD in the m1, 2200 vs 2800. Can upgrade memory yourself to 64GB for US$200. For ~$1500.

Iowa, do you see these current M1 Minis getting upgraded late next year? The current M1 is silver in color for a reason. Space Grey is considered the Pro version.

We know the 16" MBP is due for a redesign and should have a more powerful M1 varient.

 

[hans1972]

Two things here...

First, you are saying I could bloat my startup programs (I run over two dozen of them), which would normally choke a 16GB Intel but would probably make no impact on an 8GB M1 model?! Just want to be sure I am reading that opinion correctly.

How is your memory pressure in Activity Monitor on your current machine? If it is green you have not choked your memory.

 

[LiE_]

This being gen 1, there may be quite compelling reasons to upgrade sooner than normal. Unless you’ll leverage that extra 8GB on day one then I’d suggest holding on to your money for now. In the next 2 years we may see some redesigns and start to see Apple really innovate now that they have control of the full stack. Did

 

[NJRonbo]

How is your memory pressure in Activity Monitor on your current machine? If it is green you have not choked your memory.

My current machine is a 16" MBP with 64GB ram. I did have 2019 13" MBP with 16GB of ram running the same two dozen-plus startup programs I could see the memory indicator in iStat Menus fill completely up.

 

[Tankmaze]

Go for the 16GB, more RAM is always a good thing.

 

[IowaLynn]

Iowa, do you see these current M1 Minis getting upgraded late next year? The current M1 is silver in color for a reason. Space Grey is considered the Pro version.

We know the 16" MBP is due for a redesign and should have a more powerful M1 varient.

The Mini has not been known for getting regular let alone frequent updates. Apple really has a lot on its plate during two year transition. It seems that between March and now it got under the hood tweak to speed of SSD, maybe shares something in common with m1? (Was just happy to see those 22-2500MB/sec numbers).

One thing Apple has to do is find some SO-DIMMs that meet its profile - 4-slots instead of two, with all the right boxes checked - maybe 16 and 32GB DIMMs are in short supply. 4GB are "dime a dozen"

The mini as is needs to get into people's hands to do the work compiling and converting and building new versions - things that compiling on GPGPU and CUDA were designed for each other and it seems the m1 can deliver the way gpu/memory and processor are tied together. FORTRAN on a GPU using parallel computing.

"We want to see where this can go" meaning it evolves as you cross one hurdle and design for the next, too. Amazing that this is decades long project.

Apple has people itching to see. That's good. It's ground floor. Where the everyday is. The "fashion department" is on 6th (or 5th, or Rodeo Dr).

 

[LiE_]

Go for the 16GB, more RAM is always a good thing.

Unless 8GB works well and you plan to replace when a redesign drops.

 

[IowaLynn]

When you trade in next November, your $200 / 16GB upgrade will more than pay for itself.
You always want something to trade with.

 

[NJRonbo]

When you trade in next November, your $200 / 16GB upgrade will more than pay for itself.
You always want something to trade with.

That is an excellent point!

 

[pepinto]

I found this video on YT. It may be useful:

 

[q64ceo]

What exactly do you use your rig for?

If its just for browsing the net and watching Netflix then 8GB is really all one needs.

If you like to play demanding games then 16GB would be better

 

[aleni]

I’d rather get the 8gb and save the money use it for upgrading to next year’s m2.

 

[YourArsenal87]

I’d rather get the 8gb and save the money use it for upgrading to next year’s m2.

This is what I went for. Although I'll probably hold off upgrading a year or two more. Also, in my region, there was/is about a 2-3 week long wait time for the 16gb models.