People who insist that 8GB ought to be enough for anybody.
The more streams of 4K would probably require a beefier Apple Silicon chip and more memory.
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I am really torn between 8GB vs. 16GB RAM
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The more streams of 4K would probably require a beefier Apple Silicon chip and more memory.
That's odd. Because I have over two dozen programs opening at startup and it would choke a 16GB Intel.
I added an Activity Monitor screenshot to my post.
Yes, one shouldn't run that many programs in the background at once but that's the way I enjoy using my Mac
Two things:
MacOS is designed to use nearly all the available memory so it’s not really an accurate way to assess future RAM requirement.
My suggestion was based on the top apps you’re using — safari and mail will do fine with 8GB unified memory. Of course you can go with 16GB if you have the money, but it’s largely unnecessary based on your usage.
Pro tip: Cleanmymac is garbage bloatware and should never be installed on a Mac.
The reason I am asking is that Activity Monitor is showing I use 31.38GB. However, I am not certain I am reading the graph correctly. I am not technically aware of how memory works.
Looking at the above graphs again, with the usage it is showing --- that same usage on an 8GB M1 would be acceptable?!
And I am aware of CleanMyMac issues.
Not since yesterday. Since updating to Big Sur I am getting random kernel panics every few days. It's a semi-common issue with Big Sur and 16" MBP.
However, I rebooted yesterday.
I also have a 16" but still on Catalina until after New Year's Day to avoid bugs.
Have you considered going back to Catalina?
This is the same reason I'm on iOS 13.7 even if I want Wi-Fi calling, VoWiF or VoLTE.
I believe your memory usage has more to do with Big Sur.
Holding out patiently for my 16Gb MBA to arrive c 15th Dec Having to fend off the urge to pick up a stock 8Gb from a non-Apple store tomorrow.
Having to fend off the urge to pick up a stock 8Gb from a non-Apple store tomorrow.The issue is, I am fine now. I can deal with the kernel panics. Big Sur will get updates that should fix that problem.
My concern is an M1 with 16GB of memory.
That's what I am asking about.
The fact you are asking me all these questions tells me that I have already exceeded the needed memory for moving to an M1 Mac Mini with 16GB of ram.
That is what I needed confirmation on.
It's a "false" workload. No one (well, nearly no one clearly) needs 4 simultaneous streams of 4K compressed H.264 video on their timeline. The example is only made to push the system and see how it performs.People who insist that 8GB ought to be enough for anybody.
The more streams of 4K would probably require a beefier Apple Silicon chip and more memory.
Sometimes you can use that many simultaneous streams in an intro like in Top Gear with many split screens but the average YouTuber or corporate video surely doesn't need it.
Also it would require beefier encode and decode capabilities which is a separate thing on the SoC from the actual processors to playback multiple 8K streams but the market for that does not overlap with those who buy the cheapest and low end Mac computers.
Before Apple had to wait for third parties like Intel or AMD to implement those capabilities but now they are "free" to implement it themselves. Just like USB4 in the current M1 SoC.
Is that the Activity Monitor app? If so, how do you get the memory pressure to appear as a percentage and not a graph?
One is iStats and one is Activity Monitor
Looking at the readouts, do you think I am going to be okay moving to a M1 16GB device?
The discussion is interesting.
I can only speak for myself but I went with a 16 GB Mac Mini. I'm in the middle of a workday and on my current (2013 27" iMac) my memory usage looks like this:
My current computer has 24 GB of RAM and I've only used more than 16 GB a handful of times. Also I suspect that a lot of my used memory is just reserved because there is room to spare so of the 11-12 GB "used" memory not all of it is actually needed. Also note that all Microsoft programs are huge memory hogs
If I can get my workflow to work (a bit worried about AutoCAD) when I get my M1 Mini it will be interesting to see how memory usage will look like.
And I suspect that even with 8 GB and fast SSD I wouldn't have any problems.
I can only speak for myself but I went with a 16 GB Mac Mini. I'm in the middle of a workday and on my current (2013 27" iMac) my memory usage looks like this:
My current computer has 24 GB of RAM and I've only used more than 16 GB a handful of times. Also I suspect that a lot of my used memory is just reserved because there is room to spare so of the 11-12 GB "used" memory not all of it is actually needed. Also note that all Microsoft programs are huge memory hogs
If I can get my workflow to work (a bit worried about AutoCAD) when I get my M1 Mini it will be interesting to see how memory usage will look like.
And I suspect that even with 8 GB and fast SSD I wouldn't have any problems.
Honestly, yes. These machines are not using RAM the same way that Intel devices do. Your graph shows very low memory pressure which is good, and if that is an indicator of what you would do with the RAM you have currently, I think that 16GB is perfect for you. You might be able to get away with 8 but if you can get 16, get it.
I'd wait for January-April 2021 for Macs that will meet your needs.
M1 Macs are marketed towards ~80% of the market.
Which largely does cover people on Apple forums.
You made my day! That is fantastic news!
I would choke on a 16GB Intel machine. However, you confirmed my suspicion that memory is being handled much differently with the M1 chip and it should be fine.
If it's not, I trade in my 16GB Mini whenever the refresh is done on the Intel models.
Thank You!
Awesome! I would definitely of course try it out and really push your device and do what you would normally do when you work on it, but also do a bit more. Just throw in a couple of high definition YouTube videos in the background and some excel sheets while using the Mac on a 16gb configuration, and see if they're are any slowdowns. Also, from what I've seen, of the three new M1 Macs, the Mini is the most powerful due to its design, better cooling, etc. I was going for the 16gb Air but the 8gb is handling things so well, I'm not even sure I will upgrade. I think it will come down to how long I will keep this Mac. I'm thinking 8gb will do fine for at least 5 years in my use case.
If you have the time and access to an Apple Store that is willing to let you boot off their M1 Macs why not do that and give it a go?
I'd make a bootable carbon copy of your current Mac onto an external SSD.
Ask Apple Store if you can boot off it to check on RAM use.
Once satisified buy the 16GB Mac.
Attaching a drive? No way they're going for that, or change security settings to allow it.