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

[jazz1]

I'd guess that a good chunk of people on this forum would not really care about a $200 expense. I see so many people buying MBP 16s and you're not pinching pennies buying one of those. Apple is a luxury goods maker and I'm always amazed at how many well-heeled customers they have around the world.

I certainly don’t disagree about the “luxury” aspect of Apple. I will give them credit for coming up with a couple of tiers that keeps the pricing in check for the “lower end” models. Yes, even with that they are not inexpensive. But I keep on reminding myself what people spend on a cellular phone or watches. For me the MacMini starting price, or the new MacBook Air‘s starting prices don’t look so bad if you want the Apple experience.

 

[darkharbour]

I think M1 7 core base with 16G/512GB is the sweet spot.

Yeah, I assumed when I ordered immediately after the event that it’d be silly to go for the only M1 without 8 GPU cores, but looking at the few comparisons I can find, it doesn’t look like the base MacBook Air misses it very much. I would think for a lot of workloads a 7-core with 16GB would outpace an 8-core with 8GB - especially since I don’t ever use my system for gaming.

 

[gank41]

It seems like if you’re on the fence about spending an extra $200 for something you can’t upgrade later on a device that’s already north of $1k, just get the extra RAM.

 

[thegiftofdom]

It seems like if you’re on the fence about spending an extra $200 for something you can’t upgrade later on a device that’s already north of $1k, just get the extra RAM.

Thats the conclusion I'm coming to. Probably going to get the 16gb model.

 

[coorsleftfield]

I think M1 7 core base with 16G/512GB is the sweet spot.

That is what I ordered, throwing $50 at another core seems like a waste. The extra 8G of ram is only $180 with educational pricing. It's being delivered today. The only reason I'm thinking about returning it for a base 8gb is that I'd likely upgrade to the 16" when it becomes available.

 

[richard371]

Thats the conclusion I'm coming to. Probably going to get the 16gb model.

Yup I went with the MBP 16/1tb. Figure that should be future proof for awhile. Even the dells we give to users at my work have 32GB. 16 is the gold standard now. I think 8gb will be fine for most people but I'm thinking a few years down the road.

 

[zamin]

You buy cheap, you buy twice - get 16GB.

 

[howlingsun]

Good video showing a bit more how M1 handles when running out of RAM using Photoshop and how performance is then reduced.

I think it showes that with large files you will indeed run out of memory, its not magic. I am worried with only having ordered 16GB ram, but I do not have as large a files as he uses, but close.

 

[SigEp265]

Guys, I live in Athens - Greece and the BTO Macbook Pro M1 I ordered with 16 gigs of RAM is going to take another 2 weeks to arrive, so yesterday I picked up a Macbook Pro M1 8/512. Everyone here can go on forever about the 8GB and 16GB difference but I am telling you, I am keeping this machine! 8GB in a M1 Mac is like 16GB on an Intel Mac. I am a graphic designer and I usually have a lot of programs open. Right now I have all the programs that you see in the screenshot open, I am working on a rather big psb in Photoshop native beta, two big vector files in intel Illustrator, one file in inDesign, I am watching a 4K movie in AppleTV, one huge company credentials file in keynote, etc, and the Macbook flies, no slowdown what so ever. I don't know (and don't care), if it's because of the M1 pool thing or the (amazing) speed of the M1, I do know that 8 GB in this machine acts like 16 on my previous Macbook Pro 13" high end with 16GB of RAM and quadcore i7 - 1TB SSD. For the OP and anyone wondering, get the 8GB with out worrying!

Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop already work for the M1? I am confused because you said intel Illustrator. Typo ??

 

[ghanwani]

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

Are you sure? Every time I have looked at trading in via Apple the only question that is asked is SSD size. No questions about RAM or CPU.

 

[EugW]

Beachballing in Blender on 8 GB M1 machine. Video has been sped up.

Only a few seconds (after accounting for the speedup) but it does show M1 machines aren't magic. However, the 3 GB/s SSD do help greatly. In reviews, the M1 8 GB models when doing heavy duty stuff usually have much larger swap files than the 16 GB models do.

 

[digitalbreak]

I feel like these videos are like benchmarks - they do prove a point, but in reality, I don't think these videos are going to help you choose. Again, folks using such advanced 8k editing or high fidelity large files in Photoshop, should continue using Intel-based MacBook Pro, preferably the 16" MacBook Pros. Otherwise, seriously, the 8GB is blazing fast and is proving to be the equivalent of a 16GB MacBook Pro machine.

 

[Leymin]

16 GB M1 MBP here. I had delayed the upgrade from an aging 2011 MBP because of the keyboard issues then the expected switch to Apple Silicon. Now, MacBooks have never been more desirable and who knows what could go wrong with the next hardware iteration. I’d rather buy with 16GB RAM now and have peace of mind for several years.

 

[m1maverick]

You buy cheap, you buy twice - get 16GB.

Most likely the 2nd purchase will be something that is a step up from the current M1 processor.

 

[AJB1971]

And another video on the same subject. This one focuses on multitasking. He does discuss the topic of swap memory and the effects it has on SSD longevity. Cut to the final part if you don't want to watch it all the way through -

 

[m1maverick]

Beachballing in Blender on 8 GB M1 machine. Video has been sped up.

Only a few seconds (after accounting for the speedup) but it does show M1 machines aren't magic. However, the 3 GB/s SSD do help greatly. In reviews, the M1 8 GB models when doing heavy duty stuff usually have much larger swap files than the 16 GB models do.

Given the choice between a RAM or SSD upgrade I'd opt to upgrade the RAM. At least one can add an external drive if one needs more space. The same cannot be said about the RAM.

 

[thegiftofdom]

I feel like these videos are like benchmarks - they do prove a point, but in reality, I don't think these videos are going to help you choose. Again, folks using such advanced 8k editing or high fidelity large files in Photoshop, should continue using Intel-based MacBook Pro, preferably the 16" MacBook Pros. Otherwise, seriously, the 8GB is blazing fast and is proving to be the equivalent of a 16GB MacBook Pro machine.

I'm flipping back and forth here. Currently have an M1 8GB Air, and while I'm maxing out RAM usage, this thing is still super fast and not warm. Maybe it's worth keeping, I don't know.

 

[m1maverick]

I'm flipping back and forth here. Currently have an M1 8GB Air, and while I'm maxing out RAM usage, this thing is still super fast and not warm. Maybe it's worth keeping, I don't know.

If you're currently pushing the limits of memory then I would recommend moving to the next level. It's unlikely your RAM requirements are likely to decrease.

 

[1240766]

I have not tested, but I think because of the unified design the GPU and CPU share the RAM, so that being the case when you plug an external monitor to your Mac the GPU will require memory and now you have processing and display competing for the memory. With that being said, I have not measure anything to give an authoritative opinion - this is simply my thoughts.

 

[wacomme]

I bought the base model Air thinking 8GB would be sufficient. And maybe it is, since I don't have a 16GB Air for comparison. However, When I open a lot of apps and tabs in both Chrome and Safari I do get slowdown and an occasional beachball. I really didn't think this would happen. Activity Monitor seems to show a lot of swap being used. The question is if this slowdown due to the lack of RAM or CPU load (thinking RAM since the most CPU load I've seen in Activity Monitor is 30%).

So, if I return the base model for the 16GB RAM model, will the slowness issues go away? And yes, I usually don't have so many apps open at once, but it's not that uncommon - these are basic business and video conferencing apps using a 4K external monitor. I'm also using about 100GB on the SSD drive; I store my files in iCloud. Do I buy the 256GB SSD 7 Core with 16GB of RAM or the 8 Core 512 GB Air with 16GB of RAM? Is there any advantage in going with 8 CORE GUI and a 512 GB SSD? The extra RAM I'm now seining the need, but is there any real-world advantage of the 512 GB SSD or the 8 CORE GUI?

Michael

 

[thegiftofdom]

If you're currently pushing the limits of memory then I would recommend moving to the next level. It's unlikely your RAM requirements are likely to decrease.

You're probably right. This is screenshot is the absolute highest my Mac was pushed, and it was fine, it's just the future that worries me. Peace of mind...peace of mind...

 

[m1maverick]

I bought the base model Air thinking 8GB would be sufficient. And maybe it is, since I don't have a 16GB Air for comparison. However, When I open a lot of apps and tabs in both Chrome and Safari I do get slowdown and an occasional beachball. I really didn't think this would happen. Activity Monitor seems to show a lot of swap being used. The question is if this slowdown due to the lack of RAM or CPU load (thinking RAM since the most CPU load I've seen in Activity Monitor is 30%).

So, if I return the base model for the 16GB RAM model, will the slowness issues go away? And yes, I usually don't have so many apps open at once, but it's not that uncommon - these are basic business and video conferencing apps using a 4K external monitor. I'm also using about 100GB on the SSD drive; I store my files in iCloud. Do I buy the 256GB SSD 7 Core with 16GB of RAM or the 8 Core 512 GB Air with 16GB of RAM? Is there any advantage in going with 8 CORE GUI and a 512 GB SSD? The extra RAM I'm now seining the need, but is there any real-world advantage of the 512 GB SSD or the 8 CORE GUI?

Michael

Very likely if you're pushing the limits of 8GB. While the SSDs in the M1 systems are fast they're not as fast as RAM.

 

[thegiftofdom]

I bought the base model Air thinking 8GB would be sufficient. And maybe it is, since I don't have a 16GB Air for comparison. However, When I open a lot of apps and tabs in both Chrome and Safari I do get slowdown and an occasional beachball. I really didn't think this would happen. Activity Monitor seems to show a lot of swap being used. The question is if this slowdown due to the lack of RAM or CPU load (thinking RAM since the most CPU load I've seen in Activity Monitor is 30%).

So, if I return the base model for the 16GB RAM model, will the slowness issues go away? And yes, I usually don't have so many apps open at once, but it's not that uncommon - these are basic business and video conferencing apps using a 4K external monitor. I'm also using about 100GB on the SSD drive; I store my files in iCloud. Do I buy the 256GB SSD 7 Core with 16GB of RAM or the 8 Core 512 GB Air with 16GB of RAM? Is there any advantage in going with 8 CORE GUI and a 512 GB SSD? The extra RAM I'm now seining the need, but is there any real-world advantage of the 512 GB SSD or the 8 CORE GUI?

Michael

If you're in the red for the memory pressure graph then you will definitely need more RAM.

 

[m1maverick]

You're probably right. This is screenshot is the absolute highest my Mac was pushed, and it was fine, it's just the future that worries me. Peace of mind...peace of mind...

You have a lot of swap in use. Some swap isn't a problem but your usage is over 5GB, Memory pressure is green which is a good sign.

 

[wacomme]

If you're in the red for the memory pressure graph then you will definitely need more RAM.

Yes. Thanks. I think the need for 16GB RAM is a given - I think that's the reason for my speed slowdown. But is there any real benefit for the 512 GB SSD or the 8 CORE GUI?