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

[1240766]

Do the heaviest thing you do on a daily basis while activity monitor is up and running. If you see memory pressure go into yellow (which my 8gb Mac mini does) then you need 16gb. If it's green all the time despite pushing as hard as you want to, then 8gb is fine.

been there, done that... 8gb no pressure on yellow at all... again, it is at this point a want more than need. The 8gb is handling everything I throw at it. I did start with the 256 disk and changed to the 512, really happy I did. I do notice it to be more snappy with the 512.

 

[phil.544]

I like that. Question - what if there is no MPB 14"?

it’s unlikely they’ll sell a 4 thunderbolt M1 MBP without a redesign. If that’s the case I’ll keep my base Air and wait for the redesign with mini led and all the new things coming.

 

[armoured]

So I made a decision. I'm getting the base version because I'm upgrading in about 6 months to the coming MBP 14". Here is my decision process!

Not a bad decision tree, no major disagreements.

I'd probably add towards the very bottom (after or right on same level as the "are you sure you can live with 8 gb / no tree) "Are you really still thinking about this? Buy the 16gb and stop thinking about this."

 

[1240766]

it’s unlikely they’ll sell a 4 thunderbolt M1 MBP without a redesign. If that’s the case I’ll keep my base Air and wait for the redesign with mini led and all the new things coming.

No doubt, different strokes for different folks... I like "what if" scenarios, but I also like the truth of the present. The base Air is great, I am sure you are safe there...

In my mind, the truth of the present to me - today, do I want (no need) 8gb or 16gb... tomorrow if something comes up, then there will be another question - do I want/need the new thing.....

 

[JeepGuy]

SAME. But we know that Apple ain't bringing DIMM slots back to their mobiles.

They should have kept them in the mini, it seems like a step backwards.

 

[Bob_DM]

That may be the situation for this particular use case. Other use cases may have different requirements.

A system is only as fast as the slowest component a specific work load depends on. If your use case requires a specific amount of memory, say 16GB, and you're using an 8GB system then your use case is limited to the speed of moving information to and from RAM and the SSD.

While SSDs have decreased the impact of low RAM situations they are no substitute for RAM. I mentioned earlier that the SSD in my M1 Mini is capable of reading data at 2.1GB/sec and writing it at 2.5GB/sec. RAM in the M1 systems is rated at approximately 60GB/sec.

One of the speed enhancing steps Apple made with the M1 was to create Unified Memory. The idea behind Unified Memory is to ensure all the different components that needed access to data had access to data without the need to shuffle around. Each component, such as the GPU, had direct access to the same memory as the CPU. By doing this performance could be increased.

Now you have a number of people who are effectively recommending negating this performance benefit by recommending using even slower SSDs. Instead of keeping everything the shared memory the recommendation is to go out and retrieve data from SSD through the virtual memory paging system. Now you have a high performance CPU which cannot perform to its peak because it's waiting on data from a, relatively speaking, slow SSD. That doesn't make sense.

It may be a good choice for systems which do not require a lot of RAM. I wonder how Apple plans to handle systems which require large amounts of RAM. Will they be able to put, say, 128GB on the chip itself? Will they resort to external RAM? Or something in between where there's, say, 16GB on chip (as is the case today) which will function as a cache for the off chip RAM? It'll be interesting to see.

16GB and ssd on chip + some free RAM slots and free NVMe slot would be great: compact and upgradable!

 

[pepinto]

For someone that wants to keep the M1 MacBook for 4 or 5 years maybe does it makes sense to get the 16GB version? (even if today 8GB is enough)

 

[pugxiwawa]

For someone that wants to keep the M1 MacBook for 4 or 5 years maybe does it makes sense to get the 16GB version? (even if today 8GB is enough)

Yes, no question about it.

 

[Sanpete]

Yes, no question about it.

There's a question about it for those to whom $200 is a lot of money. They still have to weigh the cost against the benefits, if any, no way around it.

 

[pugxiwawa]

There's a question about it for those to whom $200 is a lot of money. They still have to weigh the cost against the benefits, if any, no way around it.

Where in his post did he mention about $200 being a factor? He wants to keep the machine for 4+ years. There is no way to know how much memory future apps/OS are going to use. 8GB maybe fine for now but for longevity, the sound advice is to get bigger ram now. You can disagree but it doesn't change the fact that machine with more ram will be better prepared for the future.

 

[Booji]

Where in his post did he mention about $200 being a factor? He wants to keep the machine for 4+ years. There is no way to know how much memory future apps/OS are going to use. 8GB maybe fine for now but for longevity, the sound advice is to get bigger ram now. You can disagree but it doesn't change the fact that machine with more ram will be better prepared for the future.

I think a good strategy is that if you want to upgrade next year to the next generation, go for the 8GB. If you want to keep it for two years or more, go with the 16GB.

 

[Sanpete]

Where in his post did he mention about $200 being a factor? He wants to keep the machine for 4+ years. There is no way to know how much memory future apps/OS are going to use. 8GB maybe fine for now but for longevity, the sound advice is to get bigger ram now. You can disagree but it doesn't change the fact that machine with more ram will be better prepared for the future.

What I said doesn't depend on whether someone mentioned $200, obviously. The posts I was responding to were entirely general. To some people $200 matters.

That there's no way to be sure what will happen in four year doesn't mean investing in more RAM is the best way to use $200. In four years 8GB may work just as well for most is it does now. In that case, $200 might have been better spent on something else that one had better reason to think would be worth it. Like more storage, or even food.

This thread is full of advice that's based on someone's subjective priorities and desires as though they applied to everyone. People are different, with different needs and wants. Blanket rules about this won't cover all or usually even most cases.

 

[richard371]

What I said doesn't depend on whether someone mentioned $200, obviously. The posts I was responding to were entirely general. To some people $200 matters.

That there's no way to be sure what will happen in four year doesn't mean investing in more RAM is the best way to use $200. In four years 8GB may work just as well for most is it does now. In that case, $200 might have been better spent on something else that one had better reason to think would be worth it. Like more storage, or even food.

This thread is full of advice that's based on someone's subjective priorities and desires as though they applied to everyone. People are different, with different needs and wants. Blanket rules about this won't cover all or usually even most cases.

But in a few years when 16/32 is the standard I bet the 16gb model will have better resale value than the 8. Might get a good chunk of that 200 back. in 4 years you might get $400 for the basic 8 and $500 for the 16. So you paid 100 to have the 16gb for 4 years. These numbers are just an example but you get the point.

 

[Sanpete]

But in a few years when 16/32 is the standard I bet the 16gb model will have better resale value than the 8. Might get a good chunk of that 200 back. in 4 years you might get $400 for the basic 8 and $500 for the 16. So you paid 100 to have the 16gb for 4 years. These numbers are just an example but you get the point.

True, but the net is still a chunk of money that could be used for something else. Same might apply to more storage, also has resale value. Still depends on people's individual needs and wants.

 

[armoured]

True, but the net is still a chunk of money that could be used for something else. Same might apply to more storage, also has resale value. Still depends on people's individual needs and wants.

Okay, of course it depends. But the question was does it make sense if the plan is to keep it "for 4 or 5 years maybe does it makes sense to get the 16GB version?"

Obviously there's a cost tradeoff, and obviously it's up to the individual.

It really is a simple answer - no question, it maybe does make sense to get the 16gb answer.

Let's assume the person who asked this is sentient and is aware that life has trade-offs, including monetary.

 

[armoured]

It may be a good choice for systems which do not require a lot of RAM. I wonder how Apple plans to handle systems which require large amounts of RAM. Will they be able to put, say, 128GB on the chip itself? Will they resort to external RAM? Or something in between where there's, say, 16GB on chip (as is the case today) which will function as a cache for the off chip RAM? It'll be interesting to see.

This really is the big question. I can see them having only standard configs for the laptops and perhaps for a lot/most of the iMacs, but not really the iMac Pro and certainly the Mac Pro. There are high-end uses where they want well in excess of 64gb, heck, up to 1.5tb on the mac pro. It doesn't seem possible/likely to provide for that without some kind of DIMM, at some point expense of putting all on 'chip' just gets too crazy.

They probably could dedicate the on-board (on system on a chip) memory for use as a fast memory cache - but it would need some kind of cache management software/logic, and that has its own overhead. Overhead's not the end of the world of course, but at some point the overhead eats up the speed advantages.

On the other hand, it's apple and they control the operating system and SoC. I think traditionally ram has almost always been assumed to be same speed (after the established on-chip caches); perhaps apple has a plan or way to use two different types/speeds of ram without formally treating as a cache but allowing for different speeds and 'nudging' more important data onto the on-chip ram.

Perhaps they have simpler solutions in mind; I suppose you could do worse than extending the concept / use of ramdisks, with some APIs for developers that really have the need.

 

[Sanpete]

Okay, of course it depends. But the question was does it make sense if the plan is to keep it "for 4 or 5 years maybe does it makes sense to get the 16GB version?"

Obviously there's a cost tradeoff, and obviously it's up to the individual.

It really is a simple answer - no question, it maybe does make sense to get the 16gb answer.

Let's assume the person who asked this is sentient and is aware that life has trade-offs, including monetary.

Let's also assume many people with different needs and desires are reading this thread. Yes, it definitely makes sense for some people to order 16 for the reasons you suggest. And for others, 8 will fit better, even for 4 or 5 years.

 

[FreeWoRLD83]

I've got mine with 16GB today and 8GB is going back. I am investing in the long term.

 

[armoured]

Let's also assume many people with different needs and desires are reading this thread. Yes, it definitely makes sense for some people to order 16 for the reasons you suggest. And for others, 8 will fit better, even for 4 or 5 years.

Let's be clear - 16gb is not excessive memory by any stretch so it will always 'fit better' over the long term - there's no advantage to less memory except cost. Granted the benefit might be small for many - for light users perhaps not even noticeable.

The only other side of this question though is if people prefer to use that $200 for something else or can't afford it - which is of course entirely reasonable. I'm not debating that for many 8gb will be 'enough' - that's an entirely personal choice - but 16gb does give an extra buffer that's useful in terms of long-term usability.

Personally my advice to anyone on this is that if you want to keep using a computer for five years, and since it can't be expanded later, it's really worth considering that $40 a year in upfront cost is not a lot.

But again, I agree, it's a personal choice, and if someone is confident they don't need it and have other priorities, that's their call.

My personal experience with non-upgradeable is limited to this one macbook air I'm using now (every other mac I've used has been upgraded two or more times). And my one regret with it is that I didn't (couldn't actually, separate story) get the next step up for both memory and SSD. No complaints, it's served six years and is still perfectly usable for lots of tasks - but man oh man would it have been worth it to pay a bit more upfront, and would have saved me a fair amount of time and money, too, since I've had to do various workarounds.

 

[page3]

For someone that wants to keep the M1 MacBook for 4 or 5 years maybe does it makes sense to get the 16GB version? (even if today 8GB is enough)

“It depends”. I’m still perfectly happy with my 2012 MacBook Air with 8Gb.

 

[pepinto]

Okay, of course it depends. But the question was does it make sense if the plan is to keep it "for 4 or 5 years maybe does it makes sense to get the 16GB version?"

Obviously there's a cost tradeoff, and obviously it's up to the individual.

It really is a simple answer - no question, it maybe does make sense to get the 16gb answer.

Let's assume the person who asked this is sentient and is aware that life has trade-offs, including monetary.

In my specific case the price difference is not a problem, because I’ve sold a MacBook 12” and an iPad to fund the purchase of the MacBook Air, and obtained about the necessary to buy the 16GB ram option.
If I was absolutely sure that 8GB were enough to work without slowdowns or limitations for 5 years (productivity, web, some photo editing and casual video editing) it would make sense to purchase the cheaper version and put the remaining $$ in Bitcoin.

Side note: since 2012 I have Macs (Mac Mini and MacBook 12”) and I always had models with > 8Gb RAM

 

[snourse]

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.

I'm trying the base 8GB mini- I'll be getting the 16GB version and returning this. I use multiple browsers with multiple tabs- I've had the memory pressure go red and slow things down a couple times. I think for lighter duty use 8GB would be fine, but not for what I need to do.

 

[Booji]

I'm trying the base 8GB mini- I'll be getting the 16GB version and returning this. I use multiple browsers with multiple tabs- I've had the memory pressure go red and slow things down a couple times. I think for lighter duty use 8GB would be fine, but not for what I need to do.

Let us know how it goes - if you really see any difference in your use case

 

[jgrove]

Just my thoughts: I sold all my Intel MBP kit, inc a BM eGpu, and replaced them with a MBP 13 M1 standard configuration. I was wondered about the lack of 4 TB3 ports, but it hasn't been an issue as I purchased a Caldigit TB3 Plus Dock, and it is superb!

Having watched numerous reviews and videos and due to the new way the M1 uses memory, I only think those that do heavy video editing will benefit from the 16GB model, and this maybe overkill as Apple makes tweaks to the OS and Firmware. For me its photo editing, and the 8GB model seems to be holding up fine.

Would be interested in any other photo editors that have a different opinion,

Regards

 

[kfmfe04]

I think the choice will depend on how many machines you have.

I have separate laptop/desktop machines, so with the M1 MBA, I will go for portability/value (base or base + 512GB SSD) and load up on memory for the upcoming MX iMac.

For the short-term, I'd suggest buying a 8GB M1 machine from Apple, testing with all the apps you need today, and check the memory pressure. If you find it insufficient, then return the 8GB and go for 16GB.