It also seems crazy that Apple would sell and people would buy a machine with a 256GB SSD. Just get the 16GB
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I am really torn between 8GB vs. 16GB RAM
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I used mine to payoff credit card some debt which was from some car repairs, which was nice a bonus. I never quit working though.
Note the memory in the M1 is running at 4266Mhz. The SSD is up to 3000 MB/s. So swapping to disk will be fast and most light or moderate users won’t notice but for apps like After Effects that have multiple layer comps real memory has less lag than using a scratch/virtual/swap.
But will it be worth the extra you paid to upgrade from 8 to 16? Very unlikely.
It's like the standard advice on houses — never buy the most expensive house in a given area, as when you come to sell, buyers will just compare it to the average and say you're overpriced
I'm heading more towards the average M1 Air the 8 GB / 512 GB one now, which will save me a lot of Euros
Considering a Mac is a tool used to acquire and conduct employment, yes, I will use your taxes to buy a new Mac. Thank you for enabling me to keep the economy moving!
That's exactly what I bought: MBA 8GB/8C/512GB as I think to less space on SSD is a much more annoying problem, then maybe having to swap RAM in rare occasions as I'm not a heavy user.
Someone here on the forum wrote: If you have to ask if you would need the 16GB of RAM - you won't.
If you can afford it then get it. Otherwise you will always wonder if you should have. It will last longer and have better resale.
If you can’t afford it then your decision is made. It will likely do everything you need it to for years. By the time it feels slow you will want the next thing anyway.
If you can’t afford it then your decision is made. It will likely do everything you need it to for years. By the time it feels slow you will want the next thing anyway.
It's funny how this bigger choice Apple lately gave customers leads to frustration and almost personal affronts in the Apple community. What a wise man Jobs was...
Get whatever you want people, if you think 8 is enough, get 8 and save 200$, if you think you need 16 get 16 and spend 200$ more...
if you upgrade your devices every 2-3 years, then you don't have to think, and always get the base model in the lowest specs (which is the MBA atm).
Get whatever you want people, if you think 8 is enough, get 8 and save 200$, if you think you need 16 get 16 and spend 200$ more...
if you upgrade your devices every 2-3 years, then you don't have to think, and always get the base model in the lowest specs (which is the MBA atm).
Exactly, just don't complain further down the line when developers really start to maximize the potential of the M1 and 8GB is not enough and there is nothing you can do about it other than upgrade.
The funny thing is, people consumer behavior works similar to Ram in a computer. The more you give them, the more they use.
I am writing this on 5,5 years old WIndows Desktop with an intel i5 and 8 GB of Ram. Currently some Apps like Zoom, Skype, Adobe open and 2 Google Chrome browser with each around 15 tabs. If I open another browser with more than 5 tabs, this system starts to lagg and even can break down. How I know? Well we slowly test the limits of us and our systems...
Apple knows their tech stuff, but Jobs knew the psychology of the human mind better than he knew tech probably (the component missing in Windows)... So both choices will be right
I am writing this on 5,5 years old WIndows Desktop with an intel i5 and 8 GB of Ram. Currently some Apps like Zoom, Skype, Adobe open and 2 Google Chrome browser with each around 15 tabs. If I open another browser with more than 5 tabs, this system starts to lagg and even can break down. How I know? Well we slowly test the limits of us and our systems...
Apple knows their tech stuff, but Jobs knew the psychology of the human mind better than he knew tech probably (the component missing in Windows)... So both choices will be right
Why? Lots of people have a NAS or use external drives to store their workflows. You don't need everything kept locally all the time. For example, I'm currently editing about 50mins of 4K footage from our trip a month ago.. I simply copied the 24GB of footage off our NAS to edit it locally and when I'm done I'll export the final project and put the project and the final results back on the NAS after posting it to the cloud or YouTube. No point in keeping it on the MBA.
I also got the 256 16GB Air. Why? Because I have iCloud storage external SSDs with way more than apple can give me and I have a main PC with lots of Storage. At the moment I have 3 Tabs and Fotos open and my Ram usage is green but at 12,8 GB on my M1 Air. My thinking is you can always get sam very fast external SSD but you can't get external RAM. But if you can't afford just get the base unit it will be fast and suit you well.
I think when purchasing a laptop, especially a Mac, and you choose between 8 or 16 GB (or more) of RAM, you’re determining how long you’re going to keep it it. Not trying to justify your workflow. And since these M1 Macs are all SoC’s and can’t be upgraded, you should always choose Max RAM if you plan on keeping your laptop for more than 4 years.
I agree. I think you're seeing a major divide between Americans and Europeans.
Someone else stated that you should get the RAM as you can't afford to upgrade every year. I'd argue that if you can afford to upgrade every year and this isn't disposable income then you shouldn't be buying Apple in the first place.
This is also something that makes sense, considering a lot of people upgrade their $1000+ iPhones every year.
No. I don't see that as a bottleneck.
I also think you should think about how you're using you computer, unless it's dedicated for media streaming or other always-on constant demand services?
The resell value of a year old macs are pretty damn high. Meanwhile if you keep the mac for 5-7 years, not only you’re using older and slower tech for years to come, the market value will be significantly dropped.
Yeah, I know. Everyone is saying I am crazy having so many startup programs running at once. It's not normal. And, I pay the price by having to max out my computers every year or two in order to sustain that kind of usage.
However, it's the way I enjoy my computer.
I’ve been looking into selling my 2015 MBP w/16GB of RAM & 2TB of Storage and was pleasantly surprised at its value still. It’ll help pay off my new M1 MBP. But I was able to upgrade my 2015 after I purchased it. These new ones aren’t upgradeable.
The short answer is (a) I don't know and (b) it depends on what the programs are and what they're doing in the background. Also - does the Intel system still "choke" when everything has settled down and the programs are all up and running, or is the problem that it takes forever for everything to start up and the machine to become usable?
My guess is that everything will start up faster and the machine will be more responsive while that is going on (if only because that's what people have already reported) and that may avoid "gridlock" while everything is starting up. That could be down to a combination of faster SSD, the "efficiency" CPU cores keeping the UI smooth while the "performance" cores were busy, or improvements in Big Sur which will show up on Intel machines as well. What happens after that will depend on how heavily those programs rely on having large data sets loaded into RAM for random access - and I strongly doubt if that will change significantly from Big Sur on Intel.
NB: I'm not claiming any oracular knowledge here - what I'm questioning is the notion that Apple Silicon will lead to a substantial, systemic reduction in RAM requirements - especially for people who have a genuine need for > 16GB RAM.
Do not listen to people selling you on 16gb of ram that you don't need. If you know you're not a power user, 16 is going to get you absolutely nothing other than 200 dollars less rich. There's plenty of articles written this past week extolling the virtues of 8gb in these M1 Macs. Read those, not the delusions of people who have no idea what they're talking about and only think more is always better.
I gotcha. This is completely virgin territory for most of us.
I bought the 16GB Mini w/512 storage in the last 20 minutes.
Won't ship for a few weeks which will give me more time to read owner experiences.
Then, when I get it, I think I have 14-30 days to play with and return it to Apple if it doesn't suit my needs.
Wellcome to the 8GB fanclub. I have ordered 8GB and will be happy