hey Robert, I appreciate your contributions. You are 110% right, the M1 Base never had a hiccup with me either. I have decided to go with the 16gb, but when I see posts from someone like you confirming my experience, it makes me wonder why I am doing that...
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I am really torn between 8GB vs. 16GB RAM
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hey Robert, I appreciate your contributions. You are 110% right, the M1 Base never had a hiccup with me either. I have decided to go with the 16gb, but when I see posts from someone like you confirming my experience, it makes me wonder why I am doing that...
It is for one or two reasons, in my opinion. With the M1, what we all got used to and had to factor in with Intel Macs and apps is not really part of the equation anymore. The M1 runs so much more efficient that we are all amazed at how much it can do without breaking a tech sweat, especially with 8GB of RAM. Many are having to retrain their brains to not think like the Intel days. As such you still see push from people advising the max specs with a MBP or MBA regardless of real need. It is in that inherent Intel fear rearing its head, that many still fear won't be enough with the stock M1.
The other reason, which is much smaller, is that there are people who really do need the max RAM for their daily workload. And without it, their ability to perform and earn a living is put into question.
There is another group of people on the forum who buy max specs all the time because it helps them feel better about themselves and their tech status on the forum, even though you will sometimes see them admit they haven't even come close to needing max specs. Resale value is wrapped up in this group as well. They would rather spend money on tech they don't admittedly need so that they can get more on resale. The problem is said people don't seem to realize that they are not getting more money for resale. They are still losing money because they bought max specs and are now selling at a loss, just so they can turn around and do the same thing year after year.
A lot of times forum members would buy base Intel and quickly find out that that wasn't enough. I really don't think that that fear is warranted with the M1. People need to buy the product they have need for today. There is no future-proofing when it comes to electronics.
It is easy to tell a fellow forum member to automatically get the max, when it isn't your money being spent. But many here give that advice and don't think twice about it. And worse of all, many here take that kind of advice and spend money they didn't really need to spend, because the forum beehive said so.
What most of us are doing day to day on our Macs isn't going to change in any drastic way. The Macs we are using today will still work fine tomorrow, next year, and for several years to come. It is one thing to desire the latest gadget offerings with Macs. it is quite another to convince yourself, that having the new gadget with the max specs is suddenly a must have decision, when the software use won't really change but, all of a sudden the same Mac that has been more than capable has suddenly been rendered tech moot because the new and improved model is available.
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Given what you have described in previous posts, I would say yes.
Apple has a generous no questions asked return policy so, while they might ask why you are returning it, they won't make a big deal of it nor say no for any reason.
There may not be such a thing as a future proof computer, but there absolutely is such a thing as a future resistant computer.
I have a 2014 15MBP which would still be my daily were it not for the pathetically bad battery and ailing ports. That computer still doesn't feel slow, though the stagnation of Intel is partly to blame for that.
For an M1 machine that will cycle the battery at half the rate, plus the interchangeability of having two of the same port, some degree of future resistance is entirely reasonable.
IMO, buy the 16 if you plan to keep long term, otherwise buy the 8 which performs identically in most common, low load tasks.
I have a 2014 15MBP which would still be my daily were it not for the pathetically bad battery and ailing ports. That computer still doesn't feel slow, though the stagnation of Intel is partly to blame for that.
For an M1 machine that will cycle the battery at half the rate, plus the interchangeability of having two of the same port, some degree of future resistance is entirely reasonable.
IMO, buy the 16 if you plan to keep long term, otherwise buy the 8 which performs identically in most common, low load tasks.
I've been looking at used iMacs and people selling i7s have a much higher asking price than those with i3s and i5s and especially Core 2 Duos. A look at Geekbench 5 reveals why - four hyperthreaded cores makes a big difference in how much work that they can do. Some people point out that they added a lot of RAM but I don't care as I'd rather add it myself.
I'm using hardware from 2008 and 2009 so I guess I like to be able to use hardware long-term.
I'm using hardware from 2008 and 2009 so I guess I like to be able to use hardware long-term.
ain't broken don't fix it.Still using imac 2017, i miss the simplity of apple eco system when using windows laptop but some part windows still the best choice.Nowdays ram is soldered in new laptop so the laptop just pure meet customer not work horse.
Will buying m1 macbook air if only conform project.
*** software developer
** why need a of computer , my house not junk data centre.
I went the other way and got a base 8/8/512 Air, then got a 8/16/1 Air.
I'm not a fan of returning stuff either but am very thankful for Apple's return policy! So incredibly straightforward (except for a couple of delays where the Apple person didn't know how to refund my AppleCare+ as I bought it separately from the laptop, but that got sorted out fairly quickly)
Good post. Add to that another group who have 16 GB RAM intel machines, and see that macOS is “using” more than 8GB so think they need more. As frequently pointed out Memory Pressure is key. I admit that even though I knew this I bought 16GB RAM M1 MBA for the wrong reasons
At least you are honest after the fact.Good post. Add to that another group who have 16 GB RAM intel machines, and see that macOS is “using” more than 8GB so think they need more. As frequently pointed out Memory Pressure is key. I admit that even though I knew this I bought 16GB RAM M1 MBA for the wrong reasons
Good post. Add to that another group who have 16 GB RAM intel machines, and see that macOS is “using” more than 8GB so think they need more. As frequently pointed out Memory Pressure is key. I admit that even though I knew this I bought 16GB RAM M1 MBA for the wrong reasons
Oof!
Is this actually using more than 8GB or has more than 8GB allocated?Good post. Add to that another group who have 16 GB RAM intel machines, and see that macOS is “using” more than 8GB so think they need more. As frequently pointed out Memory Pressure is key. I admit that even though I knew this I bought 16GB RAM M1 MBA for the wrong reasons
This is a random screenshot of my Memory info in Activity Monitor on my 16GB M1 MBA with the machine at idle (but a few apps open). All I was saying is that an uninformed observer would see "Memory Used 10.25GB" and assume that they needed more than 8GB. Memory is complicated which is why Apple gave us Memory Pressure.
Actually you are right about memory pressure. Everyone here needs to advertise it's existance more. Sure back in the day memory was simpler to understand but thanks to Apple trying to improve memory management it's gotten a lot more complex.
I still generally recommend the 16GB for future proofing because Macs are expensive to warrant people keeping them for a while and what you do tomorrow might need more than 8GB. But just saying you have more than 8GB allocated therefore everyone need more than 8GB, as you correctly say is an uninformed observer statement.
I also see you're not using any virtual memory. To me I'm ok with a decent amount of RAM being allocated because it can be reallocated when needed. RAM amounts allocated to each application are not fixed like they were back in the day. However if you run out of reallocatable RAM and need to hit the virtual RAM hard, then to me that's a sign that you're using up all of your base RAM in your machine. Of cause the memory pressure graph would be way higher if this as happening.
I agree,
The current M1 Air/Pro and Mac minis are aimed at the average consumer, the real pro M1 machines are coming at a later stage. For those these machines are aimed at, I am certain 90% are totally fine with 8GB of RAM. The amount of posts of people saying "I've send my 8GB back and got a 16GB instead" are increasing with the day, because of the odd advice to get as much RAM as possible. Just because, there is no such thing as too much RAM...
There is definitely a thing called "having too much RAM".
If your workload demands 8GB, everything above is basically useless. It's not like that extra RAM comes free of cost, its still $200 U.S. (or at least 230 euro in Europe). For those moments your computer does need some more RAM, swap will take care of it without noticeable hits on performance. The whole package including the SSD is so fast nowadays, without obsessively looking at the activity monitor, an average user won't even notice it. Also, the lifespan of SSD's have increased massively these days, it's not going to die because it swaps more often..
Look at your own situation, your own workload and decide if you need 8GB or 16GB. If you're looking at a forum like this to get your answer, you're most likely fine with 8GB. Users needing 16GB, or even more know it (enthusiasts in video/photo/music editing or virtualisation). FOMO is a real thing, and it costs unnecessary amounts of hard earned money. Easy to 'recommend' if it's not your own money.
In general:
8GB - Office work, video conferencing, entertainment, daily web browsing, casual video/photo/music editing.
16GB - Video/photo/music editing enthusiasts, virtualisation users (parallels/docker and such).
32GB and more - Professionals.
Lastly, stop obsessing over memory graphs and just enjoy your new MacBook.
I don't think I have ever seen my macpro memory pressure above 7%, even when banging out renders.Good post. Add to that another group who have 16 GB RAM intel machines, and see that macOS is “using” more than 8GB so think they need more. As frequently pointed out Memory Pressure is key. I admit that even though I knew this I bought 16GB RAM M1 MBA for the wrong reasons
Funny thing about ram, my pro came with 3gb, replaced all with 4x2gb, replaced all with 4x4gb, replaced all with 4x8gb. Still have all the old ram sticks......what a saddo... ?
That depends on the amount of VM's, and how much RAM you allocate to your VM(s).
But in general, for virtualisation more is definitely better so I'd go for 16GB.
In case of professional, you should ask yourself if these current 'low-end' M1's are the ones you should look at.
I'd wait for the 'real' pro models releasing next year, with 32GB and other pro specs.
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Oracle is a pig on RAM. You'd want a 16 GB Virtual Machine. I was using 1.2 TB systems running Oracle last year.
Then you're in the category of people that know they need 16GB or higher, answered your own question there.
As written above, if you make use of virtualisation then go for 16GB or more. RAM has always been a important part for any virtualisation, M1 is no different.
You don't hear anybody complaining about having too much RAM. For me it's a tax deductible purchase so no point whatsoever in buying the cheaper machine. I don't get to keep the money: it either stays with the tax man or goes to Cupertino.
Very happy with my M1 Mini!
Very happy with my M1 Mini!