M3 iMac 8 Gb or 16 Gb

[gsmadhav]

Hi,

I am considering iMac M3 , my use is very light , just web browsing, You Tube and simple documentation. (No photo/video editing or music production, CAD work etc) . I think 8 GB Ram would be enough. I intend to use this machine for next 5 years. Will this 8 GB be OK for future OS updates coming in next 5 years?
(Sorry for my bad English)

 

[curnalpanic]

Check out this thread.

POLL: How much RAM do you use for your Mac Mini or iMac or MacBook?

In more years of Mac use than pretty much anyone not working for Apple in 1984, I have always wanted more RAM by the time I moved up to a newer box. Always. And I always have bought the max RAM available, or added it when we used to be able to do that with lower-tech RAM. So discussions around...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[dwig]

8 Gb would be enough for those tasks today. What the future holds 3-5 years down the road no one knows. The best guess is that toward the end of that period, 8Gb would be somewhat constraining.

 

[ignatius345]

8 Gb would be enough for those tasks today. What the future holds 3-5 years down the road no one knows. The best guess is that toward the end of that period, 8Gb would be somewhat constraining.

Seconded. I'm not one of those people who haunt Activity Monitor and clutch their pearls at the sight of "memory pressure" graphs, but at the same time MacOS and other software updates tend to get more demanding over time. That $200 spent on RAM today may well pay off in 5 years when the machine is more responsive.

 

[gsmadhav]

Seconded. I'm not one of those people who haunt Activity Monitor and clutch their pearls at the sight of "memory pressure" graphs, but at the same time MacOS and other software updates tend to get more demanding over time. That $200 spent on RAM today may well pay off in 5 years when the machine is more responsive.

Thanks

8 Gb would be enough for those tasks today. What the future holds 3-5 years down the road no one knows. The best guess is that toward the end of that period, 8Gb would be somewhat constraining.

Thanks

Check out this thread.

POLL: How much RAM do you use for your Mac Mini or iMac or MacBook?

In more years of Mac use than pretty much anyone not working for Apple in 1984, I have always wanted more RAM by the time I moved up to a newer box. Always. And I always have bought the max RAM available, or added it when we used to be able to do that with lower-tech RAM. So discussions around...

forums.macrumors.com

Thanks

 

[picpicmac]

It's a hangwringing issue .... on internet forums and YouTube "content creators", but there are many people who do just fine w/ 8GB.

I will buy more on my next purchase, but that is because:
1) I play with some software development and may want to run virtual machines;
2) I have some very large images (500MB+) with which I work when I am putting together documents and tools (such as from Adobe) really start to eat up RAM when one uses very large images.

Right now I am typing this on a 5GB old iMac and while it is too little for some of my projects, I can browse Youtube and do email just fine.

 

[gsmadhav]

picpicmac : Thanks a lot​

 

[J.A.K.]

24GB.

If you're going to skimp on anything, do it on the SSD and use an external Thunderbolt. Hell, you can get a 1TB external SSD for cheaper than the $ Apple charge for 256GB.

But the RAM? Nah, get as much as you can afford.

 

[gsmadhav]

J.A.K.: Thanks a lot, I am thinking on the same line.​

 

[Sensamic]

Apple will continue to sell 8GB base RAM configurations on their machines for some more years. They are very cheap and this way they can make lots of money. So I wouldn't worry too much about having 8GB RAM, since Apple will keep making MacOS perfectly compatible with this configuration for many years.

 

[Mr.Fox]

Hi,

I am considering iMac M3 , my use is very light , just web browsing, You Tube and simple documentation. (No photo/video editing or music production, CAD work etc) . I think 8 GB Ram would be enough. I intend to use this machine for next 5 years. Will this 8 GB be OK for future OS updates coming in next 5 years?
(Sorry for my bad English)

100% will not be enough. System requirements are increasing year by year, both for operating systems and programs. New versions of operating systems and applications are always developed for more modern and productive devices. Optimization for older devices comes next and not always well optimize everything. Many users who want to speed up their devices believe that updating mac os to the latest version will definitely help with that. However, this is not always the case.
In some cases, updating the firmware can actually speed up the device significantly due to the fact that the new system will undergo a lot of optimizations, but it will also bring a lot of frustrations.
If your computer is old and has little memory, it may even run slower than a new one after an update. It simply won't have enough memory to run the new, heavy version of the OS efficiently.
Choose 16GB of memory, because you will not be able to replace it by simply installing new memory modules.

 

[Surfsalot]

Hi,

I am considering iMac M3 , my use is very light , just web browsing, You Tube and simple documentation. (No photo/video editing or music production, CAD work etc) . I think 8 GB Ram would be enough. I intend to use this machine for next 5 years. Will this 8 GB be OK for future OS updates coming in next 5 years?
(Sorry for my bad English)

8gb is plenty, have been using a M1 8gb for 2.5 years with similar usage. It's no different than when new.
16gb would of made no diff to me and I would of paid 10% more pus the upgrade to 16gb.

 

[Surfsalot]

100% will not be enough. System requirements are increasing year by year, both for operating systems and programs. New versions of operating systems and applications are always developed for more modern and productive devices. Optimization for older devices comes next and not always well optimize everything. Many users who want to speed up their devices believe that updating mac os to the latest version will definitely help with that. However, this is not always the case.
In some cases, updating the firmware can actually speed up the device significantly due to the fact that the new system will undergo a lot of optimizations, but it will also bring a lot of frustrations.
If your computer is old and has little memory, it may even run slower than a new one after an update. It simply won't have enough memory to run the new, heavy version of the OS efficiently.
Choose 16GB of memory, because you will not be able to replace it by simply installing new memory modules.

absolute rubbish will make no diff to their usage, see above

 

[Andrey84]

16GB to future-proof. 24GB is excessive.

The resale value of your iMac will be $100 higher with 16GB, so in the long term you're only spending $100 extra. You're going to use the machine for the next 5 years, so 16GB will mean just $1.6 extra a month over 5 years. Not even worth discussing

 

[AlexJaye]

8gb of RAM is a crime in 2024 on a Mac. But the egregious price gouging Apple forces you to pay to upgrade from that is also a crime on its own.

 

[Mainsail]

Hi,

I am considering iMac M3 , my use is very light , just web browsing, You Tube and simple documentation. (No photo/video editing or music production, CAD work etc) . I think 8 GB Ram would be enough. I intend to use this machine for next 5 years. Will this 8 GB be OK for future OS updates coming in next 5 years?
(Sorry for my bad English)

In terms of eligibility for future OS updates, it makes no difference how much RAM you add. If you look at Apple's web page, eligibility for updates is purely determined by make and year of the model. Individual computer specs play no part. In other words, for OS updates, Apple does not differentiate between 8GB RAM and 32GB RAM for the same model and year.

 

[Jackbequickly]

For simple tasks, especially if you do not keep multiple apps open, 8 GB is plenty of RAM. It will be in 3 years from now!

 

[Fishrrman]

16gb of RAM.

If you buy only 8, you may regret it sooner rather than later.

 

[TechRunner]

I've been on a base 8/256 M1 Mini since November 2020. My uses are similar to yours plus some light photo editing. I planned on getting four or five years of relatively speedy use out of it before replacement and it should hit that with ease.

Having said that, if I was buying an M2 (or waiting for an M3) Mini today, I'd have to give serious consideration to coughing up the extra cash for 16GB to make sure I would be as happy four or five years from now as I've been the previous three-plus years on my base M1. Length of time you plan to keep a Mac is a big factor in how much processor and RAM to get, as so many others have said on various forums here.

 

[kagharaht]

I did 24GB on my iMac M3. Simply because I still play with iMove and now started to work on fixing Photos and Home Movies. I do want to get Topaz Video Ai and Photo Ai. I also tend to keep the iMac for years. This M3 replaced my Late 2013 iMac. Like my wife who is now retired also. She doesn't do any of the stuff I mentioned. Just basic computing stuff and light office work. 8GB on her MBA M2 is perfect and more than enough for her.

 

[orbital~debris]

Bought iMac M3 recently with the full 24GB. Amazing performance!

But I'd never consider 8GB for a main/family computer – given how much impact swap can have, cumulatively, on the internal storage SSD. 16GB is the minimum I'd recommend right now.

 

[JavaMania5]

I just purchased a 24" M3 this week. I came from a 2014 27" with 8GB Ram. I looked at several display models ( Costco, Best Buy, Apple) all of which had 8GB. I walked away thinking they were a small disappointment as I searched on their local internet and opened a few apps and got familiar with the demo units. After reading suggestions here and at other sites I came away with mixed feelings as well. Web searches were mostly finding 8GB units and almost all pricing was pretty much the same. Finally I found a deal at Micro Center on a 16GB unit and made the purchase. Today is only Day 2 and I can tell you after migrating from my old IMac and a few app upgrades......EVERYTHING just runs so smoothly. I am really impressed. I don't do much other than a few emails, Excel sheets, Word, Quicken, and about 4 or 5 other daily apps,........I am seeing the quickness and things are clean and smooth. No regrets on 16GB purchase. Still have my 27" up and running and there is a tremendous difference. Most of which is the new technology with M3 but I see a difference between the 8/Gb demo machines and my 16GB machine and I am so glad I upgraded.