is it going to start with 256GB though? if so, bad choice for a PRO laptop. 16/512 would be decent though.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
New Mac Mini Provides Two Clues About RAM in Upcoming MacBook Pros
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Funny! On a serious level, however, I am not sure if the complaints were based on 8 vs 16 alone. I bought the base model M1 Mac mini (8GB/256ssd), and it still does run just fine for everything I need. I didn’t get 16GB of ram because of the price. To me, the real joy of 16GB as the base comes from two factors: the price didn’t change, and the new standard likely increases longevity in terms of replacement timing.
Probably true, but you never know.
Maybe they decide to cut the price and for that reason provide less ram.
I cannot see this. 2 of 3 new Mac products got more RAM for the same base price. Last year the 8GB/512GB model was criticised because 8GB for a Pro model was a joke. Apple knows how to upsell, but for many people the base of 16GB/512GB will be a great deal.
The entry level M3 has 512GB right now, I don't think they will downgrade it just to up the ram to 16GB.
Doubling the base RAM is a huge deal. Those first devices are going to last a long time on oS support and it’s basically a cut off point for future OS releases support. Eventually all Macs with 8 GB RAM will be dropped in one go.
Doing jumps in RAM like this instead of stepwise allow Apple to design cut off points to drop support.
Doing jumps in RAM like this instead of stepwise allow Apple to design cut off points to drop support.
c'mon, M3 Pro is as good as it was when you bought it. If it handles everything you need, no need to invest money to new one. I bet M5 will be even better
My M1 Max still as good as new (except battery -> 90% )Only reason to invest more money is if new one will enable you to do something you could not do with old one, or saves significant amount of time. And M4 Max might
That’s what I meant. I meant to double 24 but had 16 in my brain and doubled it. lol. Yes. Should be 24x2=48
I will wait for the M5 macs that way I can I saw I own a BMW M5 and Mac with M5...
I think folks should get the option. I have an M1Pro with 16GB. I tortured myself when I bought it about if I should have gone for 32GB vs 16GB based on discussions in these forums. The truth is that would have been a complete waste of money for my workflow which involves HEAVY MS Office, Zoom, Teams, DevonThink databases, a million tabs, email. For fun, I use FCP with 4x 4K multicam streams and Logic Pro.
The M1Pro with 16GB RAM handles these like butter. It simply never slows down. Memory pressure shows yellow and red, but I only care about the subject performance and the machine is always responsive. I have pushed an 8GB machine to get stutters which this same workflow and even though animations get choppy, the machine handles it fine.
As for the other 'phantom' concerns about SSD, I just don't lose sleep over that. If it was an issue we'd have an epidemic of failures by now and we're just not seeing that.
More RAM is better, but if you're getting more than you need it's wasted money at Apple's extortionate rates! Folks like Macduke have specialized needs that demand more RAM. Those people know who they are. For the rest of us, base spec. or 1 bump up is probably fine for as long as we intend to keep the machine.
I know 🥲c'mon, M3 Pro is as good as it was when you bought it. If it handles everything you need, no need to invest money to new one. I bet M5 will be even better
Only reason to invest more money is if new one will enable you to do something you could not do with old one, or saves significant amount of time. And M4 Max might
It is true some years are better upgrades than others and it seems that the M3-> M4 is a bigger upgrade than the M2->M3.
The CPU/GPU of the M3 Pro will be fine for my current usage for at least a 4 years but that additional ram at what will probably be the same price would have been nice.
Stop that nonsense. The only browser that constantly gives me memory warnings is Safari. I use Chrome all day with the LMS our campus uses for teaching classes and have never seen a memory issue. I have a few utilities to monitor memory use to avoid getting into trouble with the many apps I need to use simultaneously for preparing and teaching. Absolutely no issues with Chrome at all.I'm pretty sure that Chrome alone would require more ram than all the Apple Silicon combined has.
Weird. Mine is just fine still.
We got so used to stagnation from Apple, now that they're actually updating things that are just normal/logical updates, we think 1 year old models are obsolete already. (It's oddly nice to have that feeling back, actually.)
For the prices apple charges, it is ok but not a deal/bargain.
You could be right. Or, what are the chances we get a full 256GB on the high M4 Max option?
I am one of those people who could easily get by with a MacBook Air, but uses the base MacBook Pro instead. Yes, I like the better display, but I find I seldom use my MBP without my AVP as the display, but for me it is the ports. I do many presentations and not having to deal with an HDMI dongle is in itself worth the difference in price. I Predict the entry 16/512 GB M4 MBP will be the best selling Apple laptop for many professionals and in the enterprise.
And that's exactly why we criticize Apple. If the RAM was reasonably priced, many people would just get some extra without torturing themselves over the decision. RAM is cheap enough that we shouldn't have to carefully plan what exactly the computer will be used for. For normal people, there shouldn't be any question if there's enough. (And I think 16GB is fine for now. At least SSD sizes are the more urgent problem, now.)
My bet is that the 14" M4 Pro will come with 512GB Storage and 24GB RAM.
What I don't know about, is the price, the 14" M3 Pro is already 2550€ (found at 2200-2300€ in Amazon Europe). So hopefully the new one is not even more expensive.
At 2000€+ price tag, we should be getting 1TB/32GB easily...but anyway at least not 18GB anymore.
Can't wait to get those 24GB made of three 8GB unsoldered sticks from an old 8GB macbook that nobody bought /s
Anyway, I hope there are other goodies, like a screen with additional 100 SDR nits, stuff like that.
What I don't know about, is the price, the 14" M3 Pro is already 2550€ (found at 2200-2300€ in Amazon Europe). So hopefully the new one is not even more expensive.
At 2000€+ price tag, we should be getting 1TB/32GB easily...but anyway at least not 18GB anymore.
Can't wait to get those 24GB made of three 8GB unsoldered sticks from an old 8GB macbook that nobody bought /s
Anyway, I hope there are other goodies, like a screen with additional 100 SDR nits, stuff like that.
Last edited:
I predict 16GB will be the new 8GB with MacOS Sequoia based on how many ”out of resources” errors MS Excel has been throwing up on my MacBook Pro 16” M1 Pro lately…Geez!
Apple today introduced a redesigned Mac mini with M4 and M4 Pro chip options, and the computer provides two clues about RAM amounts for the next 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, which are expected to be announced tomorrow.
First, just like the new iMac, the base-model Mac mini with the M4 chip starts with 16GB of RAM, which is double the 8GB of RAM included in the equivalent previous-generation model. As has already been rumored and leaked, it now looks almost certain that the next base-model 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip will start with 16GB of RAM too. Given that a vocal contingent of Mac fans have long criticized Apple for including only 8GB of RAM with some Macs, the increased 16GB minimum would be a long-awaited change.
Second, all higher-end Mac mini configurations with the M4 Pro chip start with 24GB of RAM, and this upgrade will likely extend to the incoming 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the M4 Pro chip. The current MacBook Pro models with the M3 Pro chip start with 18GB of RAM, so this would amount to a 6GB increase for the new models. The increased unified memory can benefit multitasking and Apple Intelligence performance.
Apple has yet to announce the M4 Max, so it is unclear how much RAM that chip will support.
All of this information will likely be confirmed in less than 24 hours.
Article Link: New Mac Mini Provides Two Clues About RAM in Upcoming MacBook Pros
Oh, don’t get me wrong. My 16” MacBook Pro has 32GB and my Mac Studio has 32GB as well. I always buy the 1TB iPad Pro (even though I don’t need it) to specifically have 16GB. My overall point is that, while I personally wouldn’t use 8GB, it’s hard to argue that Apple has created a poor experience by only using 8GB up to this point. I wouldn’t consider it Pro either, but if you’re not multi-tasking all day, 8GB was sufficient in the base MacBook Pro for a lot of tasks, where as I think a Windows machine would definitely suffer with only 8GB.
My snarky comment was also more so those that complain about the MacBook Air only having 8GB as well. It’s not even a pro level machine, but Apple has somehow made 8GB usable all these years and I’ll give them credit for that.
I'll have to wait a little longer for my M4 Mac Studio, but my M1 is doing fine.She'll hang in there. The best computer I have ever owned by a wide margin. It was my first Mac, too. Being on a Windows machine for so long eventually turns into Stockholm Syndrome.
I already budgeted for a base M4 mini and a M4 Max MBP, only thing left is deciding on storage and RAM.
16GB is yesteryear’s 2GB.
Mac Mini base model has always been short of RAM.
The new operating systems are going to gobble up 16GB just like that.
Mac Mini base model has always been short of RAM.
The new operating systems are going to gobble up 16GB just like that.