But there is no test where they use docker to spin up several containers and have VScode running with some extensions that can hog things all while having like 15 tabs open from the errors you had to google... this is my workflow, it tends to be heavy, wish they would cover it instead of a bunch of video apps.
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PSA: you probably don’t need 32 or 64Gb RAM unless you know you need it.
- Thread starter aevan
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Max Tech did simultaneous video and photo exports with YouTube playing in the background and multiple browsers open. There was still no difference.
No one needs to buy 32 GB unless they already know the exact specific use case they need it for, such as multiple VMs.
16 GB is not bare minimum. It is more than the vast majority of users will even need.
Read this:
Isn't Inactive memory a waste of resources?
I'm looking for explanation of memory usage on my machine especially in light of the example in this screenshot below: I understand what is Free and Active means But what are the meanings of Wired...
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1. It's just a nice example, it matches my experience, tbh
2. I'm definitely not! Get whatever you want and enjoy! All I'm saying - if you're buying 2Tb RAM to browse forums, don't pretend you need 2Tb RAM to browse forums. If you like it and want to have a supercharged computer - by all means, that's why I gave the sports car example.
Yeah, most of the reviewer are video editor mainly focusing on the export times.
No one shows about how the device feels in real world. I bet that even FCX will fell somewhat slower while editing the same 8k footage on a 16gb machine vs a 32gb one, but they only look at the <10% difference in export time to justify the sentence “16Gb are more than enough for most”.
The truth is that if was free everyone would pick more ram.
If everything was free everyone would take everything. Then? Do you mean that getting more RAM is due to greed? Hopefully this is not what you meant. ?
I think this video is a good example, because Max actually showed moving between different windows, open files, etc. It was not only export times - it was moving around the system. If your workflow resembles what he's doing - it is informative.
Now, he might not be a tech expert, but what he's showing is indicative of real world performance, and you can draw your own conclusions. So, don't listen to his opinions, look at what he's doing and decide.
For me, it was very similar to what I did: my current MBP has 16Gb RAM and I opened a lot of stuff to test it out (I mentioned it several times, but in short: a large 3D file, a bunch of large Photoshop files, a bunch of apps) and I used my computer normally - I did not notice any slowdowns. Same as in that video. And yes there was swap, in fact, I had like a 10Gb swap file and things were instant.
Of course. Why wouldn't you? If the whole computer was free, I would pick up 5 of them. Doesn't mean I need 5. 🙂
I think for me the additional RAM is not worth the additional price and wait times, but it's definitely better to have 32 than 16. Is it worth the cost? That's a different question.
Look, not everyone can justify the extra cost. Especially taking into account that prices are different. In my country, the upgrade is 530 euros - which is more than $600! In most of Europe it's $500+. So, random claims like "you need 32Gb if you open big PDF documents and browser tabs" might get some people to seriously overspend and others, who can't, to feel like they bought a slow computer that barely has a few years of life in it 🙂
This was the reason for this whole post. So, of course, if you have the money for it and feel like it - by all means get whatever you want. A 64Gb RAM computer *is* better than a 16Gb RAM computer. No doubt about it. But 8Tb SSDs are also better than 1Tb SSDs, so why not go around and advise people to future-proof (file sizes are growing!!!!) and buy a $6000 laptop?
Also, just to mention it here: we (this forum) had this exact discussion in 2016 when 16Gb was the only option on a MBP. And the comments were like "16Gb may be enough today, but it's a bare minimum and in a few years it will not be enough".
Lol, I love it how someone emoted "angry" to my OP.... ? Feel free to disagree.
And of course: just as I don't want anyone to feel bad because they ordered 16Gb, I really don't want anyone to feel bad for ordering more. Even if it's for browsing the web - hey, spend your hard earned money however you like and enjoy!
And of course: just as I don't want anyone to feel bad because they ordered 16Gb, I really don't want anyone to feel bad for ordering more. Even if it's for browsing the web - hey, spend your hard earned money however you like and enjoy!
No one needs anything except a pipeline to cloud computing services. But some of us like to do our large computations at home. Not that I'm afraid Amazon will steal my nonlinear PDE solutions. I'm just old-fashioned.
After people saying the video posted isn’t realistic I’m starting to have doubts.
Maybe if someone could tell me based on my usage? I don’t use it for work but use it for creative hobbies and media consumption. So mostly:
Photoshop, FTP clients, Safari, Handbrake, Sublime, Twitter/Tweetbot, Grids, XLD, Folx, WhatsApp. Handbrake I’d usually run on its own.
Sometimes I might use MS Teams or Outlook but rarely.
True.
The only thing MaxTech showed on their video was that 32GB RAM doesn't give a huge jump in performance vs 16BB RAM for the price on some scenarios. Your points are still valid.
Imo for your own usage, only you can judge. Just look at your own activity monitor in the middle of your workflow and see the system's behavior. If you are seeing a lot of yellow and swap usage, probably a good idea to get more RAM for your next Mac. If you only see mostly green, then you can get a new Mac with the same amount of RAM as your current RAM.
I think the 8 GB of RAM and M1 processor in my new iPad Pro are huge overkill. Just insane. But I bought the thing. They might be good for iMovie or something, whenever it is that I will use that. The feature it has that I thought I could live without but am actually using and benefiting from every day is the 120Hz screen as well as the beautiful colour accuracy etc.
It is surely time to look elsewhere for the features that give it value and stop being a perennial nerd wanting specs time after time. My 8 year old US$700 home-built Windows desktop in a mini-ATX case (Edit: with 8 GB of RAM I bought back then in 2013!) still flies. Give it a rest. Thank you for this thread.
It is surely time to look elsewhere for the features that give it value and stop being a perennial nerd wanting specs time after time. My 8 year old US$700 home-built Windows desktop in a mini-ATX case (Edit: with 8 GB of RAM I bought back then in 2013!) still flies. Give it a rest. Thank you for this thread.
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I meant the opposite. We try to determine if we can live with less ram to keep costs down.
I think this video is a good example, because Max actually showed moving between different windows, open files, etc. It was not only export times - it was moving around the system. If your workflow resembles what he's doing - it is informative.
Now, he might not be a tech expert, but what he's showing is indicative of real world performance, and you can draw your own conclusions. So, don't listen to his opinions, look at what he's doing and decide.
For me, it was very similar to what I did: my current MBP has 16Gb RAM and I opened a lot of stuff to test it out (I mentioned it several times, but in short: a large 3D file, a bunch of large Photoshop files, a bunch of apps) and I used my computer normally - I did not notice any slowdowns. Same as in that video. And yes there was swap, in fact, I had like a 10Gb swap file and things were instant.
Of course. Why wouldn't you? If the whole computer was free, I would pick up 5 of them. Doesn't mean I need 5. ?
I think for me the additional RAM is not worth the additional price and wait times, but it's definitely better to have 32 than 16. Is it worth the cost? That's a different question.
Look, not everyone can justify the extra cost. Especially taking into account that prices are different. In my country, the upgrade is 530 euros - which is more than $600! In most of Europe it's $500+. So, random claims like "you need 32Gb if you open big PDF documents and browser tabs" might get some people to seriously overspend and others, who can't, to feel like they bought a slow computer that barely has a few years of life in it ?
This was the reason for this whole post. So, of course, if you have the money for it and feel like it - by all means get whatever you want. A 64Gb RAM computer *is* better than a 16Gb RAM computer. No doubt about it. But 8Tb SSDs are also better than 1Tb SSDs, so why not go around and advise people to future-proof (file sizes are growing!!!!) and buy a $6000 laptop?
Also, just to mention it here: we (this forum) had this exact discussion in 2016 when 16Gb was the only option on a MBP. And the comments were like "16Gb may be enough today, but it's a bare minimum and in a few years it will not be enough".
His test is demonstrative that these machines can take a lot of (heaviest) applications opens at the same time, even with "only" 16gb of ram. This doesn't mean that the applications itself wouldn't benefit from extra ram. He proves that you can move between windows without issues and mostly aren't reloaded because are either inside ram or inside swap.
But, they behave the same as if the system has more ram allocable? Interacting with that, jumping from Xcode tab to another, jumping form Xcode to Android Studio and edit some line of code, feels the same as the 32gb system?
I think is a legit question.
I work every day with a 16gb M1 Mini and I can say without any doubt that is a very capable machine and this amount of ram allows me to complete the job. But, but often some ram heavy applications (Android Studio or Xcode with multiple simulators started) feels laggy after some hour of work.
I can live with that constrain? Yes, I've done before and probably I can live for the next couple of years. Is worth paying 20% more to have a better user experience in my use case? Probably yes.
You stated:
if we talk to wait times, for example the additional build time for the 16gb machine I agree with you: isn't worth spending much for a couple of seconds/minutes less. But if the experience became choppy/laggy than is another story..
I will never generalize or try to convince people to spend more money. For the average consumer these machine are overkill even at base spec. I don't think you will notice speed difference with an M1 Air on opening pdf..
I went to 8 on my m1 MBP FROM 16 in my last MBP. Primary reason I never used more than 8. I’ll admit I don’t use anything too memory intensive. Sometimes Davinci a few Xcode compiles buts mostly spreadsheets, web research, pages, The increase in speed over the old MBP more than offset the rare occasion I might need more ram, so I’m good. If my computer becomes outdated. Time to get a new one
More precisely what it showed is that for many realistic and extreme scenarios there isn’t any jump in performance at all.
You don’t need 32 GB. Save the money, or use it to upgrade something else.
I know, I wasn’t being serious on that post ?
To sum up what the OP said: you don’t need 32GB or 64GB of RAM until you need it.
In my own case, I have the 64GB because I know my applications will use up all of them.
In my own case, I have the 64GB because I know my applications will use up all of them.
I ordered a 64 GB Max in hopes that I can run two monitors with MS Teams and possibly one other app without the hurricane starting inside my laptop.
Go ahead...say it...I'm a dreamer.
Thankfully, I can afford it since I haven't taken a vacation since...since...wait a minute while I load my calendar app -- ugh, the hurricane just started again.😜
Go ahead...say it...I'm a dreamer.
Thankfully, I can afford it since I haven't taken a vacation since...since...wait a minute while I load my calendar app -- ugh, the hurricane just started again.😜
If it wasn’t a $450 CAD add on I might have considered 32GB but you need to draw the line somewhere…
Doing virtualization-heavy software development work while travelling a lot, I was absolutely crying out for a 32GB compact MacBook and I'm glad that they finally released one. Stings, though.
I could just about get these workloads done on 16GB M1 13" but I was under serious memory pressure pretty much the whole time, and the thing was doing about 1-2 drive-writes-per-day of swapping. Did stay remarkably responsive throughout, surprisingly.
I could just about get these workloads done on 16GB M1 13" but I was under serious memory pressure pretty much the whole time, and the thing was doing about 1-2 drive-writes-per-day of swapping. Did stay remarkably responsive throughout, surprisingly.
