For a typical consumer using their iMac for office work, managing photos, and occasional light video editing, the impact of having 8GB of RAM versus 16GB may not be particularly noticeable. Apple's SSDs, especially in the 512GB model, are indeed fast, and this can help mitigate the performance impact of swapping.
Many users of M1 machines with 8GB of RAM report that they experience no issues with their typical workloads. This suggests that for general use, 8GB of RAM is often sufficient.
The decision to opt for 16GB of RAM is more likely to be a concern for future-proofing or for users who engage in resource-intensive tasks such as professional video editing, 3D rendering, or running multiple virtual machines. In these cases, having more RAM can make a significant difference in performance.
If a typical user doesn’t even notice a difference between 8GB and 16GB for their needs, opting for the base model with 8GB of RAM makes sense.