Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Thoughts on the 15" M3 and RAM?

tardman91

tardman91

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 21, 2009
1,170
398
Tampa Area, FL
I've finally decided to replace my M1 MBA and get a new 15" M3 in Midnight. 256gb is plenty of storage for me. What I can't decide on is RAM. My M1 MBA has the 16gb upgrade, and there's honestly nothing wrong with it at all. It handles everything I need it to do remarkably well. I just want the bigger screen, new color, and new design. Going to give my old one to my daughter. My question is, do you think I would notice a big difference in performance going down to 8gb of RAM? Would it be offset at all by the increased performance of the M3 chip? The most resource intensive thing I do is edit and export the occasional 5-10 minute iMovie for YouTube. I'm kind of leaning toward upgrading the RAM, but also wouldn't mind saving $200. Thoughts?
 
Sheepish-Lord said:
This topic has been beaten to death. If you’re asking then you don’t need it…and you don’t.
Click to expand...
I get that I probably don't need it. But since I have it on my current machine, I'm wondering more if I'll miss it? I suppose the way the unified memory works the answer is no. I spend most of my work day hooked to an external monitor using dual screens and in spreadsheets and Chrome with multiple tabs open, mostly editing pages in Canvas.
 
Get as much RAM as you can afford. 8 GB is just barely enough, WindowServer alone will use 1.5 GB of RAM when using an external 4K display. Chrome will use 300-500 MB per tab (or way more if you're using **** apps like Notion). The unified memory argument is just an excuse. Again, get as much as you can.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: Basic75, StoneJack, AlumaMac and 5 others
When you say lots of Chrome tabs, how many is that usually? Chrome is going to be a memory hog, as I am sure you already know. I would say you are on the border of needing or noticing an improvement with 16gb memory. I settled on my 15" M3 with 8gb memory. I had severe memory anxiety but for MY and my wife's workflow, 8gb is fine. Sure sometimes ram pressure goes to yellow, but the Mac sure doesn't slow down at all. Think of it this way....the M3 is going to be equally fast with 8gb vs 16gb. The speed mainly comes from the chip, 16gb will just allow you to have more open at one time. 8gb can do everything 16 can, but maybe just not all at the same time.

If you go 16/256 you will have to wait for it to be built and shipped. I take that part back...looks like B&H has the 16/256 in stock. Though it is $1499 and the 16/512 is on sale for the same price, so at that point I'd just get the latter
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: StoneJack
bellflyer14 said:
When you say lots of Chrome tabs, how many is that usually? Chrome is going to be a memory hog, as I am sure you already know. I would say you are on the border of needing or noticing an improvement with 16gb memory. I settled on my 15" M3 with 8gb memory. I had severe memory anxiety but for MY and my wife's workflow, 8gb is fine. Sure sometimes ram pressure goes to yellow, but the Mac sure doesn't slow down at all. Think of it this way....the M3 is going to be equally fast with 8gb vs 16gb. The speed mainly comes from the chip, 16gb will just allow you to have more open at one time. 8gb can do everything 16 can, but maybe just not all at the same time.

If you go 16/256 you will have to wait for it to be built and shipped. I take that part back...looks like B&H has the 16/256 in stock. Though it is $1499 and the 16/512 is on sale for the same price, so at that point I'd just get the latter
Click to expand...
Sometimes 10-20+ tabs. But they’re not really doing anything other than loading a page for me to edit settings and stuff on. Not really running tasks in the background. I’d order it from Apple. Only have to wait a few days, which is fine. I get education pricing, have a $150 gift card from an iMac I just got the wife, will get another one with this purchase, and will pay no sales tax by taking advantage of FLs upcoming sales tax holiday. So should be a really good deal. I think I’m leaning towards the upgrade.
 
  • Like
Reactions: surfzen21 and bellflyer14
tardman91 said:
Sometimes 10-20+ tabs. But they’re not really doing anything other than loading a page for me to edit settings and stuff on. Not really running tasks in the background. I’d order it from Apple. Only have to wait a few days, which is fine. I get education pricing, have a $150 gift card from an iMac I just got the wife, will get another one with this purchase, and will pay no sales tax by taking advantage of FLs upcoming sales tax holiday. So should be a really good deal. I think I’m leaning towards the upgrade.
Click to expand...
Get 16gb and never think about it again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Basic75, playtech1, OAG7 and 1 other person
tardman91 said:
Sometimes 10-20+ tabs. But they’re not really doing anything other than loading a page for me to edit settings and stuff on. Not really running tasks in the background. I’d order it from Apple. Only have to wait a few days, which is fine. I get education pricing, have a $150 gift card from an iMac I just got the wife, will get another one with this purchase, and will pay no sales tax by taking advantage of FLs upcoming sales tax holiday. So should be a really good deal. I think I’m leaning towards the upgrade.
Click to expand...
Sounds like with the discount, no tax, and gift card, you'll be able to snag a pretty sweet deal. I agree, prob best to go for the upgrade
 
  • Like
Reactions: OAG7 and tardman91
Get 16GB. 8GB is fine for a lot of people but I'd not recommend it. It might be fine now but most people want to keep their devices for many years. Who knows how 8GB will hold up by the time macOS 18-19 are out. Especially with Apple adding AI which loves RAM.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tranceking26, OAG7 and tardman91
Hi @tardman91! Personally, I wouldn't recommend anything less than 16 GB. Like others have said, get as much as you can afford. I can guarantee you will miss having more if you go with 8 GB!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: OAG7 and tardman91
I have an eleven-inch 2014 MacBook Air and a 2015 13-inch Air, the latter purchased in 2016. Both began to experience software compatibility issues in the last year or so, running an older OS. I ran that older OS (Mojave) to be able to use older software that I much preferred over its updated versions.

Eventually, however, I had to accept reality and updated the OS and some software on both laptops earlier this year.

The eleven-inch Air now runs Mavericks but very likely will not work sufficiently well beyond that OS (it is compatible, theoretically, with Big Sur) due to its 4GB base memory limitation. I lost my preferred software iterations without regaining any significant functionality more generally. Meanwhile the 13-inch Air with its 8GB (base) memory has been updated to Monterey (from Mojave), works well (other than losing the older versions of Word and Pages) and it has now replaced the eleven-inch Air as my first choice laptop for functionality when out of the office/away from home (though the smaller Air was lighter and more compact for travelling – an ideal travelling companion, in fact). I may get another couple of years out of it if I manage not to buy the lovely (black) MacBook Pro!

My conclusion: had I gone for 8GB in the eleven-inch Air at point of purchase in 2014 then I would probably still be using it as my main portable computing solution in 2024. That’s an area where the extra memory can still make a difference for some: where an extended period of viable usability is preferred on the part of the user; though with all the AI stuff emerging, how this will affect some devices' longevity remains to be seen.

At any rate, I reckon the extra RAM is good insurance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Christoffee, OAG7 and tardman91
tardman91 said:
Sometimes 10-20+ tabs. But they’re not really doing anything other than loading a page for me to edit settings and stuff on. Not really running tasks in the background. I’d order it from Apple. Only have to wait a few days, which is fine. I get education pricing, have a $150 gift card from an iMac I just got the wife, will get another one with this purchase, and will pay no sales tax by taking advantage of FLs upcoming sales tax holiday. So should be a really good deal. I think I’m leaning towards the upgrade.
Click to expand...
Do this: Use Chrome as you usually would, and after a few hours open up Chrome's Task Manager (Window > Task Manager) and you'll appreciate the mess modern browsers are. In my case, the simple act of launching it with uBlock Origin and not a single website running, it's using over 400 MB.
Chrome will try its best to suspend tabs but if you pin any of them, they will not be suspended.
 
If you want it to last you, 16GB is the choice for you, better invest in it now, you'll pay with slight time due to RAM bottle necks and it might add up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tardman91
You can get 16/512 on sale pretty regularly - I paid $1500 for mine last month. With it being your primary machine I'd recommend it.
 
It does make me chuckle that the only configurable option on Macs is RAM and that produces such passionate reactions.

For your use case an 8Gb build is plenty. I still use a ‘2016 MacBook’ to make iMovies when on holiday. Ok, 4K takes longer to render than my M2 but it still handles it all without complaint.

One issue might be resale prices of 16Gb builds over 8Gb ones. My suspicion is that you’ll never make the extra spend back on the trade in but I could easily be wrong.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tardman91
Apple should be out of business just for selling devices that they know don’t have sufficient RAM! Seriously, we all need to stop enabling Tim Apple.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: RokinAmerica
tardman91 said:
My question is, do you think I would notice a big difference in performance going down to 8gb of RAM? Would it be offset at all by the increased performance of the M3 chip?
Click to expand...
1) Are you going to notice it?
Day to day? Not really. MacOS is really good at managing swap with the SSD. Your iMovie exports may take a bit longer.

2) Will M3 being faster make up for it?
Yeah in some scenarios. That doesn't mean that CPU is a replacement for RAM. The system needs both in a good balance to provide optimal performance.

However, just because you may not notice too much of a difference doesn't mean you will not a couple years from now, or in specific workloads.

Another point: You say you want to give your M1 Air to your daughter. What happens in a few years when you want to do the same thing again? That 16GB of RAM is going to be enough for whatever she throws at it too likely. You do not want to be handing down an 8GB of RAM system in a couple of years. Even if you sell it to someone else, or trade it in, the 16GB model is going to keep its value a lot better.

I'm with everyone else, do not fall for the "base model being cheaper" trap. Get the 16GB now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tardman91 and bellflyer14
Chrome is a memory hog. Use Firefox (or even Safari) instead. Anyway, I have 8 gig 15 M2 Air…..and do all the same stuff, it’s fine. Occasionally there is memory pressure, if you open a bunch of apps at the same time - but 95% of the time, zero issue. Therefore…..for those tasks you mention I really doubt you’ll get $200 worth out of the extra memory. Save the $200 and put it toward your next upgrade.

But….thinking a little more strategic here….you might as well wait a few more months for the M4 to come out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Radiuwel and bellflyer14
There are buyers remorse posts on Reddit every single day from people getting the 8GB base model, just to see lag whenever they have Chrome and MS Office open at the same time filling all the 8GB. Please OP get the 16GB model.

And each annual macOS is usually more RAM hungry than the previous one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tardman91
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back