What you described is pretty light usage, people still do that on machines with 4 gigs of RAM with no big issues.
8 gigs would hit the spot for you I believe, but since you'd like to keep the machine for a few years and we don't know what stupid technology becomes fashionable in 2025 that will destroy our RAM just like Electron apps have since 2013, if you can afford it easily, get the 16 GB version. If you can't, don't worry and get the 8 GB one, it will run 100 % today, tomorrow, in a year, and unless your needs change dramatically, it will absolutely be usable after five years.
It's kind of a meme nowadays to go around telling people that your current amount of RAM is the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM, I guess it makes people feel like proper professionals or something, but let me tell you, editing 4K footage from an iPhone once a week doesn't make anyone a power user. Having lots of tabs open in a web browser doesn't make anyone a power user. Starting all apps a person knows how to use at once and pretending like it's their normal workflow doesn't mean they need that much RAM in the machine.
I develop web apps on my Mac and could've gotten the 8 GB model easily and it would work just fine, because my previous dev machine was a 8 GB Dell laptop running Linux (not-so-great RAM management) and it was fine. I only got the 16 GB one because I'm going to make some changes in my workflow that will require more RAM and because the machine is my work tool and pays for it.
What OP wrongly describes as "light" is actually pretty heavy usage. Websites are incredibly and increasingly RAM-heavy.
Nonsense. I could easily do all that he described with my old 2012 MacBook Air with 4GB of Ram. 8GB is plenty. That being said, if the OP has money to burn and feels better about it, then 16GB definitely won't hurt.
My experience differs. A mid-2009 MB, maxed-out with 8GB RAM, is slug-slow under (my) normal usage. I still can edit a document in Teams OR make a call, but not both at the same time.
People grossly underestimate how much RAM browsers alone take these days. That "light usage" is probably more memory intensive than you think it is if there is a browser involved. Then there's the myriad of Electron apps that are also memory hogs.
+1
Look, and this goes for everyone giving me grief here: If it worked like crap, why the HELL would I not just say so? What's in it for me to LIE about it? Look at my signature - it's not like I can't afford higher-end Macs and thus am doing a sour-grapes routine to make myself feel better. I own what you see there PLUS a 2012 iMac and MBA (removed those from signature since it was getting too long and they're no longer my "main" desktop/laptop combo). I don't need to post a freaking activity monitor screenshot. I can simply tell you I've been using it with multiple Chrome tabs, GIMP, GarageBand, MS Office (including PowerPoints with TONS of animations, many simultaneous), QuickTime, etc. without ever feeling like it was choking or even starting too. Now, I don't normally do all those things at the same time (no need to), but I have done a FEW of those things at the same time and experience no perceivable issues. I guess maybe it helps that it has an SSD for memory swapping or something. I don't really know nor care what it's doing in the background because it just works.
That will be my final comment on the matter.
Some have a different sense of speed than others, and that's OK. But please don't go on pretending what you say is your typical use is fast.
I've been on 16GB for the past 8 years. At the time it seemed like a luxury, now, it's barely enough. That is a capture taken after a few hours running, mostly doing office work. A few Word documents open, email, Teams (not even in a video conference), Firefox configured to unload any unused tab after 30 min. Of course, like anyone else, I'd love to be able to return to 128MB RAM and have a great experience, just like it was on Windows 2000 back in the day.
So as to compare: a recent HP PC with 8GB RAM, running Firefox with some open tabs, gulps down 80 to 90% of the available RAM.
So to the OP: DO max out the RAM. NEVER underestimate how much RAM and storage you will need.
While 8GB may seem adequate right now given the right processor power, I can pretty much guarantee you will regret skimping on it sooner than later.
Same goes with internal storage. Some pretend 256GB is plenty. It is, if you store documents, photos, apps in the cloud, which will end up more expensive in the long run than having a larger SSD to start with.
I made a similar mistake a few years back when buying an iPhone 6, thinking 16GB storage was enough as from my experience with iPhone 3GS. Now, I always have to think which app I must have, which one can be uninstalled. Don't make a similar mistake!
