Yes. 8GB is not enough if you disable the main feature which lets 8GB be enough.
Disconnect your battery to see how useful a laptop is unplugged.
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Is 8GB of RAM Enough for a Mac in 2024?
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Disconnect your battery to see how useful a laptop is unplugged.
The reason is clear, they need to have a low price entry and thus, a 8 GB model is on offer. It's the only way to compete with other computers. When I buy a computer I increase the memory and SSD size, but there are many that won't need that now. They may need it in the future, but you can't foresee that now and the same applies to the SSD size. You can always argue that something is future proof, but some users just want it cheap now and may only need it for 2 to 3 years.
Now that RAM is being done in increments of 6, instead of increments of 8, I think 12GB will become the base amount for the regular M4.
But where this gets murky is when you start configuring BTO at Apple's MSRP and then comparing it to different OEM configurations available at discount from resellers. For example, if you want to spec a 16/512 MacBook Pro M3 (vanilla) because it comes in the color you want and meets your needs, you end up paying the exact same price as a discounted 18/512 M3 Pro that does not come in the color you want.
There are other examples but hopefully the point is clear. Purchasing a new Mac is now fraught with this kind of friction. Now some will claim it's not Apple's problem, but it is, because it's turning people off and stopping them from buying.
I for sure would have if it were an option in 2020 for the M1 MacBook Pro.
Hence why I'm upgrading this year verses my standard 5 to 7 year cycle.
Hey, humans never stop evolving. Any selection bias could impact…. Things
You buy a Mac for what you need. If you need to keep it 10 years because you want to give it to a family member, then buy it with 16 GB. If you only need 8 GB and you upgrade every 3 years, then get 8 GB.
Actually, I think this is intentional, to encourage the upsell. This is precisely why a 32 GB Mac mini Pro is priced similarly to the entry level Mac Studio.
Well when you use a Mac you are using Unix, and he could be going through servers that rely on BSD Unix servers
Probably, except in my case it encourages nosell because I literally cannot buy the Mac I want. If the vanilla M3 had 16GB I would have bought it ages ago. If I buy it now with 16GB I get ripped off just for having the temerity to choose a decent color. Laugh or cry, agree or disagree, but this is the position Apple puts some buyers in with their dumbass product strategies. And it's a reason why many are giving them the middle finger and taking their business elsewhere.
I wish more of those people would just quit Apple altogether.
Instead they stay with Apple and MacRumors for years, almost like they're in a dysfunctional relationship.
For you maybe, but for thousands of other people, it works just fine. Apple's insane revenue and high margins are a testament to that.
Do I like it? Not really, but nonetheless that is likely the reasoning behind it. It is intentional.
If you want to arbitrate who does and does not frequent MacRumors then maybe you should buy it. If a movie critic pans a film that you like, do you send them a message telling them not to watch it and stop complaining?
I am guessing that you have never been in an Apple Store on a Saturday. Lots of people walking out with new MacBooks, Pro and Air. Or seen the dozens of pallets leaving the Apple warehouse each day in Lebanon TN being loaded onto UPS and FedEx trucks. If people weren't buying, Apple would stop making. But that does not seem to be the case.
More than gotten away with it ... they have people DEFENDING it!
It's like the inmates arguing to remain in captivity ... "we like it in here!" .. "the bars give it a homey touch" ... "the awful and inadequate food is actually great and more than enough!" ... "the jail admins know what's best for us"
Dell, probably one of the biggest suppliers of Windows machines, is still selling servers, laptops, and desktops with 8GB of memory. And it is 10 years beyond your timeline. If 8GB was not enough, it would not be selling.
And Dell's memory upgrades for Dell laptops are more costly than Apple.
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8GB can work (my cafe/weekend machine is a M1 w/ 8MB and can do decent dev work on it)... but one really just should grit their teeth and go for the 16GB config (the reason I'm replacing the M1 MBP with the M3).
Having said that you also have to increase to 512GB disk... IMO staying with 256GB is worse than sticking with 256GB... so that makes the min config 16/512... which bumps up to > +400... at which point I'm looking at refurbished... where BTW I once saw a 16/256 MBA M2... thought that must have been returned because the original buyer realize they must have been drunk/stoned when ordering that config and returned it next day.
Having said that you also have to increase to 512GB disk... IMO staying with 256GB is worse than sticking with 256GB... so that makes the min config 16/512... which bumps up to > +400... at which point I'm looking at refurbished... where BTW I once saw a 16/256 MBA M2... thought that must have been returned because the original buyer realize they must have been drunk/stoned when ordering that config and returned it next day.
Because a Mac integrates with all my other devices, syncs notes, passwords and has a free word/excel software I can use.
I’m a basic user and was getting by with a Mac from 2011! I just bought the base spec Air. My 2017 Lenovo I got cheaply on marketplace for windows apps could do it but it has zero integration with my other tech.
I’ll be waiting for everyone to complain when Apple includes 16GB but ups the entry price by $100. Which effectively raises the barrier for people buying their first Mac.
8 GB of RAM is still adequate for a base machine.
Base configurations should perform well for domestic and casual use cases.
Current Apple Silicon Macs with 8 GB of RAM are lightning fast in those scenarios and they probably already exceed the expectations of most customers
Base configurations should perform well for domestic and casual use cases.
Current Apple Silicon Macs with 8 GB of RAM are lightning fast in those scenarios and they probably already exceed the expectations of most customers
do you realise that were Apple, next month, to make 16GB random access memory standard on all Air iterations then 95% of the comments made thus far would be irrelevant. 🧐😇
Three members of my four-person family have Macs with 256 GB storage. None of those three are even close to maxing that 256 GB out. The one that uses the most still has 127 GB free. Two have 8 GB memory and one has 12 GB memory, which are again quite sufficient for their needs.
For myself, I have a 16 GB Mac mini with 4 TB storage. Even 512 GB storage would have been totally inadequate for my needs, but luckily I can use external SSDs since it's a desktop. (I have 1 TB internal, and 2 TB + 1 TB external.)
This is basically my user profile and is my experience as well with the base M2 MBA. My two kids just finished college (Bachelors in Business, Masters in Public Health). Zero problems at University with their base configuration MBAs.
This stuff about only surfing the web is a bunch of malarky.😆
Personally, my M1 Air never gets past maybe 7 GB with *all* my apps going, so I could say it's ok. But without a way to upgrade later, it's absolutely too little for longevity.