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Is 8GB of RAM Enough for a Mac in 2024?
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However
I do remember running Logic Pro on my 8gb M1 Mac mini.
with komplete Kontrol, kontackt, arturia and uhe plugins.
and I could have several instances of them.
i did run into swap issues when I had lots of tabs open
youtube was the biggest ram hog. i could fit a full orchestra into one YouTube tab.
on other pages, not so much. but then I was using several layers of ad blocking
8gbs is fine with an ad blocker
for all kinds of multitasking
why should users pay for an additional 8gb just so companies can invade their privacy, spy on them just to flog adverts at them
seriously. It’s an absolute joke
I do remember running Logic Pro on my 8gb M1 Mac mini.
with komplete Kontrol, kontackt, arturia and uhe plugins.
and I could have several instances of them.
i did run into swap issues when I had lots of tabs open
youtube was the biggest ram hog. i could fit a full orchestra into one YouTube tab.
on other pages, not so much. but then I was using several layers of ad blocking
8gbs is fine with an ad blocker
for all kinds of multitasking
why should users pay for an additional 8gb just so companies can invade their privacy, spy on them just to flog adverts at them
seriously. It’s an absolute joke
8GB is surprisingly enough. I went from a MacBook Pro 17” 16GB 2011 to a MacBook Air 15” M2 8GB 2023. To my surprise the 8GB really is enough. It was an involuntary upgrade as my old machine’s power supply died while I am in the Philippines. My plan had been to get a MacBook Pro M3 Max 16” 32GB but there was not time and the 8GB MBA was all that was available. I have been very surprisingly pleased with the excellent performance of the 8G of RAM on the M2. It feels like I have more than the 16GB I used to have. I run Illustrator, photoshop, safari, notes, photos, mail, excel, TextEdit, BBEdit, Calendar, HotKeys and messenger all at the same time all the time.
The disks are fast enough, that I imagine RAM is no longer such a critical thing.
I haven't bought a Mac since 2011(came with 4GB, the SSD swapped itself to death). Not buying another one until this practice stops.
I primarily only do web browsing, but with 3 browsers(one for "generic" stuff, one for a few dozen work webapps, and one for ticket handling etc) and a few hundred tabs that uses a lot of memory.
I primarily only do web browsing, but with 3 browsers(one for "generic" stuff, one for a few dozen work webapps, and one for ticket handling etc) and a few hundred tabs that uses a lot of memory.
Honest question: why do you need a few hundred tabs open when web browsing? Not being critical…..…. I just find that if I have more than say 5-10 tabs opened I start losing track of what I am doing.
They milked the Jobs/Ive legacy for every drop they could, but I think things have changed now. The closest fix I can think of is to get Ive back. At least the follow on designs will be clean even if the innovation is gone.
I don’t see why this is even a debate.
Do cheap windows laptops with 16 gb ram do what Apple’s laptops do?
This is the exact same scenario as back when the iPhone 5s was first released, and people mocked the A7 chip for only having two cores and 1 gb of ram. Meanwhile, android smartphone professors had 4-8 cores and 4 gb ram and still fared worse in terms of performance and battery life.
Wake me up when 8 gb ram MBAs suddenly stop being good enough for the majority of their user base, and I will agree that Apple has a problem. Otherwise, I maintain all this is just noise to disguise the real issue - which is that a few people are too cheapskate to pay for the ram and storage they want in a Mac.
Yes, for me it's enough.
At this moment I have multiple tabs open in Chrome, multiple RDP's in Royal TSX, Transmit, BBEdit, Enpass, Onedrive, Teams and I'm only at 6GB. So for office usage it's enough.
At this moment I have multiple tabs open in Chrome, multiple RDP's in Royal TSX, Transmit, BBEdit, Enpass, Onedrive, Teams and I'm only at 6GB. So for office usage it's enough.
Finally someone who actually uses one.
A lot of forums are all tech nerds who “think” 16GB is required when in reality they are not the mass market. I’m a tech guy but seriously all I use in a personal Mac is word processing, YouTube, spreadsheets, web browsing and maybe just maybe looking at photos.
My intense work is done on my work machine. Yes if you use a Mac for work get 16GB. And the price Apple changes for RAM is ridiculous but if it keeps the entry price down for the average consumer hooray.
I’m betting they’re going to up the price when they finally include 16GB in a base spec. And it will be the pros that get it first.
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I mean, it’s already possible to pretend that the 8gb versions of the MBA don’t exist and the current 16 gb ram / 512 gb storage option is the “default” entry level model.
My point was that Apple has to offer a low cost version to compete with other starting laptops. I would never recommend 8 GB, unless for my dad etc. The risk of the ssd wearing out is overhyped as they last much longer than users assume.
The price of the memory and ssd is high, but I see the same for Dell and others that are selling memory with this bandwith.
I personally go for 64 GB and 2 TB ssd, but I am running LLM models on it were the unified memory allows me to run a model at the ChatGPT 3.5 level, over kill for most others though, but might actually be outdated in 3 - 5 years if everyone starts running LLM models locally, so nothing can be said future proof.
You are changing the comment. The link I referred to was about a Dell XPS where even the illustration posted showed minimum configuration was 16Gb?A Dell server with 8GB of memory in the base configuration.
PowerEdge R350 Rack Server | Dell USA
Adaptable one-socket rack server designed to accelerate business growth for organizations looking for enterprise class features.www.dell.com
Cost to upgrade from 8GB to 16GB is $236.00. To upgrade to 32GB is $442.00. Both prices are more than what Apple charges.
So, yes, the 8GB base is relevant.
OK, but out of those, only the first 3 use much RAM. The first two will depend on the complexity / resolution of the images you're working with; the third will depend on whether you're a one-window guy or a 50-tabber.
Oh, they've been greedy a lot longer than that; for at least the 25 years I've been using Macs (off and on). The resale value helps though.
For everyone saying "oh but other companies offer 8GB/256 base spec". Yes, but for a lot less money! Then the upgrades are also half the price or less, across 95% of the market. Dell XPS 13 starts at £749 with the lousy base RAM/SSD, but £200 doubles both AND throws in a better processor. So XPS13 with 16/512 is £949 vs £1499 with Apple.
XPS 13 Laptop - Dell XPS 13-inch Laptop Computers | Dell UK
Shop the thinnest & lightest 13-inch XPS laptop featuring a vibrant display & everyday performance, or view all XPS laptops at Dell.com.
www.dell.com
You have been rather mischievous in your reply because you have inserted a Dell server when I was clearly replying to your posts about the Dell XPS 16 laptop! This is poor.A Dell server with 8GB of memory in the base configuration.
PowerEdge R350 Rack Server | Dell USA
Adaptable one-socket rack server designed to accelerate business growth for organizations looking for enterprise class features.www.dell.com
Cost to upgrade from 8GB to 16GB is $236.00. To upgrade to 32GB is $442.00. Both prices are more than what Apple charges.
So, yes, the 8GB base is relevant.
If something doesn't fit to make your argument strong, its not good to try stick one reply that was not connected to the server data. Very poor.
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We can, but that includes Apple's ludicrous pricing for extra ram. I suspect if they do go to 16GB they're bump the price of the base specs by $100 ($99), everyone will rejoice and buy one. And thus the entry level will bump up $100.
Not really. It was in line with comments that 8GB not viable in 2024 and no one should be selling systems with less than 16 GB. The title of the post is regarding 8GB ram enough in 2024.
Nope. The title of the post is “Is 8GB of RAM Enough for a Mac in 2024?”. Apparently it is for Dell servers. Dell laptops can also be purchased with 8GB.
For what I do with my M2 MBA - word processing, firefox with a min of 4-6 tabs open and either music or video playing the background, it barely breaks a sweat with "just" 8GB