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Is 8GB of RAM Enough for a Mac in 2024?
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It depends entirely what you do with the machine… it really does.
Ignoring cost, 8 GB is more than enough for Mac OS and regular consumer use with office productivity and light coding etc
Could Apple set higher base specs considering the prices they charge, most likely. Will they, unlikely.
They have always been tight on storage and RAM. But to be honest, for regular consumer use, it has no impact… and hence why they do it.
If you're a regular consumer and don't do anything demanding, you will be absolutely fine. If you're a “pro” with a medium to heavy workload… well its a non issue, you know what you need… and you spec as required.
Ignoring cost, 8 GB is more than enough for Mac OS and regular consumer use with office productivity and light coding etc
Could Apple set higher base specs considering the prices they charge, most likely. Will they, unlikely.
They have always been tight on storage and RAM. But to be honest, for regular consumer use, it has no impact… and hence why they do it.
If you're a regular consumer and don't do anything demanding, you will be absolutely fine. If you're a “pro” with a medium to heavy workload… well its a non issue, you know what you need… and you spec as required.
8GB is enough for many consumers. Not at all for power-users. The issue I have is the price of upgrade and availability of upgraded devices at retailers (off the shelf).
Even at my current 16GB MBA M1, I'm consistently having to make decisions based on memory usage.
Now, what would be nice, is if when receiving the 'out of memory' notification, my computer wasn't fully unstable and requiring a hard-reboot. But that's been Mac for the last decade. It merely a warning that tells you there's nothing you can do BECAUSE you wired all your memory.
Even at my current 16GB MBA M1, I'm consistently having to make decisions based on memory usage.
Now, what would be nice, is if when receiving the 'out of memory' notification, my computer wasn't fully unstable and requiring a hard-reboot. But that's been Mac for the last decade. It merely a warning that tells you there's nothing you can do BECAUSE you wired all your memory.
does it matter?
if you want 16GB to be the minimum, Apple would happily increase prices and set a new base spec.
for people wanting "options", they sure are against this option for some weird reason.
if you want 16GB to be the minimum, Apple would happily increase prices and set a new base spec.
for people wanting "options", they sure are against this option for some weird reason.
I think that, if you’re paying a premium price for a premium device, you want it to last. Therefore, 16GB is what I recommend. You want the machine to last, and web browsers alone can eat up memory (let alone everything else).
The last decade is a neat data range, given the base SKU Macs RAM since the Mac 128K about 40 years ago:
![1710167726658.png]( "1710167726658.png")
When Apple attempt to get people to upgrade from M1 series Macs, then they'll bump the RAM and SSD base specs. While they're still busy trying to entice Intel owners to Apple silicon it won't occur.
This. 8GB are enough for casual users, but we are in 2024 already and this laptop should last you at least until 2029-2030 so it isn’t furureproof. Apple brags about being green while intentionally cutting corners so you either buy a new laptop sooner, or force you to spend almost 500 bucks more for an average 16GB-512GB.
Id say its fine for the vast majority of mac users… most macs spend their lives running regular software. Only a small subset of people will be truly pushing their macs hard.
The models with 8 GB of RAM are analogous to basic economy airline tickets. Those models are a way for Apple to sell to extremely price sensitive customers who are willing to tolerate the cramped quarters of eight gigabytes, but without losing money from the people who have the ability to pay for more legroom. I suspect that if somebody, for example, the European Union, were to force Apple to drop a model with 8 GB the result would not be a cut in the price of the 16 GB model. It would just be the elimination of the lower price model. The people who buy the lowest cost model are not apples core customers – – from Apple’s point of view, they are the most dispensable customers.
in other words, it isn’t so much that Apple is charging $200 more for the 16 GB model. It is more like they are giving you a $200 discount for suffering the inconvenience of the 8 GB model.
economists called is “price discrimination“
in other words, it isn’t so much that Apple is charging $200 more for the 16 GB model. It is more like they are giving you a $200 discount for suffering the inconvenience of the 8 GB model.
economists called is “price discrimination“
My Windows notebook has 64 GB of RAM and that is the minimum I would want for future notebooks.
Yup. My wife and daughter both have 8 GB laptops, and 16 GB wouldn't help them in any meaningful way.
My wife browses, watches video, occasionally works in Word for short documents, and accesses registration and office application portals and what not.
My daughter browses, watches video, does schoolwork with Google Classroom, plays music, and uses some educational applications.
8 GB is absolutely fine for both of them.
My son does the same stuff as my daughter on his iMac. He has 12 GB, not because he needs it, but just because that's what I had installed in it when it was my primary machine.
Hell, I even used an old 2014 8 GB Core i5 Mac mini for my business application workload for over a year until last year and it was OK. I now run a 16 GB M1, but in truth the RAM benefit isn't huge for my work applications even in my case. The RAM is more useful for Photos and other stuff like that, or the very occasional time I multi-task a bazillion applications (which isn't very often these days).
Ironically, I needed more RAM 4 years ago than I usually do now, because my workload has changed.
So, do I think Apple should increase the base RAM? Well, given the cost, I would say yes, but NOT to 16 GB as it's simply not necessary. I think an excellent base configuration would be 12 GB.
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Then Apple should offer a low cost solution. A $1500 laptop with 8gb is RAM isn't sutable in 2024.
Nevermind that 8gb of RAM is hardly realistic even if you're just doing school work in a browser and Office.
My M2 Air 8/256 occasionally stutters and freezes with Firefox, Spotify and Capture One open. I wouldn't say this is very far from basic needs, as more and more regular people are creating a bit of content nowadays. My older 2019 Intel MacbookPro doesn't freeze. It has 16GB of RAM, but still.
Since on Apple Silicon it has been proven that RAM count double, 8GB is actually equivalent to 16GB on other systems. So there is no debate to be had. Apple is the only company that can do such miracles.
I have less an issue with them starting at 8gb of ram than I do with them starting at 256gb of storage.
I regularly use my 2010 MPB with 8gb of ram and 8gb is fine for the things I use it for. However, I upgraded to an SSD and used the DVD rom drive slot as my backup HD.
My point is not that you can run more demanding tasks on 8gb but if you're doing light to medium web browsing, taking notes, watching movies, light picture or video editing you will be fine with 8gb in most cases.
You cannot use ram as storage but you can use storage as ram AKA swap memory.
I regularly use my 2010 MPB with 8gb of ram and 8gb is fine for the things I use it for. However, I upgraded to an SSD and used the DVD rom drive slot as my backup HD.
My point is not that you can run more demanding tasks on 8gb but if you're doing light to medium web browsing, taking notes, watching movies, light picture or video editing you will be fine with 8gb in most cases.
You cannot use ram as storage but you can use storage as ram AKA swap memory.
Memory paging and related have been used by computers since the 1960s… its been around for decades! Multiple platforms from workstations to mainframes and super computers. Its an efficient means to get more out of a set of hardware.
IOS devices in particular actually have amazing memory management. Memory compression and related on portable devices allow for much more efficient devices and longer battery life.
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I don't have much of an opinion whether 8GB is or isn't enough for the "everyday" person.
But, I do want to point out that how many here are thinking of "student" (as in "student use") is not accurate. So far, throwing out the word "student" in this thread has been largely a signal to "basic needs". I think that isn't accurate.
I don't know how many users here were university students way back in the 90s and before and that may be contributing to an image of what student needs are. But students today can be involved in many computing heavy tasks including graphic design, video editing, and that kind of stuff that could be all part of their everyday student work.
The student of yesteryear, for the most part, may not have needed more than something that typed up documents, but that's not true today.
So let's chuck out the idea of saying "student use" to imply "basic needs". It's much more complicated than that.
(And no, I'm not a student any more. I went to uni before this century dawned ;-) ).
But, I do want to point out that how many here are thinking of "student" (as in "student use") is not accurate. So far, throwing out the word "student" in this thread has been largely a signal to "basic needs". I think that isn't accurate.
I don't know how many users here were university students way back in the 90s and before and that may be contributing to an image of what student needs are. But students today can be involved in many computing heavy tasks including graphic design, video editing, and that kind of stuff that could be all part of their everyday student work.
The student of yesteryear, for the most part, may not have needed more than something that typed up documents, but that's not true today.
So let's chuck out the idea of saying "student use" to imply "basic needs". It's much more complicated than that.
(And no, I'm not a student any more. I went to uni before this century dawned ;-) ).
What I don't understand is, if Apple's strategy is to have low RAM configurations just to keep the advertised base price low, with the idea that they will upgrade when purchasing, why don't they stock more high end configurations? Like I always upgrade my Mac and the upgrades I want are NEVER in stock. If Apple was trying to upsell, wouldn't they keep the upsell models on the shelf?
I have an 8GB M1 iMac. I don't have any problems with memory.
No, wait...
I also have a 32GB Mac Studio, which is where the video editing, virtualisation, and java dev happens. And a 16GB MacBook Pro where... all the above but tending not at the same time...
None of those things happen on the iMac at all; software not even installed. It's meant to be for writing. Sometimes that even happens. That's why it has the mechanical keyboard. And for that task it's ridiculously overspecified and lovely.
Also, I don't collect open browser tabs. It's unusual to have more than about 8 open at a time, and I clean up when done. In fact I suspect that's probably the biggest single factor in not running out of memory, not the other stuff above...
The only time I ever hit memory pressure is using YouTube. Which is a sign I probably should stop. (I'm not a Creator, leastwise not for YouTube...)
No, wait...
I also have a 32GB Mac Studio, which is where the video editing, virtualisation, and java dev happens. And a 16GB MacBook Pro where... all the above but tending not at the same time...
None of those things happen on the iMac at all; software not even installed. It's meant to be for writing. Sometimes that even happens. That's why it has the mechanical keyboard. And for that task it's ridiculously overspecified and lovely.
Also, I don't collect open browser tabs. It's unusual to have more than about 8 open at a time, and I clean up when done. In fact I suspect that's probably the biggest single factor in not running out of memory, not the other stuff above...
The only time I ever hit memory pressure is using YouTube. Which is a sign I probably should stop. (I'm not a Creator, leastwise not for YouTube...)Absolutely. But the argument isn't that you need more than 8GB of RAM for basic tasks; any MacBook from the past 10-15 years, or pretty much any laptop with an SSD, would suffice for that.
Investing in a new model with an M3 chip for these activities is vast overkill, you’ll be wasting around a thousand dollars. The whole point of these machines is to excel at intensive tasks, not just to handle basic functions like Microsoft Office, which computers have been more than capable of for decades.
It will work fine, today, for most people. The problem is that it is clearly going to be a limiter 3-5 years down the road. Its a bit like how my 2nd gen iPad Pro has to remove apps to install updates now because of the limit Apple had. We will see more severe limitations as time goes on.
I suspect the highest end iPhone will have more RAM than the MacBook's do shortly too, which is a bit weird.
I suspect the highest end iPhone will have more RAM than the MacBook's do shortly too, which is a bit weird.
My MacBook is 256 GB with 16 GB. I definitely don't need 512 GB on that laptop. I currently have 127 GB free.
I have 4 TB on my Mac mini though - 1 TB + 1 TB SSD + 2 TB SSD.
Capture One can be a RAM hog. Your usage doesn't reflect basic usage at all, if you're regularly using Capture One.
Another unpopular opinion here.
I'm working as a pro on a M1 Mac with 8GB of RAM. It does way more than surfing the web and office work, it works with tons of web tabs open while playing video streams, while using Photoshop, Affinity suite, Figma with hundred of complex frames open, Final Cut Pro rendering 4k streams and much more. And it does so without a hiccup, steadily, daily, since 2022, no spinning wheels at all, no lags, nothing. And I'm the person that likes to be quick and to have a responsive machine. Seriously!
I find the previous statement from iBluetooth spot on:
You already know very well if your workflow needs way more than 8GB of RAM from your past workflow history.
I'm pretty aware that if I'm going to daily use 3D renderers, After Effects or encode several 8K videos (just to give some relevant examples) I'll suffer from lack of enough memory but those are specific use cases, from a smaller percentage of users. One that is systematically doing that kind of tasks doesn't even consider a 16GB upgrade either, he's in the 'above 36GB' range and he also needs more CPU cores, way more. He/she typically considers a M Max/Ultra SoC as a viable workhorse.
It would be better to have more RAM for the same price? Obviously, but having 8GB is not going to be an hard limit for most users.
I'm working as a pro on a M1 Mac with 8GB of RAM. It does way more than surfing the web and office work, it works with tons of web tabs open while playing video streams, while using Photoshop, Affinity suite, Figma with hundred of complex frames open, Final Cut Pro rendering 4k streams and much more. And it does so without a hiccup, steadily, daily, since 2022, no spinning wheels at all, no lags, nothing. And I'm the person that likes to be quick and to have a responsive machine. Seriously!
I find the previous statement from iBluetooth spot on:
You already know very well if your workflow needs way more than 8GB of RAM from your past workflow history.
I'm pretty aware that if I'm going to daily use 3D renderers, After Effects or encode several 8K videos (just to give some relevant examples) I'll suffer from lack of enough memory but those are specific use cases, from a smaller percentage of users. One that is systematically doing that kind of tasks doesn't even consider a 16GB upgrade either, he's in the 'above 36GB' range and he also needs more CPU cores, way more. He/she typically considers a M Max/Ultra SoC as a viable workhorse.
It would be better to have more RAM for the same price? Obviously, but having 8GB is not going to be an hard limit for most users.
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