Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Is 8GB of RAM Enough for a Mac in 2024?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Imagine what users could do then if for a few bucks more on Apples part, the base memory was 12GB or 16GB?
Ok I will make the call then. There are quite a few of us and we are called customers.
Yes, if it were $600, fine. Also, if RAM upgrades weren't $200 for an additional 8GB, that'd be fine.
Let's be honest. People want base models to have better specifications so they don't have to pay the ridiculous prices to upgrade, and Apple don't offer better base specs for that exact reason.
You can use a Mac with 8GB of RAM no problem. You are just not a particularly bright person if you're paying 2000 Euros for a computer with such config. This is coming from someone who would pay more for a Mac because of my attachment to macOS, and who recommends Macs to everyone. It's absolutely fine for the M2 MacBook Air at the 999 price tag in the US. But on the Pro side offering this paints a very ugly picture of Apple and what it's become, having the nerve to offer such a configuration at such a price and asking for so much on top of that to actually get a usable machine, one they're labeling as one for Pros, mind you. They've completely lost me as a customer and I'm afraid they've completely lost the plot, too.
That could be the difference. I've been talking about desktop use. I refuse to buy another Macbook ever. I've had my share of issues over the years with them and find them to be the worse tech purchases (based on my first-hand experiences)
That is why my laptop is a ThinkPad. 15" display, Core i7 w/16GB RAM, 1TB SSD. I get nearly 10 hours on battery (obviously less if I'm doing CPU intensive tasks). I've got Windows 10 tamed and locked down so it is as trouble-free as my Mac Mini. But I understand that not everyone has the technical know-how to accomplish that.
This is like a Michelin starred restaurant who have peasant customers come in and complain their meal was too little. You want upgradable memory, SSD, etc then there are few options. The business of apple is profits. It’s not about how you feel about their upselling and price gouging. You’re buying the brand buddy. You have other choices go there.
That's what I used to say. I bought a 16 GB MacBook back in 2017 because I figured my memory usage would go up over time. I'd say that at that time 8 GB was perfectly fine the vast majority of the time, but very occasionally (<5% of the time), having more could help a bit because of very heavy multitasking. 8 GB would still work, but during those heavy multitasking sessions, I'd get occasional slowdowns.
However, ironically, now I need less on my MacBook because I don't travel for work anymore (different job), and so my mobile computing needs are much less. So, in retrospect I would have just been better off saving the CA$225 on the extra memory and putting it towards something else.
Why can’t those users buy a nice laptop if they want. Especially considering they probably will use it for many years.
How do you raise the price without raising the price....? Like everything Apple does, it's strategic.
Adequate? Perhaps. If adequate is the bar now. Something about fifteen pieces of flair comes to mind.
Value? I think even the 8 GB defense brigade must admit it’s not a great value.
I think it is very safe to say that with either the M4 or M5 the base RAM will increase to either 12 or 16GB. This isn't a matter of "if", but "when"... even if it has been a decade.
If I had to draw a line in the sand, I would say guess that the M4 base SKU RAM will be 12GB. Low enough that Apple will still talk people into upgrading, but high enough to not be overly embarrassing.
If I had to draw a line in the sand, I would say guess that the M4 base SKU RAM will be 12GB. Low enough that Apple will still talk people into upgrading, but high enough to not be overly embarrassing.
I have 8GB M1 Air. I currently have open: LaunchBar, Messages, Safari (seven tabs), Reminders, Notes, Spark (email), NetNewsWire, two Safari-based, PWAs, Numbers, BitWarden, Fantastical and Activity Monitor.
So, nothing demanding and the machine is running smoothly - yet my memory pressure is in the yellow (as it almost always is when I check it). So I might say yes, for my usage case.
But if 8GB were really enough as far as the system is concerned, memory pressure would be green... right?
So, nothing demanding and the machine is running smoothly - yet my memory pressure is in the yellow (as it almost always is when I check it). So I might say yes, for my usage case.
But if 8GB were really enough as far as the system is concerned, memory pressure would be green... right?
I knew someone would post something like this. It seems people don't quite understand how macOS works. I don't claim to be an expert either, but I can tell you macOS is designed to use as much memory as possible. If you have less, it will use less and compress more. (This memory compression does not involve the SSD. That's completely different.) If you have more it will try to use as much of it as possible, and with less compression. Fortunately, the performance hit with memory compression is not noticeable for usage such as with web browsing or email or business applications.
Your customers didnt know they need bto with more ram. Not apple faults that some customers dont know what they need
No offense, but I don't see upgrading my computer every few years as a problem. You stated you wouldn't spend $1K on a laptop and only use it 2 or 3 years. I would, as computer purchases are my one true splurge every 3 or 4 years. To each their own.
What a tempest in a teapot this is. A base model Mac runs fine for many uses on 8 GB of RAM right out of the box. Fast SSDs take the pain out of paging to disk, but if your needs are greater or you want to future-proof a bit, you can double the RAM for the price of one night out for two.
As to the question of how much Apple marks up RAM, well, look up the list of parts for an iPhone and you'll find they make quite a profit on that too. As they do on every product. As every company does on every product it makes.
As to the question of how much Apple marks up RAM, well, look up the list of parts for an iPhone and you'll find they make quite a profit on that too. As they do on every product. As every company does on every product it makes.
You must have been a very wealthy student.
Many average users (browser with multiple tabs, other open applications, etc.) with the base 8GB config. are going to hit the physical memory limit and then start swapping to SSD. This might not even be perceived as a performance issue from that perspective. So the user is none the wiser. However, the larger concern would be the lifespan of the SSD since they have a lifetime limit of IO / RW. In this scenario, limited memory could be a longevity issue for the machine. If you expect to have your machine last as long as possible, you might want to consider this and it may be worth the money to get 16GB to avoid possible swapping that could eventually eat into the lifespan of your solid state storage.
Yes, enough for most real computer users—leaving out the posers. Most users are looking at email, YouTube, Google….students doing school work. Those doing intensive graphics, 3D modeling, are buying more powerful machines….and if $1500 is too much for you then get you ass off the Internet, get educated, get a job and develop your career.