So what model MacBook Air are you running? Thinking of upgrading of staying?

[throAU]

8GB RAM in 2023 is pathetic, but it's the same old story and all manufactures get away with it, even Microsoft with their Surface lineup, and Dell, Lenovo. I currently have Scrivener open, Mail (no emails open), iMessage, and Safari with 12 tabs open; most of them are threads from here that as I read I close, and then a Google Sheets tab. Barely asking anything from this laptop and memory pressure is about to touch red.

Whist i’ll be the first to suggest 8 GB is insufficient, if you truly only do basic basic web browsing and email, 8 GB is enough. Barely. But at that point you’re maybe better off with an ipad.

That said, i’ve been recommending upgrade to 16 GB of RAM for about 10 years now…. because it gives you at least 3x the memory for applications once the OS is loaded and any machine from the past 10 years to so has more than enough CPU for it. RAM limit is typically the first thing to run up against as a thing that pushes a machine to end of usable life.

It’s the difference between being able to say, wait out the magic keyboard fiasco for a couple of years with a machine that’s still usable, or being forced into buying a basket case machine you don’t want.

 

[ignatius345]

Barely asking anything from this laptop and memory pressure is about to touch red.

And are things actually slowing down or nah?

 

[geta]

Whist i’ll be the first to suggest 8 GB is insufficient, if you truly only do basic basic web browsing and email, 8 GB is enough. Barely. But at that point you’re maybe better off with an ipad.

That said, i’ve been recommending upgrade to 16 GB of RAM for about 10 years now…. because it gives you at least 3x the memory for applications once the OS is loaded and any machine from the past 10 years to so has more than enough CPU for it. RAM limit is typically the first thing to run up against as a thing that pushes a machine to end of usable life.

It’s the difference between being able to say, wait out the magic keyboard fiasco for a couple of years with a machine that’s still usable, or being forced into buying a basket case machine you don’t want.

For basic usage 8GB (and the base config) is okish only if you plan to buy new Mac every second year, but if you plan to keep it longer, its a not go.

 

[kschendel]

M2 15" MBA with 16GB / 1 TB, in the Midnight. I very occasionally need to do VM's or big compiles on this machine or I might have stopped at 8 GB; most of the time it's an "office" machine. I could have got by with 512GB storage but thought what the heck.

Its predecessor was a late 2013 15" rMBP that was running perfectly fine. I had no intention of replacing it, but it had a fatal accident while I was traveling abroad last fall. I bought the new MBA through the apple store, had it shipped to my daughter, and she overnighted it to me. Expensive but cheaper than buying online where I was, and the local Apple stores didn't carry US keyboard units.

This really is a lovely machine, I have to admit. The screen is excellent. I don't push it hard enough most of the time to notice the performance difference; every now and then, though something I expect to take time happens almost instantly. I did eyeball the Pro 14" and 16" Macbook Pro screens before buying; the 16" is too big; the 14" screen is nicer than the 15" MBA screen, but not $hundreds worth nicer in my opinion and for what I do.