Would I regret buying the Mac Mini M2 (8GB version)?

[Kelvinsin]

Ok just downloaded firefox. Opening exactly same 12 tabs with same webpage as safari and also more than 7GB usage. (+1 chrome tab become 9.6GB now).

Can anyone with M2 8gb help show screenshot of ram usage when 70 tabs still not trigger memory swapping? if this my only problem, i will suspect my m2 mini problem and will escalate to apple support. Thanks.

 

[LeeW]

Can anyone with M2 8gb help show screenshot of ram usage when 70 tabs still not trigger memory swapping?

No, they can't. But you don't need an 8GB device to prove that. It will just be worse than below.

vs having closed all the tabs. Obviously, the SWAP file will clear shortly.

 

[unchecked]

Remember, free RAM is wasted RAM.

In the PC world it's fine when you can always top up your RAM when you need it later or realise you don't have enough. In the Mac world you don't have that luxury. Wasted RAM is still better than wanting RAM.

 

[sracer]

In the PC world it's fine when you can always top up your RAM when you need it later or realise you don't have enough. In the Mac world you don't have that luxury. Wasted RAM is still better than wanting RAM.

That's what Apple banks... literally banks on. The fear of missing out (or fear of lacking) drives a lot of upselling. That is why their base model specs are just below what people believe is a "comfortable" level.

I'm no longer inclined to help people put their FOMO in perspective and context. It's a losing and thankless task. So is trying to dispel the myth of "future-proofing".

If someone has a doubt that the base model of an Apple product will be sufficient for them, then they should simply pay more for the bump up in specs. If their fear of not having enough is greater than their concern for the money they spend, then they should spend more money and have that peace of mind.

 

[Fishrrman]

75 tabs?

Get the 16gb version.
8gb is not going to be "enough".

(even one "tab" is too many for me. I don't use tabbed browsing... AT ALL)

 

[VirtuallyInsane]

View attachment 2183036
View attachment 2183035
12 safari tabs + 1 chrome tab (which writing this post) taken 10.6GB....Not try on firefox yet but does it really make so much different comparing chrome and safari?

In my experience, Firefox takes less time to load, and it feels lighter as a browser in general. It genuinely took me opening up almost 100 tabs for it to start showing signs of slowing down (and some of the websites I was on weren't light sites). Maybe Firefox is optimized for Apple as well and it's a smaller program in general that takes less time to load and has a higher threshold for tabs and is more memory friendly.

 

[VietKinh]

I have an M1 MBA w/8GB & just got an M2 mini with w/16GB. The air is just used as my sofa machine and doesn't do much but surf and email. Still, if I had it to do over again I'd spring for 16GB. Running Brave with a bunch of tabs open puts the memory pressure in the yellow so I usually run Firefox on it. It doesn't really cause any problems as far a performance that i can tell though. No such issues on the mini with 16GB. When it comes time to replace this air it will be with at least 16GB.

Do you think the Mac Mini with 16 GB at $700 still a good price?

 

[LeeW]

Do you think the Mac Mini with 16 GB at $700 still a good price?

There is only one person you should be asking that question...

 

[VietKinh]

There is only one person you should be asking that question...

The truth is I do not know what I need. I have not used macOS since 2009. The Mac Mini is my gateway back into Macintosh. At $500, it seems like a great deal, at $700 much less considering the standard for PC is 16GB and 512GB combo.

I would never buy a MBA with only 8GB but I have always preferred laptop over desktop.

 

[LeeW]

I would never buy a MBA with only 8GB

You shouldn't buy 8GB in any other device then, so that is your answer.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

The truth is I do not know what I need. I have not used macOS since 2009. The Mac Mini is my gateway back into Macintosh. At $500, it seems like a great deal, at $700 much less considering the standard for PC is 16GB and 512GB combo.

I would never buy a MBA with only 8GB but I have always preferred laptop over desktop.

You are over thinking this. Buy the 8GB Mini from Apple or Best Buy because it's the best deal. You have up to 14 days to decide if it will work for you. Push the base Mini as hard as you can with what you plan to do with it. If it falls short, send it back for a full refund.

 

[Honza1]

View attachment 2182960 Gotten my m2 16gb last night. No any background app running, just opening 11 chrome tabs without any video/audio playback already taken around 10gb. Curious how to open “75 tabs with 8gb ram”….

I have 32GB RAM MBP in front of me, running 4 applications (Safari & Chrome included, each with just ~10 tabs) and my system reports using 26GB RAM. Same load works fine in my mini with 8GB, by the way.
Useful info is memory pressure - it is suppose to tell you if you have enough memory. As long as you see low level (which will show green), you have plenty of memory. All other info is scaring people who do not understand what is really happening.

 

[Kelvinsin]

I have 32GB RAM MBP in front of me, running 4 applications (Safari & Chrome included, each with just ~10 tabs) and my system reports using 26GB RAM. Same load works fine in my mini with 8GB, by the way.
Useful info is memory pressure - it is suppose to tell you if you have enough memory. As long as you see low level (which will show green), you have plenty of memory. All other info is scaring people who do not understand what is really happening.

How much ram used in your mini with above condition?

 

[Corefile]

MacOS has a concept of compressed RAM before it does swapping. The OS will do everything it can to avoid swapping so it is pretty efficient and speedy. The M2 Mini base model I can pick up for 499$ from a nearby tax-free state at EDU pricing but if you do 16GB of memory then it quickly hits 750$ with tax. So to me the jump from cheap Mini to not cheap isn't worth the 50% markup. Everybody is different.

 

[VietKinh]

MacOS has a concept of compressed RAM before it does swapping. The OS will do everything it can to avoid swapping so it is pretty efficient and speedy. The M2 Mini base model I can pick up for 499$ from a nearby tax-free state at EDU pricing but if you do 16GB of memory then it quickly hits 750$ with tax. So to me the jump from cheap Mini to not cheap isn't worth the 50% markup. Everybody is different.

I plan on buying the Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID (I'm awful with remembering passwords and I hate to type my long passwords each time) and the Magic Trackpad 2 (hopefully there isn't a 3rd version anytime soon).

Now do I really want to cheap out and just get the 8GB or go up to 16GB or get the Mac Mini Pro? Apple products are hardly ever at a good price with the exception of the MBA M1, Mac Mini M2 and the base Mac Mini M2 Pro. Either way, I'm switching to the Apple ecosystem. I will still have my gaming laptop, so I am set in that department.

It's expensive, but my productivity will increase significantly, and I will have more time to do other things. And time is money or time is time.

 

[slythfox]

There's a lot of misinformation about memory usage in this thread. "Random access memory" is essentially a cache giving fast access. RAM is actually a lower tier of memory from the CPU which itself has a higher tier of working memory. RAM that is not currently used can be preserved on the storage disk instead (this is the "swap"). The flip-side of this phenomenon where an application needs more memory than is available is called "thrashing". In the days of HDDs thrashing was gruesome and could freeze up a system because of how slow HDDs are when used as RAM.

All this to say: The memory usage reported in Activity Monitor is misleading: Your system will automatically expand to use resources that are available or free up resources to make room for more.

 

[Corefile]

I plan on buying the Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID (I'm awful with remembering passwords and I hate to type my long passwords each time) and the Magic Trackpad 2 (hopefully there isn't a 3rd version anytime soon).

Agree. The Touch ID on Macs is a very good thing so definitely get that. The Trackpad is an acquired taste IMO so I stick to a mouse.

 

[VietKinh]

Agree. The Touch ID on Macs is a very good thing so definitely get that. The Trackpad is an acquired taste IMO so I stick to a mouse.

Do you recommend the regular or full-size keyboard? That is my dilemma right now. I wish the numpad was on the left.

 

[MacProFCP]

I'm hearing all sorts of things regarding the 8GB from people, and it has me concern. Some say the 8GB will only last 2 to 3 years versus 10 years for the 16GB. I don't know what that means exactly?

I'm hearing so many contradictions. Online articles post that the 8Gb can handle around 75 browser tabs while others have said it can barely handle 15 browser tabs.

I haven't touch the macOS since 2009, and I'm hesitant to fully commit to it yet. $500 seems like a value purchase. $700 no longer feels like a good deal.

Edit: I plan on web browsing (75 tabs or more), YouTube/Movies, iWork Suite, Apps, and Parallel with Linux. No video-editing, GarageBand, or Artistry of any kind. Might do more but haven't had macOS since 2009.

Let me know your experience.

Thanks

1. 8 GB of ram is likely going to be OK.

2. I personally feel that 8 GB is sub par and I won’t get a machine for anything, Mac or PC with less than 16GB.

3. $500 is a nice amount to play with a machine. You’re not risking a lot. And, if you don’t like it, you can always return it within two weeks.

Best of luck.

 

[VietKinh]

1. 8 GB of ram is likely going to be OK.

2. I personally feel that 8 GB is sub par and I won’t get a machine for anything, Mac or PC with less than 16GB.

3. $500 is a nice amount to play with a machine. You’re not risking a lot. And, if you don’t like it, you can always return it within two weeks.

Best of luck.

This sounds really simple but how do you transfer everything you have done on it before returning it? And since I'm ordering from Apple, do I actually get the full 14 days? What if it doesn't arrive until nighttime. Does that count as the day I received it?

 

[brookter1]

This sounds really simple but how do you transfer everything you have done on it before returning it? And since I'm ordering from Apple, do I actually get the full 14 days? What if it doesn't arrive until nighttime. Does that count as the day I received it?

During your 14 days you will of course use Time Machine to back your data up. If you need to send the Mac back, there is an explicit command to wipe all your personal data and restore to the factory default. This gives you a chance to do a final backup beforehand. When the replacement comes, you can choose to restore from that Time Machine backup.

HTH

 

[empersance]

I have 8/256 M1 Mac mini since january 2021 and as a general purpose computer works like a charm.

I have opened Firefox with 10 tabs and 5 of them were youtube videos and swap was 0 MB

Of course 16 is better but it's not true that 8GB is awful, is well enough for a normal use of the Mac

 

[HDFan]

Parallel with Linux

Which means you are running 2 OS's which can double RAM requirements. Using automatic Parallels settings for a Windows 11 ARM instance the instance takes over 8 GB of memory. The recommendation might be less if you have less memory (I have a ton of it) but it would be a concern.

The only distribution you can use with Parallels are those that are complied for ARM. I think the maximum amount of RAM you can give the VM is 1/2 the computer's RAM, so it'll be 4GB if you get an 8GB machine, or 8GB if you get a16GB machine.

I can allocate close to 100% of my RAM and CPUS to a Parallels Windows instance.

ultimately the only person who knows what's right for your needs is you yourself;

Depends on your current and projected use when you retire the machine.

Parallels alone justifies more than 8GB of RAM.

as above

I plan on buying the Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID (I'm awful with remembering passwords and I hate to type my long passwords each time) and the Magic Trackpad 2

Personally I hate the Magic Keyboard and mouse. Don't like switch keys so I use a full size mechanical keyboard (Macally Backlit Mechanical Keyboard) and a Logitech MX3 Master mouse. Apple Trackpad is OK.

1Password makes password management fairly easy.

Do you recommend the regular or full-size keyboard?

As above.

I find the number of tabs open to not be a useful metric. It is how much memory a single tab is using which will determine total Safari memory useage. I have almost 80 tabs open right now using ~32% of my system memory. The largest is 3 GB, the smallest 66 MB. Simplistically on an 8 GB system you could only open 2 3 GB tabs or 121 of the 66 MB tabs. These numbers are nonsense in the sense that Safari does intelligent caching so not all of the allocated ram is in use.

On a 64 GB system had a Safari tab with a memory leak. Eventually crashed the system as it used all my memory.

 

[Basic75]

All this to say: The memory usage reported in Activity Monitor is misleading: Your system will automatically expand to use resources that are available or free up resources to make room for more.

You do know that Activity Monitor lists the buffer cache separately?

 

[Basic75]

My work M1 with 16GB of RAM is using 12GB just for a bunch of regular office applications with no heavy hitters. A couple GB are even compressed memory. And no, the 12GB number doesn't include the buffer cache, that's an additional 4GB.