8gigs. For what you describe you will never even use the 8gigs you have. Anyone telling you otherwise is being a fool with your money.
I disagree with you totally. You do not know the future no one does. Best example, I bought a 2006 iMac. Max accessible ram for it was 3GB. And for everything except hard gaming, it ran fine till 2011when I bought my 2011 iMac. Heck the 2006 iMac is still good today. Why did I upgrade? 3 reasons.
I wanted a better GPU.
Apple made it no longer run on the latest operating systems.
3GB was no longer enough for basic things being done all at once.
At the moment on my 2011 iMac I (with everything i use open) chew up about 8-10GB of ram. I never hit the 16 GB limit. But I am so glad I have the 16 installed. And in the future I don't know. I might get closer to the 16GB. Having the 16GB is a very nice piece of mind.
Nailed it. The cheapest machine today, is better than the best machine of yesterday.
Correct. But why go out and buy the cheapest Mac every refresh when a few dollars for more ram today will tie you over for many more years to come. For every basic task you don't need the latest and greatest Mac. You're slightly old Mac with the ram will be perfect.
If you upgrade your Mac every refresh and never hit 6GB ram used then sure don't get the 16GB. But I think that's a waste of money. No need to buy new Macs so often when a touch more ram will tie you over for more years.
It's all about your usage habits and Mac purchasing habits. If you have to pick one option for everyone then 16GB is the way to go but not everyone will want or need 16GB. You have to see which is better for you.
If someone says you will not ever need more then 8GB they are dreaming. The fact if you have to work this out.
Are you on a Mac now? Just go to activity monitor. I do the same as you and have yet to use more than 2.79gb
That's with multiple web pages, iTunes, smart music, GarageBand, I producer, iPhoto and photo booth, face time, and ibooks author all open at the same time!
Oh wow lucky you. Right now I have these Apps open.
Safari (7 tabs open)
iTunes
Activity Monitor
Tweetbot
Messenger
And that's it. And I have 4.9GB ram used. Probably varies a little from person to person. I think you get my point. Think about it.