Definitely. You can get 17" PC Laptops with the same specs for cheaper than even the 15A.
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15" M2 Macbook Air 256GB Confirmation?
- Thread starter Drewps5co0tt
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Yes they did, I saw it early this morning before dawn. It must have been maintenance or something going on. I live in the US, I wouldn't be on the EU site.
My 17inch lenovo worked as good as m1/2 macs in my salesforce web app. Given lenovo was $1100 and 16gb/1000, while M1 air is $935 for 8/512.
But the 200 lenovo opened my queries in under 10 seconds, while lenovo and mac did under a second. For reference, 2012 mbp took 3-4 seconds.
You are mainly paying for high end processor here which makes things fast and build quality/display. It is up to each person to decide where they want to put their money - i chose quality display and battery life with build quality. Others might not need all of that.
Why? 8GB is more than enough for basic needs. I've had the base model M1, 13" M2 and now the 15" and I've not had any issues with it, because of how optimised macOS is.
Just a PSA - no change in pricing in the EU ... well apart from the price increase on the mac Studio Max when it refreshed last week 🤣
Thats true. The 16“ M1 Pro from the refurb store with same specs just costs €50 more. 14“ even less. So if weight is not your #1 concern i would recommend this.
Sure, Apple carved the logic board slightly different, but it's essentially a copy and paste.
We know because it only has Wi-Fi 6, just like M2 MBA. Products designed more recently like M2 Mac mini get 6E.
Because, apps, programs, websites, etc., are getting more and more "featured" (that's not really the word I wanted to use but I can't think right now), and they are sucking up the RAM. You have to admit, 8GB of ram in 2023 is pretty low, as is 256GB storage.
I'm not able to anymore. The US site has been corrected now to show the original prices. I should have screened it but assumed Apple was being nice. It wasn't that big of a deal, $20 off RAM and $40 or $60 off SSD (above 512GB).
Are they though? macOS does a pretty good job of managing RAM usage and I've never had an issues with memory pressure across my base model M1 or M2 Airs.
Well from the "experts" on here and other sites, everyone says so.
This is my issue. I want to get a 15" Air and I want it to grow with me and last me for a good decade! My Windows laptop has lasted 8 plus years and it was a fairly cheap laptop), so I'm assuming this is not impossible for a Mac to do?
I just feel like if I order the base model, I'm going to be cheating myself somehow and I'm confused on what to do. I feel like I'll be getting less of a computer, than if I upgrade to 16/512, suck it up and pay the extra $400 for those two upgrades. I would much rather save the $400 but I just feel like that wouldn't be appropriate with regards to my plans.
I'm not a pro user by ANY stretch of the imagination. I'm mainly on websites all day (10+ Chrome tabs), yea I'll try Safari and see how that works for me as well, social media, playing music, watching videos/movies, occasionally I'll use some of the native apps that come with the Mac, I'll download software and use for sure as well (nothing pro like) just basic stuff (Plex, Zoom, etc). I'm going to be continuing to run my Plex media server off of my Windows laptop, so I'll just be using the Plex app on my Mac to access files over my network. That kinda stuff!
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We have a 13" 8/128gb early 2015 mbp that still works and looks like new, was a apple refurb too.
Problem here is you can get the 8/512gb for 10% off sales from retailers, but not 16gb, has to be ordered from Apple so you're paying full retail plus the upgrade. xtra $550AUD lol
Doesn't seem right though 8gb in a base 8 year old MacBook is still 8gb today. I have the 8/512gb 24" iMac for the same reasons, would have preferred 16gb.
Using it for 10 years u really should do the 16GB.
Back in the day 2012 i bought an Air. The only one in store was a 8GB instead of the standard 4GB config. So i said well i don’t need it but didn’t want to wait.
2 years later i was happy cos i had to use VMs with it and so the laptop lasted me till 2021. impossible with 4GB…
Storage u can always use external SSDs but RAM no.
Other use case is if your partner has an active account on the laptop (not logged out). Then even 16GB can get in the red zone with my M1 pro…
Yea, see if I upgraded I would want to upgrade both the RAM and the SSD (not just one). I'm kinda OCD like that!
I figure though, if my 8 year old Dell laptop that had 8GB, worked fine before I upgraded to 16GB, then I should be safe with the base model.
Given that you like to keep your computers for a long time, I’d go wait least 16 GB RAM. You may be fine with 8 now, but you never know what the future holds and you can’t upgrade later.
I've been doing some testing on my end (I assume it's not fair to compare Windows to Mac and vise-versa) but that's all I got for now.
I removed one of my 8GB modules, so I'm currently using 8GB of RAM right now (going on 12 hours now). I did a fresh restart, opened up (and left) 10 chrome tabs and went about my usual activities on my PC. Going on 12 hours later, I'm currently using nearly 80% of of my RAM! That's insane and I don't ever remember this before I upgraded to 16GB but then again, I wasn't really monitoring or paying much attention before.
I know if I close a bunch of stuff out, my RAM usage will drop (not back to restart numbers) but a decent drop to say the least. I'll report back after the full 24 hour test that I'm doing (without a restart).
I removed one of my 8GB modules, so I'm currently using 8GB of RAM right now (going on 12 hours now). I did a fresh restart, opened up (and left) 10 chrome tabs and went about my usual activities on my PC. Going on 12 hours later, I'm currently using nearly 80% of of my RAM!
That's insane and I don't ever remember this before I upgraded to 16GB but then again, I wasn't really monitoring or paying much attention before.I know if I close a bunch of stuff out, my RAM usage will drop (not back to restart numbers) but a decent drop to say the least. I'll report back after the full 24 hour test that I'm doing (without a restart).
So here are the numbers for Windows, there is a massive difference between 8 and 16 GB's of RAM (in the Windows world anyways). Granted, my laptop is 8 years old and using DDR3 RAM but it still gives you an idea.
8GB/24 HOUR TEST
In Use: 2.8GB (19%); Available 5GB (5:40 AM AFTER RESTART)
In Use: 6.6GB (84%); Available: 1.3GB (5:40 PM 12 HOUR CHECK-IN)
In Use: 5.9GB (75%); Available: 1.9GB (6:10 AM 24 HOUR CHECK-IN)
16GB/24 HOUR TEST
In Use: 3.1GB (19%); Available 12.8GB (2:30 PM AFTER RESTART)
In Use: 7.9GB (50%); Available 7.9GB (2:30 AM 12 HOUR CHECK-IN)
In Use: 8.2GB (51%); Available 7.8GB (2:30 PM 24 HOUR CHECK-IN)
8GB/24 HOUR TEST
In Use: 2.8GB (19%); Available 5GB (5:40 AM AFTER RESTART)
In Use: 6.6GB (84%); Available: 1.3GB (5:40 PM 12 HOUR CHECK-IN)
In Use: 5.9GB (75%); Available: 1.9GB (6:10 AM 24 HOUR CHECK-IN)
16GB/24 HOUR TEST
In Use: 3.1GB (19%); Available 12.8GB (2:30 PM AFTER RESTART)
In Use: 7.9GB (50%); Available 7.9GB (2:30 AM 12 HOUR CHECK-IN)
In Use: 8.2GB (51%); Available 7.8GB (2:30 PM 24 HOUR CHECK-IN)
The swap is used before you're running out of RAM, so you don't have to wait for the paging.
Using swap is a good thing and if you're doing it the way macOS does on Apple Silicon, the performance reduction is reduced a lot.