16gb or 32gb Ram for a UI designer

[sarah3585]

Hello,

I'm eyeing up a refurb M2 Pro 16" MBP. Unsure if I'd make use of 32gb of Ram, or if I should save the same money and go with the 16gb.

I'm a UI designer. I often have Photoshop, Figma, Slack, Chrome (I'm scared of closing tabs so can have 30+ open often) open. Occasionally Indesign running as well.

Would be looking to keep the MBP 3ish years (unless Apple tempt me with something else in that time)

 

[Mr. Dee]

You can never go wrong with more RAM, but buy what you can afford and trade in within the three year period to get back some cash towards the purchase of a new device. Those apps you use are becoming more RAM hungry with each revision; especially with all the AI thats being built in. On top of everyday browsing Chrome tabs, you are gonna need it.

 

[dmccloud]

The 32GB would be nice for those occasions where you have both Photoshop and InDesign running at the same time. Additionally, since Mac OS tries to use as much RAM as possible, having 32gb would minimize the use of swap space on the SSD.

 

[herbert7265]

Have you ever checked how much RAM you use actually in a certain moment / situation with the built in Activity Monitor? It could give you at least a first indication. Another possibility would be iStat Menus, here you can get statistics regarding your memory use also for a longer time.

With a smile in my face, don’t worry… your apps and programs will make for you use of all the available memory! 😉

Herbert

 

[TinyMito]

32GB

16GB here just coding, already under pressure 70% in the yellow.

 

[sarah3585]

I've been monitoring my usage over the past couple of days on my work MBP 2019, 2.6 i7.
Not sure it will be comparable with an M2 chip though.

This is quite typical:

 

[saudor]

I've been monitoring my usage over the past couple of days on my work MBP 2019, 2.6 i7.
Not sure it will be comparable with an M2 chip though.

This is quite typical:

View attachment 2222355

If budget allows for it, go 32gb as your swap (14gb) is fairly substantial. Otherwise, if you set your photoshop to UI/Web design and lower the history states to 25 (from 50), it uses far less RAM than on its default settings and 16gb might be enough considering you're going to replace it in 3 years.

 

[A1423]

My personal outlook on ram is think about what your needs are and double the ram you get. If you need 32 get 64. If you need 16 get 32. My next computer will have 64gb of ram. I probably will never approach that, but I likely won’t have to deal with my computer slowing down, or ever running out of ram.

 

[herbert7265]

Looking at your actual memory usage I would suggest to go for 32 GB.

While your memory pressure is still in the green area swap is about the size of your actual memory. Yes, Apples UMA handles memory different and (seems) better, but it’s not reducing the memory requirements of your computer and programs. Last but not least, these requirements barely will get less while programs develop over time.

My last computer (MBP Mid 2012) had 16 GB of RAM, I was thinking to go for 32 GB, finally went for 64 GB and I am glad I did so.

Herbert