2024 MacBook Air still 8GB Unified Memory

[jchap]

Yeah but some are just making fun of it while others may not know the difference between RAM and storage devices.

I was just thinking about this matter this morning. You're right—many people may not know the difference any more between RAM and SSD/HDD storage. Manufacturer notations such as "16GB/256GB" in reference to "RAM/storage" don't help matters, and I also think that there may be a general illiteracy regarding computers that adds to the confusion. I hadn't thought about the difference either for a while, until of course I stupidly remembered that RAM is volatile and SSD/HDD storage is not.

Storage has become quite fast nowadays, almost to the point where it can supplement RAM (and does, in the case of swap memory), right. A lot of users who own machines with small amounts of RAM may not even know that their internal SSD storage is sometimes giving the memory a "boost".

 

[James Godfrey]

It was a given that 8GB RAM would be the entry model with the M3 Airs due to the Pro having the same.

This will not change anytime soon (it may change with M4 in 12 months time, but then again it may be another 3 years before it changes when M5 comes around).

It has to be noted that the entry models are not just sold off the shelf from Apple but also it is usually the only option retailers stock also (at least here in the UK it is anyway). Therefore, until Apple sees a huge decline in sales of their Macs in retailers etc. unfortunately it won’t change, and to be honest 8GB is still adequate with Apple silicon for the vast majority of the target market, and most who do upgrade the RAM mainly do it for headroom or ‘future proofing’.

Getting more RAM just for headroom is essentially pointless because if it’s not being there is literally no point in paying more, £200 is a lot of money to add to a laptop at these price points and it won’t increase resale value by a huge amount either, if at all.

The future proofing argument also is a non-starter, people have been saying 16GB RAM should be upgraded to if your going to use your Mac for 5 years or longer etc… as MacOS will get more bloated and more apps will need the RAM etc… however, people said this when the M1 MBA was launched, yet here we are 4 years later with Macs still coming brand new off the shelf with 8GB RAM. Do you believe that these will be running like dog s**t in 18 months time? I highly doubt it, these MacBook Airs even with their base config will still work perfectly fine 5 years from now, meaning those who upgraded their M1 MBA’s to future proof back in 2020 to future proof will have a 8-9 year old Mac at that point with the exact same RAM… the future proofing argument is essentially dead at that point.

My take on it is, you will know if you need 16GB of RAM, if you don’t think you will need or it or your not sure, then you probably don’t need it and I wouldn’t bother wasting money on the upgrade. If you then find in 2-3 years time you’re really struggling with 8GB RAM, then sell the Mac and use that money to put towards a Mac with higher specs.

 

[iPadified]

The RAM need has reached a plateau just like CPU/GPU for the very large majority of users. The design, price, familiarity, likely the screen quality and "status" are drivers now.

Sure, there are some power users, but I assume they know how much RAM to put in.

 

[magicMac]

at least this time a 16GB/512GB model is in the standard lineup and should be available off the shelf at retailers like John Lewis.

 

[ctjack]

I was just thinking about this matter this morning. You're right—many people may not know the difference any more between RAM and SSD/HDD storage. Manufacturer notations such as "16GB/256GB" in reference to "RAM/storage" don't help matters, and I also think that there may be a general illiteracy regarding computers that adds to the confusion. I hadn't thought about the difference either for a while, until of course I stupidly remembered that RAM is volatile and SSD/HDD storage is not.

Storage has become quite fast nowadays, almost to the point where it can supplement RAM (and does, in the case of swap memory), right. A lot of users who own machines with small amounts of RAM may not even know that their internal SSD storage is sometimes giving the memory a "boost".

I to be honest do not buy latest news that ssd is as fast as ram. Latest ddr5 ram moves files to cpu at a rate of 40-90 gigabytes per second, while ssd read write rate for small files(ram swap is small files in chunk) are in the 40megabytes per second zone.

Proof. Amorphous disk test gives rnd4k with depth query of 1: the most bottom lowest results when you run ssd benchmark. Of course apple can play with it to pack its swap into bigger files to utilize sequential speeds of 3.3 gigabytes per second which is interplayed often as “8gb on mac is not the same as on windows because of fast ssd swap”. So you really hit the limit when your macos is not able to pack huge files for fast sequential read write at 3.3gbs - you have 100 tabs leisurely scrolling: you can pack big file and send it to swap on ssd at 3.3 gbs. If you have active action going on, then the package sizes drop and might go as low as 40mb read and write.

 

[lambertjohn]

Sad times. Huge international corporations used to be in it for the common good, and now you're telling me they're doing all this just to make a profit?

The profit comes when you upgrade to the next size of hard drive for $200 more bones. A hard drive that costs Apple pennies on the dollar. That's where they get you.

 

[Doru Oprisan]

My recent experience is that a basic 13" M2 Air 8/256 freezes quite a bit more often compared to my 2019 16" Intel Macbook Pro with 16/500, which I still work on. It just struggles to switch between open apps, everything stops for 10-20 seconds when exporting photos, for example, but not only then. Both laptops used in the same way: Firefox with some tabs open, Capture One to work on some photos and maybe Spotify playing some music. The Intel 16" almost never freezes, even though it can feel slower for some tasks and when the fan starts it's awful..
Anyway, the point is that I wasn't expecting freezes like this on the Air. So there is definitely a bottleneck somewhere and since the Apple silicon is so much better, then it has to be the 8gb RAM.

If I decide to go for the 15", 16gb will be a minimum, but I'm now wondering if that is enough, with the surprising behavior of the 13" M2 Air.

 

[ctjack]

My recent experience is that a basic 13" M2 Air 8/256 freezes quite a bit more often compared to my 2019 16" Intel Macbook Pro with 16/500, which I still work on. It just struggles to switch between open apps, everything stops for 10-20 seconds when exporting photos, for example, but not only then. Both laptops used in the same way: Firefox with some tabs open, Capture One to work on some photos and maybe Spotify playing some music. The Intel 16" almost never freezes, even though it can feel slower for some tasks and when the fan starts it's awful..
Anyway, the point is that I wasn't expecting freezes like this on the Air. So there is definitely a bottleneck somewhere and since the Apple silicon is so much better, then it has to be the 8gb RAM.

If I decide to go for the 15", 16gb will be a minimum, but I'm now wondering if that is enough, with the surprising behavior of the 13" M2 Air.

I have m1 air 8/512 on old mac os 11.2.3.
I have a mbp 14 m1 pro 16/512 on latest monterey 12.7.2.

I see beachballs more often with mbp 14. My air was constantly beachballing on the new release of monterey.

I think at this point apple is walking the windows path (xp great, vista awful, 7 great, 8 awful).

I think your ram would go as far as macos allows it. 16gb is sure enough but it depends on how they optimized their macos. Overall i found the best/fastest version for air with 8gb of ram, but i am still searching that for 16gb macbook pro 14.

 

[aParkerMusic]

You're not getting OP's and my point:
We are in 2024, 16 GB RAM should be the absolute minimum for laptops.

And you missed the reply’s point: you wrote a misleading post. And that’s something that deserves to be called out. 8GB was not the minimum amount of RAM in 2004, and you can upgrade to way more RAM today compared to back then.

 

[Anaxarxes]

There are prople who do not care about ram or SSD size. They just buy a laptop and go online. For those, the lower price is the most important thing.

So apple is playing the marketing trick to market as "starting from XXX".

Let's not focus on why apple is doing this, but the fact that the upgrade charges are INSANE.

A MBA with 24GB RAM and 1TB SSD is over 2000 USD including VAT. I could get 2x MBAs with lowest spec for that.

Insanity...

 

[aParkerMusic]

Fair enough. I edited my comment to include you were joking. My mistake.

You didn’t make a mistake, the comment you’re referencing doesn’t even really register as “joking” or “sarcasm”. When attempting those things, there is a responsibility on the writer. It would be nice if the poster of that comment could apologize and edit the post to clarify and really read as ”joking”.

 

[Sami13496]

Do you know a lot of other laptops with 8gb ram for $999-$1600?

You mean those laptops that have plastic and/or Windows on them? Not interested. Same way I’m not interested in cheaper car brands despite them having more kit as standard for lower price. See what I’m getting at?

 

[Kotsos81]

By the way, the same machines in Europe cost much, much more. There are configurations where we are talking about a 600 euros difference!

 

[AJB1971]

Getting more RAM just for headroom is essentially pointless because if it’s not being there is literally no point in paying more, £200 is a lot of money to add to a laptop at these price points and it won’t increase resale value by a huge amount either, if at all.

I've spent the last few days looking at listings on eBay, and the higher RAM variants generally sell for a significant premium. This has also been my previous experience. There are outliers, but on average, they do command a much higher resale value.

It has to be noted that the entry models are not just sold off the shelf from Apple but also it is usually the only option retailers stock also (at least here in the UK it is anyway). Therefore, until Apple sees a huge decline in sales of their Macs in retailers etc. unfortunately it won’t change,

Currys has been offering 16GB of RAM on the 256GB 13.6-inch M2 Air for a while now. John Lewis is offering it on both the 256GB and 512GB versions of the 15.3-inch M2 Air. That does suggest a change is taking place and that the market for more than 8GB of RAM is increasing.

Price is still going to be the major factor, and I think the 13.6-inch M2 Air will be the biggest seller, especially as there’s nothing to visually distinguish it from the M3 version.

I think there are other indicators that Apple will increase the base RAM when the M4 is released. We’ve seen them offer stock configurations of the Air with 16GB of RAM for the first time, increase RAM in the M3 Pros, and other devices like the iPhone Pros. The next iPhones are also rumoured to see a similar increase.

I’ve said it before, but I’d rather buy the first generation with, say, 12GB of RAM than the last version with 8GB of RAM. Who knows what the demands of all these AI features will be?

 

[JohnRckr]

Don't you know that 8gb is the same as 16gb on macos?

 

[azentropy]

There is an option to upgrade to 16 or even more if you need more RAM. I don’t understand the problem. What am I missing here?

The various complaints kinda break down as follows:

- It has been a very long time since Apple last updated the base RAM on their systems.
- Many manufactures (if not most) have moved on to even having their entry level systems include 16GB RAM.
- The cost of RAM is at an all time low.
- Apple charges an exorbitant amount to upgrade RAM.
- In certain models more than 8GB requires ordering BTO which means you often lose out on sales from typical retailers that discount and have sales or have other perks (Like Amazon, BestBuy and my choice Costco). So rather than just having to pay $200 more, you end up having to pay $400+ more vs the discounted retail configurations.

My hope is that at least with the last one since Apple appears to now have 3 “standard” configurations, we will see retailers be able to carry and therefore discount and have sales on the 16/512 versions.

 

[MilaM]

In certain models more than 8GB requires ordering BTO

This is my biggest complaint too. When I wanted to buy a Mac mini recently, most shops only carried the 8/256 and the 8/512 base models. Prices for BTO were disproportionally more expensive. In the end I decided to postpone my purchase and just use my Intel Mac longer.

I think Apple should emphasize CPU/GPU performance more when segmenting the market. Pros will be happy to pay more for more raw performance. But nickel and diming the average user for something as essential as hard drive space to store your photos and videos is very off-putting.

 

[Abazigal]

You're not getting OP's and my point:
We are in 2024, 16 GB RAM should be the absolute minimum for laptops.

Would you be okay if the entry MBA did not exist and the cheapest laptop Apple sold was the M3 MBA with 16gb ram and 512 gb of storage at the higher price point of $1700?

 

[AlixSPQR]

Remember when Apple insisted putting 2,5" HDD 5400 RPM in their otherwise ultramodern iMacs? The 8/256 combo is just another take on that. I'm confident that I will find similar apologetic posts about HDD's from back in those days.

 

[halledise]

You're not getting OP's and my point:
We are in 2024, 16 GB RAM should be the absolute minimum for laptops.

why?

 

[kiranmk2]

I still don’t get it. If someone is worried about RAM they can configure 16 or 24 GB. No one makes you buy it with only 8 GB.

Wrong. Just buy what you need! Some users do fine (granny with email; intensely managed K-12) with 8 GB and absolute lowest price.

If Apple introduced an base model with 16GB Unified Memory and 512 SSD at starting price of $1499 i bet people like OP would crying about the price....
OP you can configure your Mac you know if you need the extra memory, for those who dont need, why they should pay the price increase?! this is narcissism. We are talking about their Macbook Air and not the Pro
Macbook Air and Mac Mini should always have a good pricing start

So the obvious question is: if 8 GB is fully useable for some Pros, why don't all the MacBook Pro models start with 8 GB RAM so you don't have to pay for 16/18 GB if you just need CPU horsepower?

I've spent the last few days looking at listings on eBay, and the higher RAM variants generally sell for a significant premium. This has also been my previous experience. There are outliers, but on average, they do command a much higher resale value.

It's supply and demand. I think the M1 range has been so good that not many people are selling as there is no need to upgrade (especially for the 16 GB models). As such, there are relatively few 16/512 or better units on eBay. Once Apple releases an update worth updating to, the market will be flooded and this is when the updated models loose their value (look at the resale values of 2018 MBAs). Of course, whether you then want an M1 model by then comes into question...

 

[kiranmk2]

Remember when Apple insisted putting 2,5" HDD 5400 RPM in their otherwise ultramodern iMacs? The 8/256 combo is just another take on that. I'm confident that I will find similar apologetic posts about HDD's from back in those days.

Apple has always been stingy on storage. When I got my for Mac in 2009 it came with a 250 GB drive (for £900). The absolute cheapest p.o.s. that Dell was selling in the £3-400 range at the timecame with 320 GB and most other brands were shipping with 400 GB minimum. Of course, at that time you could just open the back plate by hand and swap out the drive...

 

[autistic-savant]

👻

 

[darngooddesign]

We had twins a couple of years ago so got them bunk beds.

Then we were blessed with another two so we went to the bed store to buy another set of bunk beds.

The guy in the store said “you don’t need 4 beds. You HAVE to buy this set of two AGAIN for more money”. When I told him that’s still only two beds, he said “but don’t worry - it’s exactly the same because now we use beds more efficiently. What you do is put the first two kids to bed, wait for them to doze off, then prop them up in the corner so you can swap in your next two. When morning comes swap the original kids back in, wait for them to wake up, then put your other two in so they can wake up too.

Best upgrade I ever bought 🙂

In your analogy, the kids would arrange themselves automatically without your even knowing you even had two beds. But what happens if you plug the new beds into the old beds? You have four beds right?

 

[geta]

If Apple introduced an base model with 16GB Unified Memory and 512 SSD at starting price of $1499 i bet people like OP would crying about the price....
OP you can configure your Mac you know if you need the extra memory, for those who dont need, why they should pay the price increase?! this is narcissism. We are talking about their Macbook Air and not the Pro
Macbook Air and Mac Mini should always have a good pricing start

Would you be okay if the entry MBA did not exist and the cheapest laptop Apple sold was the M3 MBA with 16gb ram and 512 gb of storage at the higher price point of $1700?

Base MBA model with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage @ $999 would their dream, and if it will happen, still they would find something to complain about. 😂