I agree the 16gb is the sweet spot. Considering how well the macs still handle 8gb
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24gb ram worth it?
- Thread starter Chairman.Jobbie
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If you use virtual machines or containerization like Docker then get the most RAM you can afford. For most uses 16 GB is going to good enough for the life of the computer.
I wouldn't go so far to say that...
From my own use, W11 runs perfectly fine on 8GB ram (multiple web browsing tabs open, about 10 pdfs open, a spreadsheet open).
That being said...if your wife's work laptop is similar to my work laptop, where IT in their "infinite wisdom" run garbage bloatware in the background which can't be disabled (I despise Zscaler)...I'm not surprised 8Gb isn't cutting it.
If you keeping it for 2-3 years, then maybe 8GB will be fine for basic/daily usage… even thou these days 16GB should be the minimum, special if you planing to keep it for 5-7 years (or more). Same goes with SSD, 256GB is a joke…
In real life (outside this forum), i dont know a single person that changing Macs every 2-3 yeas… so for future usage, since OS will demand more, as well as your personal usage can change during the years, 16GB with 512GB SSD (or even 1TB) would be good investment.
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Totally agree! OP didn't mention virtual machines though in their use case. Plus for light use (not that I'd personally want to) you can squeak by with allotting 8GB for your OS and 8GB for your virtual OS...if you're just screwing around.
All depends on storage needs as well.. I put a 2TB in this 2015 a few years ago and I'm half full.. Personally I would get as much storage as you can afford.. Next one I get if I go new would be a 2TB. so dang expensive though.. geez..
That is a strange one..I thought the same thing when I first saw it… it’s just another factor of 8..another 8gb chip or 2 4’s..however they’re doing it.
As someone who has an M2 Air with 24g… it's pretty rare that you'd use it. It's caching files a lot, but in general about 14-17gb gets used on a regular basis.
Whether you'd notice any difference is very speculative. Definitely get 16, and definitely get the faster SSD. 24 is nice in use cases. As others have said "It's not like they're editing video on it"
I edit video on mine. It's useful for me in those situations. In 9-5 work, 16 is enough.
Whether you'd notice any difference is very speculative. Definitely get 16, and definitely get the faster SSD. 24 is nice in use cases. As others have said "It's not like they're editing video on it"
I edit video on mine. It's useful for me in those situations. In 9-5 work, 16 is enough.
Okay for anyone else asking about the 24GB of RAM for the MacBook Air, I can confirm that it is worth it.
Yes, the memory swap does work if you have 512GB or higher and if you're not using a lot of hard drive space. However, for someone like me who uses a 16" M1 Mac MacBook Pro (32GB RAM) for Lightroom, the need for 24 GB of RAM is needed. In fact, if I didn't have my 32GB of RAM, with Outlook and Lightroom open, there would be a significant amount of swap memory used.
Also, in my real world experience, I bought an 8GB M2 Mac Mini, loaded Lightroom and Outlook on it, even with swap memory the system started lagging. So I had to return that system.
I might simply use my 16" M1 Max MacBook but keep it connected to the dual Studio Displays, then buy a new MacBook Air with 24GB of RAM for use on the sofa, bed, or when traveling. It's cumbersome to keep unplugging the MacBook Pro from the displays as it is mounted underneath the desk.
*Note: When using Outlook, Calendar, Mail, and Safari (four-five tabs) simultaneously, the MacBook Pro is using about 20-24 GB of RAM.
Yes, the memory swap does work if you have 512GB or higher and if you're not using a lot of hard drive space. However, for someone like me who uses a 16" M1 Mac MacBook Pro (32GB RAM) for Lightroom, the need for 24 GB of RAM is needed. In fact, if I didn't have my 32GB of RAM, with Outlook and Lightroom open, there would be a significant amount of swap memory used.
Also, in my real world experience, I bought an 8GB M2 Mac Mini, loaded Lightroom and Outlook on it, even with swap memory the system started lagging. So I had to return that system.
I might simply use my 16" M1 Max MacBook but keep it connected to the dual Studio Displays, then buy a new MacBook Air with 24GB of RAM for use on the sofa, bed, or when traveling. It's cumbersome to keep unplugging the MacBook Pro from the displays as it is mounted underneath the desk.
*Note: When using Outlook, Calendar, Mail, and Safari (four-five tabs) simultaneously, the MacBook Pro is using about 20-24 GB of RAM.
For this usage, 8/512 or 16/512 should be more than sufficient for years. Even, base model 8/256 could work without any problem.
Macs will always "use" RAM that's is available. Memory management means it will be released if required. What matters is the memory pressure in Activity Monitor. At the moment my M2 MBA shows 14GB used but the memory pressure is very low so 8GB would be fine for current situation.
I'm not saying that there aren't lots of situations where more memory isn't required, only that looking at Memory Used is not the way to judge. If you see memory pressure going into orange regularly, you need more memory.
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Apple didn’t. The RAM manufacturers came up with it. LPDDR5 RAM chips come in 4, 6, 8, and 12 GB sizes (and I think recently 16GB has become available). The M2 MacBook Air uses 2 LPDDR5 chips.
Hi Ray,
I am looking at ordering the new 15" Air for this use - photoshopping, InD, Illustrator. I am an architect but this is mostly a personal laptop so I don't see myself doing a ton of modelling on it. Maybe Sketchup. Was intending to do the 24 gb ram and 1tb storage, but you really think it wont make much a difference? Still contemplating the price difference between the air and pro 14", but I really want something light, portable, etc which the air fits a little better, and trying to keep costs down as much as possible
You can get the M1 14" MacBook Pro pretty inexpensively right now but the M2 14" MacBook Pro is quite a bit more expensive depending on options. For example, to get M2 14" MacBook Pro with greater than 16 GB and 1 TB is going to be $2599 (32 GB/1 TB) vs a 24 GB/1 TB 15" MacBook Air at $2099. But you get a lot of extras with the Pro. 8 GB more memory, better display, better speakers (maybe), and a better CPU in the M2 Pro. Unlike the difference between the 13" M2 MacBook Air vs the 14" M2 MacBook Pro, the weight difference isn't all that much.
I don't think the difference between 16 gig and 24 gig would even be a blip on the butt of a fly for my needs or your needs. My machine runs fine with the M2/16/1TB. It may swap to the disk but the SSD is so fast I don't notice. Photoshop does not benefit from a fast disk, Lightroom may benefit if exporting a thousand or so photos but doubtful. Exporting in Lightroom with modifications to the images is quite CPU intensive.
Since you can't upgrade RAM later, I'd go with the most RAM you can afford. Yes, it might be overkill now, but who knows what the future will hold?
It's not just Apple. PC motherboards are now supporting 24/48GB RAM. My PC supports 24/48GB RAM and if I could find 48GB RAM I'd probably have went with that instead of 64GB. 32GB is too little and 64GB is overkill. I'm not mad I have 64GB but I need to try hard to make use of it. It'll come in useful somewhere down the road though.
Maybe not. I keep debating whether I will attempt to render on my computer which will totally change my needs. That and this issue:
haha
Question: Are you averse to using Command Q, or closing tabs on your browser? If so, then the more RAM the merrier. If you engage in memory allocation yourself and take some basic steps to avoid 100s of tabs and 25-30 open applications, then you would be fine with 8.
I'm lazy about closing browser windows, and I find having more that 16 gb averts the occasional crash due to that. Really, I should just not be so lazy, but there is that.