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8 GB Ram -Will I regret It?

entropyfl said:
Here is my typical day with 8 gig so I’d advise more
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What impresses me about this is that three open websites from Daily Mail are eating up almost a third of your RAM while three open eBay websites are using a small fraction of that. Goes to show how well designed websites (that aren't loaded with ads) make a huge difference on resource usage.
 
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bradman83 said:
What impresses me about this is that three open websites from Daily Mail are eating up almost a third of your RAM while three open eBay websites are using a small fraction of that. Goes to show how well designed websites (that aren't loaded with ads) make a huge difference on resource usage.
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Blocking trackers and ads does wonders to the devices. It’s like paying premium for sites like Daily Mail.
 
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bradman83 said:
What impresses me about this is that three open websites from Daily Mail are eating up almost a third of your RAM while three open eBay websites are using a small fraction of that. Goes to show how well designed websites (that aren't loaded with ads) make a huge difference on resource usage.
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Ha yeah! Its a guilty pleasure.
 
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Been doing my research and something about an 8gb machine sticks out. I have a Costco membership and looked at their pricing/availability. They don’t sell any 16gb models. With their return policy, if 8gb wasn’t enough, it seems like they’d have a lot of returns. A lot of returns would get them to stock the 16gb machines, but they don’t, so I conclude that 8gb is enough for a lot of people.
 
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I've been shopping around a bit - they have M1 with 8GB for $450 on Amazon right now. I'm not biting quite yet but would rather pay less if it is going to be a 2 year computer vs a 5 year computer. There is no magic number, it's all based on speculation, but it makes better sense to me than 1699 for m3 iMac. Also, wondering what VR will bring and how it might change things.
 
dotzero123 said:
Purchased the 1499 model of the iMac with 8GB ram. I'm not a power user, don't edit videos or photos. Really just want to enjoy a Mac with a decent display without putting out for Mac Studio with ASD. I have read a lot about 8GB ram being more efficient on Mac, and that it could be sufficient for users like me. Planning on keeping my computer at least 5 years.
Any thoughts or recommendations?
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Return it now.

Replace with 16GB min.
 
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dotzero123 said:
Purchased the 1499 model of the iMac with 8GB ram. I'm not a power user, don't edit videos or photos. Really just want to enjoy a Mac with a decent display without putting out for Mac Studio with ASD. I have read a lot about 8GB ram being more efficient on Mac, and that it could be sufficient for users like me. Planning on keeping my computer at least 5 years.
Any thoughts or recommendations?
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I've had the $1499 M1 iMac for just over two years now, and 8GB has been enough except when I've needed software from outside the App Store. I HomeBrew some stuff like qBittorrent, iina, mpv, etc. These probably don't comply with Apple's peformance standards and have crashed, on occasion, but the rest works great.

My only regret was not splurging for the 16GB RAM. There are a multitude of ways around the 512GB SSD, but not the RAM. Additional RAM would future-proof your machine far more than a larger SSD: 200GB iCloud is a measly $2.99 a month, and that data's accessible across all your devices.
 
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ZebedeeG said:
To be honest I think any tech purchase will be obsolete after a number of years however you spec it. But it's not as bad as it once was...

I remember back in 1993 I bought what was at the time best PC I could afford for college - a 486DX 33mhz with 8MB of RAM and a 170MB HDD running Windows 3.1... It cost about £2,000 (in 1993 Pounds 😬) and I thought it was amazing.

Two years later when Windows 95 came out the poor old thing was just about on its knees!!!! 😆 Completely obsolete - what a waste of money!

I find it amazing that the MacBook Air M1 released three years ago at just £999 can in base spec still effortlessly run macOS and just about any "everyday" task most casual users are likely to ask of it, and is likely to for a good few more years. You can still buy them new - mine's been amazing value.

Is there any reason to suspect that M3 machines will have a shorter shelf life?

A 16GB machine will become obsolete the same day as an 8GB machine - it'll just be a slightly better equipped obsolete computer!!! 😂
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I have exactly same spec machine & HDD back in 1993. What a world :)
 
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