8 or 16gb iMac?

[gadgetgirl85]

I am about to buy a mid model iMac - I am planning to mainly do office tasks but might consider installing windows/playing games (nothing high end) down the track. Is it worth to upgrade to 16gb? I also want to connect my 24 inch monitor to it - how would I do it? Thanks

 

[ZebedeeG]

I am about to buy a mid model iMac - I am planning to mainly do office tasks but might consider installing windows/playing games (nothing high end) down the track. Is it worth to upgrade to 16gb? I also want to connect my 24 inch monitor to it - how would I do it? Thanks

Putting aside the endless debate about how efficient the M1's Unified Memory is vs standard RAM, my personal view is if you regularly update your computer, say every couple of years or so, then buy what you need now. But if you're likely to keep it for a long time then buy the best spec you can comfortably afford... Especially for non upgradeable hardware.

In 2014 I was given a MacBook Air as a present, so had no choice in the spec. Well its 4Gb RAM & 128GB SSD were perfectly adequate for the first few years, but now it's really beginning to struggle, though it's still useful for email and light web browsing. But oh what a difference 8GB of RAM would be making now... (It really can't cope with the news app without pushing the memory pressure into the red and becoming unusable!)

Which is one reason I had no hesitation in maxing out my new M1 iMac which I'm writing this on. It may well be over specced for my needs today, but in seven or eight years time when we're all ooing & ahhing over the new M8 or whatever, and arguing about whether 16GB RAM is enough, I'll be glad I spent a bit extra today!

 

[Ritsuka]

16GB all the way.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

It really comes down to what you want to do in Windows. For office tasks and minor games, 8GB is more than sufficient.

 

[coso]

8GB is fine for your use, but if you can spend the money for the 16GB it's better for the long run and a modest investment

 

[Fishrrman]

I can speak only for myself.
I would not buy any m-series Mac UNLESS it had 16gb of RAM.

(Buying a Mac with 8gb of RAM TODAY... is like buying one with 4gb of RAM back around 2012. It ran OK at the time... but into the future, 4gb just wasn't "enough" any more...)

 

[jaybar]

I can speak only for myself.
I would not buy any m-series Mac UNLESS it had 16gb of RAM.

(Buying a Mac with 8gb of RAM TODAY... is like buying one with 4gb of RAM back around 2012. It ran OK at the time... but into the future, 4gb just wasn't "enough" any more...)

There is no absolute correct answer. We replace our iMac every three years. We do emails, internet browsing, word processing, music listening and photo viewing. Given what we use our iMac for and how long we keep it, then 8GB made sense. We are not concerned with future proofing.

we have a 512GB internal drive and we have used 90GB.

Every time we have purchased for future proofing, we have never used those extra resources. It all depends on how you use the iMac and how long you plan on keeping it. As I said, there are no absolute right answers. BTW, except for one time, memory pressure hard been green.

 

[ucfgrad93]

If it were me, I'd go with the 16GB since I tend to keep my stuff for a long time.

 

[Phil77354]

. . . if you regularly update your computer, say every couple of years or so, then buy what you need now. But if you're likely to keep it for a long time then buy the best spec you can comfortably afford... Especially for non upgradeable hardware.

It really comes down to what you want to do in Windows. For office tasks and minor games, 8GB is more than sufficient.

8GB is fine for your use, but if you can spend the money for the 16GB it's better for the long run and a modest investment

There is no absolute correct answer. . . Given what we use our iMac for and how long we keep it, then 8GB made sense. We are not concerned with future proofing. . .

Every time we have purchased for future proofing, we have never used those extra resources. It all depends on how you use the iMac and how long you plan on keeping it. As I said, there are no absolute right answers. BTW, except for one time, memory pressure hard been green.

If it were me, I'd go with the 16GB since I tend to keep my stuff for a long time.

All good advice, to which I would add that it appears that you have recent MacBook, iPhone and Apple Watch models, and if that is an indication of frequently updating your hardware then you may not be concerned about how well this iMac will serve you for a long period of time.

Do you generally trade in or sell your devices when you upgrade? If so then another consideration may be that the 16 GB model will have greater resale value in a couple of years.

Personally, 8 GB seems low to me, and I would spend the extra $200 to get the 16 GB.

 

[gadgetgirl85]

All good advice, to which I would add that it appears that you have recent MacBook, iPhone and Apple Watch models, and if that is an indication of frequently updating your hardware then you may not be concerned about how well this iMac will serve you for a long period of time.

Do you generally trade in or sell your devices when you upgrade? If so then another consideration may be that the 16 GB model will have greater resale value in a couple of years.

Personally, 8 GB seems low to me, and I would spend the extra $200 to get the 16 GB.

I haven’t bought a computer in 4 years but finally upgraded this year. Yes, I do sell all my devices before upgrading. I will go 16gb. Thank you everyone

 

[The Hammer]

Always get more than you need initially.

 

[za9ra22]

Since the RAM is fixed in these systems, it would always be wise to buy the most amount you might ever need - you can't fix that problem later.

I don't have any real doubt that Apple and most major developers will target 8Gb as the objective for viable systems and software for a year or two, or perhaps more, since there will be a lot of users with 8Gb systems to act as an anchor against bloatware, but it isn't what they do that matters.

Your computer will always be perfectly good at what works on it today. However, you don't know with certainty what your needs might be tomorrow, and that's the target you need to aim your purchase at - what you might need it to do. Multiple apps, complex video or photo editing, some development work... for the $200 difference, it's not worth saving the cost versus the risk of having to prematurely replace it.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

And the added value will be there when it is time to move on and sell it. Same as the Intel I7's always held their extra value.

 

[ZacksWorld]

You already said you're getting the 16GB, but just in case you wind up with doubts and check this thread again: definitely get the 16GB lol

 

[CWallace]

Is it worth to upgrade to 16gb?

Yes.

Even if you don't need it now, you might need it (or desire it) later and at that point you would need to buy a new machine with 16GB and that will be a fair bit more than the $200 cost now.

 

[mlody]

Stay away form 8 GB, unless you plan on using 1-2 apps and 2-3 Safari tabs. In my opinion, It is a joke that Apple even offers it. My system constantly pages with relatively light work office workload. I have about 25 safari tabs opened and 5 edge tabs and the app you can see which is still not all that I typically use.

 

[jaybar]

Stay away form 8 GB, unless you plan on using 1-2 apps and 2-3 Safari tabs. In my opinion, It is a joke that Apple even offers it. My system constantly pages with relatively light work office workload. I have about 25 safari tabs opened and 5 edge tabs and the app you can see which is still not all that I typically use.

It all depends on the user. I suspect the average user will only have 1-3 apps open and a limited number of Safari tabs. I would think the average user who purchased an iMac 24, does not visit MR. There is no absolute best approach. If more advice could be tailored to the user with less negativity, this site could be both more congenial, more helpful and less stressful for more people. Maybe then, a wider range of users might visit.

 

[ZebedeeG]

Stay away form 8 GB, unless you plan on using 1-2 apps and 2-3 Safari tabs. In my opinion, It is a joke that Apple even offers it. My system constantly pages with relatively light work office workload. I have about 25 safari tabs opened and 5 edge tabs and the app you can see which is still not all that I typically use.

Erm... You do seem to have just about everything running! 😜

So, my question is - Ignoring Activity Monitor how is your Mac actually behaving?

I'm finding that with my 16GB M1 no matter how hard I push it, and no matter how far I get memory pressure into the yellow, it still runs smoothly and crazy fast.

Using swap just doesn't seem to slow it down, so if everything works what does it matter..?

Just messing about with my new toy I've tried to push the memory pressure into the red, and I haven't managed it yet! (or get it to stutter...)

I'm glad I got 16GB and I'm sure it'll pay off in the long term, but I am beginning to think 8GB would have run a lot better than I'd ever have thought possible, and certainly still a great choice if you're on a tight budget.

 

[mlody]

Erm... You do seem to have just about everything running! 😜

So, my question is - Ignoring Activity Monitor how is your Mac actually behaving?

I'm finding that with my 16GB M1 no matter how hard I push it, and no matter how far I get memory pressure into the yellow, it still runs smoothly and crazy fast.

Using swap just doesn't seem to slow it down, so if everything works what does it matter..?

Just messing about with my new toy I've tried to push the memory pressure into the red, and I haven't managed it yet! (or get it to stutter...)

I'm glad I got 16GB and I'm sure it'll pay off in the long term, but I am beginning to think 8GB would have run a lot better than I'd ever have thought possible, and certainly still a great choice if you're on a tight budget.

What I have opened is about 80% of my typical workload and I tend to close (not minimize) things that I don't use for few hours. WebEx, Zoom are some example of that, or Word or Power Point, Skype etc.

Overall, the system is definitely performing acceptably well given the workloads, and my only gripe is Safari which tends to reload Office/Azure/PowerApps websites and puts a banner across with high utilization message or something like that. I tend to use all possible web browsers as that is the only way to support multi Office 365 accounts; otherwise, even in private mode things get wonky, so I have no choice. Overall, I am still impressed with performance, but I would not buy 8 GB model if I had a choice, unless my workload was 25% of that.

 

[ZebedeeG]

What I have opened is about 80% of my typical workload and I tend to close (not minimize) things that I don't use for few hours. WebEx, Zoom are some example of that, or Word or Power Point, Skype etc.

Overall, the system is definitely performing acceptably well given the workloads, and my only gripe is Safari which tends to reload Office/Azure/PowerApps websites and puts a banner across with high utilization message or something like that. I tend to use all possible web browsers as that is the only way to support multi Office 365 accounts; otherwise, even in private mode things get wonky, so I have no choice. Overall, I am still impressed with performance, but I would not buy 8 GB model if I had a choice, unless my workload was 25% of that.

That's fair comment...

Though I have to say that the amount you're running on an 8GB machine is I think a phenomenal advert for what the M1 is capable of! 🤣

That sort of workload bought my old 2015 iMac to its knees until I upgraded the RAM from 8GB to 24GB.

Thinking about it the "banner" you describe in Safari - if it's the one warning "This site is using a lot of memory" or something like that. I've found that can be triggered by a site just hogging a lot of memory, even without the overall system being low on resources. It can pop up on my 24GB machine with little else running and memory pressure just a thin green line... Just the system warning me about a greedy website - I think! If I'm using the site I ignore it...

 

[Phil77354]

. . . Ignoring Activity Monitor how is your Mac actually behaving? . . .

Yes, it seems to me that excessive use of Activity Monitor will lead to increased memory pressure anxiety . . .

(I seldom look at Activity Monitor, myself. But I just opened it up, and for my late 2014 iMac with 32 GB RAM, I'm currently using slightly more than 18 GB, solely the result of Safari with a bunch of pages and tabs open, and remote access also open so that I can telework into my office computer. I could open up a bunch more apps just to see how it would be allocated, but regardless it makes me glad I upgraded the RAM on my iMac back when it was much more affordable. And I would never consider an iMac with only 8 GB, and if / when I do upgrade to the 27" replacement I'm probably going to go beyond 16 GB for that as well)

 

[za9ra22]

Yes, it seems to me that excessive use of Activity Monitor will lead to increased memory pressure anxiety . . .

This is one of the best comments I have read on here for ages!

No surprise, with my history of disparagement for the arm-chair experts who always seem to know better than Apple's engineers, that I am far more inclined to believe Apple actually know what they are doing. Too many people seem to have a problem telling the difference between their personal opinion and a fact. I can't say that I approve of all of Apple's decisions and choices, because I really don't, but I do believe they got where they are in the marketplace due to very sound design and engineering talent.

In that respect, I specifically opted for 8Gb in my mid-tier 24-inch iMac, which is used extensively at work for a variety of tasks, with admittedly no more than half a dozen tabs open in Safari and/or Firefox, and probably 4 or 5 apps throughout each day. It runs extremely well.

Arguably, it may not after increasingly bloated MacOS updates into the future, but in my usage that isn't a big deal, because I'm not all that interested in the 'new stuff' to come, so I'm not likely to update it much. My Mac has to be good in 5 years at what it is good at now, and really nothing more.

It just goes to prove that the '8Gb is no good, 16Gb is necessary' argument really isn't universal. If in doubt, always get the most RAM in the budget, but those of us who actually know what our needs are and buy the things that meet those needs really don't need Activity Monitor to tell us what does and doesn't work.

 

[CWallace]

It does seem to be that M1 is far more efficient and effective with RAM and swap memory usage than Intel under macOS with applications both optimized and unoptimized for Apple Silicon. So the old adage "16GB is the minimum and 32GB is better" does not seem to apply with M1 and lower memory values often (but not always, of course) don't have any real impact.

For myself, I will still get 16GB since $200 is "cheap" insurance should I ever need more (especially since I expect my first Apple Silicon laptop to last me for years). But I have no intention of going to 32GB (if offered) like I have done with all of my Intel Macs as I don't think I will see any benefit for the ~$400 it will likely cost.

 

[pshufd]

16 GB. I have a 16 GB Mini to run office stuff. It's using 12.47 GB for Apps and 3.35 GB for cache and 0 for Swap. Browsers can use a ton of RAM these days and it's nice to have more for programs and operating systems that will use up more memory in the future.

If you are looking to run Windows games on this; then you might be disappointed.