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8 or 16gb RAM for my uses

OneSon

OneSon

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 6, 2013
128
119
I'm going to buy an iMac again after returning my last one. Considering 8gb or 16gb of ram. Here are my uses:

- MS Office (word, powerpoint, excel)
- Online meetings and some online teaching using Google Meet
- Some analysis/editing of sound (i.e. speech) files using a programme called Praat
- Some minor editing of photos (mostly JPEGs from a micro four thirds camera)
- General web browsing and listening to music/watching 4k videos

I don't want to spend the extra on 16gb unless I have to. There are better things I can spend £200 on.
 
I’m guessing the first question is why did you return the original iMac, what was the problem?
 
hg.wells said:
I’m guessing the first question is why did you return the original iMac, what was the problem?
Click to expand...
It had the buzzing noise when brightness was below 70%. Common problem. But having considered other options I'm going to give it a second try.
 
I never experienced that issue on mine.

I think for Office and browsing 8GB is definitely enough. Not sure about photo editing though

I just went for 16GB for peace of mind. I'd like this computer to still feel snappy in a few years.
 
If you can afford it I’d recommend the 16GB. If you want the system to last as long as possible.
 
Personally I would go 16Gb. Over the term of the iMac, if cost is the major factor, it doesn’t work out at much more.

Today, probably nothing you need requires 16Gb, but how long are you planning keeping it. Everything in future will be better with 16Gb, everything now will allow more with it, more programs open without closing other apps etc.

I went for 16Gb, didn’t want to pay the extortionate price for the extra 8Gb, but just thought about future etc.

Interested in the whining as I can’t hear it on mine, was it a totally quiet room?
 
Another recommendation for 16 GB. Since I keep my computers for a long time, I want to try and future proof it as best as I can.
 
For your needs, 8GB is plenty. It's common for people to recommend more, and there really isn't anything wrong with having too much, it's better than not having enough. But the reality is that most users don't need it unless they are working on large audio, image, or video projects, as well as RAM heavy activity like running VMs. It's been said before, and I agree with it that, if you needed the extra RAM, you'd know it.
 
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planteater said:
For your needs, 8GB is plenty. It's common for people to recommend more, and there really isn't anything wrong with having too much, it's better than not having enough. But the reality is that most users don't need it unless they are working on large audio, image, or video projects, as well as RAM heavy activity like running VMs. It's been said before, and I agree with it that, if you needed the extra RAM, you'd know it.
Click to expand...
Your logic sounds about right IF one was dealing with a Mac a few years ago. Right now, just with .macrumors.com open, Safari is taking close to 2 gigs of RAM. Word and docs can take up substantial RAM as well and the list goes on. Most folks may have 2-6 apps open at any given time (browser, mail, another typical app etc.) and it seems unified memory is happy to go to whatever asks no question asked (i.e. no real quality RAM management).

16 gigs should be the new minimum. As others have mentioned, 8 should be enough but not with the M1 world.
 
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phrehdd said:
Your logic sounds about right IF one was dealing with a Mac a few years ago. Right now, just with .macrumors.com open, Safari is taking close to 2 gigs of RAM. Word and docs can take up substantial RAM as well and the list goes on. Most folks may have 2-6 apps open at any given time (browser, mail, another typical app etc.) and it seems unified memory is happy to go to whatever asks no question asked (i.e. no real quality RAM management).

16 gigs should be the new minimum. As others have mentioned, 8 should be enough but not with the M1 world.
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It is also more relevant as AS Macs cannot be upgraded down the road like the previous intel could.
At least you could add extra ram a couple of years later.

It is swings and roundabouts, 8gb you will probably need to replace the iMac sooner, and spend more than £200.
 
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This should do you for a good few years though.....?
Especially with your typical usage.
 
OneSon said:
Thanks all. Leaning towards 16gb to be on safe side. Going to get 512gb hard drive as well which makes it annoyingly expensive.
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Yeah Apple definitely starts charging premium as you start to build up your device.

Storage you could do without if you don't mind relying on external storage. I just use my iMac for Office 365 / browsing / occasional small game,... and I have about 120 GB of the 256 GB free at the moment
 
OneSon said:
I'm going to buy an iMac again after returning my last one. Considering 8gb or 16gb of ram. Here are my uses:

- MS Office (word, powerpoint, excel)
- Online meetings and some online teaching using Google Meet
- Some analysis/editing of sound (i.e. speech) files using a programme called Praat
- Some minor editing of photos (mostly JPEGs from a micro four thirds camera)
- General web browsing and listening to music/watching 4k videos

I don't want to spend the extra on 16gb unless I have to. There are better things I can spend £200 on.
Click to expand...
Aside from the audio analysis/editing, your usage sounds quite similar to mine. I think 8GB would work fine but if you tend to multitask/hop between the larger applications I would recommend the 16GB. Even webpages are so memory-hungry now that it all adds up fairly quickly, even if no individual task is particularly intensive.
 
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In active use, we have three 8 GB machines (MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini), one 12 GB machine (iMac), one 16 GB machine (MacBook), and one 24 GB machine (iMac). Two of the 8 GB machines have only light usage, and are always totally fine for memory. The third 8 GB machine sees light to moderate business use and usually 8 GB is fine too, but occasionally with multitasking (Messages, Safari with multiple tabs, Chrome, Pages, Calendar, Music, Citrix VPN, Netflix, FaceTime, Contacts, Photos, etc.) it will sometimes hit the swap causing a short pause occasionally. Note though that this is an older machine so any lags are magnified compared to newer machines. However, even though I'm on this third machine many hours a day (and I'm typing on it right now), I'm OK with it since it was purchased last year on the second hand market for cheap, just as a stop gap until the M2/M2 Pro machines come out.

I don't know Praat but I'm guessing 8 GB will likely work fine most of the time with your workload, but on occasion if you are multi-tasking a lot, 8 GB will be constraining. 16 GB provides you a ton of breathing room overall, as well as room to grow should your needs change over time. The other benefit of 16 GB is that it allows you to cache previously opened applications. If you open an application and then close it, it will be cached, so the the next time you open it, it's already in memory and there is zero delay.

For a secondary machine with such usage, or for a primary machine with light usage, 8 GB may be OK, but for a primary machine for occasionally moderate usage as you describe, I would still recommend 16 GB. Actually, I'm thinking 12 GB would probably work very well for you, but if you're buying a machine with soldered RAM, obviously that's not an option.
 
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If you're buying an iMac with the m1, you want 16gb.
You may not think you need it now, but you'll probably "need it later".

If you're buying a 27" iMac, get 8gb (and add more later if you need it).

With the m-series CPUs, "16gb is the new 8"....
 
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According to all the reports I read, and I read and watched many reviews before buying my own, 8 GB is enough for Office and Zoom and such. I did get the 16 GB upgrade but that was because I do dev work on this machine.
 
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