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8GB RAM in M3 MacBook Pro Proves the Bottleneck in Real-World Tests
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Yeah and the camry is the macbook air, not the pro model. spending THAT MUCH money to step up to a pro and gimping the crap out of it with 8 GB is just criminal really.
This. I see very little reason not to choose a refurbished base M1 Pro over a base M3:
- cheaper: you should be able to get a 1TB version of the M1 Pro for less than then the base M3 MBP (I did: single battery cycle, and costed 200 euros less than the base M3 MBP);
- performance: patata potatoe: https://nanoreview.net/en/cpu-compare/apple-m3-vs-apple-m1-pro (single core is for M3, multicore: similar; GPU performance for M1 Pro, battery: M3, but depending on task)
- better cooling in M1 Pro;
- get a “free” 16GB upgrade;
- more than 1 external screen support.
In other words: the M3 MBP is a horrible proposition and is horrible value (compared to its Apple peers).
IMO, the M3 MBP exists as a striped down version of the M3 Pro MBP. Its price feels artificially inflated in part due to it having 512gb of storage (compared to the 15" MBA, where you can opt to spend on extra ram instead and still come out slightly cheaper). Nevertheless, it does have more ports and a better screen, and the reality is that shopping for a refurbished M1 Mac isn't always an option for everybody (it depends on availability of stock, and even on whether there even is an Apple Store in one's country).
Maybe it's an indictment of the entire M3 MBP lineup being more expensive than they should, but in the very least, given a 15" M2 MBA with 16gb ram and 512gb storage is just slightly cheaper than an equivalently specced 14" MBP (last I checked), Apple does seem aware of what they are doing.
Perhaps what Apple should have done is offer the M3 MBP with 8gb ram and 256gb storage (and further discount it by $200), and allow users to decide if they would funnel that amount into additional ram or storage? But then we are going into a separate discussion of whether the M3 MBP is overpriced, or whether 8gb ram is insufficient for its intended target audience.
For a start, the M3 is two years newer. That means two more years of hardware support (not falling in the vintage/obsolete category), and likely two more years of OS support. Which in turn means more software support.
Yeah, but most people benefit more from single-core than multi-core.
You do not need an Apple Store to buy a refurbished m1pro(?). I did not go via Apple. Plenty of reputable refurbished stores in many European countries. Also means you get pretty good guarantee when buying them (2 years at least). Not sure how that works in the USA et al.
But bringing the costs 200 dollar further down for a MBP will cut into Apples bottom line. That is the conondrum: it costs them next to nothing to have 16+512 as a default. It is price gouging.
But bringing the costs 200 dollar further down for a MBP will cut into Apples bottom line. That is the conondrum: it costs them next to nothing to have 16+512 as a default. It is price gouging.
You will never know. Furthermore, this is a m1pro vs a “conventional” m3. So the first might get additional support years. But indeed, at the most as much as a conventional m3. But by that time your 8GB is biting you already….
Maybe. But the difference is relatively small. And most people will also benefit from 16GB. Except for the people that hardly multitask. And then differences can be huge if you are constantly swapping.
Apparently, the iPhone 16 will get as much ram as the base mbp this year. If that is not a sign that 8GB might not be enough on a full blown computer meant to be used for multitasking I do not know what is….
Mind you he bought it as the new M3's are available.
And he has kept mac's WAY longer than any PC he ever used (several iMac's). That work still.
For the price and his use. It's WAY more than enough. Obsolete from updates before he has no good use for it.
Show me a PC with 800GB memory bandwidth. I'll wait. You can even pull up any GPU you want. And when you find one. Show the price of it.
Older macs had 8/128 about 10 years ago, so in 2024 a mac with 8/256 won't work WAY longer period.
So are you saying it will just stop working? Or will nothing function with it? Define what you mean specifically.
I still have intel Mac's and so does my dad. They work just fine. One of which is not upgradable to Sonoma, but it works. Music still plays, internet is still accessible. Storage still stores. Memory still memorizes. Will not or won't are like end results after it dies.
If you're not doing any heavy lifting. 8GB of ram is fine.
That is nice. But with 8GB, of relatively little use…It is like putting a 4 liter tank in Ferrari: it will get you screeching fast to the supermarkt, but runs out quickly when doing serious roadtripping.
New software won't work, even the operating system will occupy the whole storage/RAM pretty soon.
8/256 in 2024 should be illegal.
8/256 is almost the base configuration for cellphones in 2024.
You can't get 800GB memory bandwidth on the 8GB model. That would be for the ultra version of the chip.
150 to 200GB memory bandwidth on the 8 and up ram models is still VERY fast.
"soon".
Software tends to "not work" when it's no longer compatible with the OS. And every computer has swap (stored on HD). 8GB can be a physical limit, not a feature limit. Will your apps run slower if they need more than 8GB of phsyical ram? Yes. But, they will continue to run and expand into swap space.
256GB of storage is plenty if you don't need much. Photos are stored in the cloud and most stream music these days. So easy large files are removed from the system for a good portion of folks that would otherwise save it locally. And you can still add an external drive if you want it local. Thunderbolt is pretty fast too.
Illegal is taking it to far. How about, be informed about what you're doing and purchase according to your needs?
I could just as easily say any vehicle that costs over $50k should have a v8 at minimum. But yet the one I have is a 4 cylinder turbo.
Cellphones are pretty powerful devices. You can even edit movies and photos on them. And it works well with 8GB of ram. But, most people aren't doing that.
Just picking on your analogy.
Have rode in any recent Ferraris? While I can understand the appeal to some, it’s definitely not the vehicle of choice if you’re going to be doing a road trip
P.S. Independent of the above, I understood what you were trying to get across with analogy.
Good for you, keep defending your beloved company for still selling obsolete PC configurations (8/256) in 2024.
It’s more than enough for 3D sculpting/modeling, graphic design work, 4K video editing, and plenty of other things. All of the things I just listed there I have done with an 8GB M1 Mac, and it never broke a sweat, I never saw the dreaded beachball, and it didn’t even touch swap memory (which, btw, swap memory isn’t something to be scared of like some people make it out to be). I’d say 8GB is plenty for a base spec, and if I were in the market for a MacBook right now, I would happily buy an 8GB M3 MacBook Pro. It still offers the great hardware of the other more expensive models, while being quite a bit cheaper. And even if I increased the RAM to 16GB, I’d still save money compared to the more expensive 14” base models from 2021 and 2022…
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Both the 8GB and 16GB version of the same MacBook will likely lose OS support the same year. They’ll both get probably around 7-8 years of support, and then neither will get the latest versions of macOS. So I don’t see how “ greater longevity” is really an argument, when both will likely be dropped at the same time. The CPU and other hardware is far more often the bottleneck on the longevity of a computer…
Operating system support yes, but some apps could still work if you have enough ram.
Plus with less RAM you are killing your SSD sooner by forcing it to do more swaps.
Ya, but the vast majority of customers won’t want to use unsupported Macs past their OS support life. And most of the apps that would still work on an unsupported Mac would not really require that much RAM anyways. I had a Mac that I used for a few years after its OS support life, and it sucked, and it even had 16GB of RAM. The OS ran ok, and for basics it was fine. But most heavier software that I wanted to run wouldn’t run, such as Blender, Fusion 360, and many others. Not due to RAM spec, but due to the CPU and OS version. I wouldn’t recommend anyone plan on running their Mac beyond its OS support life.
I have run lots of heavy apps such as Blender, Davinci Resolve, Affinity Designer, etc. and with those apps I haven’t touched swap memory. Also, it should be noted that I have never seen a single example of swap memory causing an SSD to fail within an 8-year timespan. Swap memory has been around for a very long time, and it isn’t really something to be afraid of.
Lately wrote research paper on 2 browsers with 50 tabs and word doc - at day 4 of this setup it was super laggy on air m1 8gb.
I’ve never had any lag, never even seen the beachball, and I have run Blender for 3D modeling/sculpting, and I’ve done 4K video editing and graphic design work as well. I usually have at least a dozen high res files open which are quite large. I’ve never had any lag with all of that. Maybe you had a software with a bug that was using more RAM than usual. And some people want or need more RAM. But plenty of us are able to do a lot with 8GB, so I see no problem with 8GB as base spec, I think it’s more than enough for a base spec.