If this “MBP 8GB is a joke” issue become widespread, I believe people will buy MBA instead. They don’t want to look stupid by buying a fake “Pro”.
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8GB RAM on M3 MacBook Pro 'Analogous to 16GB' on PCs, Claims Apple
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Apple profit margin on hardware hasn't increased in the last few years. Its still in the 35-38% range and last quarter it was below 36%.
It's not a problem if you have several applications using 1-2Gb. Those will just be swapped.
The problem is if you have one application using 6 Gb or something like that.
The only problem I see, is that you're not using close to 100% of your memory.
Memory not used, is memory wasted.
Lot's of MacBook Pro users don't do anything with photos or video editing.
There is a group who buys MacBook Pros who don't need it, and for those the cheapest MacBook Pro is often the best.
I do and it's not a problem. The VM has assigned 2 vCPU and 2Gb of RAM.
It's on a M2 MacBook Air and it's way faster than an MacBook Air 2018 model with 16Gb of RAM.
What usable VM with 2GB RAM? I run for testing Oracle database and also Windows+Office365. Both couldn’t run with 2GB RAM.
I've run 4GB+ VMs on my 8GB Mac with no problem. And that was with QEMU, where the RAM usage on the host is usually higher than the RAM assigned to the VM.
Including 8GB of NON UPGRADABLE RAM is absolutely ridiculous when RAM isn’t that expensive.
Following the unveiling of new MacBook Pro models last week, Apple surprised some with the introduction of a base 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 chip, which replaced the discontinued M2 13-inch MacBook Pro in Apple's Mac lineup.
Starting at $1,599, the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro comes with 8GB of unified memory. That makes it $300 more expensive than the $1,299 starting price of the now-discontinued M2 13-inch MacBook Pro with 8GB. Users can opt for 16GB or 24GB at checkout, but these configuration options cost an extra $200 and $400 at purchase, respectively, and cannot be upgraded at a later date because of Apple's unified memory architecture.
This has left Apple open to criticism from users who argue that 8GB is not a sufficient amount of RAM for most creative professional workflows, and that 16GB should be the bare minimum for a machine that is marketed as "Pro," rather than an additional several hundred dollar outlay.
In a recent interview with Chinese ML engineer and content creator Lin YilYi, Apple's VP of worldwide product marketing Bob Borchers has directly responded to this criticism. After YilYi characterized the base M3 MacBook Pro coming with 8GB of RAM as the "one major concern" of prospective buyers, Borchers replied:
While the 14-inch MacBook Pro with 8GB of unified memory is $300 more expensive than the M2 13-inch MacBook Pro it replaces, there are a number of other benefits worth considering aside from the faster processor, such as the larger, brighter mini-LED Liquid Retina XDR display, support for 120Hz ProMotion refresh rates, and better battery life. Other improvements include additional ports, a better 1080p FaceTime HD camera, a six-speaker sound system, Wi-Fi 6E support, and Bluetooth 5.3.
What do you think about the 8GB of unified memory supplied in the base configuration of M3 MacBook Pro? Does it suit your requirements, or make the "Pro" machine grossly underpowered for your use case? Let us know in the comments.
Article Link: 8GB RAM on M3 MacBook Pro 'Analogous to 16GB' on PCs, Claims Apple
I’m sorry, how much are consumers saving in your base price by not adding that 8GB?
There is no way that 8GB costs $300 at any level but Apple Retail™️
Ive never purchased a Macbook (starting wiht the 195) with base RAM configuration.. In fact I am writing on my 2019 MacBook13" Intel i5 with 16 gig RAM. Still works well with safari/chrome/firefox/photos/pages/keynote all open. I often need to flip back and forth between all of these . SO I am now unpacking my MacBookPro M3 that I just purchased with 16 gig...
I do miss my Touch Bar already....and seeing all of these unnecessary ports( What's wrong wit a dongle if you need SD or HDMI) makes me feel like /I have a 6 year old laptop being unboxed
Pro means more expensive and usually also has some (but not all) specifications better than other non-pro models.
An author using Word for is novel has a professional workflow.
Who cares. Pay the $200 if you need 16gb of RAM. Case closed.
In those circumstances the performance will suffer.
But if you have lots of small datasets it isn't necessarily a problem.
I'm thinking Apple should spec all of their machines to start at 0GB. That way people won't whine about 8GB, since it will be obvious that the customer is supposed to specify how much RAM they want instead of Apple estimating what the masses want to buy.
Apple should care as eventually it will run out of people willing to pay $200 for something that costs $20. I am OK with paying some premium, I am OK with 8/256 base configurations but I am not OK with 10x premium for a simple upgrade to future-proof my purchase.
I have had After Effects use every single bit of RAM I have allocated to it. 200GB+. The point already made is that some Apps will use all the RAM that is available. For these types of Apps having tons of RAM is way better than having to use swap all the time. The Apps pretty much hang and/or crash. Now not every project I do in AE needs that much RAM, but a lot of them do.
Apple premium on RAM upgrades and SSD upgrades is stupid high and now we pretty much have to live with it since the RAM is part of the SoC package.
It isn't like Apple is using any sort of magic fairy dust RAM.
If you are buying a new machine today, don't get anything less than 16GB. Even if it's OK today, it will suck very soon.
Exactly this. I bought a refurbished Mac mini with 16gb right after the m2 was released for the same reason.
While I wholeheartedly agree that a an MBP should have a minimum of 16gb, it’s the excessive cost for the additional RAM that really annoys me.
It’s the same tactic used by sleazy salespeople selling anything. In another life, I was a sleazy sales dude - in computer sales (on commission) and we’d often make more on the overpriced accessories and upgrades than the computers.
This is the way.
It would be one thing if you could add RAM yourself later. I used to always buy the entry level models and add my own RAM, swap out the drive etc but no more. I bought a Mini earlier this year and tbh, have no current need for more than 8gb but no way in hell did I want to be stuck with 8gb.
My business partner accidentally purchased a 8GB M1. Given that it required some work to get, I decided to try to make it work, figuring we could keep it for demos in the future.
Surprisingly, it worked for most development tasks. Multiple reference sites open at once, Mail, Xcode and the simulator were no problem. Compared to a 32GB Mac Studio I bought later Android Studio was much slower. On the 32GB Mac Studio M1 (not Ultra), it took 20 seconds. On the 8GB MacBook Air M1 it took about 20 minutes. I'm not actually sure 16GB would have been enough for Android Studio. Obviously I never tested it, but on the Mac Studio it seemed to idle at about 12GB usage all by itself when I last tried it.
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Do you know anything about computers other than Macs? Aluminum is a new beige. Mac designs are as bland as they come. If you want to see something interesting, google Asus ZenBook Pro. Apple software ecosystem on Macs is just pathetic. Windows has orders of magnitude more apps and supports all kind of hardware.