Any 16GB MacBooks out there and how do they run?

[lambertjohn]

Specifically Talking about the 2017 MacBook. There’s a whole bunch of 16 gig MacBooks out on the refurb website right now, and I’m thinking about picking one up for general use around the house. If you’ve got a 2017 MacBook, any CPU, and it’s got 16 gigs of RAM, how is it working out for you? Do you feel like the 16 gigs helps it move a little quicker than 8 gig version? How about battery life? Any hits there? Love to hear some opinions on this before I buy. Thanks.

 

[nutmac]

The answer depends heavily on how you use your Mac.

Think about how you use your Mac. Specifically, the most demanding stuff you do on a regular enough basis. Run the scenario to stress your Mac.

Now, launch Activity Monitor and select the Memory tab.

1. Is the Memory Pressure mostly green or combination of orange and yellow? Green means adding more RAM probably won't benefit you in a meaningful way.
2. Alternatively, pay attention to Memory Used, which on newer macOS releases, excludes Cached Files. Is it close to exceeding or exceeding total RAM?

Unless your answer to both is yes, you probably don't need more than 8 GB. Having said that, your current usage is not always the best predictor of your future usage, so if you tend to use the Mac for a long time, get 16 GB.

 

[James.K.Polk]

Have the 1.4 / 16 / 512 model. Love it. Just wish it was silver - would be a perfect machine.

 

[iPhonagain]

I’d say if you can afford it, go for the most ram you can get. Even if you don’t need it now you very likely will in the future, as things go...

 

[cheezeit]

Using the i7 16 512... Im on the edge of 8gb & 16gb ram. I might not always need the 16ram but its nice to know that when I do pass 8 I'm able to. Coming down from the 15" I enjoy the portability a lot more and quick charge capability. I can get a full day easily and almost day and a half just doing ms office stuff.

 

[imoxja]

Had the 2015 8GB, 2016 8GB, and now a 2017 16GB - honestly don't notice that much of a difference, but I don't keep everything open all the time even though I use a lot of Affinity Designer, Safari tabs, and VMware Fusion.

 

[Elwe]

Had the 2015 8GB, 2016 8GB, and now a 2017 16GB - honestly don't notice that much of a difference, but I don't keep everything open all the time even though I use a lot of Affinity Designer, Safari tabs, and VMware Fusion.

Yes, it shows you how use case varies a great deal. I had an older 8GB version, and switch it for a newer 16GB version. Given my use case, it has enabled me to to use this more than another other "computer" I own . . . with the exception of my phone. And I own several.

I can run my main OS with *lots* of Chrome windows, and three VMs. Notwithstanding the video quality of the camera, I can do this and use Google Hangouts for conferencing. I store most of my media elsewhere, and connect via the network. I encode, render, and play some games elsewhere. I read elsewhere. I use some resource heavy business and scientific applications elsewhere. But I do most everything else on this laptop now. I really enjoy the small form factor, though I would have been fine with a 13" screen. I prefer the extra lightness, though, and have not been hindered (much) by the lack of ports.

 

[waquzy]

Had the 2015 8GB, 2016 8GB, and now a 2017 16GB - honestly don't notice that much of a difference, but I don't keep everything open all the time even though I use a lot of Affinity Designer, Safari tabs, and VMware Fusion.

Try playing 4K video on YouTube(chrome). I had the 2015 8GB model and the stutter was horrible... it could not handle it basically it was unplayable.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Try playing 4K video on YouTube(chrome). I had the 2015 8GB model and the stutter was horrible... it could not handle it basically it was unplayable.

IIRC, the 2015 model CPU didn't support hardware decoding of 4k video. No amount of RAM would fix that. The newer CPUs support hardware decoding and thus 4k plays smoothly.

 

[waquzy]

IIRC, the 2015 model CPU didn't support hardware decoding of 4k video. No amount of RAM would fix that. The newer CPUs support hardware decoding and thus 4k plays smoothly.

Ah I see, thank you for clearing it up.

 

[Zeke D]

I'm running the 2017 i5/16GB/256GB and I've yet to have something I can't do with it. I play RunEscape, use photoshop, listen to music, stream hulu/Amazon/Netflix, and of course surf the web. Never had an issue with heat either, even under load. I replaced my 2011 MacBook Pro, and haven't looked back.

 

[Dave245]

I'm running the 2017 i5/16GB/256GB and I've yet to have something I can't do with it. I play RunEscape, use photoshop, listen to music, stream hulu/Amazon/Netflix, and of course surf the web. Never had an issue with heat either, even under load. I replaced my 2011 MacBook Pro, and haven't looked back.

That's interesting to me because i'm currently using a 2011 MacBook Pro 15" and I'm looking to replace it later this year. The 12" MacBook is one that i'm considering along with the rumoured updated Air IF Apple do in fact update it and put in a retina display. Compared to you're old 2011 MacBook Pro how are you finding the 12" MacBook? is battery life better? i assume it is because my 2011 15" MBP doesn't last that long on a charge (maybe 3 hours)

 

[Zeke D]

That's interesting to me because i'm currently using a 2011 MacBook Pro 15" and I'm looking to replace it later this year. The 12" MacBook is one that i'm considering along with the rumoured updated Air IF Apple do in fact update it and put in a retina display. Compared to you're old 2011 MacBook Pro how are you finding the 12" MacBook? is battery life better? i assume it is because my 2011 15" MBP doesn't last that long on a charge (maybe 3 hours)

With the exception of only having one USB-C, and the Kaby Lake i5 limiting it to Windows10, I'm really happy with the 12" I've got to run Sierra for software compatibility, but overall, it's solid. Definitely get the one with 16GB RAM. The battery life with "regular" use is around 9 hours.

 

[lambertjohn]

I just ordered the same configuration as you, Zeke, 2017 i5/16GB/256GB in silver (space gray also available.) Got it off the Apple refurb website for $1359. Since there's a 14-day return window, if Apple releases something crazy better in the first part of September, I'll just return it. Otherwise, I'm sure it will be a good machine for what I do, which is mostly writing and some light Photoshop work. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Zeke D]

I just ordered the same configuration as you, Zeke, 2017 i5/16GB/256GB in silver (space gray also available.) Got it off the Apple refurb website for $1359. Since there's a 14-day return window, if Apple releases something crazy better in the first part of September, I'll just return it. Otherwise, I'm sure it will be a good machine for what I do, which is mostly writing and some light Photoshop work. Thanks for the recommendation!

Sweet, dude. Enjoy! Vellum, sigil & Scriviner work like a charm on it.

 

[merkinmuffley]

Runs fine, all I use it for is Photoshop CC.

 

[EugW]

This is what happens when a rogue application decides not to play nicely with RAM.

I had been editing a few PowerPoint presentations for a few hours. The sad part here is that this is AFTER I had closed all those presentations, so the 6+ GB of memory usage by PowerPoint 2016 is with no presentations loaded at all. In fact, mainly because of PowerPoint, I was using more than 12 GB RAM with less than 2 GB of that representing Cached Files, with NO active windows on-screen from any application except for Activity Monitor.

I wonder how long it will take for Microsoft to fix this memory leak. In the meantime, I am glad I have 16 GB RAM. Actually, I wonder if this will ever get fixed, considering MS Office 2016 came out 3.5 years ago.

 

[curmudgeonette]

This is what happens when a rogue application decides not to play nicely with RAM.

Some months ago I was editing a Numbers spreadsheet. I pushed my iMac's memory usage beyond 16GB. I think it was a massively growing Undo buffer.

What's worse is that at one point Numbers said something very 1980's like: "Not enough memory to complete that operation." Oh, and by the way, your file now cannot be saved nor closed. This means that after a Force Quit the file on disc will be corrupted. You were saving check points along the way, weren't you?

 

[EugW]

Some months ago I was editing a Numbers spreadsheet. I pushed my iMac's memory usage beyond 16GB. I think it was a massively growing Undo buffer.

What's worse is that at one point Numbers said something very 1980's like: "Not enough memory to complete that operation." Oh, and by the way, your file now cannot be saved nor closed. This means that after a Force Quit the file on disc will be corrupted. You were saving check points along the way, weren't you?

I believe it does that automatically but yes I save my files separately under new names periodically.

eg.

File_2018-12-04
File_2018-12-04b
File_2018-12-05

BTW, this is yesterday:

Besides the crazy PowerPoint memory usage, those browser tabs use a fair amount too.