Any need to get 16GB Ram in the 2016 2.0 13" nTB?

[marc55]

I wanted to get a 2015 13", but not sure there's any advantage in getting a 2 year old platform just to save a few $$; so now I'm looking at the 2016 again.

Is there really any noticeable improvement in getting 16GB of ram in a 2016 13" 2.0Ghz nTB? The old theory was the more ram the better for future proofing, but not sure if that is the case any longer.

Also, is there noticeable improvement in getting the 2.4 over the 2.0?

Usage: Internet, YouTube, Pages, Numbers, etc. No major photo editing.

Insight Appreciated; thank you
m

 

[Mr. Dee]

Trust me, more RAM is always better, you might not see the difference today, but in the future you will. This is especially important for Apple laptops that already solder components like RAM and storage. Who knows, future operating system and application requirements might push the need for 8 to 16 GBs minimum. Apple is also notorious for planned obsolescence.

 

[leman]

Also, is there noticeable improvement in getting the 2.4 over the 2.0?

Not for your use.

Is there really any noticeable improvement in getting 16GB of ram in a 2016 13" 2.0Ghz nTB? The old theory was the more ram the better for future proofing, but not sure if that is the case any longer.

Its a bit difficult to predict. We recently saw a jump in RAM requirements because there was a qualitative jump in content: hi-res pictures and videos (with the quadratic increase in space requirenments). The question is whether there will be a jump like this in the close future — maybe yes (wide gamut?), maybe no. We also saw increase in RAM requirements by normal applications, mainly because there was a constant increase in costly abstractions — however, that has more or less reached its peak (with rare exceptions) and the current trend is actually in the opposite direction (modern languages such as Rust ans Swift actually need less RAM). There are of course AI assistants, which could become more prominent (and thus eat up more of your local resources) in the future.

Its a tough call I'd say that 16GB is good to have, but I am sure that you will be able to do fine with 8GB for some years to come.