Ten years ago, I bought a base 2014 MBA with 4GB of memory. It was a great computer. In 2017, Apple increased the base memory for the MBA to 8GB. When Apple made this change, my older MBA did not explode into a million pieces or suddenly become useless. I got three more wonderful years of use from my 2014 MBA before updating to a new 2020 MBA with Retina display. I was primarily motivated to upgrade by a new feature, not memory.
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Are any 8GB M2 or M3 owners thinking about upgrading to the base 16GB model?
- Thread starter Jacoblee23
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Nope. M2 with 8GB here. And the 256GB SSD serves me well, too.
If the Mac does struggle occasionally, its - more often than not - with the included Mac software (go figure), while the storage is plenty for day-to-day stuff. Rarely used items kept on an external drives (which would be the case for me, regardless of size of built-in SSD), and the eventual trade-in value of device would likely never recoup the additional cost of the increased RAM or storage.
I mean, eventually I will move to a newer device and the option for smaller vs bigger will be taken out of my hands, but not worth the leap each year.
If the Mac does struggle occasionally, its - more often than not - with the included Mac software (go figure), while the storage is plenty for day-to-day stuff. Rarely used items kept on an external drives (which would be the case for me, regardless of size of built-in SSD), and the eventual trade-in value of device would likely never recoup the additional cost of the increased RAM or storage.
I mean, eventually I will move to a newer device and the option for smaller vs bigger will be taken out of my hands, but not worth the leap each year.
I agree, the Pro is quite a bit heavier, the weight difference is noticeable. Was using the Air in bed last night and said to myself "I couldn't do this with the Pro" because you can't. The Air seems like the ultimate in the bed or on the couch device. I may have found a new use case for my Air.
You can do it with the Pro. You can do it with literally any size of computer. YOU just can’t. Many people use their Pro in bed. Lol
Yes but I wouldn't use my Pro in bed because of the vents. Bedsheets have a lot more dust than a desk would and lintballs too. Many also use their MacBooks on their carpet, but I wouldn't.
Even just putting the Air on my bed sheet yesterday and when I picked it up it was covered in dust bunnies. lol.
Was seriously looking for a good deal on Black Friday for an m3 and the lowest I saw was $899. Found a M2 base on eBay with AppleCare until the September 2025 with only 7 cycle count for 600. Picked it up as it’s to replace my 2013 i7 MacBook Pro that is on its last life. My needs are just browsing and downloading the occasional torrents then transfer to my 2012 quad core i7 Mac mini running my plex server only. Think I’ll upgrade that to the m4 base mini next year.