Arm RAM usage vs Intels

[C11]

Hi,

I'm planning on buying a new Apple notebook (MacBook Air M1 or M2), but I'm in doubt about the specs because I have no experience with the Apple silicon.

I'm absolutely no power user. I don't edit video's, I'm happy with editing photo's directly on my phone, I'm no software developer, ... I'm just an ordinary guy browsing websites, fora, watching video's on YouTube/Netflix and checking my mail. The only programs that are always open are Safari, Mail, Notes and Calendar.

I'm currently typing this (or should I say: punching on every key) on my 2015 12" MacBook with the 1,2 GHz Dual-Core processor and 8GB of RAM. As most of you will know, this is an awesome and awful machine at the same time .
It does paint a clear picture about my low demands for a notebook. The processor is really (really really) slow, but I never got in trouble with the 8GB of RAM. I'm mostly using up to 6GB with a memory pressure below 45%. The highest I can remember is 7GB with 1,5GB swap and a memory pressure of 65%.

However, I don't know how this translates to the new chips. Can I just assume that the M1 or M2 processor will handle RAM exactly the same way, and therefore it's enough to choose 8GB again?

I also know there's a lot of talk about 'future proofing' your purchase. However, I haven't seen or heard any evidence that programs indeed asks more and more RAM as time progress. Back in 2015 people were already telling a lot of doom scenario's about 8GB. Yet here I am, 8 years later, and I don't notice a thing about more demanding applications or OS.
So, what's the deal behind everybody thinking that you need to future proof your device? Is this just based on gut feeling or is there some evidence behind it?

 

[leman]

I’d say, if you are ok with 8GB on your 2015 machine, an M2 with same 8GB will likely serve you for at least couple of years. And anyway, with Apple you can buy and try — if you are not happy they will take it back no questions asked.

 

[Chuckeee]

It appears to me that M2 is more efficient in using memory and how memory swapping is implemented in general. So if 8GB has been working for you on your 2015 MacBook, it should definitely be sufficient on a new M2 machine.

The only concern is newer OS’s will use more memory than whatever you’re running on your 2015 machine. You should definitely test it thoroughly while you still have the opportunity to return the new Mac if there is an issue

 

[mr_roboto]

It appears to me that M2 is more efficient in using memory and how memory swapping is implemented in general.

M2 is no more or less efficient at using memory.

People like to believe otherwise, and have spread the belief far and wide (using confirmation bias to boost it), but the reality is that it's a category error to even think this way. The CPU hardware isn't what's responsible for "using" memory efficiently; it's the software running on the CPU which does that.

99% of the time, the software on an Apple Silicon Mac was compiled from the same source code as the software running on Intel Macs. This means that as far as memory use goes, everything's quite similar.

There's minor differences that are real, but they're not really worth worrying about. If an 8GB Intel Mac was enough before, and @C11 doesn't plan to change the software they run, an 8GB AS Mac should be good enough now. Personally if I was going to keep a computer for 8 to 9 years, as @C11 has with that 2015 12" Macbook, I'd pay the extra to bump memory to the next tier (so, 16GB). It's worth it to me to not swap. But it might not be worth the price to others, especially if they're only rarely pushing the machine that hard.

 

[Chuckeee]

Deleted (never mind)

 

[Isamilis]

It appears to me that M2 is more efficient in using memory and how memory swapping is implemented in general. So if 8GB has been working for you on your 2015 MacBook, it should definitely be sufficient on a new M2 machine.

The only concern is newer OS’s will use more memory than whatever you’re running on your 2015 machine. You should definitely test it thoroughly while you still have the opportunity to return the new Mac if there is an issue

Same experience with me. My M2 Air 8gb is faster & less swap than 2020 Air 8gb (this 2020 machine is started crawling if I started opening 5-6 apps in the same time).

 

[MacPoulet]

I have the 2017 12” MacBook and can vouch for the love/hate relationship. I just recently went with a 14” M1 Pro MacBook Pro and I love it. I didn’t find the Air light enough and the 14” is a great value (I paid $1850CDN for a refurb which is within spitting distance of a 512Gb Air).

It’s quite nice and I find it easier to carry around than my partner’s M1 Air.

 

[Ben J.]

Also, you could consider getting a used M1 laptop, as I think the difference between basic M1 and M2 performance is not very significant. Save some money and use it for RAM, storage, or a night on the town. All the Apple silicons are great machines. You don't say how important the laptop form factor is for you - a used M1 mac Mini can be had very cheap these days, and you could use the money on a really nice display.

 

[C11]

Thanks for the answers! I think I'm going to keep a look at the refurbished shop of Apple or wait till some Black Friday deals pop up for a good M1 or M2 16GB model.

 

[sack_peak]

If you can wait another 6 months Apple is expected to release a MBA M3.

By then MBA M1 & M2 will be better priced.

~80% of persons with the most mundane of use case will be satisfied with 8GB RAM.

It is really unfortunate that Apple to chose offering 8GB RAM & 256GB SSD Macs at current SKU MSRPs.

It would be more fair if they doubled RAM & SSD sizes at the same Mac chip & SKU MSRPs.

 

[dmccloud]

I also know there's a lot of talk about 'future proofing' your purchase. However, I haven't seen or heard any evidence that programs indeed asks more and more RAM as time progress. Back in 2015 people were already telling a lot of doom scenario's about 8GB. Yet here I am, 8 years later, and I don't notice a thing about more demanding applications or OS.
So, what's the deal behind everybody thinking that you need to future proof your device? Is this just based on gut feeling or is there some evidence behind it?

Software and OS hardware requirements are always increasing, not regressing to a lower-end set of hardware. Even long-running games such as World of Warcraft have significantly higher minimum requirements in 2023 than back in 2013. (Burning Crusade minimum spec was just 512MB of RAM when released, while Dragonflight's minimum RAM requirement is 8GB. Even WoW Classic (which includes Burning Crusade) now requires 2GB RAM, 4x the requirements of the original Burning Crusade. When Windows 7 was released, the minimum RAM requirement was set at 1GB. With Windows 11, the minimum is set at 4GB. In either case, running a system with the minimum amount of RAM will slow down that machine almost immediately, as RAM fills up and the computer has to rely on swap space.

There's dozens, if not hundreds of examples of apps requiring significantly more RAM, CPU speed, etc. in 2023 than 2013. Microsoft Office, the Adobe suite of apps, even web browsers such as Firefox, Safari and Chrome have seen their minimum specs rise over the years.

 

[Sydde]

… Burning Crusade minimum spec was just 512GB of RAM when released …

Really? Half a terabyte? Kind of limiting, doncha think?

 

[bobcomer]

Really? Half a terabyte? Kind of limiting, doncha think?

512MB

Now it requires 1G.