All very good posts from most everyone here in regards to the memory. Funny how the OP never even replied a single post since he started the thread yesterday. ?♂️
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Disappointing performance and memory issues M1 Macbook Air
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The buy for today argument can be really silly. If I am looking to upgrade having bought an MBP 2 years ago and seen my disk usage increase over that period from 100GB to 200GB, I am not going to buy another MBP with the same 256GB drive if my usage is likely to continue.
If my 8GB was fine two years ago and I have seen my activities grow over the 2 years I may consider that 16GB is going to be required in the next two years, maybe not all but more than 8GB.
This is all-important since there is no upgrade path for most devices.
Buying for today works for those general consumers which I guess is the majority of users but nobody should ever simply buy without understanding what their increasing needs if any are at least 12 months from now, probably longer depending on the expected time to keep it.
Stating that overbuying and spending more is somehow worse than buying for today and having to then sell and buy again is logic I just don't understand, well I do for some people here but..
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Where did I say or infer that if one is upgrading, that one should buy the same specs as before? I didn't. I specifically said, that if one's needs change, then buy the computer that fits your current needs.
I don't appreciate you mocking my post with the laughing icon. I also don't appreciate you trying to distort my posts in this thread to try and refute a point I never made. And finally, I don't appreciate your insult at the end of your post here.
You need reread my posts in this thread, because your interpretation is the exact opposite of what I said.
If you can't interact with me without being insulting, then don't bother responding to my posts. I won't respond to rude posts moving forward.
That's a good point. If the machine is upgradable, that's pure bonus and would allow me to only look to next year, rather than years down the road. My main windows desktop at home is years old, but I've added more memory and SSD's over time enough that it's still quite acceptable for the desktop role.
Indeed, I am the same with my PC, several upgrades over years. I mean it's pretty much a new machine still in the old case but it changes as I need it to so don't need to think too much about the future as it will easily adapt.
I don't really blame Apple for the non-upgradeable nature of many devices in the range, it is the way pretty much all providers are going now, especially with laptops.
The cost of thinness and battery life optimization. It can also reduce latency. Plenty of Dell laptops now with soldered storage.
In honesty, I am all in favour when having to carry around a laptop. How thin is always my 1st requirement then the battery. I would rather deal with dongles than have a thicker, heavier laptop.
There really needs to be further discussions when someone says "I use Photoshop" or "I use X".
I can use Photoshop on a system with only 4GB of RAM when I only create 300x200 sample images that only have a couple dozen layers. Not everyone uses Photoshop to create 100 GB files.
I mostly agree with this....and find the term "investment" to be overused. Consumer goods in general, and electronics in particular, generally depreciate rapidly and hence are not a positive investment - i.e. they do not gain in value over time. Computers sink to almost zero value after about 10 years, maybe a bit longer for Macs (I sold a 2007 MBP15 last year and still made some money on it).
The "investment" only applies to the indirect value you gain from owning the item. You might use a computer, or a car, to earn money, in which case it is an indirect investment (that can be considered a business cost for tax purposes) and which will hopefully earn you more money than you paid for it. For most folks who just buy stuff for personal use, a computer is a terrible "investment" - It's just a consumable that you enjoy, knowing its resale value will drop considerably.
In general, I gift my old computers to friends and family because it saves them money and gives me the pleasure of helping out.
Why are people streaming Apple TV with Safari....on a Mac when the Apple TV app exists?
Websites are becoming way too bloated. Even when I had my 128GB i9 iMac I would get "This websites is using a lot of memory" messages. Ads like to cause massive memory problems on websites.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. As someone with a Windows PC with an AMD 5700XT GPU. Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder are freezing up even on a 10 second 1080p video. Apparently this is quite common with the 5700XT GPU. It is VERY annoying especially that pretty much any NVIDIA GPU is out of stock, even the RTX 20 series.
NVIDIA dominance needs to be stopped though. We need to hold Adobe accountable for not treating/optimizing for AMD customers.
Cannot comment on M1 specifically, but I do face those kind of usages on Windows all the time, and 8GB machines do lag and slow down (even on SSD), even switching programs can lag for a few seconds, while machines with 16GB performs better. No matter how much faster the M1 is, 8GB of RAM is still just 8GB of RAM.
A $1300 computer used for two years comes out to <$2/day. Many individuals spend more on coffee.
I tend to hang onto my computers for a long time, so the incremental cost is minimal. I also think that on the whole, Apple is pretty good about not engaging in planned obsolescence. I had my late 2009 iMac upgraded right until High Sierra, and only lost all updates November of 2020 (Safari etc.) That’s 11 years, not bad. I junked my iMac when the HDD finally conked out early January 2021 - I could’ve put in a new HDD or even SDD, but I didn’t want to fuss with it anymore. When I bought it originally, it was pretty much top of the line 27” i7, and it served me well... the only thing that collapsed and never properly recovered was the CD/DVD drive, but as I wasn’t using it that much in the last 5-6 years, it wasn’t a factor.
I think the M1 MBP 8/256 will last for a goodly amount of time. But I have a slightly different plan this time - it was less than $1500 including tax, so not a huge deal. The most limiting factor to me, is the small screen. So if a 14” M2(X) comes out that’s just head and shoulders above the current MBP, I won’t hesitate to get it, even if it’s just a year or two from now - it’s worth it, if the upgrade is substantial enough. Shockingly, in my judgment (which others may of course disagree with!), my late 2009 was good enough so that NO OTHER IMAC for the next 10 years seemed like a *must have*. This all changes with Apple Silicon of course - now it’s a quantum leap, and definitely something to get.
So, who knows how long I’ll hang on to the MBP (actually, officially it’s my wife’s!). I’ll get the new AS iMac whenever it comes out - 27” (hoping for 30” or 32”!). And if there’s a quantum leap with a new 14” redesigned brilliant MBP or MBA, I’ll get that one even if it’s just a year from now.
I tend to hang onto my computers for a long time, so the incremental cost is minimal. I also think that on the whole, Apple is pretty good about not engaging in planned obsolescence. I had my late 2009 iMac upgraded right until High Sierra, and only lost all updates November of 2020 (Safari etc.) That’s 11 years, not bad. I junked my iMac when the HDD finally conked out early January 2021 - I could’ve put in a new HDD or even SDD, but I didn’t want to fuss with it anymore. When I bought it originally, it was pretty much top of the line 27” i7, and it served me well... the only thing that collapsed and never properly recovered was the CD/DVD drive, but as I wasn’t using it that much in the last 5-6 years, it wasn’t a factor.
I think the M1 MBP 8/256 will last for a goodly amount of time. But I have a slightly different plan this time - it was less than $1500 including tax, so not a huge deal. The most limiting factor to me, is the small screen. So if a 14” M2(X) comes out that’s just head and shoulders above the current MBP, I won’t hesitate to get it, even if it’s just a year or two from now - it’s worth it, if the upgrade is substantial enough. Shockingly, in my judgment (which others may of course disagree with!), my late 2009 was good enough so that NO OTHER IMAC for the next 10 years seemed like a *must have*. This all changes with Apple Silicon of course - now it’s a quantum leap, and definitely something to get.
So, who knows how long I’ll hang on to the MBP (actually, officially it’s my wife’s!). I’ll get the new AS iMac whenever it comes out - 27” (hoping for 30” or 32”!). And if there’s a quantum leap with a new 14” redesigned brilliant MBP or MBA, I’ll get that one even if it’s just a year from now.
Consumers (and businesses for that matter) need to consider the balance between overspending (often using the mildly irritating term "future-proofing") and the planned lifetime of the device, considering that components can no longer be upgraded post-purchase.
The purchase approach depends on the user. If you know you will require more storage in the future, you can either upgrade it upfront, or plan for using external expansion (which impacts portability to some extent). Predicting future processing requirements is harder, because the needs of future software are unknown, although you can guess based on historical precedent.
It's probably a mistake to buy a computer with a marginal specification from the outset if you plan on keeping it for over 3-5 years, and expect to keep up to date with software releases, or use 100's of GB of extra storage per year.
Similarly, if you are a regular upgrader, or are tempted by the "latest and greatest", then there is less point in paying a premium for upgraded CPUs/GPUs/Storage because you'll be getting something much better than the current best options if you just wait a bit. As long as you're not under-gunned, you'll save money and won't have needed your attempt to "future-proof" because the future was always to get a new machine anyway.
I'm speaking from experience. I bought an i9 MBP16 with upgraded RAM, GPU, and storage, thinking that this was going to be close to the "top-level" for at least 2-3 years and still competitive with newer models for at least 5 - based on the trajectory of Intel CPU performance improvements (< 10% per year at the time).
Then the M1 happened, and I felt less happy about my decision, because I'm now assuming that the next MBP16, expected within 2 years of my purchase, will be leaps-and-bounds ahead of my computer. Had I known the future, I would have bought a somewhat cheaper machine (or deferred purchase) and planned to upgrade this year. Of course, I didn't have this information at the time of purchase, and Apple Silicon was only a rumor (which exceeded most people's expectations).
Of course, I could just keep to my "5-year plan" irrespective of future Apple Silicon releases, and would be no worse off. But I know that I will be tempted by a machine that might be twice as fast, and if I bite, I will have ended up spending more overall.
You need to choose the time to get on the purchase curve - which is one of the functions of MacRumors of course - and Apple disrupted the industry and threw us a curve-ball this time. C'est la vie!
yeah the hype has been crazy, but I still think we're in a longer game than has been suggested by some. 2-3 years we'll be making great apple silicon machine purchase's. Before than its like buying the 233Mhz Bondi Blue iMac. (which to be clear, was a great machine for surfing, but a bit disappointing for real use after a year).
Actually the hype has not been that crazy. The M1 Macs really are very performant. I am using a base model MBA and it is outperforming my MBP 16 that has 16GB of RAM, a Core i9 and 1TB SSD. My use case has Slack, Salesforce, Zoom, Office and Visual Studio. The heaviest lifters are Slack, Zoom and Office and having all but Slack be M1 native may be helping. I use Safari or Edge when I need a Chromium based browser.
We are not talking about Windows however, and we are talking about M1 machines. You will probably find that your experience is less relevant here. M1 features hardware memory compression and it’s swap latency is something else entirely. It only runs into memory issues it your active applications need a lot of it.
Isn't slack M1 native? It shows as "Apple" architecture in activity monitor for me.
That's because the websites were using a lot of memory for a website. Not that your Mac was running out of memory.
I went to see what his review said and, lo and behold:
It feels like he custom wrote a reply to the OP of this thread, even before the thread was made.
Perhaps you just read clickbait screenshots of his review or something, but the actual review in no way says that everyone should be happy with 8 GB.
My advice is two pronged
given much better Macs are coming over the next 18 months
- if you’re an average Mac user and want to jump in the AS bandwagon, most likely the base models of each Mini MBP and mba will suffice.
- if you’re a professional/ heavy user, wait for Gen 2 devices that will have higher memory configs and faster CPU GPU performance (probably by a significant factor)
A new MacBook industrial design is almost a certainty as well as new displays which is a plus for waiting a few of months.
I got myself a base Mini to use in my desktop config but have not upgraded my 2016 MBP. waiting for gen 2
given much better Macs are coming over the next 18 months - if you’re an average Mac user and want to jump in the AS bandwagon, most likely the base models of each Mini MBP and mba will suffice.
- if you’re a professional/ heavy user, wait for Gen 2 devices that will have higher memory configs and faster CPU GPU performance (probably by a significant factor)
A new MacBook industrial design is almost a certainty as well as new displays which is a plus for waiting a few of months.
I got myself a base Mini to use in my desktop config but have not upgraded my 2016 MBP. waiting for gen 2