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How much RAM are you going to get in your new MacBook Air?

How much RAM are you going to get in your new MacBook Air?

  • 8 GB

    Votes: 64 18.9%

  • 16 GB

    Votes: 175 51.6%

  • 24 GB

    Votes: 100 29.5%
  • Total voters
    339
EugW

EugW

macrumors P6
Original poster
Jun 18, 2017
15,967
14,577
Earth (for now)
How much RAM are you going to get in your new MacBook Air? I think the RAM options are perfect for this type of product in 2022.

8 GB - I think this is sufficient for light usage, at least for now. Think of students writing short papers, surfing, email.

16 GB - This is the new sweet spot for many moderate users, at least for a MacBook Air. eg. Heavier users of business applications, and university students, and for occasional light photo and video editing. This would also provide some future proofing for those who keep their machines a long time. It's sufficient for some developers too.

24 GB - This would be beneficial for heavier mainstream users, and would be sufficient for many developers and content creators too, although the 1 external monitor limitation may be an issue for some of them.

32 GB - Sorry, you'll have to get a MacBook Pro.
 
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I dunno...the way iOS and MacOS updates are going it looks like Macs may only get 5 years of OS support now, so paying the Apple fee to 'future-proof' your MBA is probably less useful than it was. I still think 8 GB is fine for most users. 16 GB is going to be for people that know they will need it (not think they might need it) - probably people working with large spreadsheets or doing 4k video editing / large/RAW photo editing. 24 GB I can't see anyone needing on the Air until a point after this model stops getting MacOS updates.
 
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kiranmk2 said:
24 GB I can't see anyone needing on the Air until a point after this model stops getting MacOS updates.
Click to expand...
? The M2 is very close to M1 Pro 8-core in CPU speed, and M2 gains hardware ProRes acceleration like M1 Pro. If you can benefit from >16 GB on M1 Pro, then you can benefit from >16 GB on M2. eg. Video editing or music production.

Also, a developer who works with local virtual machines could benefit from 24 GB. And yes, the MacBook Air is quite commonly used by developers.


lie2me said:
With an SSD, a larger RAM can help avoid swaps with virtual memory and reduce wear out.
In my book, 16GB is now a minimum in a laptop with anything larger a plus if I can afford it.

Same with the SSD, a larger size can reduce erase cycles and reduce its wear out.
Click to expand...
I'm going to continue using my 16 GB MacBook for now so I won't be getting an MBA anytime soon. However, I want to upgrade my 2014 8 GB Mac mini when the M2 / M2 Pro models come out. As a business application user (as this is a work machine), I haven't yet decided if I'd go 16 GB or 24 GB. Considering 8 GB already is OK, I'm sure 16 GB is fine for the foreseeable future, but I would consider 24 GB anyway if the (education) price was right.
 
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I think 16GB makes sense as with M1, but 24GB is a weird configuration.

If you're loading your MBA to the point where 24GB is needed, you're probably running something heavy duty. We know M1 throttles without a fan and M2 similarly due to higher peak power consumption. MBP 14 is only $100 extra and seems more balanced.
 
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I'm sure there are some people that would want an MBA to do those things, but when you price up a MBA with 512 GB SSD and 24 GB RAM you are getting very close to the 14" MBPs which also have larger screens, higher sustained performance, faster GPU, promotion display, SD/HDMI, dual monitor support etc.
 
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JPack said:
I think 16GB makes sense as with M1, but 24GB is a weird configuration.

If you're loading your MBA to the point where 24GB is needed, you're probably running something heavy duty. We know M1 throttles without a fan and M2 similarly due to higher peak power consumption. MBP 14 is only $100 extra and seems more balanced.
Click to expand...
kiranmk2 said:
I'm sure there are some people that would want an MBA to do those things, but when you price up a MBA with 512 GB SSD and 24 GB RAM you are getting very close to the 14" MBPs which also have larger screens, higher sustained performance, faster GPU, promotion display, SD/HDMI, dual monitor support etc.
Click to expand...
??? Not even close.

13.6" M2 MacBook Air with 8-core GPU, 512 GB SSD, and 24 GB RAM is US$1799

14.2" M1 Pro MacBook Pro with 8-core CPU, 14-core GPU, 512 GB SSD, and 32 GB RAM is US$2399.

That's literally a $600 price difference, or 33%.
 
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I'm gonna get 16gb because our household is planning on this being our only Mac. My wife and I will each have a user and I want to be able to switch back and forth without closing out of every app. This MBA will be replacing a 2012 mbp and 2015 mba that are now both no longer receiving os updates.

Between phones, iPads, etc we just have no need for us each to have our own laptop.

The big question for me is do I spend $100 for 2 extra gpu cores or is that a total waste of money?
 
mnsportsgeek said:
I'm gonna get 16gb because our household is planning on this being our only Mac. My wife and I will each have a user and I want to be able to switch back and forth without closing out of every app. This MBA will be replacing a 2012 mbp and 2015 mba that are now both no longer receiving os updates.

Between phones, iPads, etc we just have no need for us each to have our own laptop.

The big question for me is do I spend $100 for 2 extra gpu cores or is that a total waste of money?
Click to expand...
You haven't said what you plan on doing with it. So, nobody can answer you about the GPU.

As for the memory, if you are both moderate users who never want to quit any apps, it's possible you could even benefit from 24 GB, but again it's hard to say without knowing what you're doing with it.
 
EugW said:
You haven't said what you plan on doing with it. So, nobody can answer you about the GPU.

As for the memory, if you are both moderate users who never want to quit any apps, it's possible you could even benefit from 24 GB, but again it's hard to say without knowing what you're doing with it.
Click to expand...
I'm really not a power user. Web, email, music, photos. Might like to dabble in video/audio editing at some point but I don't see it ever being more than a small hobby. Definitely not a Mac gamer.
 
EugW said:
??? Not even close.

13.6" M2 MacBook Air with 8-core GPU, 512 GB SSD, and 24 GB RAM is US$1799

14.2" M1 Pro MacBook Pro with 8-core CPU, 14-core GPU, 512 GB SSD, and 32 GB RAM is US$2399.

That's literally a $600 price difference, or 33%.
Click to expand...

I should have been more clear. I'd suggest:

Base model MBP 14 with 16/512 for $1,999, rather than
Turbocharged MBA with 24/512 for $1,899

With the MBP, you've got much faster SSD and memory bandwidth, which should more than make up for any RAM deficiency. And obviously a whole bunch of other extras like mini-LED and TB4.

When M2 throttles in MBA, it knocks off 10-15% performance.
 
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lie2me said:
With an SSD, a larger RAM can help avoid swaps with virtual memory and reduce wear out.
In my book, 16GB is now a minimum in a laptop with anything larger a plus if I can afford it.

Same with the SSD, a larger size can reduce erase cycles and reduce its wear out.
Click to expand...
This old argument again? Modern SSDs, while rated for 250-300TB of write cycles per cell, the actuality and in real world testing has shown they can go up to 600TB with averages in the 400TB range (per cell).

To achieve those numbers, it means continuous writing of data at a ~2GB rate per day for 10 years.
 
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JPack said:
I should have been more clear. I'd suggest:

Base model MBP 14 with 16/512 for $1,999, rather than
Turbocharged MBA with 24/512 for $1,899

With the MBP, you've got much faster SSD and memory bandwidth, which should more than make up for any RAM deficiency. And obviously a whole bunch of other extras like mini-LED and TB4.

When M2 throttles in MBA, it knocks off 10-15% performance.
Click to expand...

But the MBA is noticeably lighter, which is a big plus IMO
 
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I have a M1 8GB/512 config because I got a great deal on Amazon. If I was buying a new MacBook Air today I would absolutely make sure it had a minimum of 16GB. 8GB just isn't enough when you start to push it.

It must be said that for the majority of people & students, 8GB should be fine. But if you intend to push the machine in any way then 16GB should be the minimum.
 
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JPack said:
I should have been more clear. I'd suggest:

Base model MBP 14 with 16/512 for $1,999, rather than
Turbocharged MBA with 24/512 for $1,899

With the MBP, you've got much faster SSD and memory bandwidth, which should more than make up for any RAM deficiency. And obviously a whole bunch of other extras like mini-LED and TB4.

When M2 throttles in MBA, it knocks off 10-15% performance.
Click to expand...
Not to mention the base 14" model often goes on sale and I got mine for $1749 from Costco. Unfortunately, "supercharged" configurations are not often discounted from third parties like BB and Costco so you end up paying close to full price. This makes the 14" a much better deal (assuming one can still pick one up at $1749-$1799).
 
Well, I've been waiting for the new MBA to arrive but now it seems I may be better off waiting for a 14" MBP to go on sale somewhere. My current MBP has lasted almost 10 years, I would be happy with seven though. Not sure the MBA is designed that way though...
 
jav6454 said:
This old argument again? Modern SSDs, while rated for 250-300TB of write cycles per cell, the actuality and in real world testing has shown they can go up to 600TB with averages in the 400TB range (per cell).

To achieve those numbers, it means continuous writing of data at a ~2GB rate per day for 10 years.
Click to expand...
10 years doesn’t sound like a lot tbh. Lots of people use there Macs for more than 10 years.
 
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EugW said:
How much RAM are you going to get in your new MacBook Air? I think the RAM options are perfect for this type of product in 2022.

8 GB - I think this is sufficient for light usage, at least for now. Think of students writing short papers, surfing, email.

16 GB - This is the new sweet spot for many moderate users, at least for a MacBook Air. eg. Heavier users of business applications, and university students, and for occasional light photo and video editing. This would also provide some future proofing for those who keep their machines a long time. It's sufficient for some developers too.

24 GB - This would be beneficial for heavier mainstream users, and would be sufficient for many developers and content creators too, although the 1 external monitor limitation may be an issue for some of them.

32 GB - Sorry, you'll have to get a MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...
You can even code and use Xcode and Unity with 8GB.
For light use 4GB is enough and to write papers and surfing, emails a much cheaper laptop would do
 
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