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How much RAM are you going to get in your new MacBook Air?
- Thread starter EugW
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4 GB is a big pain to use with a modern OS. With 4 GB, I was sometimes getting serious lag just using MS Office, even way back with High Sierra. Moving to 8 GB solved this.
Some may argue that Office is a bloated mess, but that just reinforces the argument, that enough memory is needed to support that bloat.
Apple’s choice of 8 GB is appropriate as a minimum.
I wouldn’t say vast majority, but yes 8 GB is fine for a lot of users, probably more than some here would suggest. However, I’d say 16 GB is the sweet spot for heavier mainstream users.
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No, it's not. You've just used a crappy computer. That's all. It's not about Ram. By your logic my MBP from 2010 with 16GB is better than my M1 8GB MacBook Air.
A coworker of mine has also 8GB and so does my computer. Both running Windows 10, yet mine is way faster.
4GB is ok for writing papers and surfing the web, so I'd say 8GB is used something more.
Pretty sure your High Sierra experience was because of HDD and High Sierra was an awful OS anyway that struggled even on high end Macs.
I highly doubt it. 10 years is a long time. I’m about to retire my 10 year old MBP and I’ve never seen anyone with something older than mine.
I used my MacBook Pro (8GB) for 10 years as well before upgrading to MacBook Air.
It taught me patient. I even made a game on Unity and it took 3 days to export it, so I couldn't use my computer for nearly 3 days. What do you mean you can't code or do stuff on an older computer?
I never said anything of the kind, so stop with the misleading arguments.
We are not discussing Windows 10, but yes, Office runs way better on Windows than it does on macOS. BTW, I added this to my previous post as you posting yours, talking about Office on macOS:
"Some may argue that Office is a bloated mess, but that just reinforces the argument, that enough memory is needed to support that bloat."
You would be wrong. ALL of my machines since High Sierra have been SSD only, although it took me a while to finally upgrade my 2010 Core i7 iMac to SSD.
One could argue that entry level users often don't need to run Office. That may be true, but I use Office as a baseline gauge since it's so commonly used in higher education, "free" to students and staff at so many colleges and universities.
When the reviews came in for the M1 MacBook Air 1.5 years ago, reviewers were astonished how well the machine performed with just 8GB of RAM, made possible by the underlying architecture changes. Also, we here are not the average user. Most people have a few Safari tabs open, and maybe Mail and 1 or 2 other apps. They use a Mac quite differently. 8GB of RAM are plenty for those people. They wouldn't notice a difference with 16GB of RAM.
I'm not even sure I would (and I have a bit more advanced needs), but I "learned" long ago that you should get as much RAM as you can afford. Perhaps that is an outdated notion with Apple silicon, but I won't risk it.
I'm not even sure I would (and I have a bit more advanced needs), but I "learned" long ago that you should get as much RAM as you can afford. Perhaps that is an outdated notion with Apple silicon, but I won't risk it.
But in the real world. You’re unlikely to wear out an ssd over the lifespan of the laptop.
You kinda did.
I honestly don't have any problems with Office neither on my PC or my M1 8GB MacBook Air. The only issue I have is that when I download a document and open it, it opens all the previous documents that were open as well, but that's unrelated.
Totally unrelated. In some countries, and I mean every country I've lived at students get free Office and the level education doesn't matter
You didn't watch the video on High Sierra. High Sierra was an awful OS. For example Mojave with dos dude's patch ran way better on my 'unsupported' Mac than High Sierra and even the night shift and other features were working.
I totally disagree with you on what you said about ram usage. Who defines it? Microsoft says 4gb surface is that you said 8GB is for and 8GB is for average developers etc… Same with Macs. I haven't noticed any issues with 8GB and I use Xcode daily and Unity as well.
You're running an 8 GB machine. I never said 8 GB is bad. Nor did I say 16 GB is automagically better for everyone. I'm saying 4 GB is bad, so don't try to twist the argument.
Will it run on 4 GB? Sure. But it's not so great at multitasking. See below.
OTOH, I think 8 GB is great for a lot of people.
BTW, Monterey officially supports 4 GB machines, but you can't actually buy a new Mac with less than 8 GB, even at entry level.
My "baseline" is a user running something like this:
MS Word
Messages
Music
Chrome, with half a dozen tabs or so, including YouTube, and no ad blocker
Contacts
Calendar
While it's true that may be more than grandma might use for her recipe computer, it's not at all heavy usage. It's a very common scenario for a student for example.
But yes, 8 GB is plenty, even with all this running.
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I think the baseline configuration fits the intended use of the machine and how I guess most people would use it, namely, for web surfing, email, messaging and traveling light. If one goes beyond the baseline configuration, say 16GB ram and 512 SSD, then you are at $1700 and might as well get a Macbook Pro. The value proposition for the Air is the base line configuration.
Petition to make this the only MBA RAM thread/sticky it, so for the next year we don't have multiple daily '8 or 16GB???" posts as the new MBA rolls out
Also agree. If you're considering the MBA instead of one of the Pros, then you'll probably be fine with 8GB. It's not ideal, and I wish the base was 16GB, but that's not the case. The value prop of the MBA suffers as you spec it up. It's a great deal at 1199 and will have enough RAM for the vast, vast majority of folks who buy is.
I still think 8 is just fine for 90% of people..
I would tend to agree with your statement, however, don't you think the support for M1 class of chips will be supported a lot longer than the Intel models they're cutting off support for now?
Completely agree. I think the MBA is a great deal, and I think is still a great deal with one upgrade (either RAM or Storage). Anytime you get two or more upgrades, it just makes more sense to get a MBP imho.
When I purchased the M1 MBA, I was sure that 8GB would be more than enough. The SSD is so extremely fast in the MBA that there is no way that I could ever notice when it swaps to the disk.
However, my MBA often becomes slow as a 1995 computer whenever I have tons of Safari tabs. For some reason a few adblockers seems to make it even worse, maybe too many rules or something? Or because a few adblockers inject scripts to the site (e.g. YouTube ad blocking)?
For example, when I wake up the MBA, or even just plug in a USB accessory, it can take 2-3 minutes of beach balling because I can even move the mouse.
I don't have any weird apps installed. Almost no apps that open on launch. Very vanilla, just tons of Safari tabs.
So for M2 MBA, I will definitely get 16GB. Or just change the web browser. Still, 8GB is barely enough for Outlook + Teams + MS Office (for users that have to use the MS platform for work).
However, my MBA often becomes slow as a 1995 computer whenever I have tons of Safari tabs. For some reason a few adblockers seems to make it even worse, maybe too many rules or something? Or because a few adblockers inject scripts to the site (e.g. YouTube ad blocking)?
For example, when I wake up the MBA, or even just plug in a USB accessory, it can take 2-3 minutes of beach balling because I can even move the mouse.
I don't have any weird apps installed. Almost no apps that open on launch. Very vanilla, just tons of Safari tabs.
So for M2 MBA, I will definitely get 16GB. Or just change the web browser. Still, 8GB is barely enough for Outlook + Teams + MS Office (for users that have to use the MS platform for work).
Your situation sounds just like mine. My wife and I both have mid-2009 MBPs that have long since given way to our iPad Pros as our primary devices. Between those, iPhones, and work laptops, we can surely get by with one personal laptop between us. I actually think I will use it much more than her, but being able two quickly switch users without closing out apps would indeed be a good feature, and agree that 16 GB is probably the sweet spot.
My biggest question is what to do in the way of storage. I'd really like to stick with 512 GB, but know that photo and music libraries from both of us won't fit in that space, and I like the idea of having full-sized photos on the computer itself in case something goes wrong with iCloud. (Much of her photo library is composed of screenshots, and I might just try to find a way to batch convert those to a smaller size instead of paying for the extra on-board storage. Or maybe I should just buy an external drive and keep it plugged into my home network.)
While 8 GB is not as amazing as some think it is, it seems like there could be something wrong with your install. I don't get that behaviour even with my 2014 Mac mini, nor do I get that behaviour with a 2015 MacBook Pro or 2017 MacBook Air, all running Monterey and all with 8 GB RAM.
Maybe it's because we don't run a zillion tabs, but sometimes we do have a lot. Just how many tabs are you running?
Exact same dilemma regarding storage. I think I will end up going with 1TB. It’s a little tough to swallow but I think I will be happy I went with it. I think we still come out well ahead vs. having 2 macs.
My daughter will probably want to start using a computer occasionally in the next 2-3 years so I imagine she’ll chew up some storage too.
This isn’t true at all. Pretty simplistic view of value prop. You’re assuming more of something is wanted. Yes the pro is only some hundreds away as you start speccing up an Air but what if you don’t want or need the ports at all? That’s a big con to have to lug around a notably heavier machine for something you don’t use. Then you factor in the fact that you’re also paying for more gpu cores, most casual people don’t need that. You’re paying more for things you don’t care for or need on the pro so it’s not as simple to say you might as well get X. Especially when you factor in that objectively the Air has notably better battery life and is quite lighter and thinner. Those are pros over it.
can’t look at things in a bubble. Pros are for….pros. I would argue getting the base pro for an average person seems very wasteful unless you must have the better display (Which is a pro for the pro). Otherwise now you have the option to spec a redesigned air close in terms of ram and gpu cores if you so choose while maintaining the weight and battery.
Im on this part of the spectrum. Base air is too little but base pro is not nearly worth it as I value the qualities the air brings. So now I’m just debating the extent I spec up the air.
Sure, but the air weighs a pound less and is thinner. So if you are using it in trains, planes, airports, cafes, public libraries, or carry it to thr office by bike/foot, you will want an Air!
That does NOT sound like a machine that is working well. This probably has nothing to with the amount of RAM, but with some other defect (soft- or hardware).
On a Venn diagram, if one circle shows "utilizes 24GB memory" and another shows "working in a library or train," the overlap would be extremely small.
Chances are, memory hungry power users would get far better performance from M1P/16GB with proper cooling, rather than M2/24GB with throttled performance.
M2/24GB is a nice thought exercise, but it doesn't make sense for most people because the price is only $100 away from the base 14-inch MBP.
How many people are running Lightroom or Blender on the train or while flying economy class?