Is 16GB RAM required for future proofing my Air?

[deeddawg]

Thank you for the insight. I'm not seeing it but some posters are reporting it and saying its a reason to go to 16GB. I do not agree with this.

It's not uncommon for folks to misattribute the cause of some behavior.

If someone has an 8GB machine and is experiencing website stuttering, I'd like to see the memory tab from Activity Monitor. If it's not displaying red, then the 8GB is not the cause. I'd also like to see the URL and know which browser is in use.

 

[scooterspud]

I have 8g of ram but not a base model, I can't even run FB without the "This page is using significant memory" That didn't happen on my older air (2017) streaming seems to be ok (Netflix, Crave, Prime) streaming from my local news channel however has proven to require a restart every time.

I'm not sure what's going on with this current generation but to expect 5 years from this current model of Air is not realistic in my opinion, I don't think any computer is meant to last that long now?

I have a similar machine - 2020 i5 with 8GB of ram - and this is not normal behavior. You should open Activity Monitor and find out what's eating up so much CPU.

I had some issues when I first got the machine and found some weird things causing issues. Once I got those straightened out, it's been running like a champ ever since.

I think if you have issues, it's not the computer, it's the buggy Catalina software.

 

[MacAleII]

macOS runs pretty efficiently, more so than my beastly Windows work laptop with 32 gigs of RAM. I think it depends on what you use your Mac for. I have a new Air base model and it handles all of my personal stuff like writing in Word and web surfing just fine, even with apps like Apple Music open. If your Mac is going to be your main machine for awhile, buying more RAM is never a bad idea.

 

[dmccloud]

Thank you for the insight. I'm not seeing it but some posters are reporting it and saying its a reason to go to 16GB. I do not agree with this.

Chances are that a user experiencing web stuttering wouldn't fix the issue by replacing their 8GB MBA with a 32GB MBP - too many other factors external to the computer that are significantly more likely to cause that type of issue:

• Overutilization of network resources (i.e. time to upgrade their old 802.11n router)
• Lack of bandwidth (could be router related, could also be related to their internet package)
• Poor WiFi coverage (distance from router, building construction interfering with signals, etc.)
• Issues between user and web server - almost always outside of their ISPs network as well.