M1 Air 16gb 1tb downgrade to M1 Air 8gb 256gb

[erkanasu]

So... just sold my M1 MacBookAir (16gb 1tb) for $1400 and picked up a used M1 MacbookAir 8gb 256gb w/ apple care for $550 on offer up (insane deal). Netted $850.

Performance wise, I don't notice any difference between the machines for my use cases (executive type work). I have a Mac mini for my HQ machine.

Just a friendly PSA! Might be a good move for others too

 

[dizmonk]

Why did you buy the original 16gb/1tb?

 

[jz0309]

it originally cost you $1649 - why did you get that one if apparently you don't need it in that spec?

 

[aakshey]

Just Whatsapp + 2 tabs of Safari and I’m into yellow memory pressure with 8 GB and an M1. It’s like using Windows 10 with 4 GB RAM.

 

[aa27154]

Is there a major difference between 8gb ram or 16gb ram? If I bought a new MacBook Air would it make much of a difference if I upgraded to 16gb or ram?

 

[dizmonk]

Is there a major difference between 8gb ram or 16gb ram? If I bought a new MacBook Air would it make much of a difference if I upgraded to 16gb or ram?

As many here will tell you it depends on how you use it. If it's a basic casual user - surfing, watching videos, light Office work, etc. 8gb is fine. If you constantly use a lot of open heavy workload apps (e.g., coding, video editing, etc,. lots of tabs then you might want to consider 16gb. It also depends how long you want to keep the m1.

 

[chabig]

Performance wise, I don't notice any difference between the machines...

Nor should you. They run the same processor.

 

[aa27154]

As many here will tell you it depends on how you use it. If it's a basic casual user - surfing, watching videos, light Office work, etc. 8gb is fine. If you constantly use a lot of open heavy workload apps (e.g., coding, video editing, etc,. lots of tabs then you might want to consider 16gb. It also depends how long you want to keep the m1.

Thanks for your reply. I am just a basic casual user for work (Ms Office) and watching netflix. However, I would like to keep the computer for as long as possible...

 

[erkanasu]

I originally bought the it to be a desktop computer but then I bought a Mac mini with 16 GB and external SSD.

Probably most people don’t the upgrades I was surprised that I didn’t notice any slow downs on day to day tasks

 

[MrGunny94]

I use my M1 intensively and it's just a base model, there is however big swap per day like 6-8gb. However it runs fine and I don't notice any slowdowns.

 

[orthorim]

Only time I noticed memory issues with my base 8GB/512 model is when using 2 users which remained logged in - but I suppose the OS just doesn't deal well with this edge case. I solved that by buying another M1 for my son...

And I suppose that could still happen with 16GB also.

OS X goes into panic mode and offered me to emergency quit apps like in the force quit popup dialog.

Other than that, in single user mode, I am a heavy user - development work - and haven't noticed any problems or slowdowns. If anything my MBP 16" with 16GB keeps having lagging and stuttering issues, which the M1 never has. It just chugs along.

 

[steve217]

Why did you buy the original 16gb/1tb?

Because every time someones asks '16gb or 8gb', the answers for 16gb are about 20 to 1.

Despite multiple reports similar to the OP's experience:
"Performance wise, I don't notice any difference between the machines for my use cases (executive type work)."

 

[aa27154]

Because every time someones asks '16gb or 8gb', the answers for 16gb are about 20 to 1.

Despite multiple reports similar to the OP's experience:
"Performance wise, I don't notice any difference between the machines for my use cases (executive type work)."

I got the M1 MacBook Air this week 8gb and it is fantastic and no issues with my usage (many tabs, Netflix and office work). 16gb would have been unnecessary. Very happy with my purchase.