Macbook 12" - m3 vs m5

[Dave245]

In 2018 with most of my usage, usually no.

Very occasionally if I load up all my Office apps and load up some big files and have Chrome and Mail and some other stuff in the background, 16 GB may help, but I don't do that very often.

Put it this way:

16 GB is mandatory on my iMac, since I sometimes do the above plus Photos on top of that. Thus, my choice to get 24 GB on the iMac makes a lot of sense, even in 2018. However, with the MacBook, I rarely do that, since I usually use my iMac to do the heavy lifting, so 8 GB is sufficient.

That said, that is in 2018 with my current usage. However, I also may be using this laptop more in a different setting if I change jobs. I have started working elsewhere and would consider using this laptop with an LG 27UD88 4K monitor which would allow me the real estate to better make use of multiple apps, thereby eating up more memory. Also, I plan on keeping this laptop a very long time.

Why does keeping the laptop for a long time matter? Cuz I find that even with my normal usage, my memory use doubles maybe every 5 years.

So:

2008: 2 GB
2013: 4 GB
2018: 8 GB
2023: 16 GB

There is some support for this, for example here:

https://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/research-charts-memory/

View attachment 751337

According to that graph, here is the average RAM use in Canada (where I live):

2008: 2 GB
2012: 4 GB
2018: 8 GB

It seems installed memory increases are consistent, but there is perhaps a tendency for the rate of increase to be slowing down a bit. So perhaps my RAM usage won't double by 2023. However, that doesn't matter, since if my memory requirements only increase by say 50% by say 2022, that's still 12 GB, which you can't buy today. So 16 GB it is.

If Apple do indeed release a 13” version of the MacBook to replace the Air I can see them keeping the 16GB option and adding more higher specs, would that not tempt you to get the 13”? Personally I’m waiting to see what happens later this year as I video edit in Final Cut and not sure if the 12” would be enough or if the 13” with Touch Bar would be better.

I also have an iMac (new thin 2012 design) so I do use that a lot for heavy lifting of more serious editing when at home, it will probably need updating at some point but I’ve found that the 16GB in my iMac helps a lot especially since Final Cut can be a memory hog, depending on if you add effects to you’re video edits and so on.

 

[EugW]

If Apple do indeed release a 13” version of the MacBook to replace the Air I can see them keeping the 16GB option and adding more higher specs, would that not tempt you to get the 13”? Personally I’m waiting to see what happens later this year as I video edit in Final Cut and not sure if the 12” would be enough or if the 13” with Touch Bar would be better.

I also have an iMac (new thin 2012 design) so I do use that a lot for heavy lifting of more serious editing when at home, it will probably need updating at some point but I’ve found that the 16GB in my iMac helps a lot especially since Final Cut can be a memory hog, depending on if you add effects to you’re video edits and so on.

I had been wanting a 12" for just about forever. I am not interested in a 13.3" MacBook. In fact, the MacBook is replacing my 13.3" MacBook Pro. The main reasons I didn't buy in 2015 when the MacBook launched were because the keyboard royally sucked, the trackpad was mediocre, and because the CPU felt sluggish. The keyboard and CPU were fixed in 2017. We're still waiting on the trackpad.

My MBP was ancient, from 2009, so very heavy, but that wasn't the only reason I didn't want that size. The other thing I noticed was that a 13" laptop is very awkward to use in Economy class on the plane, and would be very awkward to use in even Premium Economy class. (I can't expense Business class.) The 12" MacBook's reduced footprint does help.

I also don't think they will release one any time soon anyway. That is what the 13" MacBook Pro is for.

Do you use the GPU in Final Cut? Cuz personally I couldn't imagine using the MacBook on a regular basis for Final Cut, at least if my work depended upon it. If I were using Final Cut on a regular basis, I'd definitely get a MacBook Pro not only for the bigger screen, but also for the faster CPU and for multiple USB-C ports. Also, the Pro's trackpad feels better, as is the keyboard too.

 

[Dave245]

I had been wanting a 12" for just about forever. I am not interested in a 13.3" MacBook. In fact, the MacBook is replacing my 13.3" MacBook Pro. The main reasons I didn't buy in 2015 when the MacBook launched were because the keyboard royally sucked, the trackpad was mediocre, and because the CPU felt sluggish. The keyboard and CPU were fixed in 2017. We're still waiting on the trackpad.

My MBP was ancient, from 2009, so very heavy, but that wasn't the only reason I didn't want that size. The other thing I noticed was that a 13" laptop is very awkward to use in Economy class on the plane, and would be very awkward to use in even Premium Economy class. (I can't expense Business class.) The 12" MacBook's reduced footprint does help.

I also don't think they will release one any time soon anyway. That is what the 13" MacBook Pro is for.

Do you use the GPU in Final Cut? Cuz personally I couldn't imagine using the MacBook on a regular basis for Final Cut, at least if my work depended upon it. If I were using Final Cut on a regular basis, I'd definitely get a MacBook Pro not only for the bigger screen, but also for the faster CPU and for multiple USB-C ports. Also, the Pro's trackpad feels better, as is the keyboard too.

Yea I work on a video within Final Cut at least once a week. My main job is as a writer so I spend a lot of time inside word processing, writing blog posts as well as helping with edits for a friend. When looking online the price of the 13” MacBook Pro with Touchbar is not a lot more than the 12” MacBook which is why I keep going backwards and forwards with that option, I’ve seen posts in the MacBook Pro thread where people think the 13” MacBook Pro will be updated with a quad core processor this year.

 

[EugW]

Yea I work on a video within Final Cut at least once a week. My main job is as a writer so I spend a lot of time inside word processing, writing blog posts as well as helping with edits for a friend. When looking online the price of the 13” MacBook Pro with Touchbar is not a lot more than the 12” MacBook which is why I keep going backwards and forwards with that option, I’ve seen posts in the MacBook Pro thread where people think the 13” MacBook Pro will be updated with a quad core processor this year.

There is a strong chance the 13" MacBook Pro will indeed get updated to quad-core this year.

I don't know if it will be both the TouchBar and non-TouchBar variants or just the TouchBar one, but Intel has released the Kaby Lake Refresh 8th gen CPUs, which are the Core i5 8250U & 8350U, and the Core i7 8550U and 8650U. These are 15 W, and have relatively low base clock rates, but that doesn't matter because the Turbo Boost will take care of speedups for single and dual-core performance. Furthermore, these can be configured to run at 25 W, which means they would work well as replacement CPUs for the TouchBar models too.

So yeah, quad-core 13" MacBook Pro is likely this year. That is what I might recommend for a Final Cut user (who doesn't want a 15").

 

[OldMike]

There is a strong chance the 13" MacBook Pro will indeed get updated to quad-core this year.

I don't know if it will be both the TouchBar and non-TouchBar variants or just the TouchBar one, but Intel has released the Kaby Lake Refresh 8th gen CPUs, which are the Core i5 8250U & 8350U, and the Core i7 8550U and 8650U. These are 15 W, and have relatively low base clock rates, but that doesn't matter because the Turbo Boost will take care of speedups for single and dual-core performance. Furthermore, these can be configured to run at 25 W, which means they would work well as replacement CPUs for the TouchBar models too.

So yeah, quad-core 13" MacBook Pro is likely this year. That is what I might recommend for a Final Cut user (who doesn't want a 15").

I really hope to see Apple incorporate these 15W chips in some kind of a product this year. Whether it is a MBP 13 or even a new MBA replacement of some sort. Personally, I wouldn't even mind the lower spec integrated graphics if Apple could produce an entry-level type machine that has these 8th gen quad core cpus.

I'm hoping that Apple gives us something interesting to get excited about this year in regards to their Mac lineup...

 

[bill-p]

But does 16GB on the MacBook actually make a difference? It’s a genuine question as I haven’t used one and I’m still yet to decide between the MacBook or the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.
I’m waiting until they update the Mac’s this year and even see if the rumours of a 13” MacBook are true.

Does 16GB on the MacBook make a difference? Yes, it does. Or at least it does to me.

Here's my usual suite of stuffs running: 1 VM w/ 4GB of RAM running a server, Photoshop, Sublime Text, Slack, and 7 tabs in Safari. 1 tab has Youtube running. Nothing too crazy.

Safari alone takes up 3GB. In fact, this website alone according to Activity Monitor is taking up almost 400MB right now for just the tab. Some sites go up to 1GB.

As you can see, that's not just random cache memory that could be freed up because I've already hit >700MB swap even with 16GB of RAM. (and as I'm typing this up, swap just hit 900MB)

8GB actually forced me to be very selective... of whether I should run just the server in VM, or Photoshop, but not both at the same time or else swap will easily hit 5-6GB.

 

[EugW]

Does 16GB on the MacBook make a difference? Yes, it does. Or at least it does to me.

Here's my usual suite of stuffs running: 1 VM w/ 4GB of RAM running a server, Photoshop, Sublime Text, Slack, and 7 tabs in Safari. 1 tab has Youtube running. Nothing too crazy.

Safari alone takes up 3GB. In fact, this website alone according to Activity Monitor is taking up almost 400MB right now for just the tab. Some sites go up to 1GB.

As you can see, that's not just random cache memory that could be freed up because I've already hit >700MB swap even with 16GB of RAM. (and as I'm typing this up, swap just hit 900MB)

8GB actually forced me to be very selective... of whether I should run just the server in VM, or Photoshop, but not both at the same time or else swap will easily hit 5-6GB.

Lots of memory definitely makes a big difference if you want to run a VM. However, in my case I just decided to use a PC instead of running a Windows VM.

My main home computer is a dual 27" iMac, but I'm actually running a 24" Windows 10 machine along side that. Luckily I have a very large desk.

I haven't tried running a VM on my MacBook. How's the performance? I suspect it'd be fine if the VM has light usage. I did run a Windows VM on my 12 GB Core i7 870 iMac for a time, but then again that was back with Win XP, so I didn't need much memory or CPU performance for that matter... and then I just ended up buying a Windows 7 PC (now Windows 10).

 

[bill-p]

Yeah, VM is useful because it allows me to switch between multiple different platforms while having everything still essentially on the same computer/base. For one, I could copy/paste between the host (Mac) and the VMs.

Performance is decent enough for light usage, and since my main usage is just coding, it works out. I don't think gaming or Microsoft Office or anything else that requires high performance would work. I'd just jump on to a more powerful computer for those tasks.

 

[Dave245]

Does 16GB on the MacBook make a difference? Yes, it does. Or at least it does to me.

Here's my usual suite of stuffs running: 1 VM w/ 4GB of RAM running a server, Photoshop, Sublime Text, Slack, and 7 tabs in Safari. 1 tab has Youtube running. Nothing too crazy.

Safari alone takes up 3GB. In fact, this website alone according to Activity Monitor is taking up almost 400MB right now for just the tab. Some sites go up to 1GB.

As you can see, that's not just random cache memory that could be freed up because I've already hit >700MB swap even with 16GB of RAM. (and as I'm typing this up, swap just hit 900MB)

8GB actually forced me to be very selective... of whether I should run just the server in VM, or Photoshop, but not both at the same time or else swap will easily hit 5-6GB.

Interesting, I wonder how video editing would be with the 16GB? My iMac 2012 has 16GB and I can edit in Final Cut Pro pretty well, however my MacBook Pro 2011 struggles.

I’m personally still undecided between one of the MacBooks or the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, if Apple released Final Cut Pro on the iPad Pro I would probably just stick with my iPad Pro and buy a new iMac as my main computer.