MacBook Air: 8G or 16GM Memory?

[raqball]

This is wrong. Apps RAM requirements will become higher. usage will become higher, because Electron apps are becoming more and more popular.

Not false at all but tell yourself whatever you need to... Per your screenshot, your are being misleading as it appears as though you purposely started things to increase RAM usage but whatever...

Telling people to get 16GB or RAM in a machine with a Y processor and a 617 GPU is kind of laughable, honestly.. Will some need it sure? And no, not everyone opting for 8GB is a broke bum.......

The same old argument was being used 4 years ago and we are still in the same boat. If you need 16 then have at it. Most considering the Air should not need it. If they do then they've probably purchased the wrong computer..

 

[Kimcha]

Not false at all but tell yourself whatever you need to... Per your screenshot, your are being misleading as it appears as though you purposely started things to increase RAM usage but whatever...

No, there were no attempts to mislead anyone. I took a screenshot of exactly what was running at the time. I didn’t start anything extra.

In fact, I even quit an app before I took the screenshot.

What I posted is reality. The vast majority of the usage are the two browsers and the OS.

This is what happens under real life browser usage.

Just because the facts don’t match your story, you resort to calling me a liar...

Restarting the system and launching a few apps is (likely unintentionally) misleading, because it doesn’t include all the history the browser keeps in the ram in case the user hits the back button, all the memory leaks and so on.
[doublepost=1541434677][/doublepost]And btw, I have no agenda here. And I’m not trying to justify a purchase to myself.

If the MBA benchmarks are good, I will buy the MBA for my gf.

It’s in my interest to pay as little as possible for the best machine for her needs.

I just truly believe that 8gb are not a good long term choice and the only reason I am arguing here with you is because I think you are giving bad advice.

8gb will probably be fine for most people in the near term, but if $200 won’t break the bank, it’s best to get 16gb.

Most people will probably will never get close to filling all 16gb up, but it’s still better even if they only need 10gb.
[doublepost=1541435009][/doublepost]Actually one more thing:

Your argument regarding y-processors and 16gb is silly.

Today’s y-CPUs are faster than the quad-core Pro CPUs of just a few years ago.

The CPU hasn’t been the bottleneck for most people in many years.

But RAM can be if you make a bad decision. It’s always the number one thing to upgrade to get a better performing, long-lasting computer.

 

[auxbuss]

What I posted is reality.

This is what happens under real life browser usage.

Well, you are a sample of one, as am I. Sucks to be you, I guess <joke>

The vast majority of the usage are the two browsers and the OS.

I've no idea why you are seeing this, but this is nothing like I've ever seen. macOS, once loaded, is not huge. Seems to be a bit under 2Gb – including all services, libs, etc., though I don't know how much remains resident.

You browser figures are just crazy to me.

Restarting the system and launching a few apps is (likely unintentionally) misleading...

I'm calling bs on you for this. I quoted both sets of figures, so there is no "misleading". It's a comparison.

 

[raqball]

I just truly believe that 8gb are not a good long term choice and the only reason I am arguing here with you is because I think you are giving bad advice.

8gb will probably be fine for most people in the near term, but if $200 won’t break the bank, it’s best to get 16gb.

Your screenshot is bogus as you have just about everything imaginable open and running.......... If that is your normal usage then cool, you need 16GB but considering your usage, is an Air the best choice? Probably not!

On the flip side, I think it's you giving terrible advise and trying to scare people into wasting money.. Happens all the time in threads like these but I call it out when it happens. That $200, in the case of an Air with a Y processor, no fan and a 617 GPU would be better spent on upgrading the SSD.

It's a mobile Y processor running a crappy GPU (reports indicated the 6000 performs better than the 617) so having that in mind, I'll ask again... What are people going to do on a machine with a mobile processor and an average, at best, GPU where they need 16GB of RAM?

Anyways, same argument used ad nauseam in threads like this.. If someone truly needs 16GB based on their usage then I do not think the Air is a wise decision...

The Air is a lightweight student or home user type PC. If a power user is considering then sorry, I have to ask why....
[doublepost=1541436223][/doublepost]

I've no idea why you are seeing this, but this is nothing like I've ever seen. macOS, once loaded, is not huge. Seems to be a bit under 2Gb – including all services, libs, etc., though I don't know how much remains resident.

You browser figures are just crazy to me.

Agree..... Here is what was claimed as used and eating up 12GB RAM:

Well, let me counter that with my usage:
6 tabs in safari, 6 in opera. A few productivity apps... 12GB.

12 open tabs and a few productivity apps eating 12GB? Yeah, either intentionally misleading or a serious issue going on somewhere....

 

[stratokaster]

Who said it's a glorified typewriter? And no, a glorified typewriter would not benefit from more RAM unless you don't understand what RAM is and does...

Even if the applications you use don't require 16GB of RAM, the OS will use free RAM for caching. This would speed things up even for users who only use Word and Safari on their machines, and also improve battery life because RAM is more energy efficient than NVMe flash storage.

12 open tabs and a few productivity apps eating 12GB? Yeah, either intentionally misleading or a serious issue going on somewhere....

It depends on what is in those tabs. Something like Gmail is very likely to eat 500+ MB of RAM if left open for a day (at least that's what I'm seeing in my daily usage). The same is true for heavy websites loaded with JavaScript and Retina-aware assets (like The Verge or pretty much any other major website these days), and especially for stupid webpages with infinite scrolling that continuously load additional assets as you're scrolling down — such webpages can easily consume gigabytes of RAM. Of course, if you're only visiting lightweight webpages without JS, you're unlikely to experience heavy RAM usage.

BTW, when I was still using Slack, it would usually consume upwards of 1GB of RAM by the end of the day. Seems a bit too much for a simple messenger, but Slack is a very crappy app which is unfortunately mandatory in many companies.

 

[raqball]

It depends on what is in those tabs. Something like Gmail is very likely to eat 500+ MB of RAM if left open for a day (at least that's what I'm seeing in my daily usage). The same is true for heavy websites loaded with JavaScript and Retina-aware assets (like The Verge or pretty much any other major website these days), and especially for stupid webpages with infinite scrolling that continuously load additional assets as you're scrolling down — such webpages can easily consume gigabytes of RAM. Of course, if you're only visiting lightweight webpages without JS, you're unlikely to experience heavy RAM usage.

BTW, when I was still using Slack, it would usually consume upwards of 1GB of RAM by the end of the day. Seems a bit too much for a simple messenger, but Slack is a very crappy app which is unfortunately mandatory in many companies.

No doubt and I am sure there are some who'd like the Air and need 16GB but I firmly believe the Air is not targeted at those users... The Air is targeted at students and light home users. Maybe even those who occasionally push the machine with more difficult tasks.

When I had the 12" rMB I did edit video every so often but when I did so, I was not trying to run 20 open tabs, work on a spreadsheet and run RAM intensive apps. For occasional heavy usage 8GB is still fine as long as you plan for it. When I would edit video ect, I dedicated the machine to doing just it...

My responses have been to the absurd inference that if you get 8GB on the Air, it's a waste and only broke bums would not opt for 16..... I believe the majority of people who the Air is directed at will have no issues with 8GB....

What I'd really like to see if manufacturers up the RAM game a bit. 12GB standard or as an in-between option.. I don't even need 12 for my use but I'd gladly take the minor bump if offered...

 

[dagored]

It has a fan.

 

[raqball]

It has a fan.

At the event, the x-ray image they showed of it's internals indicated it does but Apple reps told reporters it does not... I guess we will know for sure soon enough but even with the mobile Y processor, it certainly can't hurt to have one as my 12" would get blazing hot when editing video....

 

[dagored]

At the event, the x-ray image they showed of it's internals indicated it does but Apple reps told reporters it does not... I guess we will know for sure soon enough but even with the mobile Y processor, it certainly can't hurt to have one as my 12" would get blazing hot when editing video....

If ther is no fan, I’m out.

 

[Dave245]

At the event, the x-ray image they showed of it's internals indicated it does but Apple reps told reporters it does not... I guess we will know for sure soon enough but even with the mobile Y processor, it certainly can't hurt to have one as my 12" would get blazing hot when editing video....

That would be very misleading, they clearly show a fan in the keynote slide. If it doesn't have a fan, my guess would be that it throttles more than if it did, that would be disappointing. I'm waiting for the reviews before hitting the buy button on this.

 

[DVD9]

I have a 2012 15" Macbook Pro - the first retina - and that has 8GB of RAM. When I put my cursor on Chrome I sometimes have to scroll to see more windows and the tabs number over 150.

If you need more than 8GB of RAM then the Air is the wrong model of laptop for you.

 

[Lara F]

I also don't think 8GB is enough if you're doing heavy lifting in Excel. I have to use Excel every day at work, and I'm working with small- to medium-sized Excel files (10s of thousands of rows at most), but they have elaborate filtering/condition matching/external sources with automatic updates etc. When I had just 8GB of RAM in my work machine, it was a bit painful to be honest, but when I persuaded our IT dept to upgrade me to 16GB, things became much smoother.

Just my experience, but my grad thesis work involved some very large Excel files (>400 columns and >20,000 rows) and I honestly didn't see much of a performance difference between my home laptop (4GB RAM 2011 MBA) and my work iMac with more RAM. I was pretty surprised at that actually.

Processing these files on the MBA was slow, but not excruciatingly so - I wouldn't still be holding on to it otherwise. Having 128GB HD space has been more of a pain point than performance over the years. Again, JMO.

 

[hans1972]

Isn’t it always better to get more Ram for future proofing? At least that’s what I’ve always been lead to believe.

For example my usage is, long writing sessions, Netflix, YouTube, web browsing and some light photo editing in Pixelmator. Are you saying that I would be better sticking with the 8GB?

Yes, it is, but my numbered list should be interpreted as a priority list if funds are limited.

Would you like a MacBook Air with 8Gb of RAM and a great backup solution or a MacBook Air with 16Gb of RAM and NO backup solution?

In your case, I would make sure to have a convenient, easy to forget backup solution for your photos and documents before I spent money on RAM. If you still have money left to spend, I would buy more RAM before CPU.

My prediction for the future is that you will feel the size issue of a 128Gb SSD long before you feel the limits of 8Gb of RAM.
[doublepost=1541451688][/doublepost]

What will the extra ram do if someone jumps from the 8GB to 16GB? Is it worth the jump?

For $200 it is not worth it to a lot of people since they will not notice anything different. Also Macs have very fast SSDs so when running out of memory swapping to disk, you might not even notice it.

Start Activity Monitor on your Mac.
Do the most heavy stuff you do on your Mac.
Look at the Memory tab.
Is it green?
If yes, you probably have enough RAM.
Look at Cached Files: The higher the number, the less you need more RAM
Look at Swap Used: If it is less than 1Gb, you probably have enough RAM
Look at Compressed: If it is less than 1Gb, you probably have enough RAM
[doublepost=1541451957][/doublepost]

Guys you are crazy if you are seriously discouraging people from getting 16gb.

Here is what I am running right now:

Modern operativ systems are designed to use almost every amount of RAM you have. Those numbers would look different on a machine with less memory. If you have 3,5Gb of free RAM on 16Gb Mac, something is wrong.

You need to post the Memory tab in Activity Monitor.
[doublepost=1541452713][/doublepost]

Look at the Memory Pressure graph. What colour is it? It is green because you don't need more memory! Why is it so low? Because you have too much memory!

Memory Used is not the correct way to judge memory needs.

Cached Files is high compared to Physical Memory, you have more than enough memory
Swap Used is very low compared to Physical Memory, you have more than enough memory
Wired Memory is low compared to Physical Memory, you have more than enough memory
Compressed is somewhat high, you are running some memory inefficient application, e.g. Slack.

You could easily do with 8Gb RAM with that usage. The problem doing your way is that the operating system and the application have a tendencies to use more memory when there is more memory available.

 

[Dave245]

Yes, it is, but my numbered list should be interpreted as a priority list if funds are limited.

Would you like a MacBook Air with 8Gb of RAM and a great backup solution or a MacBook Air with 16Gb of RAM and NO backup solution?

In your case, I would make sure to have a convenient, easy to forget backup solution for your photos and documents before I spent money on RAM. If you still have money left to spend, I would buy more RAM before CPU.

My prediction for the future is that you will feel the size issue of a 128Gb SSD long before you feel the limits of 8Gb of RAM.
[doublepost=1541451688][/doublepost]

For $200 it is not worth it to a lot of people since they will not notice anything different. Also Macs have very fast SSDs so when running out of memory swapping to disk, you might not even notice it.

Start Activity Monitor on your Mac.
Do the most heavy stuff you do on your Mac.
Look at the Memory tab.
Is it green?
If yes, you probably have enough RAM.
Look at Cached Files: The higher the number, the less you need more RAM
Look at Swap Used: If it is less than 1Gb, you probably have enough RAM
Look at Compressed: If it is less than 1Gb, you probably have enough RAM

The plan at the moment is to get the 512GB SSD along with 16GB Ram, my iMac 2012 has 16GB and is the only Mac I’m currently using, since my 2011 MacBook Pro died about a couple of months ago. The current readings from that within activity monitor are:

Physical memory: 16GB
Memory used: 6.48GB
Cached files: 2.54
Swap used; 0 bytes
App memory 3.16GB
Word memory: 1.31GB
Compressed: 0 bytes

The highest app on the list the uses the most memory is Pixelmator Pro at 325.8MB

That’s on my iMac 2012 which is use as my main desktop.

 

[617660]

Why are people so concerned about future proofing their laptop? Most dont even keep it more than 3 years.

Besides, if macos runs fine on a basic 2011 mba with 4gb of ram why does a 2018 mba with double the ram needs to re-double?

how much future proofing do you need really?

 

[Geert76]

So, if we follow some of the peoples advice here, somewhere in 2020 (or early 2021)we need to buy a Macbook Air with 32Gb RAM for a light to average workload “to make sure you’re future proof”.

Well, Tim says thank you very much $$$$$$$$ for that advice given by some macrumors forum members

 

[Luba]

Yes, it is, but my numbered list should be interpreted as a priority list if funds are limited.

Would you like a MacBook Air with 8Gb of RAM and a great backup solution or a MacBook Air with 16Gb of RAM and NO backup solution?

In your case, I would make sure to have a convenient, easy to forget backup solution for your photos and documents before I spent money on RAM. If you still have money left to spend, I would buy more RAM before CPU.

My prediction for the future is that you will feel the size issue of a 128Gb SSD long before you feel the limits of 8Gb of RAM.
[doublepost=1541451688][/doublepost]

For $200 it is not worth it to a lot of people since they will not notice anything different. Also Macs have very fast SSDs so when running out of memory swapping to disk, you might not even notice it.

Start Activity Monitor on your Mac.
Do the most heavy stuff you do on your Mac.
Look at the Memory tab.
Is it green?
If yes, you probably have enough RAM.
Look at Cached Files: The higher the number, the less you need more RAM
Look at Swap Used: If it is less than 1Gb, you probably have enough RAM
Look at Compressed: If it is less than 1Gb, you probably have enough RAM
[doublepost=1541451957][/doublepost]

Modern operativ systems are designed to use almost every amount of RAM you have. Those numbers would look different on a machine with less memory. If you have 3,5Gb of free RAM on 16Gb Mac, something is wrong.

You need to post the Memory tab in Activity Monitor.
[doublepost=1541452713][/doublepost]

Look at the Memory Pressure graph. What colour is it? It is green because you don't need more memory! Why is it so low? Because you have too much memory!

Memory Used is not the correct way to judge memory needs.

Cached Files is high compared to Physical Memory, you have more than enough memory
Swap Used is very low compared to Physical Memory, you have more than enough memory
Wired Memory is low compared to Physical Memory, you have more than enough memory
Compressed is somewhat high, you are running some memory inefficient application, e.g. Slack.

You could easily do with 8Gb RAM with that usage. The problem doing your way is that the operating system and the application have a tendencies to use more memory when there is more memory available.

If there’s an abundance of RAM modern OSes can put it to use to some small extent so it’s not a complete waste? It’s just not worth getting the extra RAM from a cost/benefit point of view?

If I use virtualization software (Parallels) would that take me out of the general use realm and then 16 GB RAM would be recommended?

Slightly off-topic: I’d guessing that 99% of computers out there don’t use ECC (error correction) RAM and they all seem to do fine, work fine, so what are some situations were you would need/want a computer with ECC RAM?

Thanks for saving me $200 as I was seriously thinking of getting 16 RAM/512 storage. Now I’ll be getting 8 RAM/512 storage and hope the gen 3 keyboard is better and will last 3 years for me.

 

[0014]

This is my 2015 13" rMBP with 8Gb of Ram. 1st screen is on immediate reboot and then the second is with Safari & activity monitor open.

I think 8Gb of Ram will be fine for most users. But I personally will be getting either a 128 or 256 MBA with 16gb of Ram. Purely because I intend to keep it for a while. I am also of the thinking it's better to have more Ram than you need than need more Ram than you have these days. You can't upgrade it after.

I am leaning towards the 128 (partly as it will offset the cost of the Ram) purely because my current MBP has a 512gb SSD and I'm only using 50gb of it (was using 100 until I got rid of my Bootcamp Partition). Everything else is either in the cloud or on my 5TB external HDD.

 

[kreasonos]

I'm curious, does Mac OS use swap like Linux? Usually in Linux if the ram is maxed out the Kernel will swap to the SSD.
[doublepost=1541555775][/doublepost]

Disagree.... The Air serves a specific purpose which should be evident by the Y processor and the dim (300 nit screen) and power use is not it.....

Most (95% - my guess) will get by just fine on the Air with 8. Spending the extra $200 for more RAM that will hang out and do nothing - other than give you a warn and fuzzy feeling when you look at system stats is okay I guess if a warm and fuzzy feeling is what someone is after...

It's not always about people being broke bums who can't afford the $200....... It's about not flushing $$$ down the toilet for something that's not needed....

If someone needs 16GB of RAM then they have probably chosen the wrong computer.. Are there some use cases even on the Air where 16 would be preferred? Sure but like I said, they will be in the minority...

I'd spend $180.00 for a warm fuzzy feeling. : )

 

[torana355]

Not false at all but tell yourself whatever you need to... Per your screenshot, your are being misleading as it appears as though you purposely started things to increase RAM usage but whatever...

Telling people to get 16GB or RAM in a machine with a Y processor and a 617 GPU is kind of laughable, honestly.. Will some need it sure? And no, not everyone opting for 8GB is a broke bum.......

The same old argument was being used 4 years ago and we are still in the same boat. If you need 16 then have at it. Most considering the Air should not need it. If they do then they've probably purchased the wrong computer..

So true, i'm still running 4gb in my 2011 MBA with no issues whatsoever for what i use the machine for. No need for 16gb of ram for light usage.

 

[cornerexit]

I only store the os and progs on the ssd. Photos, music, video, word docs (spreadsheet example), etc, are only temp stored there. I use external drives for everything. PC/Mac takes a dump, the machine is meaningless. My files are what’s important. I recommend 2 external drives that mirror each other with the same data on both. And I also would recommend 16gb of RAM. You can whatever external drive you want in the next few years, use the cloud, etc. Hard drive storage is expandable. RAM isn’t. Once you buy that thing that’s that. Not even a contest to me.

I also push excel pretty hard. I sometimes have 4-6 spreadsheets open, manipulating data between them. That’s always the use case for me where the damn thing crawls.

I think the issue with some of these new Apple products is that leave too many not getting what they want. New phones, there is no smaller option full screen model. SE and 6/7/8 users get bent. You have to deal with an overall increase in price, and a slightly larger phone and heavier phone. New Pad, so many would love to have MacOS on it instead of IOS. Thing would sell like hot cakes and be a legit laptop replacement, especially if a wireless mouse would work with it. MBA, how about a quad core, maxing out with 32gb RAM and the brighter screen? MBP, can’t get one with quad core without Touch Bar. Quad core 16gb, $2K. At every step, Apple kind of screws you one way or the other. Don’t give you what you want, or they overcharge the hell out of you, etc. Tthat’s why they are worth a trillion and we scratch our heads.

OP, this would be a tough decision for me. I wouldn’t give them 2k for a laptop. It would be a hard vs. between a 128 gig ssd 16gb of ram MBA and a dual core 128gb ssd 16gb ram MBP. 1/4 pound difference, and a $100. I’d go play with these two options in the store and then make your decision.

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

Your computer will use as much RAM as you give it. I see way too many people quoting 'light' work in a 16GB machine and see they're using 10+GB, and so assume they'd struggle if it was less than 8GB of RAM. It's just not how RAM works in 2018. 8GB is fine for the vast majority of people, and it is also perfect for the CPU in this machine. Putting 16GB of RAM is necessary in a few cases, just like 32GB is needed on the Pro in a few cases. But putting 16GB of RAM in there just because you think you need it, might need it down the road, or have this notion that because your last computer had 8GB you need more, is just a fools errand.

Whatever people want to do, I'm just saying the performance of the machine will not increase in any meaningful way for many people whether the system has 6-10-20GB of RAM. And it is unlikely to change in the next 5 years, you'll be wanting a stronger CPU if you find yourself doing more pro level work.

Anyway, not here to convince anyone, just adding 2 cents for the confused peeps.

 

[Howard2k]

Your computer will use as much RAM as you give it. I see way too many people quoting 'light' work in a 16GB machine and see they're using 10+GB, and so assume they'd struggle if it was less than 8GB of RAM. It's just not how RAM works in 2018. 8GB is fine for the vast majority of people, and it is also perfect for the CPU in this machine. Putting 16GB of RAM is necessary in a few cases, just like 32GB is needed on the Pro in a few cases. But putting 16GB of RAM in there just because you think you need it, might need it down the road, or have this notion that because your last computer had 8GB you need more, is just a fools errand.

Whatever people want to do, I'm just saying the performance of the machine will not increase in any meaningful way for many people whether the system has 6-10-20GB of RAM. And it is unlikely to change in the next 5 years, you'll be wanting a stronger CPU if you find yourself doing more pro level work.

Anyway, not here to convince anyone, just adding 2 cents for the confused peeps.

Seconded.
I would certainly strongly consider 16GB, but I have 8GB today and have had no issues. I'd consider putting that upgrade cost against external storage, dock, cloud, NAS, or rum (being honest).

 

[Luba]

Your computer will use as much RAM as you give it. I see way too many people quoting 'light' work in a 16GB machine and see they're using 10+GB, and so assume they'd struggle if it was less than 8GB of RAM. It's just not how RAM works in 2018. 8GB is fine for the vast majority of people, and it is also perfect for the CPU in this machine. Putting 16GB of RAM is necessary in a few cases, just like 32GB is needed on the Pro in a few cases. But putting 16GB of RAM in there just because you think you need it, might need it down the road, or have this notion that because your last computer had 8GB you need more, is just a fools errand.

Whatever people want to do, I'm just saying the performance of the machine will not increase in any meaningful way for many people whether the system has 6-10-20GB of RAM. And it is unlikely to change in the next 5 years, you'll be wanting a stronger CPU if you find yourself doing more pro level work.

Anyway, not here to convince anyone, just adding 2 cents for the confused peeps.

I do believe 8 GB is enough, but curious as to how RAM does work in 2018. If there’s an abundance of RAM what are modern OSes doing? They're putting the extra abundant RAM to use to some very small extent?

 

[Ma2k5]

I was reading Gruber’s review yesterday (daringfireball) and he said it best: if you don’t know whether you need 16GB, you don’t need it. It’s a nice to have.

He noticed memory swaps on his 8GB machine but said he didn’t notice it due to the blazing fast SSD.