Macbook Air M2 - 8gb Memory enough?

[2Sticky]

Looking at the new MacBook air, but not sure if I need to, or if it is worth upgrading the memory to 16gb.

It will be used for office stuff and photoshop, no video editing or anything like that, so assume the base model will handle this.

Would I be fine with 8gb or is is worth upgrading to 16gb?

 

[floral]

I think 16gb is right for you. While 8gb is fine, you mentioned using office stuff, which means you would probably need to multitask. Photoshop is also somewhat RAM-intensive. It may seem pretty expensive to increase the RAM, but then you won't need to worry in the future :)

 

[maerz001]

Everyday the same question:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/old-question-new-15-mba-is-8gb-ram-enough-for-zoom-and-microsoft-office.2391986/?post=32235752#post-32235752

 

[Dovahkiing]

8GB is honestly plenty for the majority of use-cases that make sense on the MBA in the first place. Including light photoshop, unless you're a professional (or at least very serious amateur) photographer/digital artist and you're working with large .psd files on a regular basis.

 

[Salty Pirate]

8 GB

 

[Isamilis]

I think 16gb is right for you. While 8gb is fine, you mentioned using office stuff, which means you would probably need to multitask. Photoshop is also somewhat RAM-intensive. It may seem pretty expensive to increase the RAM, but then you won't need to worry in the future :)

Do you mean, 8gb is hard for multitasking?

 

[Gut Emblem]

Get 8GB

 

[floral]

Do you mean, 8gb is hard for multitasking?

8GB is fine usually. But, I'm thinking of some moments where they might want to do photoshop and multiple windows of office work, which may run into swap.

Plus, if their workflow ever changes, like if they get into a more intense job, 16GB would be roomy and up to just about anything.

 

[Isamilis]

8GB is fine usually. But, I'm thinking of some moments where they might want to do photoshop and multiple windows of office work, which may run into swap.

Plus, if their workflow ever changes, like if they get into a more intense job, 16GB would be roomy and up to just about anything.

I am not sure whether you have tried by yourself in person. Mine, running 2 users simultaneously, each user opened Word, Excel and ppt plus Safari with YouTube and Netflix plus some other apps (pdf expert, Ulysses etc). I haven’t notice any memory issue (memory stress still green, not even yellow).

When I start docker with 4gb and run Oracle XE database instance, the memory stress become yellow (plus become warm near the screen).

My conclusion so far, 8gb in Mac is different than in windows. macOS is very efficient in managing ram.

 

[Dovahkiing]

I am not sure whether you have tried by yourself in person. Mine, running 2 users simultaneously, each user opened Word, Excel and ppt plus Safari with YouTube and Netflix plus some other apps (pdf expert, Ulysses etc). I haven’t notice any memory issue (memory stress still green, not even yellow).

When I start docker with 4gb and run Oracle XE database instance, the memory stress become yellow (plus become warm near the screen).

My conclusion so far, 8gb in Mac is different than in windows. macOS is very efficient in managing ram.

Agreed - I have the 13" M2 Air w/ 8GB and for normal everyday use (including now and then Photoshop) the performance is perceptibly identical to the M1Pro Macbook Pro w/ 16GB I used to have before this.

 

[floral]

I am not sure whether you have tried by yourself in person. Mine, running 2 users simultaneously, each user opened Word, Excel and ppt plus Safari with YouTube and Netflix plus some other apps (pdf expert, Ulysses etc). I haven’t notice any memory issue (memory stress still green, not even yellow).

When I start docker with 4gb and run Oracle XE database instance, the memory stress become yellow (plus become warm near the screen).

My conclusion so far, 8gb in Mac is different than in windows. macOS is very efficient in managing ram.

...Oh, my mistake

I am a Windows user, and thought Mac and Windows RAM were identical. My laptop has 4GB ram, and it can barely handle anything without stealing from the SSD, so I thought Mac with 8GB ram would be pretty troublesome. But I'm guessing the advanced technology in Macs would mean you really get about 2x the ram for using.

In that case, use 8GB ram. My stance has changed o~o

 

[Gut Emblem]

I used Affinity Photo, MS office (inc Teams), Numbers, Pages, Xcode & many other smaller apps. My max file size were the photos from my iPhone 13 (however big they were). All with 8GB M1 Air, never a memory pressure problem.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Do people do research anymore? Always asking the same questions…

 

[maerz001]

...Oh, my mistake

I am a Windows user, and thought Mac and Windows RAM were identical. My laptop has 4GB ram, and it can barely handle anything without stealing from the SSD, so I thought Mac with 8GB ram would be pretty troublesome. But I'm guessing the advanced technology in Macs would mean you really get about 2x the ram for using.

In that case, use 8GB ram. My stance has changed o~o

There is no mystical Mac RAM technology.
Any Mac today with 4GB you also wouldn’t want to touch.

I am lazy and seldom close programs and webpages.

If you want to multitask and not restart every day also 8GB get in the red zone.

 

[Surfsalot]

I think 16gb is right for you. While 8gb is fine, you mentioned using office stuff, which means you would probably need to multitask. Photoshop is also somewhat RAM-intensive. It may seem pretty expensive to increase the RAM, but then you won't need to worry in the future :)

Would 8 years time be the future? We have an early 2015 8/128 13” MBP still works like new.

 

[utkans]

I would say if you wish to get the Air, which means you'll use your computer for basic and lightweight stuff, 8 is also fine. I got mine in 16 and I am sure I'd have been good if I'd got the 8 one. But I regret getting the 256 gigs model. It is not not upgradable so I had to get an SSD which consequently got me to spend that money I'd have spent if I had got the 512 gig model. So I'd go for 8/512 if it were now.

 

[macbookguy]

I would say if you wish to get the Air, which means you'll use your computer for basic and lightweight stuff, 8 is also fine. I got mine in 16 and I am sure I'd have been good if I'd got the 8 one. But I regret getting the 256 gigs model. It is not not upgradable so I had to get an SSD which consequently got me to spend that money I'd have spent if I had got the 512 gig model. So I'd go for 8/512 if it were now.

You're following my line of thought and making me feel better, lol.

 

[Isamilis]

I would say if you wish to get the Air, which means you'll use your computer for basic and lightweight stuff, 8 is also fine. I got mine in 16 and I am sure I'd have been good if I'd got the 8 one. But I regret getting the 256 gigs model. It is not not upgradable so I had to get an SSD which consequently got me to spend that money I'd have spent if I had got the 512 gig model. So I'd go for 8/512 if it were now.

I also had same temptation when considering upgrade ram or SSD. Finally I got 8/512 as I don’t want to bring external SSD everywhere (which defeated the Air “philosophy”).

 

[ISignedUpToAskThis]

For me I don't think about now I think 2-3 years down the line - will 8GB be enough?

Also when it comes to selling in say 2-3 years time, most people will prefer a 16GB machine.

 

[mojo50]

For me I don't think about now I think 2-3 years down the line - will 8GB be enough?

Also when it comes to selling in say 2-3 years time, most people will prefer a 16GB machine.

If you can afford 16 GB of RAM - of course get that. Get the most you can afford, especially if you are planning on keeping it for awhile.

I have an 8 GB/512 SSD MBA M1 myself and am very happy with my purchase. It runs beautifully! I'm sure I will have my eye on something with more oomph in 5 years - and I will be happy that I didn't pay too much for my initial MBA.

 

[nfl46]

Go with the 8GB.

 

[Surfsalot]

If a choice I would get the 8/512gb, from reading they are running at 3,000 read and write, which is a bit better than my 8/512gb 24" iMac, I bet the 256gb is closer to 2,000.
Also re sale will be better, people have storage issues way before more ram would/if even worry them.
I bought a M2 8/256gb air off a lady for half price only few weeks old as she bought the wrong size and couldn't fit her stuff on it, she got another 1Tb and wanted it gone.
Costly mistake.

 

[Gut Emblem]

256GB is approximately 1.4GB/s
512GB is approximately 2GB/s

However, very few scenarios will utilise that extra speed, for the vast majority of users the speed is irrelevant. Also apps aren’t optimised to take advantage of this speed.

Search out Art is Right on YouTube for actual 256/512 & 8/16 real world uses/tests.

For resale, buyers prefer clean, dent free machines with a good battery life, preferably boxed with accessories. The used market is much like the new market, the pool of 8/256 buyers is far greater, all the extra frills just won’t appeal to the majority of purchasers.

From my experience careful owners keep boxes.

 

[Surfsalot]

256 base is criminal in 2023

 

[EnderTW]

I was / am concerned about the 8gb but man I for a basic development machine, using vscode / chrome tabs, outlook, textual irc, discord, xcode open up on another desktop, everything is smooth and 'just works'. I did get the 512 because I needed the space and thought the faster drive for swap would be useful.

I'm surprised how well this works. Something with scrolling animation that apple does also makes 60hz feel relatively smooth.