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MBP 14'' 16GB or 32GB RAM?

Y

yww

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 11, 2022
7
2
Hi! I am new to mac. o_O

Background:

I am currently a undergraduate in Computer Science major, having an old laptop with Ubuntu and Windows dual system installed. I mainly use Linux Ubuntu (for fun and coding XD) and rarely use Windows (dual system in my laptop) for game or Office365. Actually, I think editor like libreoffice in Ubuntu is too hard to use compared to Office, so sometimes I am just too lazy to switch to Windows and edit online instead. Many other common software (chatting, music) is also harder to use in Ubuntu. So I decide to give macOS a try.

Requirements: 16 GB vs 32 GB

  1. In most cases, 16 GB in Ubuntu is enough for me. I can run machine learning on the school's server (no requirement for RAM), but I haven't experienced large software programming so I have no idea if 16 GB is enough.
  2. Expected to use it for 4~5 years. Since it's said that 8GB is enough a couple of years ago, but currently not, I am not sure if 16 GB will fade out in the future like that.
  3. Heard that small RAM swaps a lot and may be harmful to SSD. And upgrading 512GB -> 1024GB is much cheaper than 16GB -> 32GB. (So this is another choice)

Could you guys give me some advice. Many thanks! :rolleyes:
 
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If I were an undergraduate with presumably limited finances, I would be inclined to spend less rather than more, and save it for a sooner upgrade in the future. Who knows what your needs will be in several years.
But there will be many in this forum happy to spend your money for you, as they have no skin in the game, or tell you to spend as much as you can afford, as if that is an easily definable amount.

The 16GB/512GB 14" MBP is a pretty good machine (I have one), it is hard to imagine this as an outright mistake. Yes, more RAM or storage is beneficial, but unlikely to make or break the usefulness of the machine.
 
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It's all a matter of preference at this level. Nothing in today's CS curriculum will tax a base spec M1 pro (or even air, for that matter) --- if that were the case, then you'd have a lot of issues (many students are using much less capable hardware). I've used everything from an old 2008 MBP to the same 14" machine you're looking at during my time getting my Ph.D. in CS, and I've been more than fine.
 
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16gb should be perfectly fine. By the time you get finished with Undergrad you'll be starting your job and can evaluate what would be best for you then. No reason to break the bank on an overpriced Apple upgrade you probably won't ever need.
 
16gb is fine for starter, later when you need to run like dozen of coding, compiling apps or video editing all day. Would prefer the 32gb.

Rendering video whole day, today.

1660268081466.png
 
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wilberforce said:
If I were an undergraduate with presumably limited finances, I would be inclined to spend less rather than more, and save it for a sooner upgrade in the future. Who knows what your needs will be in several years.
But there will be many in this forum happy to spend your money for you, as they have no skin in the game, or tell you to spend as much as you can afford, as if that is an easily definable amount.

The 16GB/512GB 14" MBP is a pretty good machine (I have one), it is hard to imagine this as an outright mistake. Yes, more RAM or storage is beneficial, but unlikely to make or break the usefulness of the machine.
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januarydrive7 said:
It's all a matter of preference at this level. Nothing in today's CS curriculum will tax a base spec M1 pro (or even air, for that matter) --- if that were the case, then you'd have a lot of issues (many students are using much less capable hardware). I've used everything from an old 2008 MBP to the same 14" machine you're looking at during my time getting my Ph.D. in CS, and I've been more than fine.
Click to expand...

Fatus_Asticus said:
16gb should be perfectly fine. By the time you get finished with Undergrad you'll be starting your job and can evaluate what would be best for you then. No reason to break the bank on an overpriced Apple upgrade you probably won't ever need.
Click to expand...

Good point. I can imagine that most courses won't require all students to have such good machine
 
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TinyMito said:
16gb is fine for starter, later when you need to run like dozen of coding, compiling apps or video editing all day. Would prefer the 32gb.

Rendering video whole day, today.

View attachment 2042031
Click to expand...


I don't think this will happen to me ... cuz in daytime, I have to move around and have classes. And occasionally there will be big coding assignments. Plus I don't need to cut video XD. But thanks for your info.
 
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yww said:
I don't think this will happen to me ... cuz in daytime, I have to move around and have classes. And occasionally there big coding assignments. Plus I don't need to cut video XD. But thanks for your info.
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really depends, are you plan on using this after graduation for work? depending on what job you end up with, 16gb could be restrictive.
 
ilikewhey said:
really depends, are you plan on using this after graduation for work? depending on what job you end up with, 16gb could be restrictive.
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I plan to pursue a master or phd degree. (P.S.: i am an upcoming sophomore, so after 4~5 years of use, I would be in the 1st or 2nd year of my postgraduate study. Would that be OK?
 
yww said:
I plan to pursue a master or phd degree. (P.S.: i am an upcoming sophomore, so after 4~5 years of use, I would be in the 1st or 2nd year of my postgraduate study. Would that be OK?
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What is your area of focus in Comp Sci? If it is something compute intense like Machine Learning you won't need huge amounts of compute power or storage since you will be doing a lot of that on a cloud based systems. Your computer will be more of a terminal. The external systems will have have multiple GPUs that will do most of the work, and large data stores.
 
yww said:
I plan to pursue a master or phd degree. (P.S.: i am an upcoming sophomore, so after 4~5 years of use, I would be in the 1st or 2nd year of my postgraduate study. Would that be OK?
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yeah you should be fine then, if you plan on working right after then maybe you need more ram since your could be employer might have different roles that require more ram, but from a educational perspective 16gb should be more than enough.
 
jerryk said:
What is your area of focus in Comp Sci? If it is something compute intense like Machine Learning you won't need huge amounts of compute power or storage since you will be doing a lot of that on a cloud based systems. Your computer will be more of a terminal. The external systems will have have multiple GPUs that will do most of the work, and large data stores.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the main issue. But I haven't decided yet.

(as mentioned at the beginning) I've only tried ML (of course using server) and light-weighted C++ GUI project (Qt). So I really have no concepts of what level of machine is needed when it comes to software engineering. I would take courses from various aspects of CS later, though my personal interests are AI and network currently.
 
I'd probably be inclined to risk overspec rather than under spec. Unfortunately the RAM and SSD cannot be upgraded in a couple of years. It's a whole new machine if you need more RAM or more internal SSD storage.

Though lower spec Macs tend to hold their value better for resale if you are prepared to go down that path.
 
ilikewhey said:
yeah you should be fine then, if you plan on working right after then maybe you need more ram since your could be employer might have different roles that require more ram, but from a educational perspective 16gb should be more than enough.
Click to expand...

Ah that's great..
 
ilikewhey said:
yeah you should be fine then, if you plan on working right after then maybe you need more ram since your could be employer might have different roles that require more ram, but from a educational perspective 16gb should be more than enough.
Click to expand...

Most tech company provide laptop for you, you don’t get to use your personal laptop for work anyways.
 
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I don't code myself, but I've seen a lot of posts about it here in the forums. From what I understand, it's not very taxing on the processor.

Based off your needs and wanting to get the best bang for your buck, it sounds like an M2 Air w/ 1TB & 24GB of RAM is going to be the sweet spot and more than enough for what you're doing. In comparison, getting similar upgrades in a pro model (even though would be 32gb of RAM) is going to save you about $500.

Obviously up to you, but worth considering.
 
yww said:
Yes, that's the main issue. But I haven't decided yet.

(as mentioned at the beginning) I've only tried ML (of course using server) and light-weighted C++ GUI project (Qt). So I really have no concepts of what level of machine is needed when it comes to software engineering. I would take courses from various aspects of CS later, though my personal interests are AI and network currently.
Click to expand...
For software engineering, you'll have no problem with any offering that Apple has right now, unless you'll be required to process massive amounts of data locally (which would make zero sense as a requirement for a university course -- they'd give you access to a server/cluster for that type of work).

The only possible issue I can foresee is if there is some course requirement to use some Windows-only application, but in my experience as both a student and instructor in CS, that's highly unlikely. Typically, if there is some OS-specific application, then you'll be given access to lab computers (whether physical or through ssh). I've seen this with, for example, FPGA programming using Xilinx, or embedded systems development relying on Visual Studio. Heck, I've seen students get away with using chromebooks in CS courses.
 
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