New Macbook Air will lag with 8GB of RAM?

[ctjack]

I have M1 Air with 8GB of RAM. I am very happy with the performance of it with one caveat.

It worked well with shipped MacOS. Once new came out, I updated(to whatever new one after BigSur) and it started lagging like crazy and the system felt sluggish right away.

Luckily was able to revert back while the way was open to BigSur.

Do you feel sluggish responsiveness with 8GB of RAM on newer MacOS? Is the MBA 15" base with 8GB dead right from the start and needs 16GB upgrade budgeted in?

 

[Surfsalot]

Yes, would not buy 8gb again, have a 24" iMac 8/512, only models we can get on 10% sale here are the 8gb configs, unless you buy a MacBook Pro 14/16. Prefer not to pay apples mark ups to 16gb and extra 10% over all.
It's 2023 should be 16gb base now.

 

[gpat]

I had MBA M1 8GB, now i have MBP M1P 16GB.
In my opinion, 8GB is the right amount for small-screen computing, when you can't physically multitask that much.
If you're multitasking, multitabbing, whatever, 8GB will feel cramped.
And yes, macOS will saturate 8GB roughly as fast as Windows does.
Macbook Pro M1P/M2P, even on sale or lightly used, still gives you the most computing capability for buck.

 

[h.gilbert]

I have the base spec 2016 13" MBP, 8GB RAM. Doesn't lag on Monterey. Something must be wrong with your M1 Air.

 

[mr_jomo]

I have the base spec 2016 13" MBP, 8GB RAM. Doesn't lag on Monterey. Something must be wrong with your M1 Air.

Seconded - my girls are running Monterey on their 8 GB macBook Airs (last Intel version i3 and m1) - high school and university physics ... no problems at all.

 

[ucfgrad93]

8 should be fine for many people. However any video processing, running virtual drives, etc. you should bump up to 16.

 

[StoneJack]

I have M1 Air with 8GB of RAM. I am very happy with the performance of it with one caveat.

It worked well with shipped MacOS. Once new came out, I updated(to whatever new one after BigSur) and it started lagging like crazy and the system felt sluggish right away.

Luckily was able to revert back while the way was open to BigSur.

Do you feel sluggish responsiveness with 8GB of RAM on newer MacOS? Is the MBA 15" base with 8GB dead right from the start and needs 16GB upgrade budgeted in?

It does not. M2 mba stock configuration here.