Should have gotten the 16GB version

[auxbuss]

Correct. BSD based operating system will use all available RAM, regardless of how much is installed. macOS is based on BSD, and in the BSD world there is a saying; "unused RAM is wasted RAM".

There's a bit more to it than that. For example, my 16Gb MBP never uses Compressed Memory – or not that I've ever noticed. My 8Gb MBA uses Compressed Memory on pretty much every process (as well as using swap more aggressively).

You really do have to work quite hard to get close to the 8Gb limit and experience contention (or use the MBA for tasks it's clearly not designed for).

 

[Tommy c]

I wanted to post my average usage. I’m very happy with my MBP. But that keyboard is well, to be desired.

How does my usage look? Would the 8gb air handled this ok?

 

[auxbuss]

How does my usage look? Would the 8gb air handled this ok?

I think it's impossible to say without replicating it on the MBA.

It's clear that the MBA 8Gb has different memory management behaviour from the MBP 16Gb, though how this works precisely with specific apps would require side-by-side comparison, imo. e.g. in your example lightroom has grabbed 4Gb (of your 32Gb). Perhaps it grabs a percentage of total memory as an in-memory cache, because it can. Maybe it behaves differently on smaller memory machines. I don't know. However, if you are manipulating 4Gb images (or even 2Gb images) then I suspect that the MBA is not the appropriate machine.

 

[0014]

I recently bought a 256/8 MBA.

I have had no issues but I only use iWork, Office apps and safari on a daily basis.

I do the odd occasional edit on photos or make a movie using iMovie from holidays etc.

So I don’t tax the machine at all and to be honest that sort of usage is what the machine is intended for.

 

[Ghost31]

Or people could just become more efficient with the way they use apps.

I personally wouldn’t ever have 20 safari tabs open. I rarely have more than 5-6. I can’t understand how people would need to have 20 open. But then I’m not as ‘connected’ to the world as some are.

Once I’m doing anything that requires a bit more thought then I will close safari (unless I need to research something and then I’ll have 1-2 tabs open) as it just becomes a distraction.

But everyone’s real world use is different. I think the main thing to bare in mind is that you’re stuck with your choice now, unlike in the past when you could upgrade the RAM (& storage) later down the line. So people will need to think about projected use as well as current use a lot harder than previous.

Am I the only one around here that usually doesn't have more than 2 tabs open? Anything more and I just lose focus

 

[lambertjohn]

Am I the only one around here that usually doesn't have more than 2 tabs open? Anything more and I just lose focus

I've never had more than 2 or 3 tabs open in Safari at one time. No point. I get in, I get my information, I get out. These guys that claim they have 20 or more tabs open at a time, baffle me. Right now, as I'm typing this, I've only got Macrumors open, and when I'm done, I'll close the tab out and go about my business. Get in, get info, get out. That's my motto.

 

[StellarVixen]

If you intend to keep your Mac for longer, get 16 GB.


If you plan to buy new Mac in 2 years max, 8 GB shall serve you well for basic purposes.
[doublepost=1545996512][/doublepost]

I wanted to post my average usage. I’m very happy with my MBP. But that keyboard is well, to be desired.

How does my usage look? Would the 8gb air handled this ok?

Please, learn how to take a screenshot by using screenshot function.

 

[Ma2k5]

If you intend to keep your Mac for longer, get 16 GB.


If you plan to buy new Mac in 2 years max, 8 GB shall serve you well for basic purposes.
[doublepost=1545996512][/doublepost]
Please, learn how to take a screenshot by using screenshot function.

8GB will be fine even in 5 years if your usage isn’t going to change dramatically. We aren’t going to be moving towards using more processing power to do the same things but less - as we evolve into the IoT world.

There is a reason even today people use 4GB RAM for development, because it works. 5 years ago you’ll find people saying 8GB is minimum but get 16GB for “future proof”. 5 years on, nothing has changed.

 

[StellarVixen]

8GB will be fine even in 5 years if your usage isn’t going to change dramatically. We aren’t going to be moving towards using more processing power to do the same things but less - as we evolve into the IoT world.

There is a reason even today people use 4GB RAM for development, because it works. 5 years ago you’ll find people saying 8GB is minimum but get 16GB for “future proof”. 5 years on, nothing has changed.

There is absolutely no truth in what you said. 5 years ago standard was 4 GB of RAM and for future proofing you would get 8 GB, today standard is 8 GB.

 

[Ma2k5]

View attachment 813007

There is absolutely no truth in what you said. 5 years ago standard was 4 GB of RAM and for future proofing you would get 8 GB, today standard is 8 GB.

Do you realise that Apple offering 4GB back then is as relevant as Apple offering 128GB base storage today on MacBooks?

 

[Tommy c]

If you intend to keep your Mac for longer, get 16 GB.


If you plan to buy new Mac in 2 years max, 8 GB shall serve you well for basic purposes.
[doublepost=1545996512][/doublepost]
Please, learn how to take a screenshot by using screenshot function.

I know how too, I was just did this on a whim. Sorry about that.
I have been contemplating returning this for an older one or with less ram. I've been giving it serious thought. I like the fact I have something new and so-called future proof. But, I may not be taking advantage of it from everyone is saying. I was thinking of getting a late 2015 MBP. Has older keyboard and is still relatively newer. My main things are Windows being loaded on it and all my photography stuff. My last MBP was a 2011. I had that up until the summer. So that lasted, 7 years.

Or I just keep this and call it a day. I have time to return this, as I have barely used this. I can even get a 16GB version to save a good amount of money. I have a 32GB version now. I am really not sure what to do. I apologize, I'm usually on the ball with things. But, I might have bought too much laptop. I hate being that guy lol.

 

[lpolarityl]

It's all relative to what you do with your computer. If you do browser based things and occasionally do some editing in Final Cut Pro, then sure, the MBA could be considered "future proof" to the right person. But if said person started to edit more often, Final Cut Pro would no longer be occasional, it would be a primary function of their routine. If that becomes the case, the MBA is far from future proof. I could see that person graduating to something with four to even six cores simply because they want to increase render times. The scenarios we could think up are endless, so I just think about what the person does opposed to what I think I would purchase based on my use.

A lot of people give the new MBA flack because to them it seems.... inferior, or it may seem like a strange product altogether that everyone should pass on. Some people feel the screen should be as bright as the rest but fail to take the time to maybe understand why it has a lower nit screen (battery w/hr rating, the y series intel processor, MBA's main goal is supposed to be portability and battery life, so a lower nit screen means longer battery life). While other people see it as the perfect laptop because it has everything they care about; battery life, a nice quality display, small footprint, decent speakers, decent processing power, etc.).

 

[johannnn]

RAM is needed so the drive is not used as RAM. This was 100% true when the drive was a 5400rpm spinning drive. Partly true if you have a 1st gen SSD (old Mac, or all windows machines in the store today). But today’s Macs have REALLY fast SSDs. >2GB/s fast SSD. Seriously, I can barely notice when I run out of RAM anymore.

 

[auxbuss]

RAM is needed so the drive is not used as RAM. This was 100% true when the drive was a 5400rpm spinning drive.

This isn't strictly true. Swap becomes an issue when you have contention. That is, swapping is continuous. This is a frequent cause of websites "crashing". The cause is usually contention between the webserver and a database; but it might also include an email sever and other services. Nothing has really crashed, it's just that each service demands memory and none can get enough time to complete its action before being swapped out.

On a personal machine, you rarely (never?) swap services/apps at anything like the rate you do on a server, so swap can go unnoticed – and, as you say, it becomes less and less of an issue over time as backing store retrieval rates decrease.

8Gb is a lot of memory for anything but specialised tasks (or crappy apps with memory leaks or overzealous memory allocation). For a general purpose machine, it is ample. If you experience contention on the MBA, then I believe it's the wrong choice of machine, because your requirements demand more CPU power (as well as memory).

As said above: it's all down to your requirements. Surprise! I don't agree with the "future-proofing" arguments, because none of us can see into the future. And, as in all aspects of life, if your requirements change, then so might the tools to support them.

 

[EugW]

RAM is needed so the drive is not used as RAM. This was 100% true when the drive was a 5400rpm spinning drive. Partly true if you have a 1st gen SSD (old Mac, or all windows machines in the store today). But today’s Macs have REALLY fast SSDs. >2GB/s fast SSD. Seriously, I can barely notice when I run out of RAM anymore.

Instead of swapping causing 30 second pauses with HDs, now the pauses may only be a few seconds with SSDs, but they still can be annoying. My standards have changed. It's not 2010 anymore.

It's not hard to notice the difference between 4 GB and 8 GB on an SSD machine. It's harder to notice the difference between 8 GB and 16 GB with some usage, and the slowdowns occur a lot less frequently, but it can still occur and be noticeable.

If RAM was no longer a significant issue due to fast SSDs, we would only ever need to buy 4 GB machines. Obviously, that is not the case.

On a personal machine, you rarely (never?) swap services/apps at anything like the rate you do on a server, so swap can go unnoticed – and, as you say, it becomes less and less of an issue over time as backing store retrieval rates decrease.

8Gb is a lot of memory for anything but specialised tasks (or crappy apps with memory leaks or overzealous memory allocation). For a general purpose machine, it is ample. If you experience contention on the MBA, then I believe it's the wrong choice of machine, because your requirements demand more CPU power (as well as memory).

As said above: it's all down to your requirements. Surprise! I don't agree with the "future-proofing" arguments, because none of us can see into the future. And, as in all aspects of life, if your requirements change, then so might the tools to support them.

Unfortunately, memory leaks are a common problem.

Ideally, the problems would be fixed at the source, but even large companies like Microsoft won't fix them on their products 3 years after release, and all we can do to compensate is buy machines with more RAM. Or one could choose not to run those specific products, but that gets problematic really fast.

For the Retina MacBook Air there is only one CPU option, but I find it odd on the 12" MacBook that people will usually consider upgrading to an i7 before upgrading to 16 GB. I also find it odd that some people in these threads brag that they can run VMs with 8 GB RAM. Sure, it can be done, but it's not ideal.

 

[Ma2k5]

This isn't strictly true. Swap becomes an issue when you have contention. That is, swapping is continuous. This is a frequent cause of websites "crashing". The cause is usually contention between the webserver and a database; but it might also include an email sever and other services. Nothing has really crashed, it's just that each service demands memory and none can get enough time to complete its action before being swapped out.

On a personal machine, you rarely (never?) swap services/apps at anything like the rate you do on a server, so swap can go unnoticed – and, as you say, it becomes less and less of an issue over time as backing store retrieval rates decrease.

8Gb is a lot of memory for anything but specialised tasks (or crappy apps with memory leaks or overzealous memory allocation). For a general purpose machine, it is ample. If you experience contention on the MBA, then I believe it's the wrong choice of machine, because your requirements demand more CPU power (as well as memory).

As said above: it's all down to your requirements. Surprise! I don't agree with the "future-proofing" arguments, because none of us can see into the future. And, as in all aspects of life, if your requirements change, then so might the tools to support them.

Even on a 32GB machine, your memory swap will not be zero, it’s just how the OS sometimes handles memory. You don’t have to use up all your memory before it uses swaps.

 

[EugW]

Even on a 32GB machine, your memory swap will not be zero, it’s just how the OS sometimes handles memory. You don’t have to use up all your memory before it uses swaps.

Yes, but the swaps are often a lot less frequent when there is more memory, as you know.

 

[saulinpa]

Even on a 32GB machine, your memory swap will not be zero, it’s just how the OS sometimes handles memory. You don’t have to use up all your memory before it uses swaps.

I find that for normal/simple apps my swap used is normally 0 on a Mac with 16GB RAM. With 8GB swapping will start happening fairly quickly even with only a browser running.

 

[0014]

I find that for normal/simple apps my swap used is normally 0 on a Mac with 16GB RAM. With 8GB swapping will start happening fairly quickly even with only a browser running.

I have a 2012 MBP with 16GB, a 2015 MBP with 8GB, and a 2018 MBA with 8GB.

Swap happens on all three machines so surprised to see you don’t normally have it. What apps are you running?

My main use is iWork, Office and Safari.

 

[revmacian]

I consider myself to be an average user. I couldn't care less if my computer is using a swap file, or using the HDD/SSD for memory when RAM is low. What I care about is being able to open apps/webpages with as little wait/trouble as possible.

What I do care about is paying more money to upgrade to 16GB or 32GB RAM when it doesn't appear to be needed - since the swap file is being used. This is why I feel that upgrading the SSD is far more important than upgrading the RAM.

But, of course, this is all just my opinion.

 

[saulinpa]

My (irrational?) fear is that too much swapping will wear down the SSD faster.

My Air has 8GB and when I find things slow down I also see swap going 2, 3 Gig or more. Restart apps and browser to get performance back and see swap space drop as well. This isn't something I should need to do but memory leaks persist. With more memory I should be able to go longer without killing apps. Not directly related but I had one bad utility lose it and hit 25GB by the time I killed it.

I have a nMP with 16GB. Runs as a HTPC with eyeTV (2GB RAM buffer) , Firefox, and BOINC (using 3GB) - rarely see swap.

 

[auxbuss]

Even on a 32GB machine, your memory swap will not be zero, it’s just how the OS sometimes handles memory. You don’t have to use up all your memory before it uses swaps.

Depends. On Linux distros, yes it's normal. However, on macOS, my MBP 16Gb has never used swap – that I have noticed. On the other hand, the MBA 8Gb pretty much immediately uses swap. Same is true for Compressed Memory – zero on MBP, in use on MBA.

Of course, this doesn't mean it's swapping. The components moved to swap may simply not be in use.
[doublepost=1546162554][/doublepost]

Yes, but the swaps are often a lot less frequent when there is more memory, as you know.

You really do want to avoid swapping, if at all possible. However, swapping is not the same as moving something to the swap space. Something may be moved to the swap space because it is not used. What and how is a feature of the OS.
[doublepost=1546162644][/doublepost]

I find that for normal/simple apps my swap used is normally 0 on a Mac with 16GB RAM. With 8GB swapping will start happening fairly quickly even with only a browser running.

This is very unlikely. However, please provide an example of how to generate swap activity under 8Gb macOS.

Do note that swapping and use of swap space are not the same thing.

You can run `vm_stat <interval in seconds>` to determine whether you are swapping. `vm_stat` alone gives figures since last boot.

 

[0014]

I've been using my 256/8 2018 MBA most of the day. Even though I'm using 6 of the 8GB and I currently have open:

Safari with 5 tabs
Mail
Messages
WhatsApp
Powerpoint
Word
Excel

I have no issue with the memory as you can see and only used 390mb of swap.

 

[chabig]

I wanted to post my average usage. I’m very happy with my MBP. But that keyboard is well, to be desired.

How does my usage look? Would the 8gb air handled this ok?

Most likely yes.

 

[Populus]

This happened to me shortly after purchasing this MacBook Air. High memory compression on just 8GB of RAM.
Then I understood that newer models tend to use more memory than older models, like my 2010 MBP.

As you can see, apps opened on that moment were merely Safari, Spotify, Pixelmator and iTunes... Yes, quite a lot tabs on the browser, but nothing exaggerated, I guess 20-25 tabs.

My recommendation for everyone remains the same: If you can afford those extra 250$, go for the 16GB of RAM.