What apps would put extra RAM to test nd show the difference?

[Abbas]

There seem to be so many posts asking for the difference between 8GB and 16GB on the M1 Macs. We've seen 8GB models perform really well and I was wondering what apps could *show* a performance difference between 8GB and 16GB models?

 

[JohnnyGo]

Any video/photo all when handling (a) large files or (b) multiple files.

 

[torncanvas]

Using development software. Here’s an example with the Unity game engine, showing how 8GB is definitely not enough:

 

[ArPe]

After Effects, 3D apps, any game with high res textures, game development kits.

The GPU needs RAM too, some people falling down the memory hole and forgetting that.

 

[Abbas]

I'm trying to source both a 16GB and an 8GB model to test out against my MBP16 with 16GB. I can run FCPX and render a 15-minute, 30-minute and 1 hour video from 4K source to Full HD. Is there any other native app where I can test and see the difference?

 

[torncanvas]

I'm trying to source both a 16GB and an 8GB model to test out against my MBP16 with 16GB. I can run FCPX and render a 15-minute, 30-minute and 1 hour video from 4K source to Full HD. Is there any other native app where I can test and see the difference?

Definitely the Unity game engine. Download a default project and go to File > Build and Run.

 

[dingclancy23]

Yeah I think a game development engine is too much of an ask from 8gb ram but wow if that is the only one class of app it cannot run well.

Also it probably stills run as well/better on 8gb than on Intel at 16gb/32gb

 

[Abbas]

Definitely the Unity game engine. Download a default project and go to File > Build and Run.

Never used Unity (or any development kit) so would appreciate if you can link me how to test this.

 

[Janichsan]

The German tech site Heise.de had some benchmarks of M1 Macs that showed that the 8 GB models' performance suffers notably when rendering 8K videos and having Logic Pro X running a lot of tracks: the 8 GB M1 MacBook Pro took 1718 seconds to render an 8K video, while the top Intel 13" MBP only required 680 s. In Logic, the M1 MBP could play 132 tracks simultaneously, the 16 GB Intel MBP could play 156 tracks. So, you really have to push the machine to the limit to see an effect.

In every other benchmark they ran, the M1 MBP was usually significantly faster than the Intel MBP.

 

[JohnnyGo]

For heavy workloads (video editing, large app/game compiling, various VMs simultaneously) the answer seems obvious: 8Gb hurts performance significantly.

For lighter loads, average user, the answer is less obvious but pretty clear: 8Gb is good enough. Performance might be affected in less than 5% of minutes of work.

If an user likes to keep 10+ apps open AND work on large files (excel, photos, etc) AND have many safari tabs open, the answer is to go for 16Gb.

 

[dingclancy23]

For heavy workloads (video editing, large app/game compiling, various VMs simultaneously) the answer seems obvious: 8Gb hurts performance significantly.

For lighter loads, average user, the answer is less obvious but pretty clear: 8Gb is good enough. Performance might be affected in less than 5% of minutes of work.

If an user likes to keep 10+ apps open AND work on large files (excel, photos, etc) AND have many safari tabs open, the answer is to go for 16Gb.

For future proofing yes, but we have seen many videos who have loaded more tabs + apps than what you described and the 8gb did not bat an eye.