I am coming from a 2.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 with 16 GB of memory and a 512GB SSD. To be honest, it runs fine! But since I hadn't upgraded since late 2014 and only upgrade when needed (like in my case right now with my battery being practically dead), I figured I'd get something that would last a while. I also considered the base option, and it'd still be an upgrade from what I have (and I could save up money), but since I rarely upgrade I want something that will last me a long time.
i7 2.6GHz, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD, AMD Radeon Pro 5300M 4GB
i9 2.3GHz, 16GB Ram, 1TB Storage, AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 4GB
In that case my advice would be to - however grudgingly - go with the $400 RAM upgrade. As time goes on, macOS and apps aren't going to get any less RAM hungry, making this your most likely bottleneck. So regardless of what else you do, get 32GB.
I think I am going to go i7, 1 TB, 32 GB Ram, and the base video card. Is the upgraded video card the 8GB one or the more expensive 4GB?
Let me play the devil's advocate in this instance.
From the inception of the intel base MacBook Pro, one of the chief complaints has been the lacklustre amount of ram compared to similarly priced windows based notebook. Thankfully, Apple made a herculean jump from the anaemic ram count of 1GB in 2006 to 16GB in 2013.
Since then, they have basically plateaued. Most windows laptop have also kept ram count at 16GB, a surprising coincidence considering that ram is perhaps one of the cheapest commodities in a laptop(compared to reengineering thermals or redesigning the chassis, or installing a quantitatively better CPU or GPU), it would make sense for computer companies to increase the quantity of ram and hype it as a differentiating point for said product.
Or does it not?
My suspicion is, just like with everything else, ram has a point of diminishing returns. In 2020, that point for most regular consumer is 8GB, which equates to about 25 open pages in chrome, without any swap files. After this point, having an SSD over a HDD would likely grant a more perceivable performance boost than say, just adding more ram. A quick search online would show the vast difference between 4GB vs 8GB of ram in many applications. Yet 8GB of ram, yields close to the same result as say 16GB/32GB/64GB even in intensive gaming.
Of course the MacBook Pro 16" was not designed for the average consumer but the average prosumer. 16GB of ram equates to something like 80 open tabs in chrome, without the use of swap files. One of my more common workflows, involves playing WoW on my connected external monitor at 1980x1200, simultaneously watching Netflix on the build in display, while background rendering a 90 to 135 mins video on FCPX. Even under such heavy workload there is still no file swapping. MacOS has proven to be remarkably well optimised in terms of ram usage.
The point is if you really need 32GB of ram for some specific application or if you have extreme multitasking demands, you would already be conscious of your own requirements thus making this threat moot. In all likelihood the excess ram will yield little to no advantage over any other regular MacBook Pro 16" running 16 GB of ram. Adding to that, the additional power drain which occurs even in sleep mode, it makes little sense to incur both power and financial cost just for the off chance that this might increase the longevity of your device. Especially true when you consider ram usage has barely escalated in the last 10 years.
Chances are your next upgrade will be motivated by poor battery performance due to the age of your MacBook Pro 16", a redesign chassis(thinning, lighter with better thermals, micro led screen), need for more performance delivered by newer, more power efficient CPU/GPU architect, and even perhaps more storage space, rather than a general lack of ram.
On the other hand, going with the i9 processor, alongside the AMD Radeon Pro 5500m 4GB, will net you faster single core and multi core performance of up to 30%, while graphical performance is increased by up to 20%, today. Additionally twice the amount of SSD storage, all at a lower price point, compared to the cost of the base model with just the ram upgrade.
Putting it in a simple formula.
[CPU up to 30% increase in performance + GPU up to 20% increase in performance + twice the SSD + cheaper] > twice the ram.
😊
