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Would you consider 8GB RAM if there's a discount?

Ketsjap

Ketsjap

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 5, 2007
126
135
Thanks to an incentive program of my employer I can buy a brand new MacBook Air M2 (13", 512GB) for as little as 584 euro (622 USD)
However, it only has 8GB of RAM. There is no Macbook Air on offer with more RAM.

-> would you consider buying it, even though it only has 8GB?

The other options I'm contemplating are:

iPad Pro M2 12,9 (512 GB) with Magic Keyboard for 760 euro (810 USD)

or

Macbook Pro M3 14", 512 GB HD (again only 8GB RAM, damnit) for 713 euro (760 USD)

or

Macbook Pro M3PRO 14", 512 GB HD, 18 GB RAM for 883 euro (942 USD)

What would you guys do? And no: "just buy all of them" is not an option :)
 
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In general, no. 16GB should be the minimum (in my opinion).

That been said, it’s really good price for the MBA (as well as for the MBP), and based on your usage/needs (?) you should know if 8GB RAM is enough or not. And if you planing to keep it for 2-3 years max, then you should grab one of these deals.

PS, i would skip the iPad Pro, unless you already having desktop/laptop and only looking for sofa surfer consumption device.
 
I have an 8gb, 512 model. I have not noticed any lag in day to day tasks.

Then again it’s all in your use case. I am not a video editor, making content, etc. It’s a personal computer I use for browsing, word, excel, trading/investing, surfing the web, streaming YouTube/hulu..

Never had an issue with 8 gigs.. I dont see the uproar in my opinion. This thing doesn’t break a sweat for my use case..
 
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The M3 Pro for $1k looks like a good deal. The laptop should last you years without the need to upgrade.

That’s almost half the price. I would definitely buy it.
 
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Ketsjap said:
Thanks to an incentive program of my employer I can buy a brand new MacBook Air M2 (13", 512GB) for as little as 584 euro (622 USD)
However, it only has 8GB of RAM. There is no Macbook Air on offer with more RAM.

-> would you consider buying it, even though it only has 8GB?

...
Click to expand...

it depends on how you use it and what applications you need to use......8GB will be fine for many people
 
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8GB RAM is definitely a no-no to me no Matter how much cheaper it can go Short of giving away for free.
My current M1 MBP has yellow memory pressure all the time and it has 16GB Of RAM.
 
Ketsjap said:
-> would you consider buying it, even though it only has 8GB?
Click to expand...
Totally depends on what I planned on doing with the Mac.

A few years back, I bought my parents a base model M1 MM to replace their aging 2007 iMac, and the 8GB of RAM is more than what they need.

They just do light web browsing and email. I messed around with it for a while, and was generally impressed by it fir the price point.

Not that my parents play it, but I tested playing WoW on the M1 MM with 8GB of RAM, and it worked great.

So, to answer your question, you should really be listing what apps you use and what type of work flow you plan on doing with the Max.
 
Juicy Box said:
Totally depends on what I planned on doing with the Mac.
Click to expand...
I will also add that my wife’s current Mac, a Mid 2012 MBA only has 4GB of RAM, and 64GBs of storage and that is plenty for her usage.

When the M3 MBAs come out, I plan on getting the base model for her, as it will most likely be overkill for her usage.
 
Depends on your use case, if your use case seems to be in line with the 8gb model, I would certainly be interested at that price point. Tons of people buy just the base model and have been very happy with the performance.

I love my m2 air, use it every day for hours. Sitting on my couch typing this out
 
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8GB is fine unless you have special demands, like big file video/graphics/design/programming appliications, but since you don't mention that, I guess you don't. 8GB for everyday stuff is fine. Also, should you want to push it once in a while, you won't notice much because the super-fast internal drive will help with the memory pressure.

Don't believe the folks screaming about 8GB being "scandalously low", they're just joining a choir. It simply depends on how you're going to use it.
 
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Me personally...I'd pay the extra and buy the Macbook Pro M3PRO 14".

Why?

It's a great price (a big discount over buying new directly from Apple).

It's got a larger screen compared to the MBA.

It's newer compared to the M2 so should be supported for longer (I'm someone who keeps their laptop for 7-10 years provided the laptop completes the tasks I need it to do).

Do I need the power of the M3 Pro?Absolutely not!

A base model M1 MBA would be fine for 80% of my use (ie web browsing, typing docs, spreadsheets, voice and video calls, listen to music, watching movies etc). For many folks who just need a laptop to complete the basic tasks, the M2 at 584 euro is a cracking deal. Someone like my mum, who at most will have 6 browser tabs and a few pdfs open simultaneously...the M2 won't break a sweat and will work great for many many years...

For me, it's the other 20% (ie when I run VM's or I'm doing very heavy multi-tasking) where the extra ram is needed. Heck if I got a 16GB ram model, I'm sure the M1 would be fine for me.

The extra 300 euro (for me) in buying the M3 MBP is worth the extra cost over the M2 MBA if I get a 2-3 years more use out of the laptop...
 
Got 8/256 15 inch Air, and no regrets. got a great deal

16gb would be nice but not hurting at all
 
I am waiting for a Mac mini M2 8/512.

Already have MacBook Air M2 8/256 and working like a charm. Office work, two browsers, Pixelmator Pro, iMovie occasionally, stock Apple apps, RSS reader, and others. Many apps are constantly opened and no issues at all.

I opted for the 8/512 model now just because it was a great deal (also the 512 SSD is faster than 256).
 
Look at it this way…

The M3 MBA’s with 8GB RAM are likely going to launch in June 2024… they are going to be sold new by Apple until probably mid to late 2025 when they will then launch with M4, that’s going to be the earliest that the base spec ‘might’ upgrade to 12 or 16GB RAM.

With this in mind therefore Apple are going to optimise MacOS and their stock applications to run perfectly fine on anything with 8GB RAM, so long as you are still using the machine for basic day to day usage which is expected of the target demographic.

However, following the MBA M4 launching in mid to late 2025, that’s when we will likely start to see machines with 8GB RAM gradually start to struggle over the years following this (only if the base spec is upgraded).

So I would say for basic day to day computing anything with Apple silicon and 8GB RAM will be good for most users until 2026 at the earliest, but some users will likely be fine with it until 2028/2029 just depends on your tolerance of the performance of the machine.
 
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I have had several stock models in the past and they did just fine for me. It all depends on what your day to day needs are. The best thing you can do on here is tune out the "8GB is a crime" type member noise.
 
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Depends on your use. My work PCs have 16GB plus a dedicated GPU and I am regularly using about 10GB Ram, none shared. I couldn't do that with 8GB and basically an iGPU sharing it.
 
Apple_Robert said:
I have had several stock models in the past and they did just fine for me. It all depends on what your day to day needs are. The best thing you can do on here us tune out the "8GB is a crime" type member noise.
Click to expand...
Probs because 16gb should be minimum for the prices on all macs, 8gb is criminal lol
if you think otherwise you have blinkers on.
 
We have to remember also that the 8GB models of the MacBook Air is what is generally sold in retailers, here in the UK all major retailers only have the 8GB models available, the only way to get 16GB is either second hand or refurbished unless you buy directly from Apple themselves.

The vast majority of people in the UK don’t buy directly from Apple, most buy from the likes of Argos, Curry’s, Very, Amazon etc… therefore if 8GB was so bad that it is unusable, Apple simply wouldn’t have just launched yet another 8GB RAM Mac, namely the MacBook Pro M3 they would have increased the RAM to at least 12GB… the fact that they haven’t indicates that from their internal data, sales figures, return figures, online reviews etc… that 8GB is satisfying the bulk of the target demographic.

Once 8GB RAM does start to become unusable for a large set of the target demographic that is when we will see a bump in the base RAM, but until that time the base will continue to be 8GB.

When will it come with a base RAM of 12GB or even 16GB? Who knows, but quite certainly it won’t be until late 2025 at the earliest considering they just released M3 which has a base RAM of 8GB.
 
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Surfsalot said:
Probs because 16gb should be minimum for the prices on all macs, 8gb is criminal lol
if you think otherwise you have blinkers on.
Click to expand...
The problem is your comparing Apples to Oranges. Yes based on the prices of Windows Laptops etc… yes 8GB for the prices is criminal in the general sense, however, we are talking about a laptop which has a fully optimised OS for the silicon its running on.

It’s similar to the iPhone, there is a reason why the iPhone generally runs far smoother than the likes of an android with worse specs and it’s all down to the fully optimised software.

Unlike windows which runs on several different machines (dell, Sony, hp etc) MacOS runs on Mac and nothing else, so it’s optimised fully for the machines it’s running on. This doesn’t happen in the PC world, hence why 8GB of RAM in the Mac world with Apple silicon runs perfectly fine, but wouldn’t in the PC world.
 
Ketsjap said:
Thanks to an incentive program of my employer I can buy a brand new MacBook Air M2 (13", 512GB) for as little as 584 euro (622 USD)
However, it only has 8GB of RAM. There is no Macbook Air on offer with more RAM.

-> would you consider buying it, even though it only has 8GB?

The other options I'm contemplating are:

iPad Pro M2 12,9 (512 GB) with Magic Keyboard for 760 euro (810 USD)

or

Macbook Pro M3 14", 512 GB HD (again only 8GB RAM, damnit) for 713 euro (760 USD)

or

Macbook Pro M3PRO 14", 512 GB HD, 18 GB RAM for 883 euro (942 USD)

What would you guys do? And no: "just buy all of them" is not an option :)
Click to expand...
Depends on what will you do with it. For typical users, 8gb is sufficient (not tight at all).
 
Ketsjap said:
Thanks to an incentive program of my employer I can buy a brand new MacBook Air M2 (13", 512GB) for as little as 584 euro (622 USD)
However, it only has 8GB of RAM. There is no Macbook Air on offer with more RAM.

-> would you consider buying it, even though it only has 8GB?

The other options I'm contemplating are:

iPad Pro M2 12,9 (512 GB) with Magic Keyboard for 760 euro (810 USD)

or

Macbook Pro M3 14", 512 GB HD (again only 8GB RAM, damnit) for 713 euro (760 USD)

or

Macbook Pro M3PRO 14", 512 GB HD, 18 GB RAM for 883 euro (942 USD)

What would you guys do? And no: "just buy all of them" is not an option :)
Click to expand...
8GB may be sufficient right now, but websites and apps will demand more in future, so you might have trouble in a few years. Don't listen to those people who say "you don't need more" or "I never had an issue with it", those are the people that usually whine later about how they regret it and how it sucks that they can't add any extra Ram, so they end up buying a new Mac. If you upgrade your Mac every 2-3 years, fine, but if you plan on using it for 5-7 years, not really.

My advice: Buy it, don't open the seal, and sell it for a profit. Then go buy one with 16GB Ram.
 
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