Apple says M3 Macs only need 8GB of RAM, unlike inefficient Windows PCs

[iMore.com]

Apple's new Macs only have 8GB of RAM but it says that's fine because macOS is more efficient than Windows.

Apple says M3 Macs only need 8GB of RAM, unlike inefficient Windows PCs : Read more

 

[Bla1ze]

I agree that Apple most certainly does use that 8GB more efficiently but it's still a load of BS to be charging that much and only getting 8GB. Additionally, I took his advice of going to the store and testing out 8GB vs. 16GB when I bought my M1 Mac Mini and I concluded that 8GB wasn't going to be enough.

If you do next to nothing on your Mac but browse the web and diligently close every single tab when done, sure. 8GB might be enough but if your daily life is running Chrome, Slack, Discord, some Adobe software, Signal, some music apps, etc. You're going to hit that swap hard and then you run into SSD lifespan issues.

I'm not saying it's the cause or fix by any means since there's countless other factors at play, but Mac revenue is down 34% year-over-year. Maybe ripping off your customers on RAM pricing isn't helping.

 

[FFR]

Apparently 8gb of unified memory is enough for most users according to this YouTuber.

Video comparison posted below.

 

[Just_Me_D]

I agree that Apple most certainly does use that 8GB more efficiently but it's still a load of BS to be charging that much and only getting 8GB. Additionally, I took his advice of going to the store and testing out 8GB vs. 16GB when I bought my M1 Mac Mini and I concluded that 8GB wasn't going to be enough.

If you do next to nothing on your Mac but browse the web and diligently close every single tab when done, sure. 8GB might be enough but if your daily life is running Chrome, Slack, Discord, some Adobe software, Signal, some music apps, etc. You're going to hit that swap hard and then you run into SSD lifespan issues.

I'm not saying it's the cause or fix by any means since there's countless other factors at play, but Mac revenue is down 34% year-over-year. Maybe ripping off your customers on RAM pricing isn't helping.

I can agree with your comments. My job initially gave me a MacBook Air with 8 GBs of RAM. The machine performed admirably for a long time. My responsibilities and browser tabs grew and then the 8 GBs of RAM wasn’t enough. My beloved MBA started struggling and so I was given an M1 MBP w/16 GBs of RAM.

Nowadays I have approximately 45 Chrome tabs open, 16 Safari tabs open, Zoom, Slack, Excel, Shottr, Esper, and a VPN all running simultaneously. The 16 GBs of RAM handles it with ease.

 

[Bla1ze]

Apparently 8gb of unified memory is enough for most users according to this YouTuber.

"Most users" is a broad sweeping statement. Is my Mom who only browses Facebook and Netflix most users? To me, his video says the opposite of what his post claims.. running at over 2GB of Swap is a red flag that it wouldn't handle my typical usage.

We've been down this road before anyway with M1, and M2 and YouTube is littered with the same sort of testing and videos of people saying they moved on from the base models and no doubt in a few months history will repeat itself again.

 

[EdwinG]

"Most users" is a broad sweeping statement. Is my Mom who only browses Facebook and Netflix most users? To me, his video says the opposite of what his post claims.. running at over 2GB of Swap is a red flag that it wouldn't handle my typical usage.

To answer the mom question, no.

Even my mom, who isn’t a big Mac user, uses 12GB of RAM between Apple Mail, Apple Photos, Safari (Facebook, CBC/RC, Outlook on the Web), Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

There’s not many ways to cut it, 8GB of RAM is still 8GB of RAM. Swap can only do so much, and it will add wear on the embedded NAND chips by writing to them.

 

[FFR]

"Most users" is a broad sweeping statement. Is my Mom who only browses Facebook and Netflix most users? To me, his video says the opposite of what his post claims.. running at over 2GB of Swap is a red flag that it wouldn't handle my typical usage.

We've been down this road before anyway with M1, and M2 and YouTube is littered with the same sort of testing and videos of people saying they moved on from the base models and no doubt in a few months history will repeat itself again.

Of course, I wouldn’t categorize your usage as “typical” nor would I assert that your usage is “typical for most or a majority of users. Having said that 8gb of unified seems to be enough for those users that just want to browse the web, email, Netflix, FaceTime, word processing etc.

Personally I need more than 32 gb of unified ram, but that’s why Apple offers different tiers. Those that only need 8gb of unified memory might feel the same way about having to pay more for 16 gb.

Sure those YouTubers would probably move on from the base model, make a video, then move back to the base model make another video on why. They need to keep making content that’s their business model. But that video did show that 8gb of unified memory on the m3 was decent compared to the 16 gb of unified memory on the m3 pro.

 

[FFR]

To answer the mom question, no.

Even my mom, who isn’t a big Mac user, uses 12GB of RAM between Apple Mail, Apple Photos, Safari (Facebook, CBC/RC, Outlook on the Web), Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

There’s not many ways to cut it, 8GB of RAM is still 8GB of RAM. Swap can only do so much, and it will add wear on the embedded NAND chips by writing to them.

8gb of unified memory or standard memory?

 

[EdwinG]

8gb of unified memory or standard memory?

Neither.

8GB of DRAM chips, the actual physical space.

 

[FFR]

Neither.

8GB of DRAM chips, the actual physical space.

I meant on your mother’s computer, is she using unified memory or std.

 

[EdwinG]

I meant on your mother’s computer, is she using unified memory or std.

16GB of standard memory.

 

[Trees]

The article "Check if your Mac needs more RAM in Activity Monitor" may help.

• https://support.apple.com/lt-lt/guide/activity-monitor/actmntr34865/mac