8GB vs 16GB vs 24GB for M2 Mac — The TRUTH about RAM!

Should you get 8GB, 16GB, or the brand new option, 24GB of RAM, for the M2 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or presumptive M2 Mac mini?

Here’s the truth!

🙏 PATREON THANK YOU!

James Hillhouse, Rick Vink, John Malkin, Ryan Parman, Paco Arango, Chad Potts, Shashank, Richard Urbano, Rod Gray, Daniel Pasco, Mark Lussier, Martin Perry, Christopher Wiggins, Dude, Jon Wheeler, Josef, Frederick Lakes Jr., Aziz Rahman, Sven Jasper

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[ReneRitchie]

🤔 Are you getting 8GB, 16GB, or 24GB on your M2 Mac?

[pawnmove]

I have both a 8GB and a 16GB M1 Mac. My workload is simple consisting of just office apps and browsers (with lots of tabs). The 8GB suffers lots of frequent latency stutters due to frequent RAM/SSD swapping with this mix of apps but the 16GB computer is always buttery smooth. I would never get a 8GB version again.

[Tushar.Sharma]

For Mac mini, do not upgrade storage beyond a total of 512 GB internal. For $200, you can get a superfast 2TB external SSD and are unlikely to notice difference in transfer speeds.

[salmann]

I bought M1 Pro base model, 16Gb ram and 512 Gb SSD as soon as it was released.. To be frank am soo happy about this purchase

[MichaelArgentini]

Something that no one is mentioning is that you actually get less RAM than you think because the RAM in an Apple Silicon Mac is also used for video memory. And each display reduces the available RAM in aggregate.

[thomaspaaruppedersen]

Another way of looking at it is that 16 GB extends the useful lifetime of the computer by years, which eventually *lowers* your yearly cost of having a computer.

[Datalanche]

I bought an M1 8x8 core 16GB RAM 512GB storage MacBook Air last year and love the thing. I chose to upgrade the RAM because I'm one of those that doesn't replace tech until it's either irreparably broken or will no longer perform my tasks. The M1 Air is so good I will probably keep it until Apple no longer supports it or it dies outside of my AppleCare term. It's such a high performance machine I could see myself keeping it for several years to come. I really think the 16GB of RAM was worth it because I very rarely see it use swap space at all, and the times I have, it's never been more than a few hundred megabytes. Astoundingly good machine for the price.

[loserstateofmind]

DAMMIT. I have been trying to justify getting the 8GB/256ssd combo but in the back of my head knew I wouldn't be future-proofing myself and now I know for sure I have to upgrade both as yes, it's a lot of money, but +400 over the course of the life of the computer is clearly more than worth it. Great video as always my guy.

[kienhwengtai]

Additional bonus with 16GB/24GB of RAM, less disk swapping on the SSD meaning less wear on the SSD.

[arcadiosincero]

Got the 24gb/1tb m2 MBA. Splurged for max RAM because I run VMs on my MBA. I went with 1TB because I’ve never actually been able to fill that up under my usual use cases, however I can easily fill up 512GB.

[dinkyshopYT]

Would like to see someone do interviews and then analysis of real world industries that use the products you analyze and review (other than video content creators), as a means to see actual workflow issues, bottlenecks, how they solve tech issues. Like how writers use Apple computers is entirely different than Mac based architects doing CAD and 3D rendering — which is arguably closer to heavy commercial movie studio editing type computing. So those set ups, problems and solutions for architects would be interesting to see vs people who are on Twitch gaming or live streaming something else.

[jesselam]

Even though I agree with the idea of getting more memory. (I have 16GB myself) For most users I think you are marking it sound worse than it actually is. Almost like 8GB should never be an option for buyers. For some people the base macbook is the limit of their budget.

Yes 8GB is barely enough from a technical standpoint, but mac swaps between the disk so well you generally can’t tell unless you do something intensive or that it specifically demands ALL of the memory at once. Tasks like web browsing and general use don’t require that, and hence the performance difference between 8GB and 16GB is little to none.

I think a better advice would be moreso in the lines of longevity. If you intend to use your mac longer than 4 years, then it is better to get more memory. Otherwise assuming your doing day to day tasks i really don’t see what’s wrong with the 8GB model.

[pandaengine]

I had an 8/256 M1 MBA for 11 months. Last month I sold it and upgraded to 16/512 M1 Pro MBP 14. Halfway through my ownage of the MBA, my job changed and it started to require more graphics power and more RAM. I got through 5 months with a Windows machine, but I just love how powerful and how efficient Apple Silicone is, I couldn’t stop myself from upgrading. The Windows work laptop is more powerful, but also takes off with a click of a button, so loud. And I can’t even put it to sleep without it overheating for no reason. With the Mac, I don’t even worry about running out of battery life when I go out to do my work at a cafe for several hours. I did get into big debt for it, but it was worth it for my job.

[janon]

Good video…… for professionals . These YouTubers forget about a lot of the customers who are students who just want a reliable laptop, if you don’t content create or make money of your laptop, then get the base model. Average student only needs base model .

[kesterbelgrove]

I really really agree with you, dongles will steal from the portable experience and also form the speed and convenience of getting a Macbook. I went 16G RAM and 1TB SSD on my MBP 14 unit, and it removes that fear of running out of space and speed. Mac's are a long term purchase so be prepared for the unexpected

[stephenridgway]

I’m running 16g of ram because of the os overhead and it was the right choice and with the 1T ssd my M1 MacBook Pro does the job.

[RafaelLudwig]

I agree, get as much RAM as you can afford. Also, knowing that the OS by itself uses 5gbs just to run idle. I'd rather spend money than waste time. Everyone has to choose which is more important to them. As always a great video Rene!

[TheMaxAwesome]

If operating system doesn’t matter to you much because you use cross-platform tools, there are a ton of really good options in the 13” thin and light category this year. The fact that you can’t dual boot OS easily on Macs now has me seriously considering other options, especially given the price hike this year. The latest storage speed nerf on the 2022 13” MBP is just another reminder that upgradable parts are a good thing.

[eric]

Spend the extra cash and get 16GB and 512GB. This is a laptop you can easily get a great five years out of. The resale value will be higher as well.

[Mathimilou]

I like the statement: 'If you know what memory pressure is, you pretty much just selected into the 16GB of ram group by default'. Made that easy for me!