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

my pocketbook is very happy and comfortable with .. a dangling external SSD hard drive..which is quite small and nomore a hassle than a magsafe charger..
for xtra internal storage.. sadly.. i rather invest in RAM than SSD .. if i were wealthy.. ofc .. id max out everything.

I still rock a mid 2012 MacBook Pro with 16GB an ram. Insane that it’s still more ram than the base models offer 12 years later…

Please ,which is better a macbook m2 pro with 16 gb or a macbook m2 with 24 gb ram, dj use

You want to make a bet that with each iteration of MacOS ... Apple will be thinking about all the recently purchased 8gb base models out there, and how to get their sucker owners to upgrade their 1-2 year old m1/2 macbooks for more memory models?

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.

The problem is here is that I should NOT have to upgrade to the normal, baseline of 16GB on a "premium" MacBook. Especially not at the prices they're asking for, this is highway robbery.

How much ram is recommended for gaming?

YOU SO HONEST! LOVED THIS VIDEO BRO! I WILL GO FOR 512GB AND 24RAM!!! LETSGOOOOOOOOO

I ordered 16 GB of RAM on my 2018 Mac Mini, so I intend to get 16 GB of unified memory & 512 GB SSD on my M2 Mac Mini. I have a 4 TB USB 3.x HDD always attached to my 2018 Mac Mini to hold all the documents & projects I create. as well as a 2 TB Time Machine HDD.

Came across your video today and it was pretty informative. I am stuck with the same question as I am planning to buy my first macbook.
Macbook air m1 8gb and 256 gigs is what is available in the stores nearby my place.
My use cases are -
1. Ms office and apples office suite
2. Spreadsheets
3. Research
4. Articles
5. Browsing
6. Content consumption
7. Music creation as a hobby
8. Occasional video and photo editing - nothing big time. But I do do it sometimes

Have been doing all of these in my phones from the last few years and now I am planning to get my first macbook.
What would you suggest-
To get an M1 or M2.
And will 8gb suffice or do I need to jump and go for 16gb Ram

If I purchase it now
I will be using it for the next 5-6 years.

What would be the best bet???

Море воды.

Many words, near to no content…

8gb shouldn’t be sold anymore

Perfect explanation. 😊 I hope to ask since iv just bought online and its still on its way, Mac Mini M2 with this specs 8 cpu 10 gpu 24gb ram. However i forgot to upgrade my storage got the 256gb baseline. Do you think it will still run smoothly for basic office work and a few video editing? Thanks alot ❤

7 minutes of garbage. Just get all 3 and do a benchmark. Give me data, not worthless words.

The internal storage being super-fast is BS. It is slower than external storage on M2, a bit faster on M2 Pro and Max with 1 TB and above, faster on Mac Studio with 4 TB and above. But still slower than PCIe Gen 4 SSDs. Unfortunately Thunderbolt 3 is limited to Gen 3 x4, which is 4 GB/s, which is still faster than any storage configuration on the M2. And it's many times cheaper. Apple SSDs (and RAM) are a total ripoff. That's why they're not replaceable. They charge at least 4 times the actual price. It's worth spending more on internal storage only on MacBooks, for Mac mini and Mac Studio there are docks which sit under it and also provide front USB and SD card slots. And for the Mac Pro you can upgrade the storage or add a PCIe to NVMe adapter.

Makes no sense to spend the money on storage….

what a great video!

Thank you. The truth instead of this nonsense about magical unified ram being double of normal ram somehow. I was actually emphatically told this in an apple store and I had to come and find out if that was true like what? Turns out, as Steve would have said, that's not true at all.

I should have watched this before I ordered my M2 MacBook Air yesterday ;_;

Gaming is the only thing I could see using over 8GB of RAM and Apple isn't really known for gaming. .... Typing this on a CX210X core2duo T7400 with 4GB of ram from 2007. Media, Music, Photoshop, and video editing is fine even on this ancient machine. So i'd imagine an 8GB M1/M2 Mac would be fine. Now if you were gaming or doing 3D modeling like blender or unity maybe that would be a different story but... I imagine most people will be doing basic office work, school work, or media consumption.

Simple answer: get 24GB. Presto: you’re future-proofed.

Just purchased an M2 MacBook Air. I had enough cash for one upgrade of the base model so i chose to upgrade the memory to 16GB. I am not a creator, and my MacBook is used far more for productivity and web based tasks. I used iCloud based storage for almost everything where i have a TB.

My M2 Air will be plugged into a Studio Display when i am not travelling with it. Permanently plugged into that Studio Display is a T7 Sumsung external SSD. Internal HD space nor the read/write performance will ever be an issue with my workflow as the only thing i use the internal SSD for is Apps.

Sure u would love it had the base minimum storage option was 512 GB. However, i doubt I’d ever come close to using that amount of internal storage in my setup.

I applaud your eloquence and your mastery of grammar. So refreshing to my old ears! Thanks for a great video!

Well said thanks for sharing :-) I agree depends on what you use it for right? THANKS FOR explaining.

Just bought Macbook Air 8gb 256 version - but I'm also running a 2008 iMac with Linux Mint and there's no real difference in performance. Imagine that....

It’s clear you don’t know what you’re talking about. Do you believe $200.00 Ram and $200.00 SSD, just falls from the sky? The starting price is $599.99 pre tax. It’s reckless of you to tell people to add more. What you need to do it’s tell Apple in 2023 8GB and 256GB is not enough.

If you try to play crossy road on the Mac m2 it maxes out and heats up

M2 Mac Mini 16gb ran with 512SSD HD WILL be ample enough to use for home video editing ? Thanks

I have an 8gb m2 pro. Just for web browsing, a lil bit of ms excel work load and for DoTa 2 🫶

Very well said, sir. It is likely that they will test those machines with software that few are using and that most of us have never heard of let alone used. When the M3 comes out, I would personally like it to have 24GB/1TB of storage.

I disagree on the recommendation to just go to Mx Pro chipset when choosing 24GB. The price is still much higher on Mx Pro since when trying to have an a close RAM config(32GB), it will be more expensive. 24GB M2 Air is the budget option.

Ram is easy to decide! My real issues are Two: 1. Has Apple identified the cause of malfunctioning wifi (package dropping) AND solved it?! And 2. Has bluetooth been fixed? As magnificent as the rest is, what worth has it when you spend hours with "problem solving"? As of now (i.e. available information, I see a Mac mini M2 that looks like a car with a formula one machine, and many guys talk enthusiastically about it's amazing motor, but nobody is noticing that the wheels are missing and the gearbox is made of chocolate! I found two posts reporting bluetooth functioning for Three months, but that's all! Have you knowledge about the state of bluetooth AND wifi on the Mac mini M2? I thought I finally found the right computer, but now I have serious doubts!

You really had to interview the queen of product bandwagon iJustine?

Technology marketing model is around (the) 'latest/greatest/fastest', impulses. "Future" proofing theory doesn't fit and drive tech business. Technology is the order of the day. Use 'brains+use cases' and avoid 'impulses'. Same goes for any tech gadget you buy. Figure your actual utilization and use cases.

no, i would take the 24GB model. because when you go Pro for 32GB its a thousand bucks more! doesnt make sense.

Talk less and prove the statement dude. It is not helpful if it is just 'saying'

I like 12gb RAM

Think different 😂

Hey, is there a way i can assign more graphics memory? it's allocating 1536MB but I need 2000MB to run lightrooms new features. I have a 32Gb RAM.

The problem is price. The difference from 8 gb to 16 gb is HUGE. Apple incentives you to buy the 8 gb version, only to find out very soon that it's not enough, then you try to upgrade, and you can't. Most users have no idea that the memory on M2 cannot be upgraded.

just close apps and you are fine. why have 25 apps open? you use maybe 4 or 5 max at one time, be real with yourself.

Not sure which one to get M2 pro base version - more cores with 16gb RAM or M2 upgraded - less cores with 24gb ram.

Use case Figma, Illustrator and Photoshop for professional day to day use. After effects - occasional. May dabble into 3D later

if I take the M2 it will be 8 core CPU, 10 core GPU and 24GB ram. Can't afford the 32GB RAM upgrade in the M2 Pro. Would multiple cores aid the 16GB RAM and would that be enough?

If that Storage creep comes near my laptop I hit him with a shillelagh!

🌬🔥🔥Love the show but to much talk in the beginning just get with the info Big Brother. ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥Your already the GOAT 🐐 😎

8GB is fine "for now" people tend to increase their usage of a computer as time goes on. Whilst the swap implementation on MacOS does hide performance issues due to swapping well (compared to windows) it does cause thrashing of the SSD reducing it's lifespan and with the slower base level SSD speeds you may see a slowdown.