8GB vs 16GB M3 MacBook Air - DOES IT ACTUALLY MATTER?

[@MarkEllisReviews]

What kinda person are you: 8GB or 16GB?

[@jay.jay.1]

I have both but I like 8gb

[@Here.there.andaware]

24GB 😂 I think of 16gb as the new standard and wanted to future proof it a little bit more (if that’s even possible). Graphic design purposes, no 3d, and just really like the fanless thin design..

[@barbancourt69]

Since I couldn't make up my mind between a 8 or 16 GB, I bought the 24 GB. Just to make sure it could help me for the next few years.

[@SnoringVids]

We got the 16gb, do you think KZbin doesn't promote videos that are darker (less bright)?

[@Noisequik]

iMac M1 16 GB, MacBook Air M1 8Gb 699.00 😊

[@rockstar6790]

My M1 MacBook Air has 8GB of memory and it's fine with me. Though I will say, Apple should just drop the 8GB memory and just give the 16GB memory as the base standard

[@vong4518]

Bright idea, but they`ll just pump up the base price up £$500€… Price for storage is just MENTAL though…

[@christopher_campbell]

Then in the future the 16GB will become the 8GB

[@chennyye28]

I do think they should go with base 12GB and upgraded 24GB after sell all the 8GB memory they had bought...

[@chennyye28]

@@just_a_random_dude3 That's exactly what I think. 8GB is going to be limited, and I don't believe they will give us 16GB as baseline air, so perhaps 12GB will be the baseline in the future.

[@Scornfull]

@@chennyye28 Considering how much you're paying 16 GBs of RAM is what you should get from the base model or at least allow you to install more like a normal manufacturer instead of forcing you to spend more for no reason other than their greed

[@adam872]

The issue is the lack of upgradability post-purchase and the fact that these machines tend to last for a long time. I'll be putting the extra memory in mine when I order it.

[@user-hl9jq8iz4i]

Yes that’s what I did

[@Sans-censure]

I just ordered the MBA M3 with 16GB 256SSD (I have Icloud storage) because I am going for 8 years of law studies and I want it to last as long as my studies. Hope I did the right thing.

[@bigrhcpguy1958]

I have the same one just with 512gb and i guarantee you will have that laptop throughout those 8 years due its reliability, i would buy and external hard drive further down the line

[@cpallasguardiola]

I bought a macbook pro 9 years ago for med school and i’m still using it today as a radiologist. They last for ages

[@Mariusr189]

⁠Same here! I bought my MacBook pro in january 2014, for school, and I’m still using it. Considering the air m3 now though, as it won’t last forever..

[@blacktiger2154]

I also just started my 7 year course of law studies and I’m debating which MacBook I should get

[@NotEconomicallyViable]

I’ve been editing 4K GoPro footage on my base M1 Mac Mini with a 256GB SSD and 8GB memory and I’ve never had an issue. Sure, I can’t keep multiple apps open when I’m video editing, but apart from that it’s golden.

[@Literallyarealhuman]

With m3? That’s great

[@Nothdufugidkaj]

@@Literallyarealhumanif I buy MacBook Air m3 chip 8gb ram so will it work good for like school and normal work and keep tabs open in back? Will it lag or what

[@ThiccGungan]

@@Nothdufugidkaj Yes it will work fine - I doubt there will be any lag. I use a m3 air with 8gb for light programming, browsing, and listening to youtube at the same time with no issues at all

[@Nothdufugidkaj]

@@ThiccGungan ok thank you

[@welsh1lad]

I have the M1 Mac Air 8Gig , And have been using it for about 4Years , and not had an issue . Vscode , terraform Docker running multipass hypervisor for running ubuntu. Drive access as you said since i have 2 nandchips is not an issue. This year for my desktop replaced my old Mac Air that was being used as a desktop, with a Macmini M2 Pro 16Gig . So far all system perform with no issues. MacBook Air Rocks in most user case's .

[@truebro77]

what about Lightroom?

[@piotrd.4850]

What kind of hypervisor do you use?

[@Thebigbean114]

Dude how, I have an hase m2 MacBook Air and I only have one web browser, Wezterm with neovim and OBS web browsing slows down significantly

[@cyph3r76]

I’m still using a 2013 MacBook Pro with 8gb ram. Still running fine.

[@verasambience]

Omg i have that as well right now but mines a trainwreck. How is yours okay? I really want a new one bc watching a youtube video is hard on it

[@hughesdj1968]

Where I work we have a fully funded standard catalogue (deemed suitable for most) which is either 16GB Windows laptop or 8GB MacBook Air. I have the Air and as an IT Sys Admin it's perfectly fine for my needs.

[@Anthony-kp7sf]

yeah I don't think people realize with the m chips 8gb of Mac ram is like 16gb of windows ram. and swap apparently does not matter, as I've had an m1 for 4 years and the drive is completely healthy..

[@ThomasAndy-qu8dp]

@@Anthony-kp7sf im sorry what ?8gb isn't 16gb of ram, that's not how it works at all.

[@jamestribie3387]

@@ThomasAndy-qu8dpno, apple created a way where the 8gb of ram works so efficiently that its comparable to 16gb from a PC

[@ThomasAndy-qu8dp]

@@jamestribie3387 No it's absolutely not. Here is a simple explanation that has been thrown around that i hope will help you: RAM explanation - Think ram as a bucket and 1 GB Ram equals to 1 litter water. Apple giving 8 litters of bucket windows giving 16 litters of bucket So apple one might be high quality or faster it can't stores more then 8 litters of water, Windows one might be slow or little less quality than apple one but it can store 16 little or water. Basically, if your tasks requires you MORE ram than 8gb, it doesn't matter if your 8gb mac is more "efficient", it literraly can't go over 8gb. It's that simple. If you have 8gb, you will have to not multi tasks unless these are lights load of works (like word, power point + 15 tabs on your browser).

[@techstuff7132]

@@jamestribie3387 Yeah this has been debunked to death, 8Gb RAM on Mac is not equivalent to 16Gb on Windows. People need to stop spewing this lie.

[@stevekoutros9358]

My last Macbook was a Pro from mid-2017. Yep, would have typically bought a new one sooner. I just. bought the 16GB/1TB 15" Macbook Air last Friday. If you amortize the 400 quid or dollars for 16GB+1TB, it's 80 quid/dollars per year for 5 years or 21 cents per day. Not much of a decision. Also, the 6-letter word, resale, does help at the end when you buy the new M8 Macbook Air ;-)

[@belizarius_997]

A much more important question you should ask yourself is whether you need a laptop or a desktop. My 2020 MBP M1 spent four years docked and never left my desk. I had enough of its limited port selection and gradually dying battery. I swapped it for the base model M2 Pro Mac mini and I couldn't be happier. I got the monitor I want, a keyboard I like and a lot of ports.

[@obscvre]

I don't think this is even a question needs to be considered by a lot of people, if you don't need the portability, why would you even buy a laptop in the first place? People who go for the MacBook obviously need the portability, simple as that.

[@cheapme1850]

@@obscvreThe reason is limited space. Many people don’t have a separate desk or office so a laptop, with an integrated screen and keyboard, will fit fine on a kitchen table.

[@belizarius_997]

@@obscvre I agree with the principal, however, my point was about perspective and the ever-changing work environment. People usually treat purchases like that as a long-term investment (3-6 years). What we need now might not be necessary in a few years. Working from home has completely reshaped my portability needs. I don't travel to my clients as much as I did as nearly everything can be done remotely. Hence, in my case, exceptional battery endurance at the expense of the screen size/keyboard comfort/port selection became a tough sell. But hey, all generalizations are false including this one.

[@Scornfull]

@@belizarius_997 Apple is a shell of its former self honestly they're not a great investment like they used to be, that ship has sailed ever since Steve Jobs passed away

[@valdir7426]

I've got a laptop with a monitor; mouse and keyboard; it's plugged to a thunderbolt hub through one cable; I have all the connectivity I need; the laptop screen makes a good secondary screen; and I need a laptop anyway so it's either this or a laptop plus a desktop (which I did for a while and it's more trouble than it's worth because you have to do constant back and forth with your data). The battery is a question but Apple is getting better at this since if you're always plugged it will probably limit the charge to 80% and conserve it.

[@DavideGalliani]

Hi Mark, I just watched this video and just subscribed to your channel. I would like to ask you a question: I have a 2020 Mac mini M1 with 8GB of RAM and since I installed Sonoma the animated wallpapers when restarted after a standby period appear slow, with jerky animations. I have 500 GB of SSD and 150 GB free. Do you think it's the RAM's fault? Could I get smooth animations again with a virtual cleanup of my Mac?

[@RadekPogoda]

I built a 45K subscriber channel on a 2-core i5 MacBook Pro from 2017, base M1 Mini and the M1 Air with 8GB RAM and upgraded storage. Yes, it can be done.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Well, there you go 💪

[@kylecastellino6402]

Cool but you needed all 3 right? I don’t wanna come off as a Karen but if you did need all 3, it’s still a valid question to ask whether 8 or 16 is enough.

[@breadgarlichouse2265]

just because you can doesn't mean one should

[@Scornfull]

What's your point? Like you can do a lot of things on overly priced terrible products but like why should you?

[@verasambience]

I recently built a 10k channel on a 2013 macbook pro i5 8gb. Checkmate! (Do not recommend btw)

[@vicity4585]

comment section is why Apple can get away with this for so many years. at this point, 16GB should be the minimum but y'all enable this bad behavior

[@SPG685]

I currently have an M2 Pro Mac Mini with 16GB Memory and 512GB SSD as well as an M1 iPad Air with 256GB. I’m debating about selling the iPad to get either a larger iPad or a MacBook. Or I can try to get a MacBook on top of what I already have. What do you think would be the best choice?

[@dpats54]

I would sell Mac mini for MacBook and a good quality dock the iPad works great as a second screen with the continuity function and screen share function and you can just dock the MB for regular computer use. I’ve got 2 Mac minis, one I use as a server for media streaming, a MacBook and and iPad Pro and work full time in MacOS and would really recommend that mix of the product lineup

[@mzeshanb]

Great video. Solidified my decision, thanks!

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Glad I could help!

[@mzeshanb]

Need a replacement for my 8 year old iPad Pro. Waiting on the new iPads but they don’t seem to be appearing any time soon. Gave me time to think. Need a portable device for work purposes (word documents, photo editing and about to start to learn how to code). 13 inch new iPad Pro would be in MacBook Air territory with 16GB but the MBA seems better for battery and typing!

[@victorop8320]

​@@MarkEllisReviews I am confused about this variant MacBook Air M2 16GB and MacBook Air M3 8GB. Whats your suggestion for the next 5-6 years?

[@itsepitome]

@@mzeshanbthe iPad event is on may 7th!

[@bernios3446]

It's easy, when you want to use Adobe Lightroom + photoshop with higher resolving photos, 8GB of RAM is not good. I have one of those, and it is choking with the mentioned programs.

[@arlencarlson]

I disagree. M2 16GB is the best. Solves the NAND chip issue, and less thermal throttling.

[@edgar_annapurna]

I agree. I have the 16gb 1tb m2 and my partner has the m3. It heats up faster

[@verasambience]

So memory swapping bc of 8gb makes the macbook air warmer than just having 16gb of ram? I wanna video edit and like the look of the air more and im trying to find out what is important for the smoothest playback in video editing and rendering. Exportjng times is not a concern of mine, i dont really care. Can you help?

[@verasambience]

@@edgar_annapurnaoh really? Im kinda struggling choosing between the macbook air m2 16GB 1 TB or macbook air m3 16GB 512 GB. I was wondering if the 1 TB storage would make the laptop hotter bc the laptop would be more fuller bc of the physically bigger SSD? And i didnt know if the m3 makes a lot of difference with video editing in premiere pro so if it barely makes a difference i could just get the bigger storage with m2 for the same price

[@breadgarlichouse2265]

get 16GB, you won't regret it and you'll be more "future proof"

[@grizfan93]

how? How will spending money on more memory make my computer "future proof"? I hear this all the time, but no one ever explains why. Will browsing the web or using Powerpoint suddenly need twice as much memory? Based on what? At least offer some backing for "future proof". Right now, just empty words.

[@breadgarlichouse2265]

@@grizfan93 have you accepted Korean Jesus into your life yet?

[@grizfan93]

@@breadgarlichouse2265 No need, I'm future proof".

[@jacobshhm]

@@grizfan93 Future proof is another marketing empty sentence... Buying future proof for another couple hundreds and than changing the laptop again in a few yers does not make any sense. It's better to upgrade when you hit the peak.

[@grizfan93]

@@breadgarlichouse2265 No, but I have accepted Korean BBQ into my life.

[@Denvermorgan2000]

Im using a base m2 and its fine no problems at all.

[@nicolasb.henry294]

Same here I came from a 16gb Ram 512gb SSD HP...and this M2 destroy my Windows laptop im every task... especially for my artistic work while my HP was "all fans up" this MacBook do the task stone cold and IN SILRNCE.

[@Scornfull]

@@nicolasb.henry294 You do realize CPU and GPU also matters right? Also how much did that system cost?

[@Anthony-kp7sf]

@@Scornfull the thing is that apple's ram is special its not the same thing as regular ram for some reason. its way beefier. and it costs about what it should, but you're going to pay for it. by the time you're at 16 or 32gb of apple ram you're spending 200-400$ at which point you should just go buy a gaming PC because that's the only thing you'll use the ram for anyways.

[@Scornfull]

@@Anthony-kp7sf False, RAM isn't "beefier" there's a hard limit on what a certain amount of RAM can do, also the way they get around that is by using the pagefile of the SSD which is much slower than RAM and it also greatly shortens its lifespan, anything outside of watching KZbin and running office or microsoft word needs at least 12 GBs to function properly aka video editing, rendering, gaming and multitasking with a lot going on

[@truebro77]

with what? Do yo use Lightroom?

[@georgetyronejr.2925]

Well . I purchased a MacBook Pro 14’ 14 M4 10 core 16GB , 512GB SSD , Space BLACK. I’m getting for my dj software . Virtual dj build 7042 . Will this work with my dj software?

[@asan1050]

Mark Thanks for posting this video.

[@latinreuben]

M2 or m3 is my dilemma. Considering i have 230gb to transfer to new MBA...should i keep MBA 15 M2 (16/1tb) priced at 1500 or return to get MBA 15 M3 (16/512) at 1550.

[@aadharsh1094]

If not much of heavy usage,I'll go with 1 tb

[@KatysCampKitchen]

I am considering the Mac book air. You mentioned that you use it as a backup for video editing. Would you mind sharing what video editor you use? I use iMovie currently but am considering going to FCP Thanks for all your great reviews!

[@MarkEllisReviews]

I use Final Cut Pro. Thanks for the kind words!

[@KatysCampKitchen]

@@MarkEllisReviews Thank you for letting me know!!!! I am buying the M3 Studio when released. I am running with a 2017 MBP as my only computer at the moment. I also need a new laptop for travel so adding the Air to my list. Thanks so very much!

[@386vwade]

Does the 2024 MacBook Air M2 updated Base of 16GB still suffer from the Slow Read & Write speeds??? Thanks

[@FBarclayMC]

Thank you! Love your clear answer and also your delivery, fun to listen to and now I am going to get the right laptop for me with confidence.

[@ozancandemirsk9423]

Excellent video. Subscribed. Thank you!

[@andyH_England]

Yes, for those complaining, buying the 16GB/256GB should stop the worrying. Although people will whine about £200 being too much, on the MB Air 13-inch, you also get the 10-core GPU instead of the 8-core, which is a £100 upgrade. So the reality is that £ 200 is quite reasonable. But I have used an MB Pro 13 M1 for 3.5 years and am typing on it now. The efficiency of RAM has improved since it was new, so I find myself with even more headroom than on day one. As my workflow will not change, this base MB will last as long as I need it or if it breaks. For casual users, 8GB is absolutely enough. Ignore the people rushing to Mac reviews and flexing on this, as their agenda is biased. They will never mention that MS, for example, starts at 8GB/256GB (Surface Laptop 6 (2024)) for a similar price as the MB Air M3. You never see this brought up in Surface reviews; it's hypocrisy and a sign of the hate the Windows community has for Macs.

[@davidjacobs6244]

Spot on 👍

[@theglowcloud2215]

Could you be more of a victim? Jesus Christ. Apple, the poor, oppressed $3 trillion company, and their poor, misunderstood, affluent userbase. 😂Grab the wheel, dude. Apple charges extortionate upgrade fees and they outright LIE about RAM somehow working "differently" on Apple silicon versus x86 platforms. It's all complete crap. They're lying to you and you're defending your captors. As for Microsoft, I have the same opinion: 8GB of RAM in 2024 is just perverse, and the only reason they keep doing it is because people keep buying it. 8GB of non-upgradable RAM should be against the law, because it'll be e-waste soon.

[@paulwoodward8265]

I'll mention it. MS should not sell that spec. I know someone who bought a 8GB surface for work, and it can't even run Teams meetings reliably - he lost a contract because of it. We had to buy a replacement surface book. I say 8GB is not a good idea on macOS, but it does depend what you do on it - the native Apple apps are quite memory efficient, you can get away with it. I would go further on Windows, 8GB is nowhere near enough to run Teams and Outlook, never mind anything else at the same time. The only saving grace with many Windows devices is you can add more RAM later - many, but not all.

[@delaneyondreams]

What is slacking and what is swapping? What a wonderful, precise, personable presenter you are! Thank you so much! Subscribed! BTW it is a pleasure to hear one speak such lovely English! I have just moved from San Francisco to Central Florida, and the manners of speacking by most people here is painful.

[@techhubwiltsuk]

I had an M1 MacBook Pro and now I’ve got an M2 air both had eight gigs of ram and I never had an issue

[@alternateaccount4868]

Should I get m3 8 gb ram?

[@GinaZheng]

You described me between 8 vs 16. I had macbook pro 2015. Now I don't have any. I want a lightweight air 15. I do home video now and then not daily. I watch movies online often and do photo editing. Should I get 8 or 16?

[@Alexander0189]

Hi Mark, just wondering what your thoughts are on this - I currently have the 16" M1 Pro - I'd like to shed some weight on my tech and was considering the M3 Air 15", if I went to the M3 Air from the 16" M1 Pro MBP do you think that's a very bad move? I don't do anything intensive on my laptop, I use it for photo editing via Lightroom and media (KZbin, Netflix etc) so I don't need much power. Just wondering what your thoughts are - keep the MBP or get the Air? Thank you ☺

[@KseRBanshee]

1st downgrade I can think of is the 120hz to 60hz display. Some people would say it’s not big of a trade off but imho once you are used to 120hz screen the 60hz looks awfully stuttering. You can change the 16” display to 60hz to see what I meant and see how you like it. The colour pops better on 16” display since it’s a mini led as well. 2nd trade off would be speakers quality. 3rd is the screen real estate. 4th I can think of is the bezel size of the screen. 5th would be the power when you need it. For me I wouldn’t trade all these just for 700g weight saving or maybe a bit longer battery life. But it depends on what you prefer more I guess

[@NawlinstoVegas]

My hot take, and by the way Mark love your videos. I just bought the M3, 8 gig 15inch MacBook Air Midnight color. it was an opened box from Best Buy for $1050.00 US. My laptop is for stuff like you described. Running a business. My next purchase will be a M3 iMac and I will get the 16 gig ram because I want the head room to do some amateur video editing. Still rocking the 2017 iMac I5 27 inch and get this, it came with 8 gigs and it's been running like champ.

[@tylergilliam1065]

I just got the 16gb m3 iMac was going to go with the MacBook Pro but the iMac is so light its portable enough for me to bring it from house to house lol

[@kameliabiswas2827]

What is better? Air 13 m2 with 16gb/512gb or take m3 with bigger storage or RAM. Too confused 😭😭 prices are almost the same. Will use it for studying, browsing and tutoring.

[@glennsan1998]

I bought my wife an M2 15 inch MacBook Air last year because her 10 year year-old 15 inch 2015 MacBook Pro had stopped receiving security updates and because she had so much video I put the 512 GB option on it. I actually did a just a quick test of some easy video work that I do for KZbin on itand it was exactly the same speed and frames per second as my M2 MacBook Pro with twice the ram more GPU cars and one terabyte hard drive. For simple work I just don’t think you can beat that M2 or M3 processor and I don’t think you need the pro and I’m starting to wonder if you really need 16 GB of ram

[@brandondelgado7731]

I just want to figure out which one to buy. I do digital painting and graphic design with Adobe CS and Affinity as well as clip studio paint and connect a cintiq to my still working MBP 2019 and I keep my laptops for 7-8 years at least as I don’t have money for expensive upgrades so easily. Would an air be enough for that with 8GB long term or upgrade to 16 RAM? Or look for an older pro with M2 chip which will have no apple suppprt a year before the M3 does?

[@thecooldude4564]

Look for M1 Max or a M2 pro.

[@brandondelgado7731]

@@thecooldude4564 thanks cool dude. Was actually just looking at refurbished and the M1 Max is way down in price now

[@thecooldude4564]

@@brandondelgado7731 yea and it’s still better than a M3 MacBook Air.

[@setarem.m9089]

Thank you for your video.

[@VagabondZebra]

I've really been on the fence with this, I hate buying something that you can't upgrade but it's hard to pass up a laptop that goes 15+ hours and performs so well on battery. That being said I'm primarily going to be using it for writing. The 8GB will definitely work I just rebel against the tyranny of that being the option. In a pinch I'd like to be able to use it for more. We've reached a point when we expect even the laptop we buy to use off the cord to do everything we need. It does seem like the 8GB will work for everything plus some light video editing, it's just hard to pull the trigger thinking it might not last as long as a 16GB model.

[@CarlC9898]

If you buy refurbished online you might find a 16gb for close to the price of an 8gb depending on the chip you want

[@congstar68]

Quite informative, thank you!

[@Starlightandcrystals]

I have an macbook air from 2017.An intel. 8 Gb and 121 Gb in Storage. ofcause I am stuck back at Monterey. I use my computer for Internet.email, youtube, Watching movies. I do like to be able to keep my apple for 10 years. My dream is to buy a 15 inch..I do not have a tv and no plans to buy one either at this time. What do you think ?

[@jackmoff90038]

Great overall analysis. My advice, anyone who needs their MacBook for more "professional" tasks, get a used M1/M2 Pro/Max if you can't pick up a newer M3/M3 Pro MacBook.

[@ThomasAndy-qu8dp]

how does it matter ?At this price range, 16 gb should be NORMAL.

[@adunford2664]

I have the 8g MacBook Air m2. It has no problems with photos or websites, very quick and slick. Never slow.

[@terrydunlin]

Where do you stick all your apple stickers? 👍

[@themainman00]

Coming from a 2015 13 in Pro Dual Core w/ 16GB and 512GB, I got the 15 inch Air M3 w/ 1TB and maxed out the RAM. I paid $500 less for the 15in Air than the 13 in Pro(not considering inflation). I never thought I’d enjoy using a laptop again. The next time I would upgrade is when Apple gives the Air an OLED display. Mind you I had gotten the 13 in iPad Pro then returned it for the MacBook Air. I think the Air is more of a convertible than the iPad Pro.

[@jamarisaiah3994]

Is the 1TB of storage necessary? I have a 2019 MBP with 1TB and use it for work mainly now. I was looking to strictly get this for work using zoom, and chrome mainly

[@AJCusimano]

One other question, you sold me on the 16gb unified memory (is that a marketing term???). Which is a better combination, the 256 or 512gb drive?

[@Michelangelo94]

I just bought a base model 8/256 13-inch Air to see how it feels. First day, while researching for my side hustle, an ad-heavy website all of a sudden started using 3.1 GB of RAM and required a force quit. Not to say that this is a reason to panic (though I am considering returning and buying the 16/512 model), but it is discouraging that any website or application may suddenly cause a crash because there isn't enough RAM.

[@Salty_Biscuitz88]

Yes get the 16gb one and use them side by side to see which you prefer. Return one of them.

[@vivekjadhav2210]

Please sir make video on music production test

[@musicofnote1]

When the M1 Air came out, I bought one with 8Gb ram and 512GB SSD. Continually got memory warnings. Sold it and bout a 15" M2 Air with 1TB SSD... and all is well. Because my favourite music notation software went belly up. What works with whatever system is what you get. So I bought a pristime 15" 2015 MacBook Pro 2.8GHz, 16GB Ram and 1TB SSD - also has a new screen and new battery ... for $200. Runs that old program perfectlz as well as the new ones I'm trying to learn. No memory problems, no slowdowns. the M2 is my daily driver, the 2015 Intel for music notation.

[@peterzimmermann4841]

Hey, here´s a remark from a Windows / Intel user: I have 2 almost identical 14" Lenovo notebooks 1) Ryzen 3 5300 + 4 GB RAM and Ryzen 5 5500 + 16 GB RAM. My usecase is similar to what you desrcibed and in real life I feel ZERO difference in performance

[@gregorycalixte8070]

Just bought a MacBook Air M3 16gb 265gb of memory should be good for about three years.

[@rajeevvarma7946]

Is 8 G good enough for i movie? I only use Mac for that. The cost difference between M2 MacMini with 8 RAM and 16 RAM is $400 !!

[@dumpstertaco-c6h]

Conclusion, actually wrapped up the video and reviewed the main points! Earned a sub from me!

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Welcome onboard!

[@abirmondal357]

My usecase adds daily usage of Figma on top of what he mentioned. On an M1 air with 8gigs, I end up with the not enough memory message practically every other day. So if yours matches my use case, do consider the 16.

[@aishwaryadk5938]

Should i go for 16gb mac air m3 or 8gb mac m3 pro

[@allanawilks7232]

What do you use for production editing?

[@adamegbaria5475]

Can anyone help me please? I want a MacBook where the “enter” key is big and not half size. Which keyboard layout is this? US or international layout?

[@lknsardari]

Hey mate! I would have love a little bit of data on the swap issue, because you just say it doesn't exist and yet, it does. Seeing how your SSD is compared to the brand new one would have been nice. With Smartmontools, for example. Even if it's not criminal 😇I'm on the "8 GB is not enough" side, because it's a unified memory, shared with the graphic part of the chip. So it's not 8 GB dedicated to the CPU as we are used to. But yeah, like you, I don't have the data to back my argument and I would have love to see it (being right or wrong doesn't matter, knowing does). Thank you for your videos !

[@andyH_England]

If you search, there are zero records of RAM swap and breaking SSDs, and the math suggests you have to write for decades for them to fail. It is up to you to prove this is an issue, as it is scaremongering by people with agendas. Unfortunately, Apple uses proprietary NAND storage that is not public records, so no one knows precisely how they squeeze so much efficiency out of their RAM management. The suggestions are: 1/They use enterprise-quality SSDs. 2/ They have a quality SLC reservoir for faster swap. 3/ They have a larger than usual DDR4 memory cache on the SSD that handles not only the controller software and algorithms but also acts as a pool for the faster swap that has no wear implication. MaxTech proved the latter when he tested single versus dual 256GB NAND. The dual NAND had better swap speeds due to having two pools of SLC/DDR4 memory cache. So, to conclude, and from my research and experience, 8GB is effectively 11-12GB of non-destructive RAM (including swap on the disk RAM) before flash storage is touched. So, for the average ultrabook user, that would be enough with no risk of SSD wear, let alone worrying about the SSD's half-life. Ergo; it is a fallacy promoted by those who want to flex on Apple.

[@nathengadney4778]

I had an 8gb Mac book air m3 space grey and because of this video changed it to a 16gb Mac book air midnight with 512gb of storage 🤣

[@humanoid-j2y]

Resale value was mentioned about 14 times during the video, but something isn't exactly clear for me. After a few years, when the prices drop let's say 50% across the board, and the 16GB version would be priced at €750 instead of €1500, you think people won't buy the 8GB version for €550? I highly doubt that, since a majority of buyers are budget oriented, and at the lower pricepoints the €200 difference becomes much more significant.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

You've lost me a bit there mate, I'm afraid.

[@fredarthur6231]

Great review....helps me with my decision. You sound exactly like Thomas Dolby!

[@captainswift8465]

Another thing that is worth considering is that upgrading either the storage or RAM bumps you up to the higher spec version of the M3 chip (10 vs 8 GPU cores) at no additional price (normally a £100 upgrade) so the jump from 8gb to 16gb or 256gb to 512gb is more of a £100 upgrade

[@richardbaker7480]

Good video, Mark. As a recent purchaser of M3 base model I'm fairly reassured! As a side question...what mouse do you use with your MacBooks?!?

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Nice! The Logitech MX Master 3S.

[@richardbaker7480]

@@MarkEllisReviews thanks. I've got the magic mouse (for first time) and I'm not convinced.

[@michaelrutar2104]

@@richardbaker7480after a month with the Magic Mouse you won’t go back

[@ognickea7180]

Currently doing an assignment for one of the courses in my MIS program on the base m2 Mac mini with about 15 safari tabs open , one of them on KZbin distracting me right now, with ppt, excel, and word and it currently shows 7.06 gigs used. I have not experienced any performance issues for my use case.

[@bashirmdyt]

Please make a video comparing MacBook Air m3 with 16 gb ram 256gb storage to MacBook Air m2 16 gb ram 512 gb storage. Because in this configuration the price is almost same. Which one should I go for.???

[@justinmeredith1968]

There will be zero difference in performance

[@CanInelli]

It matters. I am selling my 8GB M2 Air and bought a 24GB M3 Air. 8GB is not enough if you are running multiple tabs or multitasking.

[@manoharanrajkumar4814]

Hi Mark, I follow your reviews on a regular basis. I was just wondering whether you would help me out in choosing a Macbook to run Parallels 19 desktop applications, mainly for Windows. I do not play any games on the computer, and I use it mainly for productivity. I would be grateful if he could answer the question.

[@leebeeskee]

Cue geeks/nerds in the comments whinging about 8GB just because they personally might want more but don't understand the needs for average users... Even tech KZbinrs are annoying now as most don't seem to have a clue about real world usage and the target market.

[@Romeoofbrasil]

The message from the sponsor was anything but quick but I digress. Great Review as usual

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Great reviews and (free) videos aren't cheap to make, mate ;) Glad you enjoyed it, though.

[@julben1900]

4 years ago, I gave my Dad my 2012 I7 Macbook Pro (i'd upgraded over the years to 16Gb and 512SSD) and bought a 16Gb M1 Air. 4 years on and I'm still delighted with it, only the old Pro is out of security updates and is struggling, even for Dad's limited usage. So, I've passed down my M1. Went round in circles but decided as I don't intend to replace this new one for 10+ years, 8/256 could potentially become a problem. Plus, no point saving £100 if I come to regret it longer term, so M2 is out. Just taken delivery of an M3 16/512. Can't honestly tell it apart from my M1 in terms of performance (browsing/email/docs etc), but should, I hope, easily see me to 2034 and beyond.

[@XanaFernandes]

I need to decide this week between the €1.709 Air M3 16/512 and the €1.399,99 Asus Zenbook ux3405ma (14'' intel ultra 7 155h ram: 32GB 1TB SSD)... I don't think the Asus will last as long as the Air...

[@julben1900]

@@XanaFernandes Very confident it won't. I dare say with the reduced rate of development you'd get 5 years from the Asus but not the 10 you'll see from the Mac. On board storage is also not as important as it used to be as everything is backed up to the cloud these days - IOS manages it, offloading older items in the background as disk space is needed. I assume MS does something similar.

[@a.fernandes2632]

@@julben1900Thank you for confirming. I’ve never had the Air, only two MacBook Pro. I’ll give it a try this time. It’s way more than a teacher’s monthly salary, but if it lasts for ten years, it will be worth it.

[@micheledelmoro5898]

A month ago i bought the 8gb version, today i sold it to get a 16/512 version since the 8gb version is totally not future-proof and not enough. I had youtube videos to lag with nothing open and just swapping 1GB to the ssd to watch it!!! And also sometimes i use photoshop and lightroom (i'm an amateur photographer). The result of a month of use is 8TB of ram written to the ssd, and i always had to stay aware to close any unused app. The 8Gb is enough (but not good) just to surf the web, for students that do not use complex programs (to read pdf, write simple code, documents and presentations), and office work. The other problem comes with apple intelligence: i saw the memory pressure go to red and the pc to become unresponsive for a few seconds just to generate an image with image playground. If a thousand euros pc runs relatively bad for the price today, imagine in 5 years... Sad story

[@stephanedupuis2304]

Great points and great video Mark! I actually just got a 16 Go M3 Macbook Air as my trusted mid 2012 Macbook Pro was finally pronounced dead yesterday after all ressuscitation attempts failed... Fantastic machine! And it will certainly last for years with those 16 Go (although realistically, maybe not 12 years, I pushed my luck a bit with the last one ;-).

[@verasambience]

Do you do video editing on the macbook air? And if so what programme and how is your video playback while editing and experience?

[@stephanedupuis2304]

@@verasambience I don't, sorry I can't help. 🙂

[@yurkshirelad]

What no-one mentions in videos is that the CPU AND GPU are sharing that 8Gb of memory. Which means there's less memory for apps. Does that mean more paying? I don't know. Unified memory is going to be faster than separate memory chips for the CPU and GPU. It's always a race between between performance, cost and capacity.

[@MAYANKSINGH-bd6ig]

I am confused between 250gb and 500gb ssd, should I go with 250gb and buy a fast ssd after market or should I spec my mac with 500gb?

[@cferguson1134]

256GB Vs 512GB SSD on a M series Mac. Here is the question. Would you be ok using an external drive to make up for the lack of storage? You cannot swap the SSD on these like you can on a lot of PCs. If you plan on using this as a your daily driver, go with the 512. If this is going to be something to use occasionally while on the move, a 256GB should be fine.

[@MAYANKSINGH-bd6ig]

@@cferguson1134 thanks for helping me out dude

[@robgreen4536]

Thank you Mark. I’ve watched about 8 videos on this subject & yours was the BEST. Clear. Humble. Helpful. Understandable. (I have a 14yr old iMac & and 7yr old £200 Chromebook). This will be my 1st MacBook. I will be doing the basics: Web, Google docs/sheets, Tv… + maybe a bit of iMovie editing + I have 150,000 Photos (850GB) & I have 2TB iCloud for these. So… I think I’m going MacBook Air M3 15inch 16gb 512gb ?! (With Education discount & giftcard) ANY THOUGHTS??

[@moasher]

what about as a cyber security student? Should i get 8gb or 16gb?

[@canadianmaestro7228]

Need some advice for 15" Air. I always do refurb'ed gear from Apple. Casual user, no heavy lifting like video editing; watch movies, some photo editing, lots of web browsing. So....should I dive for an M2 8/512 or an M3 8/512? Not too worried about "future proofing", as my Apple Macbooks last me 8-10 yrs. Thanks!

[@verasambience]

M2 is already amazing and powerful!

[@jay.jay.1]

I have both and I like base model is great

[@iliannhy]

Is 8gb enough for music production? I use Ableton live 11 with a lot of VST instruments and 3 virtual momitors. (Wireless transmission to a Quest 3)

[@Salty_Biscuitz88]

If you don't know then just go for the base model with 8gb

[@jeremiahreilly9739]

You know what I wonder about? I using a 2018 MBA with dual core Intel i5 with 16 GB RAM. I have two or three browsers open with dozens of windows open. I don't do photo or video processing, but I do use Blender. I code a bit including a specialized audio composition tool called Supercollider. I have no troubles. I don't know what it means when people say that their Apple Silicon Mac crawls to a stop when a few browser windows are open. I am going to upgrade to a M3 MBA this week, not because my 6 year old laptop is failing, but because I hate the butterfly keyboard. Thanks for your video!

[@USA79999]

8GB is fine for a normal user for emails and watching a clip. 256GB is good too for all files are in the cloud

[@Vibzz1]

The real challenge is not the 8GB vs 16 GB, it's the 256 GB. It's high time Apple should make 512 GB as the standard

[@MSFS_FLIGHTS1]

they should make 16gb the standard too

[@SmokeyDaBear710]

So would be 16gb with 256gb ssd ok? It’s the ssd I’m not sure about

[@marvincentpagulayan1154]

Hi Mark! Thanks for creating this video. I’ve been searching the web regarding this matter but this video is the most convincing so far. However, I would like to ask a specific question. I am a law student. I currently have a 16gb 512ssd windows laptop. I use zoom twice or thrice a week and I open 5-10 pdfs using the web browser and other apps like Microsoft word and excel. Sometimes my laptop crashes when I do all these together. Now, would you recommend that I buy a Macbook Air M3 with 8gb of unified memory or should I go for 16gbs? Money is not a concern but I also don’t want to buy something that is considered to be an “overkill”. I hope that you could answer my question. Thanks!

[@tshepophosa6274]

Hey fellow law student, I'm here for the exact same reason but currently using the Mac m1 and been having freezing issues occasionally whenever i have multiple background apps running so I'll settle for the m3 16 unified considering that he says theoretically, the m2 and m3 8gb are fairly similar and not that much more powerful than the m1.

[@marvincentpagulayan1154]

@@tshepophosa6274 I bought the MBA M3 16gb prior to this comment but thank you still for the affirmation. It made me feel that I made the right decision. Thank you!!

[@Ralph7D]

8 or 16, M2 or M3…. I would say go for 8GB M1. I had a M1 8 GB MacBook Air for a couple years now and doing a lot of photo editing and some video editing and all normal web and mail use and I’ll have no problem at all This upgrade hysteria is only making the tech industry richer.

[@luisrod1234]

great video! I think you've just helped me make my decision on getting the 16gb M3, on my way back to Best Buy now!

[@Mr5pence]

The base M2 Air has dropped to £903 on Amazon though, so that's an attractive option compared to the base M3 Air's £1099 price.

[@luciaceba4640]

will an M3airbasemodel outperform a late 2013macbookpro16gbgeforceGPU ?

[@jyle4420]

cutting straight to the point providing useful personal anecdotes + considers what people are actually saying in comment sections and addresses them + no time wasted waffling about anything = easiest click of the subscribe button I've ever made

[@iamsid23]

The problem is RAM is non upgradable post purchase. With storage you can still buy external SSDs but you're always stuck with RAM that you purchase. Apple still sticking with 8GB even on the pro models is ridiculous. I have both 8 and 16 GB M1, and the performance difference is night and day. The 8GB RAM variant is a major bottleneck despite the powerful M1 chip.

[@verasambience]

Are you talking about the macbook air or pro? And do you notice a difference with the playback while video editing in premiere pro? Or any other video editing software

[@murtazachaudhary3339]

Nice video

[@FrancesAdoraLavilla]

What should I buy? Air w 16 gb or Pro w 8gb?? Im mainly doing uni work and research.

[@rishithdutta6248]

i just got a 16gb M3 mac air for college and research and trust me 16gb is worth it it’s a lot faster when you have multiple things open just search up the tests on youtube

[@FrancesAdoraLavilla]

@@rishithdutta6248does it heat up?

[@anthonydickinson3107]

8GB is fine for me. I usually get the base model because I only work with text. I can see if you work with images, especially video, 16GB might be tempting, even if it is only as a comfort blanket. But for me, 8GB is fine.

[@Scornfull]

If you're only doing text then just get a chromebook or a laptop? Like why spend over a grand for something that you don't really need? Like it's your money but holy moly use that extra money to donate to charity or something lol

[@yavuzkilic1223]

...I bought MacBook Air 13 with M1 back in 2020, and back then it was marvellous and with no issues with what I was doing with the machine... Here we are in 2024 yet over the past year I now run into MacBook Air M1 running out of memory and freezing and being nearly useless!... Perhaps Apple updated IOS since then a few times and deliberately slowed down my MacBook Air M1 to force me to buy a newer one, and/or 8GB RAM is simply useless! Anyone else experienced same issues?

[@yavuzkilic1223]

...by the way I disagree with you on 1TB as one can simply buy more TBs for much less, however totally agree with you on 16GB or more RAM... one comment, could you please do a bending test to see if MacBook Air M3 15 inch is solid or flimsy and seems it will break easily? I remember when I did that to MacBook Air M2 15 inch it was a bit on the flimsy side...

[@zebediahTV0319]

Thank you, Mark for this video. I've been contemplating about getting the 8GB or 16GB since it will be my first MacBook. I was able to save enough money to buy one. I'm a teacher who usually does document work on a laptop, but I also do editing in apps like Photoshop and Canva. Although, the 8GB will work for, your video gave me a clear insight on which one I should get. Love your speaking voice as well. =D

[@jayb8934]

A lot of people greatly underestimate what an 8GB machine can do, even before the era of "unified memory". For a purely web surfing, email, office tasks, and entertainment (streaming) machine, 8GB is totally sufficient. And that's exactly how most people use their laptop. Of course it's not sufficient if you're doing heavy video editing and gaming.

[@pombonerdoficial]

that even depends on what kind of gaming you do...If it's light gaming such as apple arcade and ONLY apple silicon native games you'll be satisfied with the 8gb ! the problem is when people start to make some crazy stuff such as emulate windows trough crossover or parallels, than 8gb would be a joke.

[@patrickthurston8811]

No offense, but 8mb is not enough for more than the bare minimum. I bought an 8 GB Macbook Air and had to return it, it simply didn't do the job and I am not a power user.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

8MB definitely isn't enough - I agree.

[@deutschhhhh6922]

Liar

[@nataliam9764]

lol I’m on a 4 GB RAM intel Macbook Pro and it works. The only problem is that Apple stopped releasing updates for this model. So, I have to buy a new one.

[@erikosterhagen]

I wonder whether the macbook air m3 has the same touchpad or trackpad such not smooth and not working doing like macbook pro 2012. Hopefully you will talk about MacBook Air m3 touchpad later after using it after half or a year, thank you. And also the screenshot after several screenshot it will stop working and loading and loading in macbook air m1. Hopefully m3 not like this.

[@alediazofficial2562]

Ive gotten a 15 air 2024 M3, so far no issues with touchpad.

[@peteandpuy]

Just fired up my new M1 Macbook Air 8GB 256 SSD. Comparing this to an iPad is silly. I can't believe how great the viewing/owning experience is. Walmart Macbook Air is the best consumer choice...