16GB vs 32GB RAM M1 Pro MacBook: REAL-LIFE Comparison!

[@CreatedTech]

Best M1 MacBook Pro Deals: ⮕ 14" M1 Pro MacBook: geni.us/m1pro14 ⮕ 16" M1 Pro MacBook: geni.us/m1pro16

[@iamkailong]

for 16gb to 32 gb, the difference is small for most people. but 8gb to 16gb is a totally different story.

[@rochitgurung9090]

For both it’s small difference unless you are opening 60 stuffs at the same tome

[@iamkailong]

@@rochitgurung9090 nope, and I don’t think you have ever compared a 8gb and 16gb m1 mac before.

[@ninay7685]

@@iamkailong tout a fait d'accord. j'avais un macbook air m1 8 gigas et ça ramait avec final cut, alors quand je suis passé à 16 c'était le jour et la nuit! par contre entre 8 et 16....suis pas certain que cela change grand chose.

[@linhta4630]

O7

[@paramjeetkour6143]

Yes dud you are right I am facing this problem and can't upgrade 16gb of ram because lack of money

[@storiesbymartin]

Very helpful! I have the M1 Pro with 16GB RAM and mostly use Da Vinci Resolve v18 for video editing. My masters are in 6K or 4K. I have found that the key variants for performance on the M1 Pro are less memory than 1) if you use proxy files to edit, what option you use. The default on Resolve is ProRes HQ, which produces files almost as large as the originals! If you select ProRes Proxy as the format, Resolve speeds up noticeably. The viewing difference between the two flavours is only minor. 2) I have 2 TB SDDs which I keep my files on. I use this to store the cache files, which seems to help performance too - it avoids filling up your Mac's drive. 3) Max out the memory Resolve is using in the setup - you can get up to 12GB. The default is only 8GB I think. Hope this helps folks!

[@2392youngmoney]

This comment really helped. I am only just starting out, I want to learn to edit videos etc. just for personal/hobby. The 16gb is more than enough for me to learn. I want to use fusion and stuff, when I figure out how and I reckon the base 14 mbp will be fine for me to learn and will take long to ‘outgrow’. I.e not being able to use certain functions/programmes due to low ram. Really I think all that will happen is it will move slow/ but from the laptop I’m coming from I don’t think that’ll be an issue. I was worried about the swap usage, but I think that’ll only be an issue with lots/extreme multitasking, which I won’t do

[@2392youngmoney]

How is your swap usage, if you don’t mind me asking?

[@sariucar]

It's a great comparison video, good job. It helped me a lot in my choice, thank you. I ordered 14" Macbook Pro M1 Pro 10CPU 16GPU 32GB 1TB, I will have it in a month.

[@chilldbox]

Strange they have them in stock at best buy. I just walked in and picked it up. No wait. Mac store has them 2. If I went for the max or 32gig I would have to order

[@UXDiogenes]

What I’d like to know is if this changes when using a 4k, 5k (studio display), or 6k display (Pro display xdr), since memory is shared with the GPU.

[@the_stem]

This is exactly what I'm thinking about.. How does it performs when using multiple monitors..? Unified memory should theoretically be eaten by the monitors (or even one large monitor). What model did you end up buying? 16GB or 32GB? How does it perform and what model would you recommend for multiple-monitor multitaskers? Thanks you!

[@Omega6APP]

This is the comparison I was looking for, running real-world projects. I'd rather see it without the browser tabs and 4K video running in the background but since it is just to push a bit harder, it still gives a clear idea of how powerful this machine is and in my opinion 16GB of RAM is the best option their performance is most of the time pretty equivalent.

[@womp6338]

Only for video editors…

[@WorksOnMyComputer]

@@womp6338 How so? The tests ran a number of things and it was basically equivalent.

[@adredy]

wideo in background is almost not use cpu implemented in 2015 😅 must be visible plus decoding is by hardware mean this doing nothing

[@alainkills]

As always, great video. As you already mentioned Parallel. Can you please make a comparison video from 16gb to 32gb running multiple VMs with actual program running on it such as games, apps plus heavy multitasking on the background on the main OS. Please??? TIA

[@tokelahti]

You could have also compared the disk write amounts at the end of the testing. If you booted both macs, before you started.

[@edcgadgets-de]

For me it’s just for extreme multitasking, lots of programs, tabs and Windows and maybe parallels. I just want a machine that’s never laggy. I chose the 24 core Max too, just because of double the RAM bandwidth.

[@saulgood2366]

Was thinking about returning and upgrading my 16gb machine but the delivery times for BTO have been blown out and I waited for a month for the base model. Hard decision.

[@mndgmesvisuals6564]

I'm in the same boat... currently rocking a 16" 16GB 1TB... every other video I've seen makes me think that this machine is fine. That after effects render has me really reconsidering it though.

[@anujsoni2089]

@@mndgmesvisuals6564 what about the battery life?

[@timogronroos4642]

If you are going to keep your expensive machine for many years, like 5-7 as I have done with my Macs, going 32GB now will probably give longer life for the SSD (much less usage for memory) and better performance on future software down the road. My sweet spot will be Max 10/24GPU / 32GB / 1TB combination either in 14" or 16" , haven't decided that yet. BTW, You have very few benefits going for a Max 32GPU with 14" model due to throttle down effect to safe battery life and avoiding heat. I would go to 32 cores only on 16"

[@mrparts]

Lol the people wasting money on “future proofing” this laptop, will be next year buying the next version with the M2max super pro 64 cores 128 gB ram version and justify it again with the same “future proofing” excuse, lol

[@johnaart]

@@mrparts 😂😂😂True

[@Teluric2]

I dont think this mac will last more than intel macs because there are more soldered components.

[@Windflowerize]

I'm a backend programmer, mainly using IntelliJ with multiple Java or Kotlin projects. Sometimes IntelliJ data are assigned on swap memory then it gets slightly slow, which is quite frustrating. So for me, I need 32G. Swap memory, however, eats up SSD's lifespan and that concerns me a little.

[@kelniai2770]

Swap is definitely a concern. Do you run containers, kubernetes locally?

[@Windflowerize]

@@kelniai2770 Yes, Kubernetes eats up lots of memory.

[@StacyODell]

I would be more concerned with the reduced lifespan of the primary SSD due to all of the extra I/O from swapping

[@gongosama4492]

Excellent point ! This is not a small issue, most people have no idea that SSD has the lifespan given by how much write and re write data its cells can take. And with all the swapping in video editing the ammount of daily re writes can easily reach over 100 tb a year. Since these machines are not cheap Apple should be honest, adress its clients and tell what is the limit of data writing before the cells begin to fail and give bad errors in the best scenario. I highly doubt they can endure more than 300 tb. And with the swapping abuse its like they have their days already counted but no one knows when ... 😰

[@WorksOnMyComputer]

@@gongosama4492 It is an issue, but I would expect double the life your estimating.

[@kelvinjunior3359]

Or you can get an external ssd??

[@rodrigomalutta]

Could you please do this same test between 18 vs 36gb RAM M3 PRO? This methodology is the best!!

[@GunslingerMediaCo]

This is frustrating. I have the base m1 MacBook Air and it can edit and playback all my A7iv footage perfectly. It’s when I start to put luts and transitions and Motion VFX effects that Final Cut Pro basically crashes and can’t load any assets. I’m looking to upgrade to the m1 pro just to use motion graphics and effects on my footage. Every ram test video simply I’ve seen only tests the ability to play the video, none actually do the real world work of editing video. I have no idea if I need 16gb or 32gb. Since the MacBooks are all back ordered everywhere, I only have two options actually in stock here in NYC. A $2600 16gb and a $3500 32gb version. If I can get the cheaper one I would love to know that. I’d hate to have to just spend the money and find out myself, and risk having to pay that 15% restocking fee just to find out if the damn thing works.

[@devluz]

In the end all those additional windows and chrome/safari tabs don't make a difference. MacOS dumps these into swap when something else needs the RAM and as long as you don't actively use them they simply remain in swap memory and won't influence any other applications. If you run (browser) games that actively access its data each frame then MacOS can't keep them in swap memory and then you really notice the difference. So for the 32 GB version you really need an application that 1. needs more than 16 GB RAM at once 2. and actively uses this constantly. Only then MacOS has to constantly move data between swap and RAM and then it really slows down heavily (like after effects)

[@mrparts]

Yep. I find it hilarious that so many KZbinrs don’t get this with these silly tests with 500 chrome tabs,.

[@armandolo17]

Totally true

[@Jakereviewsall]

I went with the 16 inch M1 Max with 32gb, I wanted to go with 64 but the ship time was so far out I settled on the 32gb. I went with just the 1tb SSD since I figured I would just use externals to store all my video and photo files and soon I plan to setup a NAS.

[@bombjelly5795]

U saved good money and u now have a beast of a machine

[@Jakereviewsall]

@@bombjelly5795 definitely, editing is so much faster on it, Took a bit to get used to though after using windows for nearly 30 years.

[@bombjelly5795]

@@Jakereviewsall lol I been on windows my whole entire life. I’m 30 years old and I finally got my first Mac book pro. I got 14 inch bass model with 32 gb ram . I’m still not used to it at all. Muscle memory at its finest ha

[@Jakereviewsall]

@@bombjelly5795 indeed, I am 38 myself and this is my very first mac. I received mine on November 23rd and still getting used to a few things but I unhooked my desktop and forced myself to only use the mac and just figure everything out. Some of it has become muscle memory lately finally but sometimes I still catch myself trying to do something that would have been in windows. Control alt delete dangit, oh wait there is no control alt delete. When I also found out you could simply close a window just using command+Q I was in awe for a moment, it's the little things lol

[@danielbroomhall8882]

if u r gonna save everything on external hard drivers then you wasted money on a 1 tb ssd.

[@mr.lelito9524]

It would be very nice to choose between 16 and 32 Gb if only they weren’t all of stock in all stores

[@NNS2822]

Yes! Everywhere

[@ismlynx]

Good comparison but I really expected virtualization 16GB and 32GB memory tests

[@ricardotubeman]

I have 16gb M1 MacBook Pro and I'd say - you can get by with 16gb ram but it does struggle sometimes when lots of apps/files open - I wish I had 32gb

[@2392youngmoney]

Do you see lots of swap usage when using lots of apps/files open? I’m looking at 16gb MBP 14. I don’t mind using one app at a time. Would likely be just Lightroom/Resolve and then a few tabs in safari and Apple music

[@AgentStarke]

Thank you for doing such a comprehensive test. Definitely going with 32 as I use After Effects a lot.

[@HeGarJun]

But if you use after effects a lot would windows system be a better choice for you? I'm struggling with that now. :[ what's your standpoint?

[@AgentStarke]

@@HeGarJun I was considering a Windows system initially but now that Adobe has optimized After Effects and most the other CC apps for the M1, I decided to go with the Mac for the battery life and performance. So far it's working flawlessly.

[@blackmamba6938]

You honestly wasted your money. They both edit the exact same. Only the export time is faster, but how often are you actually exporting? Instead you should've put that money on bitcoin and in 7=8 years you can buy a brand new Macbook

[@ceementality]

@@blackmamba6938 telling someone to put the money in one big source is about the worst advice ever 💀

[@blackmamba6938]

@@ceementality you’re only putting the price of the RAM upgrade on bitcoin. So that’s like $400. It’s not even that crazy.

[@remoreacts91]

I’d be interested to know when each is connected to a monitor or two at 4K, how do the machines compare then. I think almost everyone wfh has a monitor at home.

[@BernieMittens]

I use three monitors with the 16GB, no problems

[@mbvglider]

I think for most people, it's a good idea to spend money on things you'll notice 100% of the time, instead of buying something that you think you might need. That's why I think people should go for more storage or bigger screen, rather than more RAM, because first things first, you'll notice having more storage or screen, and second, it seems like faster storage means faster SSDs, so if you do end up hitting the swap, you'll notice it way less. If you have a specific application that needs more RAM, though, then that's when you need more RAM. But if you can't think of any actual needs right now but you overbuy in the name of "future-proofing," that's how people end up adding $1500 worth of upgrades from a $1999 base M1 Pro and complain that the M1 Air had better battery life and that your new computer is a waste of money.

[@uncoiledfish2561]

The 16” is disgusting. Have you seen that thing 🤮 Too big.

[@Kavones]

@@uncoiledfish2561 Just sad you are poor

[@beachliving3127]

@@uncoiledfish2561 The 16” machine is only slightly larger than my 2018 15’ MacBook Pro. I had the unit for a couple of days and had to send it back. It was a beautiful machine. I like the larger machines even though they can be an issue with weight if you really load up your bag. I bought a 2005 MacBook Pro 17” Core Duo back in 2007 and it was BEAUTIFUL. Larger than others but perfect for me. That system is still running now. I converted it into a Linux machine. I only sent back the 2021 MacBook because you can’t run Windows 10 under Parallels. The M1 Max chip will only run Windows 11.

[@alexanderbowen2218]

I consistently use 20gb. When my workload gets a little more intense I use around 25-28. Will I ever use the full 32? Probably not. But I definitely use more than 16

[@alexanderbowen2218]

@MARCVS ANTONIVS You got me thinking with that I'm ngl. I prefer windows so my regular laptop is an x17 (it used to be a spectre but I returned it and bought the x17 with that money. But I got a steep discount and free upgrades from dell because of other issues so I paid for a much lower specced x15 but ended with a much higher specced x17). It was when I bottlenecked the spectre with 16gb working in photoshop with a lot of high resolution images that I wanted to upgrade it. So the Mac I bought with 32gb of ram for photo and video editing so it wouldn't bottleneck anymore and so I could work with 4k video instead of being stuck at 1080p. The x17 came with 32 instead of 16 for free so I'm not complaining. I checked my most recent project in premiere pro on the Mac. The memory used is 26gb and cached files is only 7gb. I did an export in H.264 while I did some of my work and it had moderate memory pressure when I checked on it too So for my workflow rn it's working how I want it to and I'm not being bottlenecked like I was with the spectre. Plus soldered memory is a joke in 2021 so I said screw it and wanted 32 anyways cause I intend on keeping this for a while and you can't upgrade Youre probably also wondering about the x17. I wanted a good gaming laptop and the x15 which I purchased was pretty much exactly how much the spectre was when I returned it and got my money back. I'm also going to be changing all my software for like every program. Once I'm no longer a student next year I won't have the student plan so I'm going to change my Adobe to the photography plan and use final cut instead of premiere (I also want to use final cut). Then I also switched to logic from ableton lite live so I don't have to buy full ableton. Plus I get the screen, battery life, optimization and ecosystem with Apple stuff the spectre and alienware didn't have. Was gonna buy a Mac regardless of whether I had the alienware or hp and since they were 1:1 in price I didn't have to worry about which one it was Idk I'm typing this at like 3.30am while drunk so idk if any of this made sense but thanks for making me check my stuff cause otherwise I'd return for a lower specced model if I realized it was no bueno.

[@alexanderbowen2218]

@MARCVS ANTONIVS also yeah ik Mac and windows use ram differently but I wasn't going to spend that much money to have it bottleneck again from sm and not be able to return it if it was passed the return date

[@alexanderbowen2218]

@MARCVS ANTONIVS yeee I see what you're saying In doing a masters in design and technology rn and I also spend the day on my computer for the past couple years even without covid. So my work for school is all editing of some kind, I do it personally outside of school, and both my internship semesters and actual job use it too. I have a history of underspeccing my tech when I buy it so I went all in this time. And I haven't felt it wasn't worth it ever. I don't think 16 vs 32 will see a difference in speed really but it's nice knowing I have more capacity if I ever want to throw a much larger project at it. The way I see it is the extra money I spent on the better ram is just a lot more nights as a dd instead of drinking and eating and racking up a bill with my coworkers

[@pb25193]

The ram usage includes data which is no longer in use - waiting to be wiped out. You could be using 4gb of ram and see 25gb usage, just because the garbage collector is set to kick in after 80% usage. :)

[@allencedano3532]

Thanks so much for the video ! So helpful since I’m deciding between the two. How about music production? I know it’s not your thing but that’s definitely going to be my main use

[@someonethatisachristian]

mac mini m2 pro with 16 gb looks like the perfect computer for me, and thats what i got. The only reason to get 32 gb i see here is sitting all day editing insanely huge RAW-files from cameras i never plan on owning, or if you work for a corporation that rent adobe software. Because if youre not a corporate employee, renting adobe software just doesnt make sense, i always go for alternatives that are much cheaper to own like affinity or adobes motion over after effects, and with this software 16 gb is plenty. You plan maybe having your mac for what, 10 years? 16 gb should work fine the next 5 years, after 5 years maybe its starting to tax your swap and cause wear on your SSD, but so what if you wear it out those last 5 years, thats just making good use of the machine. Thats the lifespan i see for my mac and how id spend my money.

[@tronwars7130]

WAIT WAIT WAIT :-) There is a more important talking point, SSD cells have a certain mean time before they fail. If you continue your thrash your page file you are going to shorten the life of your SSD. For the small extra cost of memory you should always opt for more memory as it's far cheaper than having a SSD that's been thrashed for 3-4 years and starts to degrade. Also, when you page you are making system calls to the SSD which will mean more power usage mostly, maybe not a problem plugged in but on the go all day could be. At minimum you should go for as much memory as you can, over the life time of your notebook software OS, apps etc will only get more bulky and demand more. Having a lot of memory is going to save your SSD drives from wearing out early. This may even be a sales point when selling your Apple in future as a Apple that has a fairly SSD or has been thrashed a lot will have less value and these things are soldered so can't be swapped out.

[@ExplorerOfTheGalaxy]

Why nobody compares Logic Pro, GarageBand, Reaper??? We musicians do exist!!!!!!!!!!

[@thomas0086]

😂

[@studiovivazofficial]

Finally a video which shows actual indepth daily heavy load usage with background tasks eating up the RAM. amazing video for indecisive souls ... like me! 😅

[@EwanLim]

“Unrealistic benchmark “…. -starts sweating- this is like a daily occurrence.

[@margauxlowery4324]

You know that the Memory column in Activity Monitor isn’t showing ‘real memory,’ right?

[@duffyrides]

Fantastic video and very helpful , thanks!

[@treykeys2978]

Unfortunately in my experience, running chrome, premiere pro, Microsoft teams and messages at the same time maxed out my 16gb constantly. Especially when rendering. Sometimes it would fill up with everything but media encoder open. For every day work 16gb was phenomenal. Swap memory was often an issue for me because I was running low on storage constantly.

[@asianstud7]

you mean running low on laptop storage not the ram right? so basically if you had a bigger SSD your 16gb or ram wouldnt be a problem?

[@treykeys2978]

@@asianstud7 not exactly, 16gb of ram was always the root issue. If I had to use swap memory (which sucked the life out of performance) it always concerned me that I never had more than 50gb available at the time. Using 32gb on M1 max and can confirm it’s a dream compared to 16gb

[@BeierFilms]

Makes sense and it's probably Premier Pro that's killing you. Anything with large rasterized 2D images/video is going to eat up your RAM very quickly. Adding some Blender and Cinebench rendering really doesn't show us much because both of those are going to be taxing the CPU/GPU rather than the RAM. I wish there had been perhaps more detailed video tests, such as how the speed is when you've been working in a very large Premiere project with tons of 4k video clips and some cached effects.

[@nicru9326]

Teams is a killer too..

[@mindbomb2000]

Fantastic videos. They really helped me in my decision making process. Thank you!

[@ignskeletons]

You can get a refurbished Macbook Air (2019) for about the same price of JUST the $400 RAM upgrade from 16GB to 32GB.

[@ALotOfNthing]

Did it seem to me or the distance between the keyboard and the trackpad is different for these macbooks?

[@TheNordicHunter]

Just out of curiosity, how were the fans when you were trying to overload the system? I couldn’t pick up on any sound, but I know that’s easily cut out in post.

[@phanindrasingh]

no fan sound m1 new chips nalid it

[@mex5341]

32 is must for video editing esp if you edit h265 10 bit or Raw video , just to avoid memory Swap

[@v_stands_for_value124]

16gb one could handle Apple Music + Safari + Lightroom + Photoshop like nothing there and it's exactly what I need

[@ggudmundsson128]

Brilliant and very informative video, thanks!

[@cybraxe]

lol finally someone that actually advised on 32gb ram for virtualization! thank you I was having a hard time justifying the extra $400 was trying to convince my self i can squeeze by with 16 gb.

[@HarukiYamamoto]

Don’t KZbinrs ever work with large excel files? Would be nice if we had excel tests to.

[@nishadgmusic5829]

Macbook pro M1 pro 32gb ram 512 ssd VS macbook pro M2 pro 16gb ram 512 ssd Both are for same price right now Which one to buy ? I use Logic pro alot and wanna upgrade Please let me know

[@yescreative6030]

Thanks. This video has helped me greatly.

[@ivandubinsky1857]

I just ordered the 14" MBP with the 10-core M1 Pro processor and 16 GB of integrated. RAM. I would never be using the extreme examples of multitasking shown in this video and usually run only one or two programs at a time. So, I think 16 GB of RAM will be more than sufficient for me and I get to save a lot of money.

[@cnber31]

Im torn between 14” MBP with 8 core 32gb or 10 core 16gb. We will appreciate if you could share your experience in your 10 core 16gb

[@caresvlbdjz]

@@cnber31 I also have that laptop, in my case for game development, unity runs smoothly, unreal sometimes has some lag but usable. For blender I’m modelling with no issues. It’s enough for my work

[@vonzarooz2829]

Why would you upgrade the core instead of the ram?

[@sharikmarius]

@@cnber31 That’s an interesting configuration that I never considered. I personally went with the non-binned chip, 1tb ssd and 16gb ram because I don’t use Adobe products and will never multitask in the manner demonstrated in a lot of these videos. What configuration did you finally settle on?

[@2klatte]

Thanks for the helpful video! My question is how would 16gb RAM perform if you set up the multitasking the same way as in the video while running 2 external 4K monitors plus the laptop screens. Would you do a retest of this scenario?

[@teemuvesala9575]

for heavy multitaskers 32gb ram is definitely worth it. max chip on the other hand, probably not unless you're heavy video editor.

[@JackCarroll1998]

That 9 seconds for 30 frames adds up after hundreds of frames

[@a.anvarbekov]

i was expecting battery percent and machine heat at the end of the video, cuz important part to consider i think how the machine is performing, even 16gb ram performing almost same as 32gb ram, the machine maybe struggling, producing more heat. So it might not last longer then 32gb ram. I don't know if i'm thinking right. Let me know what u think or if u have experienced, it would be helpful to me cuz i'm currently thinking to buy one. Thanks

[@Lexxo777]

16gig is the perfect sweet spot unless you do Music Production and need to have large track counts and you larger orchestral, drum, and piano libraries which can eat up ram fast.

[@JOHNSMITH-ve3rq]

Should just open 100 chrome tabs playing yt videos. That would be a very thorough test and that's mostly where RAM gets me.

[@BenjaminBryant]

Great video thanks.

[@muratx10]

6:35 The cat had frozen, lack of memory xD

[@sheshewantit45]

fantastic video man! think imma go with the base 16gb !

[@danamechanic2876]

Thanks

[@rickyip7308]

very helpful suggestions.

[@Oscop9]

I'd like to know the remaining battery comparison after the test. I heard that using swap memory makes more workflow to CPU, compared to using RAM.

[@bartonlynch]

Correct, it creates a bottleneck among other issues. RAM is king.

[@joeyah8542]

Great video, thank you very much.

[@CreatedTech]

No problem, glad you enjoyed it!

[@dw9679]

So, the swap is on your hard drive. If you have an SSD, there is only a matter of time before the cell on it will become less effective and eventually cause the drive to fail. by increasing swap usage, you are leading the drive to fail faster. So this video shows how swap usage changes based on specs. It also reaffirms for me that if you want your Mac to last longer then you would want more RAM and perhaps a bigger SSD... though this isn't spoken of directly. I do video editing, so this would be true for me, maybe not just for web browsing.

[@leongorani5121]

Is this true? More ram creats a longer life for a MacBook? I’m debating on the 16 vs 32 bf of ram for a new MacBook with 1tb of storage.

[@Kavones]

Oh, bless you.. i was on the search for this type of video from anybody except that hype guy Max Yuriev 😄

[@Teluric2]

Max yuriev is the phony youtuber

[@youngjacuzzi3676]

What’s wrong wit that guy?

[@michael.petraeus]

16GB may be sufficient now but not in the future, particularly as software companies have a habit of ruining hardware's progress. And since you can't expand it I would always go for a higher spec.

[@demayoexperience]

I was about to buy the 16g until that sabe thought crossed my mind. Is not like I want to spend $2K+ in 2 or 3 years. So now I’m thinking to save up some more and go for the higher spec

[@iandennis1]

Right now I would be happy either right now having waited over five weeks so far for mine

[@dawnfirephotography]

Excellent video!

[@invi_carlos]

Thanks a ton!

[@Darkmage4]

So. 16GB would be the best. I already have the 2021 M1 16 inch, 16GB version coming this monday (Valentines Day! lol). I only edit in 720p-1080p videos. Even my desktop can render out a 15 minute video in 2 minutes with a zen 9 3900x, 32GB DDR4 Ram, and a 1070 Ti 8GB. I only work with Ae for audio music videos. Since I'd work with both my desktop and MBP, I think multi-tasking wouldn't be to much of an issue. I just needed a on-the-go type computer when needed. But, quick 10-15 minute edits, with a few Graphics added in. (The subscribe, or transitions, type thing) Shouldn't be to much of a hassle. Ae Struggles on my PC. When I work in Ae alone, and shut off every single program. playback needs to be at 1/4. Though I'd assume my system is being bottlenecked by the 1070. It's easier to buy a MBP, than it is to find a graphics card at proper MSRB value. lol.

[@vankhanhnguyen1518]

What should i choose between a macpro m3 24 gb ram, 512gb ssd and macpro m3 pro 18gb ram 512gb? Same price but different ram and chip. I do code but not really heavy, however i want to keep this mac for like 5 years lol

[@Rlnthndr]

I went with 16 gig. Only because it was only 5 days out shipping wise. Doing anything extra pushed it out 2 months and I simply couldn't wait that long as much as I wanted the higher end processor and 32 gigs. But feb 10th shipping date was not happening.

[@justicefreeman6598]

Should other people buy 16GB or 32GB model?

[@pikass77]

Thank you for this very good comparison. In my eyes thers is one point to mention: you don´t buy this kind of hardware only for a few months but most of us want to use it for some years. And as we all know the hunger for memory of our programms will increase in the future. So investing in 32 gig is a good idea to have fun and satisfying results in the next years. I work regularly with lightroom and photoshop. Actually still on a win-platform with 32 GB. And both programs use a lot of RAM. Especially, when your LR-catalogue is large and when you open more than one 50mpix-image with multiple layers in photoshop parallel. That can run your memory usage up to 90%. Photoshop keeps its memory reserved also after closing all files and drainig the cache memory. So opening the next image is added to the used memory. Only closing PS forces the system to reduce the amount of used memory. So it takes addinitional time to open an image in PS afterwards. And: when you have chrome open in the backround to enjoy some youtube-videos while editing your pictures, the system becomes instable sometimes, when I use additional filter programs to finish my work in PS. I don´t know if the management of memory is better on macs in this case but my experiences with the behavior of LR and PS and the first point mentioned above made me order the 32gig-version.

[@weho_brian]

my heart says no, but my 473 chrome tabs says Yasss

[@TheTomallon]

not everything is about multitasking and your advice is propably aimed at video \ graphic creators... what about musicians ? sample based multi layered virtual instruments takes a lot of physical ram

[@njpme]

He said he's not familiar with those music products so it would be disingenuous for him to give an opinion outside his experience.

[@verynormali5163]

I have a new base model 16” and it's quite enough. I use adobe cc, three apps open, big safari load. Also I produce music in Ableton, sometimes very big session, many tracks with multiple fx chain and it seems to be ok. Previously I had 2019 intel i7 with 32 ram and this m2 pro is noticeably heavier beast. Who cares if it's swapping, compressing... or not. Wired ram is no more than 4gb. The ram management is really great now. Also I haven't heard any fan yet. Of course you will have to change the computer in a few years. But in fact, you'll have to do it with any configuration. The M2 is coming and the processor could be many times faster in a three years or something. Yes, if you are working with really big files, like many gb original files in adobe or something, it could make sense to change your ram. But I saw a Lightroom using 16,53 ram on intel i7 one with only 16gb ram installed and still the system was able to go fairly well......

[@devanshsoni8622]

Thanks for your experience... I am also a singer/misician, currently i don't have a powerful system but i am looking for 16 inch macbook pro but i am unsure that whether shiuld i go with the 16gb or 32gb ram? For music making with long projects with big sound libraries... (Serious Music) I have heard that many people are saying that there apps are crashing in 16gb models so i want to know is that true or should i go with the 32?

[@pjedidiah]

not ram related question i guess, but I wonder how it will perform if it has 2 or 3 32” 4K monitors with same number of chrome tabs, doing photoshop, then video rendering etc..

[@morganBH]

I mainly just use FCP and pixlemator at the same time, with chrome (2-4 tabs) and apple mail in the background. 16 be okay? Thanks.

[@chrisnelson2770]

I'm sorry, but how is just opening and playing a video in Resolve indicative of a real world scenario? You didn't do any actual editing. Where is the scrubbing, cuts, effects, stabilization, colour grading, fusion titles, multi layered video tracks? I don't feel this has helped in narrowing down if I need 16 GB or 32 GB

[@movdqa]

One program that I run is a Windows x86 program that can run in macOS via WINE. It runs poorly on Apple Silicon because you have one translation through WINE and a second translation through Rosetta 2. At some point, Rosetta 2 will go away. My options at that point would be to run Windows through QEMU (I've heard performance is poor with this and it's not surprising), or to use Windows on ARM with Microsoft's translation from x86 to ARM. I've heard that Windows on ARM does a pretty good job in running x86 programs. These options, of course, are both Virtual Machines. I'd probably want 16 GB of RAM allocated to the Windows virtual machine. On my big x86 desktop, I have run up to 5 Virtual Machines at the same time (Linux, macOS, Windows) and it's nice to be able to run tests and experiments on multiple virtual machines at the same time.

[@Teluric2]

What specs on your x86 desktop?

[@movdqa]

@@Teluric2 i7-10700, 128 GB RAM, 5 TB SSD, 5 case fans to keep it cool and quiet. I also have a 2010 iMac 27 i7 and a 2014 iMac 27 i7 with 32 GB RAM. Those two machines are surprisingly usable even now. The 2010 even runs off a HDD but it has so much RAM that the system rarely needs to hit the HDD.

[@krishna_v98]

My company gave me m1 pro 32gb It's amazing I have big projects, usually more than one running on intellij idea and simultaneously 10+ tabs open in browser plus slack and stuff and it handles it like a champ never ever heard the fans spin. Intellij at one point was using 8gb alone, it sucks the most ram after browser. I have like 22gb in use most of the time. huge project files take a while to build, for the frequent changes I make, a faster build time is time saving so professionally 32 gb yes But personally I edit photos and videos, high end ones and I have all the time in the world I'm not on a time crunch so 16 is sufficient

[@sumanth3036]

Also please compare 32gb vs 64gb m1 Max...

[@mustafasfotography6736]

Hello Matt! Should I buy 16inch MacBook Pro base model m1 for mainly video editing of A7S iii 4k 4:2:2 wedding film of 30mins of final edited video with 10hrs of total 4k footages in a project. Or i should buy 32gb, Please help with a solution.

[@music4ever7696]

if you work with lightroom and your catalogue consist of more than 50 photos, maybe you want to edit also in photoshop, so it is open, then you need 32gb ram for sure I have the 16gb and regret it that I didnt bough the 32gb, memory pressure is most of the time in the yellow part I have to add, I work with panoramas

[@demayoexperience]

Will the 16g stand the test of time with all the new tech coming up each year? Will 16g be enough in 5, 7, 10 years from now?

[@halfalligator6518]

Probably yeah. New tech, which I guess you mean new software doesn't always use more ram. More RAM doesn't help much at all until you actually need it for special tasks that need more "working room". I.e rendering or having HUGE files open.

[@adventuresofjandk]

Why would you not be using fcpx for an apple comparison

[@lam_xyz]

Great test, thanks! I was wondering, if I want to use parallels just for Office stuff (Powerpoint, Word), is it worth going for 32GB or is 16GB doing well without fan noise? On my old MBP 2018 32GB the fans are coming up quite quickly...

[@dnmqlife]

I'm buying the M1 Pro 16" 1TB version already and I'm thinking of upgrading a bit. So should I go for M1 Pro 32 Gb ram 1TB SSD or 16 Gb ram 2TB SSD? I do 4k video editing, photo editing and am going to learn music production (Logic Pro). I really want my device to last 5-7 years. I have a 3TB external HDD. I'm confused because many reviewers are saying that swap usage on this new ssds is so good that instead of upgrading the ram, I should upgrade the storage. Please help me! I always have the music app, 5-7 safari tabs, and the WhatsApp app open.

[@RainbowHii]

Hey have you made the decision? I'm exactly the same situation as you, still don't know which one to choose.

[@dnmqlife]

@@RainbowHii Yes! I went with M1 Pro 16” 1TB 32 GB Ram version coz we can’t upgrade the ram in the future but we can always buy an external SSD whenever we need. I barely use even 60% of the total ram. But 32 GB gives me mental peace while working and will be great for running future apps as well because future Apps will be Ram hungry. So I think this laptop would easily last for 5-6 years.

[@RainbowHii]

@@dnmqlife lol man we are doing the same thing, I was asking for your help... I/ve no idea how to choose, sorry Idid'nt help you

[@dnmqlife]

@@RainbowHii Haha! Yes I’m saying that you should go with the 32 Gig version. It will totally be worth it if you are going to use the laptop for 4-5 years.

[@RainbowHii]

@@dnmqlife Thank you🌈

[@anaumrabbani7100]

How do you run the tests on the MacBook?

[@MrRiffbear1]

Would they behave different with the M1MAX?

[@jasperdany]

How about with Logic Pro , Cubase or any DAW in that perspective ? .

[@yervandpapazyan4473]

I did not get it, if there is a 4 GB free space on a 16GB version why it uses memory swap?

[@JW-mx3qg]

Would you say that it’s good to get the 32 gb if you are installing parallels with windows? That way in theory you would give each OS 16gb of ram and would be optimal for speed?

[@CreatedTech]

Yes for Parallels I would recommend 32GB. 16 is usually ok but if you’re doing anything moderately intensive the extra RAM is very helpful

[@mr.international23]

I just got my base 14 space gray loving this toy! Question, I’m only using it for school and video editing for my Vlogging . Should this base specs suffice?

[@S3XYEV]

Absolutely 👍😃 I have a base model and it's lightening fast. I'll be exporting a video, while working in Photoshop, and it works great. The video exports in 5 or so minutes. No effect on my multitasking. 😎

[@mr.international23]

@@S3XYEV nice! Thank u man

[@2392youngmoney]

@@S3XYEV hi, I’m also looking at the base model. I want to use it for video and photo editing. Are you still enjoying your machine. How is the swap usage? Thanks!

[@Errcyco]

For anyone on the fence: M1 MacBook Air base can take on a lot. I tend to have like 20 video tabs open in browser with messages and Apple TV on all the time. Like, I don’t exit from shit. Never one time in the year I have had it did it slow or crash.. didn’t even get warm. So unless you edit professionally or are running a business from it.. base 8gb in any air or pro w apple silicon will be fine. I’d only get 16gb if I planned on keeping a decade. If I get five solid years outa this I’d be happy though.

[@henrysaputra2340]

Tq for the video

[@christianjimenez6004]

Do I have enough Ram for using Adobe premiere pro with 16 GB RAM?. I want to use it for editing pictures ( Luminar Al) and drone footage using Adobe premiere pro. Thanks bro.

[@jamieg9523]

why is the the top of the trackpad on the left mac have a bigger gap from the keyboard?

[@laurencegoldman4639]

OK. It would be useful to see what the 16GB version can do with the high pressure tasks with everything unnecessary shut down. Have web browsers open on another device. What I'd like to say is, in this day and age Apple is still nicklel and diming customers who are paying huge bucks already, into receiving things adequate RAM and ports as a privilege. It was always so easy to max out ram on a Windows PC. Ports were never a problem. Easy to build out with multiple storage drives. It is really nonsense to have to worry about this stuff: $400 to go 32GB RAM-this should be standard on "Pro" machines.

[@mrparts]

Apple always does this knowing that a bunch of people will rant and complain but ultimately give in and pay the extra cash for the memory upgrade. If enough people simply stopped buying you’d see the prices of these “upgrades” drop….

[@thebravegallade731]

@@mrparts well that doesn't work, casue in the end of the day, most of the people buying the maxed out models are people who do work. and if you know anything about buesness equipment, you know that most of them charge a heck of a lot more then consumer grade items. the 999 stand is the kind of thing thats common in that sector, for example.

[@TheNordicHunter]

@@thebravegallade731 That, plus they just write the expense off. Nobody will ever outsmart Apple when it comes to making money.

[@antonmarkin]

Strange test... Rendering is not about the RAM, it's about GPU and CPU. 3 sec difference in final render time is negligible ...

[@anthonyvidil3698]

For blender, cinema4D users, is it better to take 16 or 32go ram ?

[@GA7studio19]

What is the best option to use Revit 2022 the MacBook pro M1 pro or M1Max ?

[@Teluric2]

Why dont you show the video where that numbers come from?

[@mustafasfotography6736]

16gb or 32gb of m2 pro mac mini for 4k 10bit 30mins of exports

[@gird4p]

Ok, as long as the Swap Memory Technology is working fine as it is now, I see no reason to pay 400 for more RAM.

[@senglee2330]

Had a Macbook Air with 4GB ram, still working fine. Unless you are making projects that is time consuming and costing you money get a real DESKTOP PC!