8GB vs 16GB M1 MacBook Pro - How much RAM do you NEED?!

[@MaxTechOfficial]

CHECK out our UPDATED Real-World Multitasting RAM Video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmWbaHyVat2CkLc Buy the M1 MacBook Pro (Currently DISCOUNTED on Amazon) ➡ geni.us/pWUBPum Thermal Camera attachment for iPhone ➡ geni.us/3zwsN Best deals on M1 Macs on Amazon ⬇️ M1 MacBook Air 2020 ➡ geni.us/tnoeMOc M1 MacBook Pro 2020 ➡ geni.us/pWUBPum M1 Mac Mini 2020 ➡ geni.us/bBD2

[@cebuexisting835]

Hi guys. please tell me what is the name of the programs for viewing device statistics directly from the panel as in the video

[@VictorTan]

@@cebuexisting835 You're looking for iStatistica! Here's a link: www.imagetasks.com/istatistica/

[@sergeydev8273]

Вадим, мерси за столь детальный разбор! :)

[@aliyalcin8173]

Hi guys! I think, because the processor power is the same, similar performance results are obtained when running the same application. But ram performance comes about in multitasking.

[@treyquattro]

multi-tasting? Yum.

[@edertables]

Finally! That’s what I’ve been waiting for, thanks :)

[@vladiksas]

Totally agree 💯

[@andrespizzi2504]

Same

[@csongormikos9483]

Megvan az új gép?😅

[@jeffgracianette9785]

Yes thank you.

[@redcovenant]

Got my MacBook Air M1 8Gb this weekend, upgrading from a maxed out 2014 MBP 15”. The new Air leaves the MBP in the dust, hasn’t broken a sweat yet and running safari, chrome, slack, Affinity Photo etc. Also went a whole working day on the battery, went from 100% to 70% with heavy use.

[@EvanHossain]

You are running one app at a time. Ram will come into play when you have to switch among few ram hungry apps.

[@MCMRokamir]

This weekend I had exact this bad experience with a new 8GB MacBook Air M1- I just returned it. The memory pressure was often high and the system began to stutter when switching between light photo editing, Excel work and web browsing (news pages, KZbin, etc.) while streaming high res music. Swap was at 8GB.

[@Streamlined955]

@@MCMRokamir I doubt that was memory related. I have the new M1 Mac Mini and I was getting crazy stutter in Microsoft Word and Safari. Very low-memory intensive apps but I’m seeing the same issue. I’m hoping a software update fixes it soon.

[@Robert-dt3is]

Ah that is a good point, it totally didn’t cross my mind.

[@MCMRokamir]

@@Streamlined955 Probably this is also due to not adopted SW and will improve over time. However, I tend to use multiple desktops and leave project (research on different topics, tax declaration, photo editing, etc.) open till they are finished. After setting up every thing and using the MacBook Air for some time, I was just not sure that the 8GB will do it for me. I watched the memory usage and it was constantly swapping, showed often high memory pressure and sometimes was reloading web pages when I returned to them.

[@Lokesh_Karki]

Like chrome

[@maxpink]

I'm not sure what video editor cares about exporting time at those numbers - grab a beer and chill. You don't even see a different in 8GB vs 16GB until you hit 8k! Insane. Save the money and get the 8GB unless you work for Marvel Studies or something. Excellent Video!

[@fsm5032]

My machine at work is 512Gb of ram. We have some at 1.5Tb of ram. I have a funny feeling at Marvel Studios they aren't pissing about with 16Gb or even 128Gb.

[@MickiMinach]

Yes. If your job deals with graphics intensive task everyday, go with 16gb. Otherwise 8gb is fine

[@JeremyCollado]

"8gb is nothing" Me: **Cries in 4gb**

[@damschu23]

@@Reppa57 do you live in an alternate reality? have you not wat hed any of the M1 Macbook reviews? and show me a 600-700$ pc that you can effectively mine cryptos with, i‘ll wait

[@jittenddra]

@@Reppa57 Guys, I bought m1 8gb lap top, I think 8gb is not enough. buy 16 Gb. If you are buying mac then definitely you would have to do some heavy task. open a lot of softwares and open tabs .. this computer will lag and wont be responsive. 8 GB is not enough. period.

[@yeti8614]

@@damschu23 lmao that guy is just a windows die hard fan. He doesn‘t want to accept that the M1 chip is really powerful.

[@abrar4372]

@@jittenddra I have Hp laptop with 8 gb It has been like 5 years and it’s still performing well And I also have another Hp laptop with 4 gb and it’s been 14 years and it’s also alive and functioning Do you think the MacBook Air M1 with 8 gb can’t last more than 6 years ?

[@colonelminus]

“For most people 8 GB is enough.” Awesome! I am most people!! 😊 I’m really happy with my 8 GB RAM and 512 GB hard drive.

[@suyash4490]

it works fine ?? 8gb is enough for day to day use ??

[@colonelminus]

@@suyash4490 who says I use it every day? 😉

[@suyash4490]

@@colonelminus which one should i buy 16gb or 8gb plz help

[@colonelminus]

@@suyash4490 I guess it depends on what you do like they said in the video. If you wanna be safe go for the 16gb.

[@holyrevival.clothing]

@@suyash4490 I have the 8gb ram with an external 2TB hard drive. I be having photoshop, premier pro, Lightroom, Minecraft, Adobe acrobat, Logic Pro X and safari running all the same time sometimes. I forget to close the apps. But It runs well either way. I do eventually close apps that I don’t need running. Unless you’re gonna do crazy things or play huge games, the 8gb is good enough.

[@NineOneOneFx]

This is THE ONE we all waited for. Let’s go!

[@faranahmad]

So true!

[@964cuplove]

Im waiting for 17“ (or 16“)

[@Drozit0]

I think the whole point of getting more ram on your mac is to future proof your computer for 8+ years of usage

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Yes that’s true!

[@benjamin7114]

Yes... with every hardware upgrade comes software upgrades which walks hand in hand with more RAM needs. Plus advantage in re-sale, nobody today wants 4GB Ram that was 'enough' 3 years ago for some.

[@yiannis-be]

Actually, it's for having 8+ tabs open in chrome now ;)

[@foljs5858]

Why not just sell it second-hand in 3-4 years and get a new model?

[@Drozit0]

@@foljs5858 because that’s wasteful.

[@Isynko]

Very nice testing guys, really good job. However, I have one big favor for all tech reviewers out there: Please create these RAM tests (or any stress tests) like you would use these machines in the real life. TLDR: "More Apps Running while Testing", Why? - I work as a Designer and for that, I need to have open at least 3 Apps simultaneously (Photoshop for creating and editing photography, Illustrator for icons, Xd for prototyping etc.) plus chrome/safari while working on the project or managing projects and I am not even counting cloud services (dropbox, drive, CC files, etc.) as they also have an impact for overall RAM usage. So the One app, the 8Gb model may seem "just fine" but in the real world, it would be obliterated with the 16Gb model. I understand that you can't simulate every possible scenario for every person who would be using these machines but I hope you get a general idea of what I was trying to say. You are also creators and you know how it is so I am not trying to undermine your work, just pointing out how am I seeing these tests and expressing my real-life experiences. Keep it up Max Tech. I love your thorough content and appreciate how fast can you bring all this data and information to us your viewers. Thank you

[@esldogrescues]

I was thinking the same sort of thing. When I'm at an event, I'll be using just Lightroom, but when I'm home, I have 2 4k monitors plugged in, and I might be exporting a few thousand RAW photos, and have email open, a dozen browser tabs open, and watching youtube videos. That slows down my export, I'm sure, but it's okay because I'm chillin'. This is on a 2018 MBP with 32 gigs. I'd like to know if the 16 gig M1 will be as responsive (or hopefully more so) under this sort of load.

[@franklinlucaslima]

Word!

[@ipozow]

Yes, I was also thinking about that but I was thinking that my situation is unique and probably won't fit to anyone, but I also use a lot of apps at the same time that uses a lot of RAM. Actually I got problems with Discord and web WhatsApp taking a lot of ram and thus having a laggy browser

[@solidsn2011]

Exactly this! Need to see a test running photoshop and safari or chrome with multiple tabs open!

[@anonymoususer5402]

After seeing this review I can understand that people don't know how ram is consumed. 16gb can never be enough.

[@judescott8595]

Really appreciate this great review. If I may add, from software engineer perspective, the 16GB ram will give you the advantage for multi tasking because judging from your test, the 16gb version will have more free memory left, meaning user can do more things at one time. Nevertheless dope video. Appreciate the review and effort.

[@TheBillaro]

As a gd who has AI, PS, tabs in chrome et al. 16gb is best long term ya?

[@jugarconarmas]

@@TheBillaro great point all the reviews talks like everyone is buying a computer every year or every 2 years. I'm changing my mac after 10 years, i need something that lasts.

[@jothain]

Absolutely. I was hesitant, but believed all the reviewers hyping that you're ok with 8gigs (never had Mac before). Well it didn't take too much time to notice that ie. using Fusion 360 and having Chrome open with tabs at the same time and it's close to it's limits already. Heck I build my desktop pc with 32gigs, just cause memory was at the building time really cheap. Going back to the 8gig model, I had free F-secure license and decided to throw it at my Mini and well, at multitasking I very often already began to hit memory limits and actually removed F-secure to have more memory for my tasks. My take is that if you do anything else but browse and do ie. spreadsheets at the same time. Absolutely and definitely go for 16gigs. 8 gig model is something like 3 programs at worst to have open simultaneously. I don't want to kill my drive with swapping.

[@jungtarcph]

how many chrome tabs.... that all I want to know..

[@AFatOcelot]

Ironically, the 8gb and 16gb end up using about the same amount of swap memory. The laptop just ramps up

[@psivewri]

Glad I saw this before buying! Keep up the videos 😀

[@FearDepth]

which one did you end up buying?

[@americangirlbeats4134]

@@FearDepth Windows HAHAH

[@maxpayne7030]

@@americangirlbeats4134 well played 😂

[@americangirlbeats4134]

@@maxpayne7030 HAHA

[@89nigamrohit]

I bought 8 gigs variant.. and it is as smooth as butter ❤️

[@elvisdorkenoo]

*more ram doesn't make your machine faster* ... But it helps you *load more heavy softwares and tasks* and run them smoothly simultaneously... So the way you run the tests does satisfy me but not the way I expected...

[@bangbanggun6027]

Me as a programer can't agree more.

[@robinarora8137]

It kinda does make things happen faster for e.g. in encoding or decoding.... but I fully agree with your point about “smooth simultaneously” test...

[@fabriziodeni3339]

I'm a trader and I need more ram to manage my software simultaneously and many internet pages opened. Dunno if 8 gb model and 16 gb model has same results for me. I don't think so onestly.

[@elvisdorkenoo]

@@fabriziodeni3339 8gb will do your work fine but if you can afford 16gb go for it, it'll keep your ssd healthy and also you'll be confortable using your machine for the next 5years. 5years ago 4gb was perfectly fine but now 8gb is barely enough.

[@fabriziodeni3339]

@@elvisdorkenoo thanks for the answer. I bought a mac mini 8gb past year and add 32 gb ram privately. All is fine. I want to buy this Mac mini with m1 chip, to replace my home pc, but I know well that if 8 gb will not be enought I cannot add more ram. As said I use many internet pages open at the same time and some software. Do you think 8gb model could be enought? I need max speed possible because time is gold for my work.

[@li_tsz_fung]

Bruh, try running unity, chrome and xcode at the same time and work on it for real. Benchmark doesn't reflect much

[@TheHy6xD]

we need new benchmark, with Xcode and Chrome running on maximum.

[@22Epic]

Even just Chrome with a few tabs opened :D

[@Samosayummyyay]

@@22Epic Chrome with ~120 tabs = ~1-2GB of RAM. That alone is heavy for the 8GB MacBook. Then add in other programs. Need 16GB minimum for heavy user.

[@gahlol7069]

@@Samosayummyyay or a messy user like me that doesn't close programs lmao

[@vikramsaggarwal697]

@@Samosayummyyay 120 tabs is almost 5-6GB of ram. 8GB is unusable even without other programs.

[@nightking6786]

I don’t know why you didn’t even hit a million yet. Definitely better than most of the reviewers out there, always shares what matters. Keep going mate, you surely will reach great heights! ❤️

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Thanks! That’s the goal for next year!

[@kanzai12]

because this channel started 2 years ago.. I remember they still in appleinsider back then before out make this channel

[@paulguttuso9759]

@@adamlevine6700 he definitely has personality lmao

[@sciencepowerpoints]

@@adamlevine6700 Id much rather listen to Max than somebody like Linus from Linus tech tips or Rene Richie, Actually Id rather stab myself in the ears than listen to someone like Linus

[@spiderneo]

Because thoses test are a joke....

[@SuitedMoose]

The only reason I’m gonna get the 16gb is to future proof my MBP as much as possible.

[@craftymonk3y647]

Very good idea

[@dialecticalmonist3405]

You can future proof by buying $200 of bitcoin and then buy the M2 when it comes out.

[@cynthiaanderson7321]

@@dialecticalmonist3405 wait what? How does any of that work? Do you have any video recommendations?

[@dialecticalmonist3405]

@@cynthiaanderson7321 I was making a joke, because the $200 will turn into more money by the time the M2 comes out. My point is, when the new stuff comes out, people sell their old stuff anyway. But if you are seriously asking me about Bitcoin, I can tell you myself how to get some.

[@twitchster77]

Yeah, that's the biggest selling point for me with the 16gb...I plan on using my M1 macbook for years...and I'd just feel more secure with 16 vs 8.

[@madhavm9870]

You guys are now my source of reference for apple products...... Your work done to post videos relentlessly is truly mind blowing..... Great work guys

[@MyInstantSearch]

the one who can afford the 8k red cam can most probably spend $200 more I think

[@BrendanEvan]

Lol this is the truth

[@jamiedenewt2]

Is it worth $200 upgrading to 16GB Ram? Short answer: Not for most people, unless you need to squeeze the most performance out of your Mac, or you will export 8K footage

[@houssamalucad753]

If you any sort of serious work get the 16gb, the 8gb model uses the SSD A LOT as secondary RAM and SSDs have much more limited read/write lifetimes than RAM. The 8gb model will have less longevity since you can't replace the SSD. But anyways apple will drop support for these first gen M1 macs so their longevity is already not that great...

[@retrocomputing]

@@houssamalucad753 why would they drop support?

[@arvinsim]

@@houssamalucad753 I agree. I would get the 16gb of RAM just to avoid pagefiles.

[@xguy9999]

@@houssamalucad753 I disagree, it’s already so powerful, years ahead than others. We all know Apple will create more powerful chips. But Apple aren’t even abandoning their intel Macs.

[@sttv1570]

If you want to process 8k footage, logical thinking is that you wont want this "base model" M1 Macbook

[@flegoron]

Big SO needed this to make a decision for the Black Friday coupons. Killing it dude, I never comment; this pure for the algoritme.

[@melo3650]

What are black Friday coupons and where to get them?

[@vishal_trivedi]

flegoron commented. 🤯 he never comments!! woah!!!

[@Salsajaman]

@@melo3650 The sale on this laptop will likely be apple store credit or a free pair of airpods rather than a price reduction.

[@cesneaks5675]

Honestly, I just want to say from that from the initial announcement of Apple Silicon you guys were one of the few ones that showed enthusiasm and excitement at the potential game changer with the technical backing and explanation of why. Needless to say you were absolutely right. And even those v1 models are absolutely insane. It's mind-boggling to know there are some very big tech KZbin channels that are supposed to at least be non-biased and whose job it is to present tech and at the very least new and revolutionary tech (like this is) but laughed this off (won't name namesltt). Just want to give my sincere appreciation on you guys bringing such detailed and valuable information to what those machines can do and sustaining the quality over your content over time. Most importantly I think we can all feel your passion and that you love what you do, and that's what matters most. Thank you

[@jackjohnson8393]

You cannot expect the performance of a system to increase when it has already enough memory available: the benefits of going from 8GB to 16GB of RAM should be demonstrated using a benchmark in which the amount of available RAM is identified as the bottleneck. In the Geekbench 5 CPU test, although the amount of "free" memory is low, there is a high amount of "cache" memory. Cache memory represents files that have been recently accessed and are stored in RAM for future, fast, access. This memory can be liberated and made available to applications whenever the amount of "free" memory is no longer sufficient. In other words, having a low amount of "free" RAM doesn't necessarily indicate a memory shortage. The important metric here is the "Pressure" which is roughly is equivalent to (Wired + Used) / Capacity. I have no doubts that 16GB of RAM would provide a significant performance increase for use cases that are memory hungry and not CPU bound. Great video nevertheless!

[@wendymaxwell8627]

how would that affect using a program like Photoshop?

[@truecuckoo]

Impressive! It’d be cool if you added a few compositing tests too. Some light workload compositing like a 3 layers of 4k sources with keying/ masking. Then a heavy compositing test in Apple Motion, Fusion with more advanced compositing using many high resolution sources. Both playback, timeline scrubbing and export.

[@atarix_official]

cant wait for your tests )

[@casablanka_official]

Ha! He can't do that)

[@atarix_official]

@@casablanka_official why is that?

[@virtualshift]

I feel like the one test that would really show you the difference between having a 8 Gb or 16 GB of RAM is using multiple apps at once. I don't do any video editing, but in my game development workflow, I'm generally running at least six or seven different applications at the same time and I was constantly maxing out my memory when I had only 64GB of ram. I recently upgraded to 128 GB because the memory was on sale and I've only come close to maxing it out once on the new 2020 iMac.

[@ddnava96]

"Why do you need 16 GB?" "Chrome. I use Chrome…"

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Chrome will be optimized for Apple silicon very soon. It will use less

[@mmdday]

@@MaxTechOfficial Apple Silicon has nothing to do with the RAM. Memory is memory no matter what architecture you're on. A jpg from a webpage is the same size no matter what. An apple silicon build of Chrome will not use less memory.

[@FranMartinezphotographer]

@@MaxTechOfficial It is already ;)

[@johanaziz]

@@mmdday your theory is what this video disproves. Many of the test on 8gb shows very high memory pressure and that it was accessing swap memory alot. But the results barely change. Whatever apple’s doing with the memory organisation and architecture is making a big difference.

[@mmdday]

​@@johanaziz That's because you don't know how to read the memory stats. *Most* of the tests weren't even close to using most of the RAM. Much of the RAM is occupied by the cache, which can be thrown away and is not part of app memory. And in fact, this probably explains a lot of the performance difference in tests that don't use much memory (compiling in xcode), because compilation is heavy on the disk, and the loss of file cache on the 8GB explains why it's slower (but only slightly). Please don't comment if you dont understand how this works. Think about it, no app is going to use 8GB of memory, because that would make it impossible to run at all on lots of machines.

[@tommeSVK]

04:51 "...they're not skipping a beat, HAH!" :D

[@TerriRoberts]

The 16gb model is the one I went for because (as far as I know, I'm no expert) more RAM is better for running multiple apps and browser tabs at the same time and my daily usage often involves having multiple Abode applications, word, excel, onenote and several browser tabs open at any time.

[@asianstud7]

@@yellowdressbookstore6602 LOL.

[@m.jamilrahman4971]

did you ever heard virtual memory (swap memory)?

[@m.jamilrahman4971]

More RAM good for heavly multi tasking. Like i used to. Run multiple virtual machines at the same time

[@xeon3081]

@@m.jamilrahman4971 if that was a perfect solution nobody would spend on extra ram, it’s still better not to have to use the ssd as ram

[@Stop4MotionMakr]

I like how 4K editing is already labeled as "normal" here.

[@Errcyco]

In their world it absolutely is, bunch of content creators living together lol.

[@jmackultra]

Lol is it not?

[@dennisp8520]

I feel like 4K is becoming much more normal. Most people making content are gunna record in 4K since the cost of entry has dropped dramatically

[@straysheep5312]

I know right I'm still here living a world with 1080p as normal. 2160p is luxury for me 😂

[@timazhum]

The test is not legit. You forgot to throw the Macbooks into a real battlefield with Google Chrome

[@skifast_takechances]

yeah, google chrome requires 64 GB of RAM

[@RodHerzstrom]

I uploaded some multitasking videos with chrome and more apps for the channel if you wanna check it out

[@cystarkman]

maybe that battlefield could be fixed by Google one day 🤔

[@RodHerzstrom]

@@skifast_takechances here's my test 100 Google Chrome tabs... in 8GB M1 Macbook kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5uapaGie55ga9E

[@RodHerzstrom]

@@cystarkman well I am very impressed by how it kept working after the 100 tabs of Chrome. You can check the video on my channel :)

[@neelaysethi]

How does he make all of his videos so interactive

[@Justin-di8os]

It’s they I know surprising

[@koenignero]

Editing

[@RennardMarquez]

Never clicked so fast in a video. Needed this before my purchase :) Thanks!

[@easontekreviews1647]

3 years from now the 16gb model will still do well whereas the 8gb model will choke

[@voose03]

All love, but feels like the vid is here to help sell MBP 8gb. I mean, we need to know what happens when we run multiple apps, that’s what most people do, right??

[@GrabEmByTheJoystick]

He's telling us that most people will be fine with the 8 GB RAM. 16 GB isn't a necessity unless you KNOW you're going to be using a lot of intense apps

[@ajiteshsharma6714]

MacBook Pro is Killin it and you guys are just making the videos we've been thinking of...

[@RichM1967]

Where the ram is important is when you’ve more than one app running. When safari, outlook, word, iterm, excel, vocode, plus’s other apps all running at the same time

[@mallorydurrick]

I asked for that too. I would never just use one program. I have to believe the 16GB is a better solution for real life experience.

[@SergioQuinonez]

That's correct, these tests are a bit bit stupid, more RAM makes difference when using a lot of apps opened at same time.

[@geraldbaria]

@@SergioQuinonez There's a lot of tests on youtube showing multiple heavy apps open and operating with 8GBs, they can't still max them out. BigSur has iOS level ram management.

[@mlykke]

@@geraldbaria The big difference between iOS and Mac OS, is that on iOS you only run a single app at a time, meaning it has all ram available for a single app. On a normal computer it's very common to have multiple apps running. The 8GB swaps A LOT and even though the SSD is fast, ram is MUCH faster.So if you're the type that only has a couple of tabs open in your browser, sure get the 8 GB. But if you like have a lot of apps running, loads of tabs in your browser etc. The 16 GB will be a much better option...and I guarantee you will be able to feel it. This test is attacking from a performance perspective which is rarely the point of ram(unless you workload is very restrained), it's about being able to run a lot of stuff without swapping. Swapping should always be avoided if possible.

[@bagustiko]

Created Labs review about M1 pretty much answer a lot of these questions.

[@macauleyp1950]

Have you tested for differences when using like 100+ open browser tabs? 16 GB noticeably better there?

[@RodHerzstrom]

I opened 100 Google Chrome tabs on the 8GB M1 mbp if you wanna check it out on my channel :D

[@mocaxu]

how is increasing ram going to improve the performance of 1 app? more ram is for running more apps simultaneously

[@austing.8682]

Apps that have high data in/out requirements also need ram to work with, my assumption is the more ram available the more raw footage can be available to stitch together for a final product. Hence the largest gains with video editing apps.

[@bizmonkey007]

No, a lot of more intensive applications like After Effects, Resolve, and AVID need the extra RAM. You wouldn’t want to use AE with only 8Gbs of RAM.

[@Errcyco]

With using the 16gb variant, you’re essentially using all the new M1’s potential power though correct? Where 8gb it will always bottleneck at some point the 16gb wouldn’t.. or is that wrong?

[@wasiahmed1547]

My heart:M1 Macbook Air My mind:M1 Macbook Pro My wallet:have 20 taka to get a tea with a biscuit🙂

[@user-qy2wf2lt6v]

What do you need the Pro for? I get that the extra battery is cool, but the only time I felt my Mac batter wasnt enough, was whne I actually forgot to charge it before a rather long flight.

[@BarcelonasHotCrowd]

Get the Pro. You have to think of Apple's mindset and what each model was 'originally' designed for. The Air is designed for the everyday basic user. The Pro aimed at creatives. It's important to go back to the basics and think of the objective. Th Air is fast but it was never designed for a pro user / creative. I guess the you can tell that i've never been a fan of the Air from day one ;)

[@joacogaray]

Now try compiling an App on Xcode while having 20 tabs open on Chrome and one Word document open. I would like to see if the 8gb model can handle that

[@laurieforsman7820]

Check the one that Max did that just came out today.

[@calsup6696]

I can’t believe no one has asked, what was the battery life at the end?! The 16gb was hotter and performed better. How did that effect battery life?

[@Samosayummyyay]

Good question! 16GB model works harder, but finishes earlier. 8GB model works less hard, but takes longer. Which lasts the longest on battery then? :o

[@brianpaul8567]

In my experience the 8 gig lasts about 8-10 with heavy xcode, rider, and unity use. Not sure about the 16...yet.

[@lhughey118]

To be honest, my workflow is pretty CPU intensive, so I'm always plugged in and don't even think about battery life as much as raw power. But that is a good question.

[@magical.melody674]

I got an m1 8gb with the 256 hard drive. I pay for the 2tb iCloud storage which is shared between all my Apple devices. So everything is seemlessly always there. Plus I bought a 2tb external drive. So I fail to see the need for the 512 storage and 8 more gigs of ram is not gonna make much difference with the m1 chip and that 8 core i7 processor

[@SCHeartless]

Would love to see a test between the 8 and 16gb versions of the m1 MacBooks airs

[@sanjuro_493]

I mean they have literally the same chip so why?

[@Met845]

Spelling.

[@rammohan4u]

MaxTech - great videos and u r reading ur viewers’ mind !! Quick question - will it be same for MBA 8GB (8core GPU) vs MBA 16GB (8core GPU) as well ?

[@flavioallemand5217]

I don’t think so because the MacBook Air has 7-core GPU compared to 8-core in MacBook Pro. The 16-Gb would better off than the 8-Gb but both with lower performance compared to MacBook Pro.

[@brandonharden2184]

The silicon MacBook Pro 16in is going to be a beast.

[@joiseystud]

@ I’m sure it won’t. It will probably use the M1X or something like that. More cores, more ram, more ports, double the thermal envelope, etc.

[@seanq9884]

If it uses the same chip it will be the same as the macbook Air, Mac Mini , & MBP 13 inch

@@joiseystud maybe not because look all other products that use apple chip use the same chip, based on if they are pro or not, like the ipad pro , and iphone pro,

[@winterb1946]

I’d love to see a vid comparing the M1 Air 7 core vs the 8 core GPU and is it really worth the extra cash particularly up here in Canada where they cost more. 😢

[@theaudioroom2228]

Wanted to say, Ram amount is more important for very large timelines. Would love to see a test with a 22min or 44min and then see how the 8gig vs 16gig stacks up.

[@jothain]

Actually just simple multitasking between applications is a factor. With 8gigs I'm having about 2-5 programs open at max. Obviously depending what applications used. But stuff like CAD program and browser can already max out 8gig models.

[@StevenAkinyemi]

We need programmer-oriented review. A lot of the apps we use gobble up RAM.

[@BrennonCS]

I’m waiting for seeing how virtual machines end up working. 16 GB is a must for that, I wish they had 32

[@petergabriel3137]

A

[@excore1322]

@@BrennonCS Haha, yeah, it's all fun and games until you boot up windows.

[@jimbom6307]

@@BrennonCS this unified memory is equivalent to 32gigs on intel version

[@BrennonCS]

@@jimbom6307 LOL LOL LOL ...someone help... Dude this is the biggest pile of marketing bullshit, it might be speed wise equivalent due to decreased latency when moving from RAM to Cache, and therefore need less RAM and less swapping for MOST tasks. BUT...and I want to make this clear, that this is the only thing that matters.... You cannot shove 32GB of data in 16GB of space. If I am running a calculation with large datasets that are 30GB...they will ONLY fit in 30GB...they aren't going to magically fit in 16GB. If I run a virtual machine with memory dedicated to it to prevent swapping and performance losses...The VM will use EVERYTHING that is dedicated to it. 8GB to the VM on a 16GB M1 means only 8GB left for the host...there isn't some magic 16GB (in your comparison where 32GB is equal to 16GB) floating around to be used. If there is anything Apple skimps on it's HDD space and RAM...and then they make the rubes believe it's the "best in the world" TL;DR Any Power Use (Video editing, programming, etc) will doesn't care that "unified RAM acts better" -- Written on my M1 Air 16GB RAM 512GB SSD

[@nicolaselhani]

Honestly, I just want to say from that from the initial announcement of Apple Silicon you guys were one of the few ones that showed enthusiasm and excitement at the potential game changer with the technical backing and explanation of why. Needless to say you were absolutely right. And even those v1 models are absolutely insane. It's mind-boggling to know there are some very big tech KZbin channels that are supposed to at least be non-biased and whose job it is to present tech and at the very least new and revolutionary tech (like this is) but laughed this off (won't name namesltt). Just want to give my sincere appreciation on you guys bringing such detailed and valuable information to what those machines can do and sustaining the quality over your content over time. Most importantly I think we can all feel your passion and that you love what you do, and that's what matters most. Thank you

[@MLJenkins]

Totally agree. Some of these videos were the reason I purchased one. I am a long time windows user and last year thought about switching to Mac for development reasons. However when Apple announced their own chips, I was convinced I wouldn’t touch them ever, as I remember PowerPC from years ago. When I saw these videos showing the actual performance comparisons I realized my thinking was wrong and this bandwagon was moving much faster than I ever dreamed it would. Maybe I’ll be proved wrong in the next couple years, but the more videos I see like this the more I think being an early adopter may not get me in trouble this time :)

[@SamAdamsDesigns]

Lot of haters out there who just want to shit on this because it’s Apple. Tribalism.

[@Ozknl]

Boss ! Thank you so much was waiting for this. Ordered the 8gb model.

[@lapsedubstep]

What i wanted to see was if you try to do something else on the 8gb (e.g. open up safari and try to watch some youtube videos) while an app is taking up almost all the ram.

[@RodHerzstrom]

I uploaded multitasking video with that on the weekend if you wanna check out the channel ✌🏻

[@NOTLeavingLV]

It is not the $200 that bothers me, it is waiting almost SIX WEEKS for the extra ram.

[@jpm3066]

omg right?

[@EvasionEquinox13]

Same Bro waiting for m1 pro 16gb 512 taking forever

[@NOTLeavingLV]

@@EvasionEquinox13 I broke down and bought an 8gb. With the return policy at most retailers (I used Best Buy in the USA), I have until middle of January to see if the RAM will be okay. I suspect it will be fine, from this same channel here I see that only 8k footage video edigint seems to have a problem with 8gb.

[@EvasionEquinox13]

@@NOTLeavingLV I was using the 2020 mbp intel i5 16gb 512gb before I bought this m1 and from a programmers perspective opening just a few apps took away most my ram and I think it’ll future proof it a little since I won’t get a new one in the next 4 years. You know what’s best for you though and take advantage of that return policy if you realize that you need more ram

[@YanmaeSTATION]

Thank you for review. I got MBP 8gb, 512🤍

[@jonathanpollock8970]

I can’t even find the 16GB in stock anywhere without waiting 3+ weeks for shipping.

[@jonathanpollock8970]

That being said. I may not even need the 16gb after watching this video.

[@BigDawgCAM]

Glad you saw it! And yeah, it is always like that with “custom-order” MBPs. They don’t keep certain configs in stores, especially ones with more RAM

[@zihaowang4456]

choose 1 T for hard drive. apple pair 16+ 1T this year in stock in store

[@sakhawatrahman4961]

@@jonathanpollock8970 yeah but you might be keeping it for a long time so you’d have to think if 8GB is future-proof.

[@maigokonekochan]

well it’s a custom order lol it’s well worth it tho 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@user-ms8xp2cl9u]

what about macbook air 16 gb ram vs 8 gb ram? :)

[@BobBob-tt3fe]

Why would that change anything??

[@user-ms8xp2cl9u]

@@BobBob-tt3fe 7-core gpu 8 gb ram vs 8-core gpu 16 gb ram

[@firstnamesecondname5341]

I’m wondering the same except also thinking if it took the capability of fan cooling to max out the 16gb MacBook Pro then the Air minus the fans isn’t going to be efficient in making use of that extra ram (but then I’m also looking at a Mac mini to compliment he setup (I previously had a Mac Pro back ((the price of which was frightening at the time)) and in the day of the Cinema Display, I can’t ever see myself getting even close to needing a Mac Pro again) an Air plus a Mini is still a bargain by comparison

[@ozzracer]

NeXT 16gb mba vs mbp please

[@nolansnook1268]

Ditto

[@gurmeersingh798]

9:18 “ah, it’s so impressive...”😂😂

[@RobMoses]

This is such a good video. Thank you very much for making it!

[@flos550]

Please redo the test while having a lot of apps open, like photoshop, a browser and so on...like this it is worthless for peoples really working with their computers.

[@RodHerzstrom]

I uploaded some videos testing the multitasking of M1 and checking the RAM if you wanna check them out in the channel

[@88rayw]

I agree...test like how normal people use these macs. Lots of Apps and Browser with lots and lots of tabs open, etc.

[@syarifairlangga4608]

True ... thats the reason we have 16gb ram. Me play youtube music while browsing image in shuttershock, run cloudrive for backup while working

[@aaron5809]

Most people never reach the workloads of these benchmarks. They are more RAM intense than any multitasking you would usually do.

[@BrotherO4]

Get the ram. That memory switching meanings it’s killing the SSD faster than normal. If you keep your laptop for more than 3 years than get the 16gb just to be safe

[@aircommandslipperz]

from what i read, this is not entirely true

[@chrits3396]

I am interested in this theory. I also waiting for iFixit to do an teardown so we can actually see the NAND memory part number.

[@mikelovesbacon]

@@aircommandslipperz If you use the swap a lot you can shorten the life of your SSD. That's simply true. Whether you will kill your SSD prematurely or not depends on how much you're actually swapping.

[@stefpix]

Couldn’t you get extra storage instead? The wear on the ssd will be distributed more thinly. Sadly Apple overcharges a lot for ssd and ram upgrades.

[@tenchudjmusic]

i see macbooks from 2009 running and if you want your ssd to last, use it JUST as much as you have to. nobody can beat physics.

[@golfratchakitprakarn7729]

Seems the extra ram is reducing the GPU bottle neck, would be interesting how this translates to gaming!

[@halfalligator6518]

totally depends on the app. video editing traditionally requires a lot of ram to pre-cache rendered frames etc. I wouldn't expect gaming on a 8 or 16gb macbook air would make much difference. Any AAA game advanced enough to demand 16gb probably would stress the GPU before the ram limitation. Basically the bottlenecks are based on context.

[@paulfunigga]

gaming on the mac? :DDDDD

[@ChrisThul487]

@@halfalligator6518 interesting. What about future proofing? Should I still get a 16gb?

[@halfalligator6518]

@@ChrisThul487 for gaming? i don't think it would matter. The GPU would give out before the ram (imo). 8gb ram matches the GPU well for casual gaming (which is all this is good for anyway). I'd get 16gb if you have the spare money... but only if you do video editing or heavy graphics work (large photoshop files etc). I'm going for 8GB and i'll put the spare money towards a nicer screen. People always cheap out on screens but they're an important part of the experience.

[@ChrisThul487]

@@halfalligator6518 thanks for answering. you’re talking about an external screen? I just connect mine to my 4K tv for movies. I do video edit for skateboarding tho. I bought an 16gb 1tb air last night. Pretty hyped about it

[@shaunfurtado7368]

So, technically the arm MBP 16 is going to close the competition for a really long time,If these tests are anything to go by.

[@rocko44444444]

Thanks for the video, I was looking for this kind of compare for a long time. Usually I found "if you need more RAM than buy 16GB version" videos, which are not tests. So, 10% difference doesn't sound much, but if you looking as a workhorse and working 8hrs every day, that means you can save 1 working day within two weeks. That's a lot!

[@elleporidae]

Finally! I don’t know how many times I’ve checked back updates on this topic since the M1 release. Coming from a 2015 Macbook Air with 8gb RAM- my mind (and cash) knows that the 8gb in M1 is already leaps and bounds better than any Intel Macs of the same class but my heart wants the 16gb just to experience it (and future-proof it ofc) 🥴

[@thomasgebetsberger4620]

I feel you! How did you decide?

[@thereckon3592]

Lesley we need answers!

[@Niiiiiii8]

Hello can i get the wallpapers of these macs ? specially the fire one

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Link in description !

[@0511khalid]

Struggling right now with the 8gb model. Had just a few chrome tabs Open plus Adobe illustrator and some Apple apps. Hung up.

[@alexalucard1611]

So 8gb is not enough ? I have to know before buying. I'm also using Adobe illustrator, lightroom and photoshop + Google chrome

[@0511khalid]

I would choose the 16gb for pro work. I’m sending back the 8gb Model for the 16gb.

[@mehmetufukdalmis]

I have watched many similar videos on 8GB ve 16GB M1 MacBooks, but I must say this: most of these videos give poor advice for most people. All of them talk about "video editing" as a standard measure of high demand task. But come on... how many Mac users do video editing on their Macs? Maybe like 1% of all users?? Perhaps it is just easier for the reviewers to base their recommendations on video editing, because it is what they do routinely for their KZbin channel. But it is not the best or only benchmark.. I initially based my decision on these videos and got a MacBook Air with 8GB. And it was a WRONG decision! Apparently I also have some high demanding tasks, which are much different than video editing. I am constantly using the "sidecar" application to have a second screen on iPad, sometimes connect another external screen, having frequent video conferences, connecting to remote computers for remote work, and lots of browser usage. And I think this Is a typical usage (maybe except sidecar) for many people at the time of working from home because of the pandemic. And guess what? 8GB turns out to be insufficient for such tasks that involve zero video editing. My RAM usage is constantly at the orange level (over 7GB of 8GB) and the sidecar application crashes when Safari is consuming a lot of RAM. So honestly I feel like these reviews can be misleading for majority of people who do not do any video editing.

[@footmaniachdr8994]

You're right, they just talk about video editing. 😑

[@ChampionFlow12]

I had that question for so long. I was gonna buy the 16 ram. Definitely going for the 8 ram.

[@Errcyco]

Just because these results are today, doesn’t mean they’ll be the same in like 3 years. 16gb is the option if you plan to keep 5+ years for future apps where the 8gb mode will start to stutter in multi tasking scenarios.

[@ayrtonbrito97]

How its going 11 months later? Thx

[@PrecYsely]

Mindblowing to think we went to the moon on like 4kb of memory lmao

[@CardHandlers]

Mindblowing that people still think we went...

[@0xRayKhan]

I appreciate the effort that went into testing the two new machines. I would say however that it's obviously very media production oriented, it doesn't really address other types of work case scenarios. Perhaps media production is the most intense so it's more or less a valid test. But as I transition from being a media producer to being a project manager, I see myself opening more internet tabs, having a wider variety of programs open, and doing several very different types of work all at the same time. More RAM has been the bane of my work so I think it would still be better for me to opt for the 16GB, definitely more than a 10-15% improvement in my case.

[@Allblue1]

i mean i am a student with 8gb. i can play games that have minimum requirement of 8gb,can run it. as well has 3 games at the same time. With a whole tabs filled with school work and also social tabes and spotify open idk about computers. But seems 8 does really well

[@robertcliftonrobinson4183]

Extremely helpful. I just ordered a new Macbook Pro (14) M1Pro with 16GB of memory, concerned it was not enough. From this video I can see that the unified 16GB, with the new M1 Pro Architecture, will be more than enough capacity for my applications. Thanks!

[@NOTLeavingLV]

11% sounds more impressive than FOURTEEN SECONDS

[@lour7299]

3:58- the thermal camera show 25-36C, but you are saying 70C, did you meant 70F?

[@lucasklaassen135]

Fyi: MacOS uses the unused memory to cache files, as you can also see in your overview. On the 16GB version, it used a lot more memory to do that, but even on the 8GB version, it had 2-3GB of cache, which shows that the MacBook didn't almost run out of memory, but still had plenty left.

[@henktl3580]

They use the SSD as a RAM swap drive, so the 8GB model will probably wear out your SSD faster.

[@amaggie8398]

What’s the speed difference between the ram and ssd?

[@eren1514]

@@amaggie8398 ssd reading ram making.

[@SuperSmitty9999]

@@amaggie8398 SSD wears out after 100,000 writes, vs RAM can do infinite. RAM memory is destroyed every time the computer turns off VS SSD storage is where your pictures are kept.

[@saiashwin26]

Modern SSDs take years to wear out.

[@smeegers]

Would be interesting to see if the results change with a full SSD, as it looks like it's make amazing use of swap space.

[@AkamiChannel]

definitely it will, but you shouldn't fill up the ssd on a mac. That's why it warns you so much about that, bc it wants to use swap.

[@esistdume]

@@AkamiChannel how much space does it use for swap space? i guess it would be okay if u have 10gb free space left for swap space right?

[@AkamiChannel]

@@esistdume that should be alright

[@MithunOnTheNet]

I'm just wondering if the 16GB upgrade is worthwhile in the long run. Computers tends to lag, slow down over time and my 2013 Macbook Air is certainly slower now than it was when I first bought it. I'm looking to upgrade to the new Macbook Air but I'm wondering if spending the $200 extra is worth it.

[@jeffrey3498]

It's worth upgrading just for the future proofing.

[@GiordanoSosa]

Some of the “strange” results where free memory was different but results were the same are just a result of the fact that free memory is not an indicator of memory usage. Free is what is left after used memory + cache memory, where cache memory is not relevant for the current task. Hence, when comparing how well the laptop does a single task (not discussing multi-taking) free memory is a poor proxy for performance.

[@cameron7131]

It’s sad when videos are posted like this as the author has no idea what they are talking about but now loads of people are going to be disappointed when their mileage varies on 8GB model.

[@NTmatter]

Free memory is wasted memory :) It's worth noting that cache memory _may_ be relevant for the current task if it avoids making the CPU wait for interaction with storage. Data can be pre-fetched if it might be needed later, and it can be referenced later during an additional pass, saving time as RAM still has better bandwidth and latency characteristics than a filesystem on top of an NVMe disk.

[@rodrigo4379]

i would go for the 16gb, more future proof.

[@NathanMaingard]

This is how I'm feeling. Spend a little more now to take advantage of the more powerful apps which update to use all this extra power!

[@eduardoaryanna]

I really thinking about getting a m3 pro with 16GB of ram for having for a 7-8 year period i wanna upgrade my video editing game i do everything on my s23 ultra right now

[@LeBlanc_WinfieldII]

shout out to those who are watching on a 2014 mac

[@jasonmays1844]

Shit my 2013 takes forever to boot to even watch this video smh

[@ShaheelMhd]

16:54 - "This took 13 minutes" Me: It takes somewhere around 4 hours on my Core 2 Duo PC 😂

[@hrudaynayak9855]

@@toolstoday8087 it's not made for 4k.. it's for 2k

[@sidharthshaji3157]

Okay ONE MORE DAMN QUESTION ; please let your fans know SHOULD WE GO FOR SPACE GREY OR SILVER ❓

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Space grey for now

[@Ssyc253]

I subscribed just for all the m1 content!! You're killing it keep up the great work!!

[@mrm99999]

OMG, ofcourse maybe there is not much a difference in perfomance, but you dont see impact on SSD overtime, while its using it as virtual memory ssd will be dead in year

[@rjbasilio2002]

I'm glad i bought the 8 gb. Thanks for the review!

[@StuffToons]

Please. I want to see an Adobe After Effects test 🙏

[@Soleythemonk]

Hey MaxTech - I saw like endless KZbin reviews and everybody says 8 GB is enough. I tried 8 and 16 GB and the 8 GB struggled while light Gaming etc after few Minutes- I constantly max out 12-13 GB and even had 15 GB in "heavier use". With 8 GB I had always pink freezing screen cause my swap was around 4-5 GB. Greetings from Germany

[@nick32121]

Why the hell are you gaming on a Mac 😂😂😂😂

[@Soleythemonk]

@@nick32121 why not - there are Games like WoW which i play competitve since 2009 on Macs which wont care if you play it on Windows or Mac- greetings

[@robertolopesino4942]

Amazing in depth comparison! I have made my choice to buy the 8gb macbook pro based on this video! I'm very grateful for your hard work and please know that your channel has become must watch! THANK YOU!!

[@hehh1]

Hello, great informative video. Please help me decide whic one to buy. I am a college professor, I work mostly with MatLab and Mathematica for science research (physics). I have a 2014 Air with 8Gb RAM and 512 GB Drive, no video editing, plus common stuff. My options are: Air M1 16Gb RAM + 512 SSD, Pro M1 8GB RAM + 512 SSD, Pro 16GB RAM + 512 SSD. My main concern is about the (probable) reduction in performance due to high intensity computing temperature, the Air M1 doesn't have fans, the Pro does.

[@DrSwoose]

I bought an 8gb MacBook Air, and it definitely was not enough for me. I found that after opening a few KZbin tabs, while downloading games from Steam, and having a couple news articles up, the activity monitor had me in the high yellows for ram usage. I wasn't even doing anything crazy, and its something my desktop handles just fine, I'm returning it and buying the 16gb model.

[@char_rios]

This is the best RAM comparison for the M1 models that I've seen so far. Great video man! You absolutely helped me(us) out.

[@InfectedSoup]

us?

[@LTZ_Z71]

A $200 upfront upgrade cost for doubling the memory is ALWAYS worth it. Don't forget, you can't upgrade later for any amount of money.

[@jaredtousain]

Yep you’re right. I bought a 8gb version and later regretted not getting the 16 because the ram maxes out really fast with any video or editing programs 🥴. Get the 16gb!

[@lumpython5351]

I’ve been using 16G Ram of MacBook Pro 2012 and MacBook Pro 2018, it’s difficult for me to buy another new MacBook still with 16G ram again, but Apple charges ridiculously price for ram upgrade, literarily it’s almost same price as higher model.

[@sebastianluca3907]

I plan to keep my macbook for atleast 8 years. Is the 16gb worth it?

[@carloslemare6060]

I thought that a RAM test would be doing using Google Chrome and the amount of tabs that the computer can handle :-/

[@RodHerzstrom]

I also uploaded tests videos with the M1 and using chrome and more apps in multitasking and checking the ram

[@laurieforsman7820]

Max has done that one now; just came out today!

[@RodHerzstrom]

@@laurieforsman7820 I just uploaded one to my channel opening 100 Chrome Tabs on the M1 8GB if you wanna check it out

[@laurieforsman7820]

@@RodHerzstrom Danke! I just watched it and am now going to watch some more of your comparison videos. And I've subscribed.

[@RodHerzstrom]

@@laurieforsman7820 vielen vielen Dank! Grüße aus Hamburg :)

[@MrLargo-ov1fm]

You saved me $200!💪🏻 thanks for the detail and the direct suggestions...

[@josechomali]

So the difference shows in apps that max the gpu... maybe a nice test would be comparing fps in games between both models

[@frankvellucci8726]

Thank you! Thank you! & Thank you! Finally the video I was looking for. I now won't be selling my 8gig iMac. Cheers!

[@wuyuzju]

You're totally wrong about the RAM usage. Both machine has more than 1GB of cache. As long as the cache is there, both machines did not run out of RAM regardless of the Free RAM. Modern OS always maximum the Cache from Free RAM. So the "Real" Free RAM should be Cache + Free.

[@aligizzle69]

Amazing!! You both have done a fantastic job as usual. I’m gonna buy the Air/512/8 (but wait for the Black Friday deals). I owe you both a coffee. Much love