The TRUTH About Base Config Macs: Are They Worth It?

[@liltimmy109]

I like how you are so honest and you don’t make ppl feel like they need a 2000 MacBook Pro just to do some edits in iMovie.

[@sadcat6256]

I have a base M2 Air. I use it for web browsing, music, streaming youtube and netflix, photo editing and using the iWork/Office suites. As well as some light gaming with Steam. I often have steam with a game open (mostly Stardew Valley) + music playing + one or two Pixelmator Pro documents + several Safari tabs open, as well as an assortment of random apps open such as Calendar, Mail, Settings, Messages, Discord, etc. I don't notice any real slowdown. Sure, it uses swap memory and the memory pressure is always yellow, but as I said, there are no noticeable slowdowns. The only time when there are slowdowns is when I open huge Pixelmator projects such as 16K pictures or 4K ones with a ton of layers. I'd say my use case is heavier than most people who will buy a base Air, and if its enough for me, its enough for them, IMO.

[@JRStaal]

Got one. M3 base model. Works like a charm!

[@saadd7]

What type of work do you do? I mean will be enough 8gigs of ram for a software developer?

[@JRStaal]

@@saadd7 I’m a director at a primary school. Use mine for office work, documentation, webbrowsing, light photo-editing. Making notes, etc.

[@simonsays6965]

Just picked up the M3 base model Air for my wife’s Xmas gift, she is going from a 2012 intel core duo model so she will be so happy. I’m glad I watched your video as there is so much hate for the base model. Also she doesn’t care about Apple intelligence 😂

[@shaun1900]

playing with a base series M2 that I picked up today for travelling, its flying through my day to day needs as an office worker that M1 Macbook pro with 16gb does and it was literally half the price - happy days.

[@tommyg4334]

Bought the 13" M1 MacBook Pro back in 2020 during the pandemic. Use it for basic everyday lite tasks like internet, watching video, etc... I typically have about 50 tabs open in Safari, and during the workday (I take it back and forth to work with me) i'll also have 10-15 tabs open in Chrome (which is a memory hog, btw) as well. For the most part, still buttery smooth. I only put it to sleep, never shutting down. Once in a blue moon it'll start to slow down in Safari when switching tabs. A simple reboot and everything's smooth again, with all the same tabs reloaded. I'd say this happens once a month, more or less. Other than that, to me it runs the same as when I bought it. Thought about upgrading to the new M3 Air or Pro. The Air seems like a lateral upgrade to me, honestly. The Pro? Screen is nicer, brighter, more vibrant, albeit just slightly. As of this moment, I don't feel there's enough there compelling me to drop $1500 (more or less) for a new MacBook. My current M1 isn't the newest, latest model anymore, but it's still easily handling whatever I need it for daily. It's still a really great machine, sleek, light, portable, and very capable. I don't feel (in my personal case) like i'm missing anything that a newer device would give me to justify buying a new one.

[@Smittron]

I agree with your premise... my wife has been using an M1 MBA (8/512) for three years with no issues. She keeps Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Chrome open which keeps Memory Pressure in the yellow. I've used an M1 Mac Mini (8/256) for two years with no issues. My use case is very light - email, browsing and video streaming.

[@samuelsepulveda1386]

My problem with the base models is the price, 1,200 us for a laptop with 8gb of RAM and 256gb ssd, to me that’s wild (I’m not a hater I have the whole ecosystem it’s just a lot of money for such basics specs)

[@zainichia]

I have an M2 Macbook Air, and yes I kinda agree with you. I did my own testing - turned on activity monitor, and tried to simulate a pretty taxing workflow: Python IDE, ran some ML training, keynote, browser tabs, netflix in the background etc2…really took all that before memory pressure turned yellow. Performance did not degrade though, despite multiple apps running. I play dota2 as well, and that causes memory pressure to go into yellow as well, but again, no perceivable degradation in performance. So my take is yes, for a lot of users 8GB will be fine for at least 2-3 years. They may see some slight performance degradation in year 4/5, but at that time it would probably be good to upgrade already

[@Ed209sect32]

My problem with the base config is even mild multi-tasking I hit yellow memory pressure constantly and swap file. 16GB I almost never get into yellow.

[@billb8262]

I’ve been experiencing swap with Linux and Windows for many years. I’m wondering why today the worry is so heavy versus back when our spinning drives were performing swap write/re-write, doing it really slowly, and we still got work done. With SSDs so fast, it seems better now even when using swap, but the focus on swap is really strong now, so I’m assuming it’s because of SSD life and the fact that they’re soldered in rather than plug and play like HDDs. Is that your situation or you prefer not to have the system use swap?

[@rogermuggleton8127]

I use my base MBA mainly for business finance purposes when I am out and about. About 4 to 5 years of work on it, mainly Excel, Word, Powerpoint, Zoom and the like. These files are naturally quite small. This is all backed up to cloud storage and the total is about 2.5 GB. There's also some personal stuff on there but after 3+ years the 256 GB SSD is only half full. Obviously if you want to edit complex 4K video for a weekly KZbin channel, it's the wrong machine. Video will take up Terabytes of storage in no time at all and make great demands on memory. Games just take up time you can better use by being out meeting people with different backgrounds and interests, or finding customers for your business. Apple Silicon MacBooks are super for business because you can open the lid, touch the fingerprint key and they're immediately ready for action with plenty of battery left. Windows PC users I meet are always looking for somewhere to plug their machine into the mains, and then it's not ready because it's halfway through some mystery job,,,

[@Truth.Watcher]

I have the 8gb RAM M2 MacBook Pro and it’s not the best for taxing workloads. I had originally bought it for college and some web browsing and streaming. But as someone who would like to create content down the road I will have to upgrade.

[@AppleBman]

Base M1 2020 Mac Mini here. Ordered it during the introductory keynote to replace my top-of-the-line Late-2012 27" iMac. No complaints 3-1/2 years later. I've since added a Studio Display, a 2TB Thunderbolt data drive and a 2TB USB-3.1 Time Machine backup drive. 90% of the time it's running Safari, Mail, Music, Photos, and Messages. 5% of the time I'll create fairly demanding projects with Pages & Keynote and 5% of the time I'll edit rock concerts on iMovie. It's done everything I asked without a hiccup and I absolutely love it. Will my next Mini be a higher spec than this? Probably, but I'm in absolutely no hurry to buy.

[@joeprior7311]

Do you store photos and music on your external drive?

[@AppleBman]

@@joeprior7311 Yes all Music, Photos, iMovie, and an archive of long-term project files are all stored on the Thunderbolt drive. That lets me keep ~100GB free on the 256GB internal storage. I back-up the external SSD regularly as well.

[@MorganJoe]

I've been using an MBA 15" 8GB/512GB for a couple months, it's very impressive and with how many Base M1s are still being used to this day it makes me very confident in this one lasting 4 years, I bought AppleCare just in case. I think my next MacBook will be a refurbished M5/6 MAX 16" Pro model that isn't even out yet, as far as Laptops go, I love the flow of MacOS but my Desktop will remain a windows computer for the foreseeable future.

[@B.D.F.]

I’ve got an M1 iPad Pro with 256 GB of storage and 8 GB of RAM, mostly used with a keyboard, and it’s fantastic. It’s been my main computer since it came out.

[@mitchellquartero]

I’m considering getting either a Mac mini from my mid 2019 MacBook Air

[@DBLCreations]

I have pretty much the base config M1 Macbook Air. Only upgraded path is 512gb storage because it was readily available. I'm very happy when it comes to portability and just standard tasks like email, browsing the web, doing some pages/word documents and a little bit of video-editing with iMovie. I have a Mac Pro 2019 for music editing with Logic Pro X and video-editing with Final Cut Pro X. I do have 96gb in my Mac Pro though. I think 8gb is really low. Especially in 2024. I think 16gb/512gb storage should be the bare minimum. I know this is Apple we're talking about but still. They have quality machines for sure and fast memory/flash storage. So they should deliver on that. Again, it's 2024!

[@latinreuben]

Theirs monetary value buying only base but personal production is what matters more. 16 gb is a necessity just for having 20 plus tabs opens.

[@autumnrose_tv]

I could probably manage with a base M3 15” MBA, but I plan on buying a 16gb/1TB M3 15” MBA bc I intend on keeping it until stops receiving software support. Not only that, but it gives me a bit of leeway for light video and photo editing w/o worrying about my storage filling up too fast

[@latinreuben]

Agree 16/1tb is ideal. M3 Air is at 1800. M2 Air is at 1500. My dilemma is keeping M2 at 1500 or going for M3 16/512 at 1600.

[@johnglover4318]

I love my M2 air base model. I do not do these things some KZbinrs test it with. Never lagged, no issues so for me to upgrade would be silly. Cheers

[@andyH_England]

I look at it a different way. To the people who say 16GB/512GB should be the base configuration, the M3 MB Air 13/15 is comparable with every premium Windows ultrabook, so nothing is happening. Apple, MS, Dell, Samsung, LG, etc, have an equilibrium price for 512GB/16GB, around £1500-1600. So those complaining failed to understand the market and are probably Windows fans flexing; otherwise, they would not make fake comparisons. Some mid-range and low-end Windows machines offer more for less, but we are talking about premium. So, I see Apple (and MS) offer cheaper models at excellent value, as they knock £200 off on halving RAM and/or storage. That is an exceptional value as the £200 off each is much more than they cost. Ergo, Apple is subsidizing the lower config models. Obviously, Apple and MS are not charities, and they balance those discounts by charging £200 per step upgrade above 512GB/16GB; demand-side economics. Apple is doing it right, and misinformed people do not understand. For example, if I want an XPS 14 but only have £1100, I have zero chance of buying one as they start at £1600. Apple offers a £1100 model, and for my 80-year-old parents and me, 16GB/512GB would add no benefit, so I would never spend an extra £500 on the XPS 14 for specs I have no interest in. Dell loses a sale, and Apple wins one; it is demand-side economics. Hopefully, Apple and MS will ignore the creators pushing their own agenda, as if Apple offered the base MB Air 13 starting at £1500, like Windows premium ultrabooks, that would price me and millions of other people out of the market. That is precisely what Dell has done; they still offer 8GB machines for £1100, but you have to buy last year's 13 gen, and with the new 2024 Core Ultra chips, I do not recommend that to even my worst enemy.

[@ChromeJob]

I'm test driving the base M2 15" that I bought for$1000 in February, and I'm probably returning it for a certified refurbished model with more RAM and 512gb. Why: the double nerfed performance drag of minimal RAM and slower SSD (in the M2 series) is hard to accept in such a pricey laptop. For $699 that's not even comparable to other machines at Costco. Premium build quality and other values only add a certain caché. You can't run taxing apps on good looks , and for$1000 I shouldn't have to wait on a premium machine.

[@latinreuben]

FYI, Best buy has IMac m1 8/256 on sale today for 899.pink is 799. Bigger screen.

[@billcunningham8485]

I have a Mac Mini M2 Pro with 16GB of RAM and 512GB internal SSD. I have edited 4K video clips in both Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premier… at the same time - pushing two 4K 27 inch LG displays without a noticeable slow down My M2 Mac Mini is amazing. Watching this video as I am in the market for a MacBook for my son who is starting to get into video production and considering learning to code… he is 12… The Apple Refurb $900 base M2 MacBook Air is tempting but as this video works through is it going to be enough? Might bump up the RAM… and buy a USB-C external SSD for working video storage… I have two 2TB Samsung drives hooked into my Mac Mini. Great solution - near seamless file transfer.

[@DanTheElevator]

I got a base M2 Mini with the intention of using it as a Roon server, Plex server, and work machine for office style productivity tasks. I would hit slowdowns and beach balls with Roon and Plex both on, Roon streaming on my local network, Plex not actively streaming, and using some resource intensive websites in Safari with MS Teams open. I ended up getting an M3 Pro MBP with 18GB of RAM to use as my work computer and now the Mini is only being used for Roon and Plex. However I am wondering if by separating out the work usage and the server usage if I could do just fine with a base MBA and save a bunch of money instead. I’m still debating this.

[@jerryhogan5385]

It’s also worth noting that Apple has copious amounts of anonymous usage data on all of their products. They know that the vast majority of people never use more than 8gb/256gb. I am in the camp with most of you that the base spec should be higher, period. But a company like Apple that intends to maintain its excellent consumer satisfaction status and loyal client base, makes these decisions extremely well informed. Yes indeed it’s cheap, yes they know the computer will slow down after 5-6 years, aligning with their software support expiry.

[@urvish5649]

Thanks for this super helpful video! I hope you keep making such content to help students and a lot more people! I have a base m3 15 macbook air, and I was wondering about how long it would take for my ssd to wear out if i constantly have to rely on memory swap(assuming its around 1 gb)?

[@chrishavi8675]

Work on an M2 air base model and runs 2 iOS simulators, 4 locally run APIs and graph database like it’s nothing, I can say that Apple Music in this scenario slows it down so I just connect to my iPhone for music

[@classicaloracle]

I bought a base config Air M3 last week as I’m tired of spending vast sums on previous machines with design faults! 2011 Pro with GPU failure and 2016 with poor keyboard and Flexgate. M3 13” Air is the least I have spent on a Mac. I uninstalled GarageBand and iMovie replacing them with Final Cut and Logic. I’m using Pages and Mail rather than add MS Office. I used SSDs from previous Macs for backup and files. In a month or so I will buy a T4/USB4 caddy and an NVME 2TB drive and from there I can run apps and store my FCP library. So far 8Gb of RAM is fine. I will aim to sell this laptop or hand it on to a family member. I just can’t afford to keep having MacBooks fail when I’ve put so much extra money into upgrading them. I will focus more on desktops for serious work.

[@lenn55]

I've noticed a lot of people that are obsessed with CPU/GPU count when all they use the machine for is basic tasks and light gaming. Apple loves those people. lol

[@sando1948]

The problem for me isn’t that it’s not efficient for basic tasks and very basic productivity tasks as well. It is, and works quite well actually, and it probably will for the foreseeable future. Th issue is that it’s 1000$ computer, and if you’re a very basic user or “ light user “ you can do that on a lot cheaper device without feeling the difference. And for a premium laptop it’s nice to have more as basic … even if you won’t use it as of now.

[@macbp41]

Hi, I'm a student and I'd like to know if the M3 base model is capable of doing tasks for research, ms excel / google sheets, docs, ms teams, jamovi, tableau, canva, and figma (only light use/free version)? My workflow revolves around these applications and let me know if its feasible. Also, what browser would you recommend (aside from safari), that is not heavy on ram?

[@clydeanthony894]

used a base m1 mini for 2 years just upgraded to a refurbished m2 pro because my workflow needed multiple virtual machines running at once and that was the only bottle neck the 8 gigs gave me on the mini, still use it daily and set it up as a home server to boot, the base models are great for anyone who doesnt work on a laptop or that works in an admin/service job. I would say the upgrades aren't worth it get the base model of the next tier

[@aeonlancer]

I still have an M1 MacBook Pro and I recently got the game Lies of P. Once I started playing it, I thought it wouldn't be playable, but I was wrong: it's actually playable. So I guess an M3 MacBook Air might weigh more than I expect.

[@whazzat8015]

I'm still happy with my Mid-2012 Mac Air. Went large: Upgraded processor 2gHz/ 256G SSD/8G. has Magsafe, takes USB-A, can take a mem card Happy so far but getting EOL since some stuff won't take MacOs10.12 A new battery every 2-3 years ($80), easy to pop in. Still waiting to upgrade. 11yr/$1650tot w/bats=$150/yr Prefer the keyboard, Big bezels in 11 yrs it will get banged about. no USB-C but can adapt all but charger.

[@FaizanAhmad-ct5zp]

Are these base models enough for programmers? Ones who run an IDE (Pycharm) and some docker containers.

[@Jimmyfly215]

still using my 14 inch MacBook Pro M1 Pro machine daily. apple has given me little reason to upgrade in the 2 plus years I owned this machine. so when you buy a Mac, know what you are buying and why. *Battery life, Performance efficiency, and knowing it can last you years down the line.

[@erickbeaudry]

Very useful video Kyle. Still on a 2020 iMac and planning to switch to a Mac mini later this year so this video is useful as I am trying to determine what I need to spec it. Already followed your recommendations on a previous video on external storage and I love it. Not sure I am ready for 256Gb but I think is that most of us Mac users were used (or conditioned?) for years to buy an expensive Mac (as that was the only price) and keep for years. But with the Mac mini I get modularity and can see I could use a lower spec and replace II in 3-4 years instead of trying to keep it for 5-7 years. Normally I would want to keep my iMac (love that 27’’) but I am hearing that fan run louder and more often sooo… Was thinking of 16Gb memory and 1Tb SSD, but perhaps I could go to 512 Gb on the SSD and still get 16Gb. I think that until I have used an M chip Mac I won’t be able to assess my level of comfort or need in terms of memory so you may be right that 8Gb is enough. Still want to play a game or two.

[@jayb8934]

I only recently became a Mac user, but for the past few years I was using a Surface Laptop with 8GB RAM/256GB storage. I'm a teacher, and during the pandemic when I had to teach remotely, that was by far the most demanding work I'd ever required of my PC. I often had my students work in small groups, so I would be running several video calls (Google Meets) at once, as well as other browser tabs and things like Powerpoint and emails open too. My PC handled all of this on 8GB of RAM and never felt slow. Bottom line is, yes, I think that tech enthusiasts and other people whose computing needs greatly exceed that of the average person really underestimate what these base specs are capable of.

[@beltrangarrote1982]

MBA M2 base model owner. Light user (or so I see myself as). My basic set-up of open apps is: WhatsApp, Spotify, Mail, Calendar and Safari with few tabs (circa 5, never more than 10). The computer works just fine but the memory pressure is basically always in yellow. Let's say 1-3Gb of swap every day. Is it ok or should I upgrade to a 16gb RAM?

[@nvsv_wintersport]

I've decided to go for the M2 air over the M3, but with 16GB, because I want to use this machine for at least 4 or 5 years. 256 GB internal is okay, because a fast external SSD is way cheaper than what Apple is offering.

[@MrMorningStar96]

Would you recommend Macbook Air base model for software development (blockchain specially - writing and auditing in solidity) or Macbook Pro for this type of work?

[@arminjarmin]

I went with the pro. Mostly because the screen is better (120vs60hz) but also just having the fan if i need to run parallels for something would be nice as well. I went base m3 16gb 1tb cause i will be dual running windows with parallels a lot. Personally id rather have the fan than not but thats up to your use case. Kinda wish i got the m3 pro chip but my phone was cracked and i wanted to fix that 🤷

[@canis9178]

Very informative and useful video. Thanks. Just subscribed.

[@KyleErickson]

thank you, I appreciate that!

[@JonAdamsTech]

Great video, I completely agree, most people would be completely fine with a base model mac.

[@icweener1636]

I am waiting for M4 macbook air hopefully the base specs are a bit higher that m3 with same price so I can save money

[@FlosBlog]

My GF has the base m1 as a musicology student - she says its the best laptop she's ever used. There is really no reason for anyone like her for more ssd or ram. I have an m1 with 16 and 512GB and I guess it was nice while I did photography. But my net mac will definitely be a base version air again. We have no large files and its cheaper to use iCloud instead

[@045Matze]

thanks for the video!

[@the1HLT]

Very reasonable take imo.

[@B77Rocks]

Is the m3 macbook pro 16/512 good for the long term or should I spend more to buy the base m3 pro instead? I'm not a heavy user but I will use it for general tasks and work such as Microsoft office. I'm looking at the pro due to the better screen and port selection

[@AtticusBleep]

Any 16/512 M-series Mac will do you more than fine for years and years.

[@arminjarmin]

If you dot have a specific intention for the extra power. Just get the base m3. It has better battery life. Which you will notice more than some % of power you might never see if you aren’t constantly pushing the device to the max.

[@PhillipLearnTeach]

Sometimes I fee they are not but I like their style and design and battery life. 8gb or ram or 16... is even not enough. My Work PCs all have 64GB.. even that is slow.

[@Johak1982]

I have a base macbook air M2 and its totally fine for the everyday user. Super snappy when surfing the internet and basic productivity stuff. Even for basic edits in final cut pro when you dont use alot of effects and graphics. If you plan on doing more then basic editing go for 16gb ram.

[@xcp1920]

I'm about to buy a m3 pro macbook pro base 14'. I will use it for a mix of school and video editing. Will this be a good option for me?

[@rdlaughter]

It will likely be overkill for your use-case if you are a student.

[@AChunkyOtter]

TLDR, really depends. Do you intend to keep your MacBook for years? Is the work, software, design, editing etc you are going to do very intensive? Then maybe its a good initial investment if you have the money right now and ok to spend it. But if you are not going to do very computationally intensive tasks then maybe get a cheaper macbook model. Also consider if you have to learn any software that might not run on Mac OS. Just some context about myself: I'm a lecturer myself (electronics engineering, IoT, Audio Visual integration and Coding). My students who use Macbooks either use the M1 Air or older Macbook pros like intel or even the M1 lineup, and it works for them very well when learning Arduino IDE, Raspberry Pi, basic HTML and CSS, Python and C++/C#. I've come to learn that Macbooks are very well put together and I don't have to worry about these students facing configuration or the less tech savvy ones as Macbooks in my opinion are really built for students. The only minor thing is that these students using Macs have to switch to using our lab windows PCs when they have to learn how to configure Crestron, AMX and Kramer devices (Audio visual industry related). The software from these brands is windows only. Using it on parallels or bootcamp has a lot of issues.

[@ChrisCanadianHusky]

for pretty basic video editing it's more than fine, I did that with my base m1 air.

[@TheWesterosiNinja]

Yes. The base M3 Pro MBP is really the only "base" version Macbook worth the money. Don't listen to people who say it's overkill for your "use case" as down the road a lower-spec'd model may not optimally run later versions of MacOS and software. The extra $500, especially if you can afford it, is well spent now to spare you headaches later.

[@bryans8656]

I always appreciate your level headed, balanced videos (and your outro, or course). My entry into Apple silicon was the base M1 Mac mini. I never had any problems with it, including disk swapping, but I knew better than to have a dozen Chrome tabs open or do any other type of heavy multitasking.

[@mindlabx]

I have a base macbook air M2

[@divyv20]

Hey Kyle , really nice video ! I was wondering if I could help you with Best Quality Editing in your videos and also make a highly engaging Thumbnail which will help your videos to reach to a wider audience ? Pls let me know what do you think ?

[@i.o.3563]

I guess people just isn't realistic with their expectations. You have to know what you're paying for before buying. Base model is what it sounds like. I have M2 15 Air and I'm very pleased with it. I enjoy the build quality and design. In terms of performance... well, I work with docs, watch videos and surf the web. Never seen Air getting warm, let alone any productivity issues. But, if one works with some serious tasks, base model is not meant for you. Just accept it. Future-proofing is just a myth as well. With time more efficient chip will come, better camera for video calls and other small improvement. So it's just more realistic to upgrade for a future base model in like 3-4 years and be done with it. Just don't expect from Air to be just as good as a Pro models are. Besides, there are Pro models with 8gb of RAM and some people use it for some more or less serious work.

[@miggyyusay]

I have a base model M2 13 inch Air, and it works flawlessly for my light workflow. I generally have Spotify, Messenger, Word/Excel/PPT, and 4-5 Safari tabs open at the same time. I see around 500mb - 1gb of swap, but still no slowdowns when switching between apps or tabs. At home, I use it with a 4K USB-C monitor and do some light music production with Logic/GarageBand. Sometimes I play light games like World of Tanks Blitz on high settings on my 4K monitor and for those use cases it works flawlessly. Next time I upgrade, I think I will get at least 16gb of ram and 512gb of storage, but that may be 3-5 years down the road. Very happy with this machine.

[@NKC-uj3ev]

I will never understand why some KZbinr try to justify apple greed. The point is you pay at least 1000 USD for a Laptop with 8gb/256gb that’s horrible. The storage and ram prices are going down for years and even with that price indication apple charges for industry standard prices that are beyond good and evil. Funny thing with the upcoming AI initiative from apple it will be a fun to see the base models struggling.

[@KyleErickson]

not justifying anything! Actually quite the opposite, I'm just looking at things objectively in this case for what these machines can actually do from my own personal experience with them. In regards to AI, it could very well be that most things run off-device and on servers somewhere, like the majority of AI. If not, it's likely it'll be made for the lowest common denominator in the phone which would have less memory than these base models, but none of us will actually know anything until June!

[@NKC-uj3ev]

Aged like fine wine 😂

[@frederickRamos2205]

Its because why not ?!

[@JonAdamsTech]

Also, I just saw the B-roll with Norsmen, that show is soooo funny

[@protoman2260]

I have a base M1 Mac mini and it’s been fine for the past year or so I’ve had it. I was thinking of getting the M2 Mac mini w/16gb RAM, but since I can count on 2 hands how many times I’ve actually used my Mac mini (I use my MacBook Pro more) I thought, while it’d be nice, it wouldn’t be good value for me to spend the extra money.

[@gmuk101]

For basic stuff why do you even need m3 macbook? Even intel macbook air with 8gb/256gb would work well for that use.

[@idi01s]

256 GB memory is not enough. You need about 200 GB for system files, apps and games that you are going to install. And if you want to save media, photos, data files and media (ie Netflix) the 256 GB will get full quickly. And even 256 GB + External SSD drive is not feasible. Majority of buyers should get minimum 512GB. The 8 GB ram is sufficient for more than 95% of the users.

[@_blink]

I am a pretty heavy user. I use my (Windows) Laptop daily for 6-12 and do programming and productivity tasks on it. I have all programs installed that I need and some games too. Rarely clean up my files and programs. Photos and Backups are in the cloud. I have never exceeded 256GB in 3 Years of owning the Laptop.

[@accesswireless189]

The only ones who can use the base entry level Macs with 8 GB RAM are grandmas who will check email and tik tok and who won't be around for many years. But in that case, she might just need a Chromebook. She could buy a new Chromebook every 2 years, and still come ahead. Let's face it, Apple created the entry level Macs just to create a lower priced entry level Mac, with the full expectation that most people would have to upgrade $200 for the RAM upgrade and maybe another $200 for the SSD upgrade. It is an easy extra $400 of almost pure profit for Apple, increasing their profit margin from like 50% to immediately to 80%!!

[@luckyleo7281]

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