It doesn’t matter how ‘insanely efficient’ they are. If your tasks need to use more than 8Gb of memory you are going to run out and start swapping to disk.
8gb worth of data is not heavy lifting for professional use.
Comment on Apple argues in favor of selling Macs with only 8GB of RAM
scorpious@lemmy.world 2 months ago
To be fair, M-series Macs are pretty insanely efficient with memory. Unless you’ve actually used one extensively, I can understand the attitudes here…BUT:
I’ve done broadcast animation for many years, and back in ‘21 delivered an entire season of info/explainer-type pieces for a network show — using Motion, Cinema 4D, and After Effects (+ Ai and Ps) — all of it running on a base-level, first-gen M1 Mini (8/256). Workflow was fast and smooth; even left memory-pig apps running in the background most of the time…not one hiccup. Oh, and everything was delivered in 4k.
So 8gb actually is plenty for most folks…even professionals doing some heavy lifting. Sure I’d go for 16 next one, but damn I was/am still impressed. (Maybe it sucks for gaming, I don’t do that so have no clue).
freeman@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
scorpious@lemmy.world 2 months ago
…And yet…?
My point is that while of course more is better, 8 sufficed for me…a professional, doing demanding…professional…work.
freeman@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Sufficed is not an objective term but still is not a favorable term especially for machines that cost that much.
Your original point was that apple’s cpu are somehow more ‘efficient’ with ram. That’s misinformation to put it kindly.
kalleboo@lemmy.world 2 months ago
It mostly just shows how crazy fast modern SSDs are that they can do swap duties with performance that is acceptable to many people.
freeman@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Yes if you don’t run out of ram you won’t face ram performance issues…
I wouldn’t be ok waiting 2 seconds to switch between apps on something the price of Mac laptop, even the cheapest m1.
woelkchen@lemmy.world 2 months ago
To be fair, at the price point of Macs, 16GB is easily achievable.
aleph@lemm.ee 2 months ago
There are multiple videos showing how the M3 MacBooks struggle with 8GB of RAM compared to 16GB when it comes to 3D rendering and 4K editing, though.
Sure, 8GB gets the job done but why are Apple selling “professional” grade laptops in this price range that clearly require additional memory to reach peak performance?
scorpious@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Point taken! Clearly more is always better. Don’t have any experience with the M2 or 3.
I’m just adding a personal experience with having the minimum be plenty to get big jobs done.
tsonfeir@lemm.ee 2 months ago
I get more because I know I’ll need more. I don’t get less and then complain I should have gotten more even though I knew I couldn’t upgrade later.
Really, Apple just shouldn’t have said what they did and they wouldn’t be in hot water.