M3 MacBook Air 8GB vs 16GB RAM - Apple FIXED the base model?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 มิ.ย. 2024
- Just how BAD is the base 8GB RAM M3 MacBook Air? Let's see how much the $200 upgrade helps!
iFixit Pro Toolkit ➡ geni.us/8qkP
THIS is the MacBook you should buy right now ($200 OFF) ➡ geni.us/qk6qhg
Best deals on new Macs on Amazon ⬇️
M3 MacBook Air 13" ➡ geni.us/NmOB
M3 MacBook Air 15" ➡ geni.us/kMpdm
M3 14" MacBook Pro ➡ geni.us/qk6qhg
14" M3 Pro/Max MacBook Pro ➡ geni.us/GJYD
16" M3 Pro/Max MacBook Pro ➡ geni.us/rHnvP
M2 MacBook Air ➡ geni.us/Kg6bwJ
If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to help us reach 2 million subscribers! We would greatly appreciate it!
Timestamps ⬇️
8GB vs 16GB RAM - 00:00
Ram Usage While Idle - 00:17
Dual NAND SSD - 00:29
Geekbench 6 CPU & GPU - 01:13
Web Browser 3.0 Speed Test - 01:19
5 Safari Tabs Speed Test - 01:31
Blender 3D Rendering - 02:01
Lightroom Classic Photo Editing - 03:24
Google Chrome 15 Tabs - 05:12
20 Tabs Lightroom Export Results - 06:08
Using Chrome While Exporting - 07:38
Speedometer 3.0 Multitasking - 09:02
Lightroom Export While Multitasking - 09:40
Final Cut Pro Video Editing - 10:20
Which MacBook should you buy? - 10:51
Xcode Benchmark built for Max Tech by Maxim Eremenko ➡ github.com/devMEremenko/Xcode...
Buy one of our NEW T-Shirts to help support us! ➡ max-tech-store.creator-spring...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shop on Amazon ➡ geni.us/wB2mWqd
Shop on B&H ➡ bhpho.to/2kfoI34
Shop on Adorama ➡ bit.ly/2R7qezq
10% off unlimited yearly music licensing on Soundstripe (what I use for all my videos) use coupon code "Max" here: soundstripe.grsm.io/e/6lv
Shot with (Amazon) ➡ geni.us/XE0r
Lens (B&H) ➡ bhpho.to/2DZerxL
Mic (Amazon)➡ geni.us/83CN3V5
If you enjoy our content please consider supporting us on Patreon. Even $2 a month helps us make more and better content for you!
/ maxyuryev
~-~~-~~~-~~-~
PRIVACY POLICY and FULL DISCLOSURE:
°Max Tech is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
°Max Tech is a participant in the B&H Photo Video affiliate program that provides an advertising commission if you purchase through our links.
°If you purchase something from our affiliate links will get a small commission with no extra cost to you. This makes it possible for us to make more videos. Thank you!
°We DO NOT collect, store, use, or share any data about you.
~-~~-~~~-~~-~ - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
![MacBook Air M3 vs MacBook Pro M3 - Which Should You Buy? [2024]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/I0YcblQpJBg/mqdefault.jpg)
![MacBook Air M3 vs MacBook Pro M3 - Which Should You Buy? [2024]](/img/tr.png)
![[TH] VCT Masters Shanghai Playoffs DAY 5 // 100T vs PRX | FUT vs TH](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/q75pv359eP4/mqdefault.jpg)
THIS is the MacBook you should buy right now ($200 OFF) ➡ geni.us/qk6qhg
iFixit Pro Toolkit ➡ geni.us/8qkP
I’m not clicking your referral links mate
can u please tell the storage ssd of both the mac's ????
witch one is better and why ?
macbook air 16GB Ram (512GB) VS the macbook pro 8GB Ram (512GB)
There is no reason in 2024 for apple to be doing 8gb as standard, 16gb should be the new base at NO EXTRA FEE
Apple is not a 'gentleman' company it does not care about its customers. It only cares to make money as much as possible for its shareholders.
Reason: let you spend more money
Even if you can manage 8GB you'll be in line to upgrade faster. Same thing Nvidia does with VRAM.
Exactly!
Is 16gb unified memory and 256 gb storage fine?
No modern computer should come with less than 16GB of RAM. Pushing out machines with 8GB in 2024 is like dropping a 5400RPM rotating rust drive in a desktop machine for the boot drive.
You can get 16gb of ram on the MacBooks.
Tell that to every PC manufacturer, all of whom sell 8GB machines, whether it be Windows or Mac. If people didn’t buy them, none of them would sell them. If you need 16GB, buy 16GB, but don’t force your needs onto others who don’t need 16GB.
@@bowlingdoughnutsmd3703 I'm well aware of that. Its also a custom order item that will set you back and extra $200.
Again, 8GB should not even be an option. Especially considering the RAM is not user up-gradable.
@@techinrl9869 I am saying that to EVERY pc maker. Not just apple. The reason people buy those machines is because they are ignorant and the PCs are dirt cheap. Not because they don't "need" more RAM.
@@techinrl9869 - yes. Forcing people to buying a computer with a default 16GB of ram instead of 8GB is horrible. I've seen some places selling a single 8GB ram module for $28 (also seen them as low as $12), and a single 16GB ram module for $30. 100% certain a company like Apple won't be taking a bath if they sell a base level MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM at the same price as their 8GB version.
Moral of the story: more RAM is better 😃👍
And...If you must have a MacBook...avoid the Air and buy a Pro, because the cost to double your RAM puts you close to that SKU. Nice machine but a hard sell.
Moral of the story: Enough RAM is enough, but 8GB is never enough*
@@HeavenSevenWorld It was in 1999 🤣
8 core CPU and 8 core gpu is good ?
@@rohitfernandes8637 You’re digressing 🤣
Been waiting for this video
That is exactly the type of review I needed! 16gb on my future M3 Air indeed 🙂
Thank you
Just bought a 16gb 1to m3 one and it does everything so well ! Go for it !
External monitors eats from the RAM too, it should be discussed too, I use my M2 Air with a huuge monitor connected, I couldn't do many tasks properly with external monitor on 8 gigs.
8gb with 256ssd? Or 512?
@@clintmiller88 My m2 is 512 nd 16gb
I'm rocking a M1 Air connected to a LG 5k2k without any issues. But yeah I have a 16GB/256GB configuration
Obviously, because the M-chips have unified memory.
m2 with 8gb and two 4k monitors without any flaws. There may be something wrong with your Mac though.
How Max Tech reads the viewers demand is amazing. Really makes me stick to one tech channel in the ocean of this niche.
Wow thank you for the best video !
Apple just keeps making money
yes
we keep losing money
People should stop buying their laptops until they make base models with 16 gb ram and 500 gb storage. Sadly that probably won't happen.
Super complete test! 🎉
Hey erik ....they don't do a test for fl studio ....
I'm planning to buy m3 MacBook air with 24 GB Ram ....
I choose air rather than pro for portability reasons ...and the form factor...
Will it work???? Fir heavy edm production?
@@mayankkaushik6868 yes it will! 24gb ram is enough for heavy FL production
👍
You have to remember that for the M1/2/3 chips, the ram shown is shared with GPU memory. So 8GB is only really around 4GB-6GB of memory for programs.
I’m waiting for all the fanboys to start yelling about it being magical unified memory which is Apple speak for “shared”
On older Intel MacBooks 13 inch GPU memory was also shared
This is true of every thin and light laptop that doesn't have a dedicated GPU
@@OShackHennessy Unified isn't the same as shared, AFAIK. Unified means it's incorporated with the chip to create a much faster path from CPU to RAM and back again. "Shared" indicates that the video subsystem is utilizing main RAM rather than separate, video-only memory.
Not a fan boy, though anyone who conflates the two (fan boy or otherwise) doesn't know so much about computer architecture and is perhaps only educated on what Apple dictates.
@@hacob2004 except you can add more or spec it up on the front end without getting robbed, and 8gb is offensive on a Mac
8gb in 2024 is a joke.
Exactly
A bad joke.
It’s mind-blowing that some people still excuse 8GB ram while it's so ridiculously bad just doing two things at the same time 🤦
Bit of an exaggeration there lol. 8GB runs fine for general users.
@@leebeeskee no it doesn’t, I had it, just with enought safari tabs and switching becomes laggy which is unacceptable for $1000 laptop, or I guess yes fine for general users on $400 laptop...
@@leebeeskee yes, 8 gigs on the silicon valley chips is not the same as 8 gigs of RAM on PC
@@leebeeskeeno it doesn’t.
My 8GB MacBook Pro can barely handle a lot of Safari tabs……
That’s not okay.
@@leebeeskee Apple has entered the chat !
This was the most helpful video I’ve watched. Been looking at reviews for well over a week and this was the game change video
12 should be minimum
Yo bro... Love your dp... 🎉😂
No dout
16
I’ve been saying this since the first M3 shipped.
@@geoffstrickleryou and a million other apple users
Can you do the same RAM comparisons between the M1, M2 and M3 base configurations? If someone, like me, is wanting to upgrade from the M1 to M3 is it worth it since the SSD speeds are faster on the M1? Thanks and keep up the good work!
I bought the max 24GB to future-proof it for apps getting more and more bloated. I would keep my M1 if now I could increase the RAM beyond the 8GB it came with
Have you received it yet? What are your thoughts on it?
I also ordered the max 24gb on my MacBook Air order because I know that applications and the Apple Mac OS keeps growing in size.
Thanks man. Clear explanation. I needed this.
great video - would be interesting to see how much heat they were producing during those tests
Could you do a video comparing battery drain between browsers like Chrome vs Safari or Opera? I notice in my 14" M1 Pro that any browser other than Safari drains the battery twice as fast. Keep up the good work.
Great video! Question where to get those wallpapers you have. Thanks!
ditto!
This is an interesting result to see the significant difference. Just out of curiosity, how does the M1 Air compare to the M3 Air (at the base 8GB model for each)?
Thank you for helping me make up my mind for my next MacBook
If Apple doubled the RAM in every single one of their machines across the board, on all configurations, their prices would make sense. Think about it.
Make sense for customers, no sense for Apple and investors
You are 100% correct for the customers but if Apple shipped all products with 16GB of RAM then chances are you would be paying $100 to $200 give or take more on a product so the price it is now probably wouldn't be the price if the RAM was doubled.
And doubled the SSD storage, and halved the price of upgrading the RAM and Storage, it costs Apple a tiny fraction of the cost they charge consumers !
A big issue is the SSDs are soldered on the motherboard. You have a chip failure and there is for all intents, no way to repair them. Which forces an expensive and unanticipated expense to replace the Mac.
@@roch145 People have upgraded the storage on an iPhone and possibly a Mac them self but its only due to them knowing how to do it and make it work but also have the equipment for such work
I really liked this comparison, thank you. I wonder How does the base M3 MacBook Pro (8GB - 512GB) perform against the 16GB - 256GB M3 MacBook Air... Maybe the best SSD surpasses the extra RAM in multitasking? or Base macbook air vs base macbook pro with this test.
That was really an educating Video
Thank you far the comparison ❤
Are there any significant performance differences between the 13' and 15' models?
Muchas gracias por el video Max... es JUSTAMENTE LO QUE ESTABA BUSCANDO. Necesito renovar mi Macbook Pro mid 2012 y tenia la duda sobre configurar 16ram/256 o 8ram/512... creo que ya esta mas que claro, que 16 ejecutará mejor en un par de años
Would love to see similar test between 16 and 24Gb models.
How much do you have to push the 16gb for it to slow down compared to 24Gb.
My 16Gb M1 is awesome :)
Fantastic video as always Max Tech! At 10:37 the 8Gb is faster on the Final Cut export. Is that correct? Were you still running background tasks on the 16Gb?
no, its just their video editor who manages to routinely mess up the names with the results in the charts... such a shame cuz theyre the best channel for tech
I have also noticed that 8Gb is faster in the results at 10:37. Strange. Probably a mistake.
😂😂😂
Great video thank you!!!
Okay, so what are the storage performance differences between 512GB and 1TB, on a system with 16GB RAM?
In a typical work session, I might have 10 Chrome tabs open for research and news, while doing some word processing. I might write or respond to some emails and initiate a Zoom session. I don't do much photo or video editing. A test of this use case would be interesting. I think that 8GB RAM might be acceptable here, although 12 or 16GB RAM might be preferable.
My typical work day looks exactly like this. Both my 8gb on mb air and 16gb ram on Mac mini pro still swap memory and I even get low ram warning on Mac mini. I don't get it.
Takiego porówna potrzebowałem. Dzięki. :)
Final cut 4k HEVC with effects test, apparently you didn't notice, but your chart says the 8GB Air actually beat the 16GB. That doesn't seem likely. Maybe its mislabeled?
I don't know if this is a stupid question, but why will the mac use swap if it still has plenty of unused ram?
Same doubts
just curious, do most people that buy a macbook air use these programs? Most people will run chrome tabs, which make no difference, and maybe play a game or a movie. Unless 8gb is not enough to do these tasks the ram deficiency won't be noticeable. I don't think there's many people that buy a macbook air to do video editing.
I've been able to run my 8GB MBA M2 into yellow and red memory pressure just running Chrome, and some Apple apps (Safari, Notes, Freeform). Though I have Google Drive, 1Password, Logitech Options+ running in the background on login. Yes, MaxTech's demo with CPU intensive apps is a quick shortcut to illustrating the deficiencies, but you might repeat this test with just "lite" Apple apps. I've done it.
Really Nice vidéo!! And for Logic Pro x ?
probably the 24gb
Hey man! Can you do a test with the M3 chip and Logic Pro or Pro Tools or Ableton Live?
That 5GB used when opening up includes >3GB of pre-fetched cache. The system will release that when needed so that 3GB is effectively available.
Exactly. Do free -h from a terminal and you should get more details
yeah that number doesn't mean much; the memory pressure; compressed memory and swap size give you all the indication you need. it's a shame because some people assume "oh my mac has nothing running and I'm already out" but macos will use all the ram it can. You get a perf bonus with 16GB but it will take a lot for a 8GB model to grind to a halt.
😮
Yeah so many of these reviews are really frustrating when they talk about this. I honestly can't believe how many popular tech reviewers / news outlets / etc use the amount of memory used at startup "at rest" as their first point to drive home how little memory is available. Why not use the memory if it's available to optimize, if the memory is just sitting empty / unused it's being "wasted."
I would like to see the difference in performance with 24GB and a 1TB SSD.
I agree. This is the configuration that I am considering (mainly for future proofing), but none of the videos really mention it.
I just ordered this config but mostly be a use I keep my Mac’s for 5+ years. My wife’s m1 with 16 and 1 tb is already maxing out the ram.
The difference between 16gb and 24gb Ram is marginal if not inexistent. He made a video comparing a 16gb vs 32gb of ram on his channel go search for it, there's basically no difference for anything beyond 16gb unless you're a super hardcore user that needs to render 3d and have photoshop/lightroom/after efects open all at the same time@@reconshaun
Does SSD really matters? I can have an external storage device.
@@paulsaha2242 well you should ensure that you have plenty of space for memory swap in addition to everything else you store on the device. Generally you want to only use 60-80% of your SSD.
How does the M3 MacBook Air with 16 GB compare to the M2 MacBook Air with 16 GB? I currently have the latter with 1T storage and everything I’ve seen says to not upgrade. Is the M3 that much better than the M2?
great video thanks !!
I am a user who buys a Mac / Macbook to last for 7+ years so I usually always buy double and triple of what the base configuration might be at the time of purchase. With my MacBook Air mid 2012 seeing a replacement this spring/summer I will go for the 24GB option.
If you have enough to do it it´s fine but most people can´t afford it. 16gb Ram 512 SSD should be the base configuration.
with the same amount you could probably get 2 more basic machines every 4 years. plus your machine will not be worth much compared to what you paid it on the resale market.
I am most likely non representative of a user for this TH-cam channel. You guys are hardcore techies and you know so much more about tech/Mac than I ever will. I, maybe like many others (????), don't want to think about buying the latest, best, best bang for the buck technology piece, but we buy when we have to (like in my case the 2012 MBA giving me grieve), so then I go and buy something that hopefully covers me for another 10 years. Given my age, I even don´t know if I will ever need to buy a new Macbook again after the new M3 MBA. @@valdir7426
I’m doing the same thing except 7 years of primary use and 3 years of auxiliary use (giving to my daughter to use for school). I broke down the cost to a monthly basis excluding depreciation and compared it to windows laptops. They usually only last me 2-4 years before breaking or becoming unusable and it turned out to be cheaper by around $8 a month to buy the Mac air compared to a comparable windows laptop (which is 1/3 cheaper)
No offense man, but your purchasing strategy is kinda foolish depending on whether I"m assessing your usage correctly. Look I'm also a MARATHON user of Macs. My last Macbook was a 2015 MacBook Pro that I begrudgingly replaced because my cats broke it a couple weeks ago. I replaced it with M1 Pro MBP in base config.
Considering you have been using a 2012 Air for a decade, you seem like a pretty low scale user. Try to slow down and think about what you are actually saying here. You are trying to PREDICT THE FUTURE of computers with YOUR WALLET, and not in a way that would actually make you money, like the stock market or any other investment. You are just mindlessly future proofing your devices instead of actually asking yourself "how much ram and storage do I actually need and what I will need". You would save considerably more money buying a machine with reasonable specs or especially just buying a used machine like an M1 Pro that comes with 16gb and 512gb storage standard. And then even if you upgrade it in like 5-6 years, you'll still save much more money buying external drives or just buying a newer machine with more ram as standard in the future.
So where does Apple get 8g ram in 2024? Do they have a time machine?
Nice viedo, thank you
I would first like to say I very much enjoy your channel! it's very detialed and made with a lot of heart. Honestly, your channel was the reason why I pulled the trigger on the 14in MBP M3 max. Upgrading from windows i7 11th gen, its fantastic. After owning it for a week, I'm thinking of upgrading further into the 16in MBP m3 MAX justify the extra cost to the larger screen and battery but primarily for the extra ram. (48 GB) and the 40 core vs the current 30 core. While I was on my 14inch MBP, I checked the used ram and just with 6-7 google chrome tab open, (no videos) 1 firefox tab open and Microsoft word document, I was already into 22GB out the 36GB ram. I'm nervous of performance with that plus 2-3 hours of Zoom (full-time online student). I was reading that mac IOS is ram hungry, and no matter how much ram is available, It would be the same situation. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this.
Bro seriously I was searching this type of comparison seens "Macbook M3 air's" launcher❤ and i finally got it.
You gain a subscriber.
well, I wouldn't recommend subscribing to this guy for very long. He's kind of a normal person with no real formal education about computers and who doesn't actually know basically anything at all about the fundamentals of computers, including chip design, memory management, operating systems, etc. He's just a normal dude that happens to have been able to afford reviewing products at one point and now all he does is make bland comparisons between mass market products without any insight
@@burtdanams4426 ooh really, then suggest me some
I just ordered a new Air and opted for the 24 GB of RAM. Hopefully it’s not overkill but I expect the machine to be quite speedy. 😊
Have you received it yet? What are your thoughts?
How is it with M1 Macs now?
The videos testing them are all three years ago, with apps unoptimised for Apple silicon.
Didn't they fix the SSD speed issues as well? Could the new M3 be benefitting from speed, by not only the ram, but the ssd speeds?
I think a good idea would be to discuss how Dynamic Caching might be playing into this test, given that it’s a new feature of the M3 series.
Good point !! Yes, should compare M2 8GB with M3 8GB
Idk why I'm here. Me watching on a Chromebook with 4gb ram.
And doing nothing else other than browsing the web
Thanks for these reviews! Still awaiting the final verdict on the best choice when going for the air. More internal memory or more SDD; more internal memory with standard ssd vs standard memory vs more ssd test?
Excellent content
Hey Max, slightly off-topic but could you please do a comparison between the Apple M3 and the intel Ultra 7/9 155h/185h? Intel Ultra is one of the very few architectures that offer HW decoding for 10 bit 4:2:2 HEVC which is very common with video cameras. Would really appreciate if you could put them to test to understand how they compare from a workflow perspective 🙏🏻
8 extra GB for $200 🤡
This video highlights exactly this issues I experience on my 8gb M1 Air. And why I placed an order yesterday for a 16gb M3 air. I dont do much more than photo editing and normally 20+ browser tabs. Thanks.
On my M1 i don’t seen this. Swap use - yes, but not laggy at all.
@@dimakonstanta1868never with 8gb?
@@ChromaSup yes, but I’m not heavy user
If the MBA M3 16GB supports full acceleration with Lightroom, then the MBP M3 16GB should support that too, correct?
I bought a M2 air last year with only 8GB as a test to see I it was going to be enough. The longer I have it the more comfortable I’m getting with the amount of Ram. I was going to get a separate machine to run a Linux distro on but then I said screw it, I’ll try it on the M2. You know what, it works. Im running Kali using the UTM VM with 4GB of the 8 allocated to the VM. Sure I’m using some swap, but there are no slowdowns or crashes. Everything is working fine. I’m probably not going to get another 8GB machine again, but I can say that it works with no issues if I don’t have everything in the world open on MacOS while the VM is running. So my conclusion is that 8GB will do the job. I would feel better with 12GB but so far no problem having a few things open on Mac while also getting PCACPs in wireshark or using the aircrack suite at the same time.
You stuffed up 😅😅
Yeah, I have an air 8gb M1 that my work provides for office tasks (maybe 10-15 Google tabs, slack, VOIP) running all at once switching btw them. 8 hour days no issues for these types of tasks. For creative stuff I have a top spec baseline M3 16 with 48gb ram. For everyday stuff and office stuff - I dont see a difference. I'm not trying to do lightroom + 15 tabs on my air (mainly cause its the jobs comp and not mine) but in real world usage for 40 hours a week its been fine.
I love all the "you need at least blah blah" and yet these same people are NOT having to use the 8gb machines, they've skipped over them.
@@justinavila1320 Well, I'm using both. and 8GB will work, but 16GB is better.
Apple Macbook Air M3 8GB ram can easily edit 4K video?
What's the app you use to measure CPU and GPU usage at the top bar?
Same I would like to know this as well
great comparison, thanks! I would also like to see the temperature values for these modes. It would also be interesting to make a comparison with mbp14 m1 16 GB. Now I’m choosing between these two MacBooks. I will use it for Photoshop and Lightroom
I can see the difference. However for folks that have the M2 and do regular task or for personal use, and not for pic editing or video editing. I don’t see why to upgrade. Maybe upgrade after 2 years if needed but I wouldn’t. This comparison is good for those heavy workloads that some do.
Based on your description, you probably wouldn’t need a new computer for eight or ten years. I had the first MBP with SSD drive (2012?) and I just replaced it when the SSD failed.😅
@@Bakapooru you have a point there. I had a 2011 MBP that I didn't replace until 2020, just before the M1 chips dropped. I used it for research, school work, Netflix, shopping, and general browsing. When my current one goes out, I'll likely buy an Air to replace it. I don't think I'll get another Pro. I just don't run them nearly hard enough to warrant the expense.
MacOS uses 5.5 GB of RAM on a fresh boot? Was expecting 3~ GB with how people say Apple's software is optimized...
Mine uses 3.4 gigs....something is fishy with this test.
As someone pointed in one of the comments: That 5GB used when opening up includes >3GB of pre-fetched cache. The system will release that when needed so that 3GB is effectively available.
👍
Just curious - What is the benefit of using Chrome over Safari? I thought that Safari was more efficient but I also know that Chrome is more of a "standard" and has support for more extensions. Would love to hear the Max take...
Thanks Max for this video. It confirmed I need to buy the Mac Air M3 16Gb RAM.
You didn’t compare the SSD speeds. They are way way different. For transferring files
Between 256Go and 512Go you mean ? Apparently there shouldn’t be a difference because the problem that caused them to be different on the M2 has been corrected on the M3.
@@-Pauoolk there is a big difference between them actually. My 512gb hard drive 16GB ram M3 15 inch Air runs at 3,250mb/sec way faster than the 256gb model. It runs faster than my ladies M3 Mac Book pro base model
16gb m3 air 15" vs 8gb m3 macbook pro 14" would be a great comparison. Can we get a video of that?
Yes!
I bet 16GB Air will crush 8GB Pro
Awesome video was wondering if you could do one with the 24 gb ram to see the difference for the air for all 3.
Was expecting an SSD speed comparison between the 256GB and the 512GB. Also, Xcode tests.
Cheers!
Please I would love to see a MacBook M1 air vs MacBook M3 air comparison
My 2 cents:
Can you survive with the basic model? Absolutely. You can do almost everything you want.
Yet, 256GB storage and 8GB RAM isn’t enough for moderate use. 512GB and 16GB should be the minimum at that price point, and the 200$/€ upgrades for each is just offensive. With 256 Gb storage you’ll notice the lack of space faster than you’d expect and 8GB RAM just begs for swap to be used, in any moderate workflow that isn’t just word processing and light browsing. Even the tabs my notebooks use while cloud computing use more than 1GB each (granted I work with quite big data sets).
My background is in data engineering/analysis/science - and my work computer isn’t a Mac, but I do use a Mac & semi capable PC for personal projects.
The problem with that POV is that premium Windows ultrabooks are all priced at >£1500 for 16 GB/512 GB, so why are you asking Apple to only charge £1100? Some people could argue that the MB Air is better than many Windows ultrabooks and certainly should not be £400 less; maybe it should be more expensive?
@@ahaimes6320 The Asus ZenBook 14X OLED is less than $1k USD.
Hey mate, I have the same background as you. Already have a PC but planning on getting a new laptop, do you recommend the air? Currently have a ZenBook 14X OLED but battery is shit, and it gets hot (thanks Intel!)
@@ahaimes6320 at 512GB and 16GB MBA comes to around 1800€ (with taxes), sure the base model with better specs could be 100-150€ more expensive but not 400?! They don’t sell the base models at loss either…
And yes, I think across the section usable ultrabooks are too expensive by design. The modules themselves are basically the same as desktop counterparts yet like thrice the price. I mean the individual Ram and flash chips not a whole sodimm blocks and hard drives. They solder just the chips and controllers to motherboards making them more simple in overall design - should be cheaper as the price of GB has gone down over the years not up.
Meh, it depends what you prefer and do with your machines. Today it is even less relevant to argue which OS is better than the other than it was 15 years ago. They’re all compromises one way or another and so are the computers themselves. There’s great hardware from all manufacturers - and dumb.
@ I’m seriously considering one for myself, I do like the MacOS. So yeah I do. :) it’s nice and portable, but it does lack active cooling by itself.
I’m also looking the used market for M1 and M2 variants (MBA and MBP). I do have 2 external displays so M3 seems the better MBA as it supports it out of the box (I’ve googled that there’s workarounds to get M1 and M2 work with 2 external displays too). The fanless design remains the bigger question, do you do long intensive runs with CPU and GPU? I don’t on my laptop, so I can live with MBA. :)
If you do a lot of local stuff I’d suggest a used/refurbished MBP over the new MBA, but with remote tasks you can spare a lot of nice cash over specs. AAfter all M1, M2 and M3 mostly different over the number of GPU cores they have. CPUs perform quite similarly. So M1 Pro(did it have Max too?) with more GPUs is better than M3 base, I think. This whole rant assuming you want to keep the costs at bay. :)
Could we have a similar comparison with an M3 Air with 24Gb RAM, in gaming, where the shared RAM for the GPU could be rate-limiting, even at 16Gb?
Did it heat up during multitasking ?
This proves all the fuss about dual NAND SSDs was misleading. We finally see a 16GB -v- 8GB, which proves that RAM makes the difference when heavy multitasking is involved. Of course, any sensible techie knows that if you are doing heavy multitasking, more RAM is essential. Every webpage uses about 400 MB of RAM, so twenty tabs will swamp 8GB. By the way this is also the case of 8GB Windows machines. Physics is physics!
So, 8GB is only for people like me who have a few tabs open. I have 6-8 and a few apps. I must admit that if I am doing photo editing, I will clear the RAM so that the app can use all RAM. It is no big deal, as we can see here; with the full 8GB available, the time is just a couple of minutes, enough to get the coffee brewing.
Typing on my MB Pro 13 M1 base, and no issues at all for the past 3.5 years. You are fine if you get the Air as long as you understand that performance is dependent on specs. And your expectations are grounded in reality.
The difference would be even bigger with a single NAND SSD because the swapping would be slower.
Who use 20 tabs at the same time? Browsers often offload unused tabs from RAM.
👍
It is not "limiting itself". Free RAM = wasted RAM. Ideally, the OS does caching on all of the available memory (unless you really have too much memory for your workloads). As far as it does not start swapping - you have enough memory for your workloads. When it is short on memory, memory pressure will get yellow and red - and you will se swapping.
Rendering is memory heavy task. So if you need daily do some rendering, better get more RAM - 32 or 64 at least. Depends on your projects. If you need render occasionally, even with small amount of RAM it will do, just need wait a little longer.
yeah exactly. people seem to believe that your computer will stop working if you don't have enough ram. it will just be slightly less performant depending on the task, as these tests show.
For M3 Air 13” is it worth going for 24gb ram or 16gb enough ?
thanks for video
I've never had any issues on my M1 8GB Mac.... I used it for heavy photo editing and have a lot of tabs open on my web browser and its always been A-OK.......
cool story bro
@@DamageMelody this would have been such a fire Clapback if it was 2010!!!! 🫡
The 8GB Company (Apple)
I assume the graph at 10:35 is a typo and the 8GB wasn't actually better than the 16GB ?
Hi Max, could you please do a test between base m3 macbook pro vs 16gb m3 macbook Air?
That would help me a lot in the decision. I'm looking for benchmark comparison like : Cinebench, 3d mark wildlife, geekbench and blackmagic.
Thanks in advance 🖤
standing on my 2017 i5 8th gen with 16 gb, I'm so proud of that machine.
Glad to hear they fixed the SSD problem, which will help with swap speeds. I do my "heavy lifting" and most work with a 16GB Mac Mini, which never leaves the "green" memory pressure, so for occasional portable work, I'm leaning towards the 8GB MBA model with the following justification: the upgrade to 16 GB costs about 20% of the price. In other words, if I replace it after about 5-6 years (roughly), then if I save the 20%, I can replace it about a year earlier. But thank you for your video; I will be sure to test it well (within the 2-week return window) for my use case and make sure there's a margin to allow for 4-5 years of use.
Thank you, this is the most sensible take on this question. Others here just scream nonsense about unrealistic use cases and exaggerated "issues". Heavy users buy Pro 14-16 as their main machines (if they want a laptop) or Mac Mini/Studio, and use MBA as a portable complementary device, and don't complain.
Poor "wannabe professionals" buy base MBA as their only machine and then whine about 8Gb RAM, this is just pathetic
What is the storage on both?
I’m pretty sure Apple does this just to shorten the life of the ssd on base models to force people to upgrade when the ssd inevitably fails from write usage
if you are a heavy user and you chose the 8gb model is not apple's fault, it's yours
That is a proven urban myth. Mac SSDs do not degrade
@@nicktw8688tell that to Louis Rossman
👍
@@nicktw8688that’s blatantly false lol. All SSDs degrade and Apple doesn’t have alien technology
MacBook Air with 8gb is not for heavy rendering, but for students and light users, it’s still perfect
amazing test
I have an old 2018 Air that had 8g 128g config. Just recently I bought a 16g 512g logic board from ebay, swapped the boards, sold the old 8g board for roughly $10 less than the 16g board. It’s running Sonoma with almost NO swap. Sonoma is very heavy and absolutely not optimized for intel macs, yet, the 16g ram is making a huge difference. I’ll buy a new Air when the base gets atleast 12g ram.
Can you do a video of 16GB vs 24GB?
Pls do M1 8gb vs M3 8gb
Also, interested to see M1 16GB vs M3 8GB because now the former one is far more cheaper than the latter one.
Which MBA should I pick between M2 16/256 $1,400 vs M3 8/256 $1,200 ?
Mainly for illustration in Ps and light AE stuff
thanks but why final cut pro? Most of the pros don't uses Finalcut anymore:(
Strange that on M1 Air we don’t seen this. 8GB and 16GB was neck and neck.
Not strange at all. If it's true, 8 gigs of ram is a bottleneck on m3 chip, while m1 is slow enough to balance everything out.
You will find with less RAM there is more paging. According to many online review the M1 has a fast SSD, while performance of the base model was downgraded on the M2 which really hit performance of the 8GB model. Try tuning your tests again if you can, and compare the amount of paging between the 8GB and 16GB versions. Excessive paging will wear out the SSD, apparently but I've not seen this yet myself.
@@shaunpugh3287 Random access speed on SSD on M2 is faster than on M1, so even on base one-chip SSD, swap is pretty fast with 8GB. I had both. I think base M2 is faster even when heavy swapping.
Also it is not possible to wear out SSD in 3-4 years, maybe after 5+ years of very having swapping every day, and that is questionable.
@@jutjub22 no! Random acces on base M2 is 58 mb/s read, 29 write. On base M1 - 72 read, 38 write. M1 much faster in this also. If we seen Radom 4KQD64 speed - M2 is 697 read, 57 write, while M1 is 1015 read and 105 write.
with 8gb of ram you can use chrome for about an hour before your laptop explodes.
What laptop do you use?
Wow. The best part of this video is, he covered every DAW there is.
8gb is perfect for me. Simple tasks and am currently typing this comment on it now. I use it for my edrum kit to play spotify, then its used in the bedroom for hulu and netflix and what not. Simple photo editing and zero video editing. Most people are conditioned into thinking they need more when in reality it TRULY matters what you are buying it for. If you are someone who does some heavy video and photo editing you really shouldnt be looking at the Air model in general. By the time you upgrade them you might as well save more money and go for a pro model with the chipset of your choice.
Poor person
"yes guys! Please buy Teslas and e-bikes!" Stfu