24GB 😂 I think of 16gb as the new standard and wanted to future proof it a little bit more (if that’s even possible). Graphic design purposes, no 3d, and just really like the fanless thin design..
My M1 MacBook Air has 8GB of memory and it's fine with me. Though I will say, Apple should just drop the 8GB memory and just give the 16GB memory as the base standard
@@just_a_random_dude3 That's exactly what I think. 8GB is going to be limited, and I don't believe they will give us 16GB as baseline air, so perhaps 12GB will be the baseline in the future.
@@chennyye28 Considering how much you're paying 16 GBs of RAM is what you should get from the base model or at least allow you to install more like a normal manufacturer instead of forcing you to spend more for no reason other than their greed
The issue is the lack of upgradability post-purchase and the fact that these machines tend to last for a long time. I'll be putting the extra memory in mine when I order it.
I just ordered the MBA M3 with 16GB 256SSD (I have Icloud storage) because I am going for 8 years of law studies and I want it to last as long as my studies. Hope I did the right thing.
I have the same one just with 512gb and i guarantee you will have that laptop throughout those 8 years due its reliability, i would buy and external hard drive further down the line
I’ve been editing 4K GoPro footage on my base M1 Mac Mini with a 256GB SSD and 8GB memory and I’ve never had an issue. Sure, I can’t keep multiple apps open when I’m video editing, but apart from that it’s golden.
@@Literallyarealhumanif I buy MacBook Air m3 chip 8gb ram so will it work good for like school and normal work and keep tabs open in back? Will it lag or what
@@Nothdufugidkaj Yes it will work fine - I doubt there will be any lag. I use a m3 air with 8gb for light programming, browsing, and listening to youtube at the same time with no issues at all
I have the M1 Mac Air 8Gig , And have been using it for about 4Years , and not had an issue . Vscode , terraform Docker running multipass hypervisor for running ubuntu. Drive access as you said since i have 2 nandchips is not an issue. This year for my desktop replaced my old Mac Air that was being used as a desktop, with a Macmini M2 Pro 16Gig . So far all system perform with no issues. MacBook Air Rocks in most user case's .
A much more important question you should ask yourself is whether you need a laptop or a desktop. My 2020 MBP M1 spent four years docked and never left my desk. I had enough of its limited port selection and gradually dying battery. I swapped it for the base model M2 Pro Mac mini and I couldn't be happier. I got the monitor I want, a keyboard I like and a lot of ports.
I don't think this is even a question needs to be considered by a lot of people, if you don't need the portability, why would you even buy a laptop in the first place? People who go for the MacBook obviously need the portability, simple as that.
@@obscvreThe reason is limited space. Many people don’t have a separate desk or office so a laptop, with an integrated screen and keyboard, will fit fine on a kitchen table.
@@obscvre I agree with the principal, however, my point was about perspective and the ever-changing work environment. People usually treat purchases like that as a long-term investment (3-6 years). What we need now might not be necessary in a few years. Working from home has completely reshaped my portability needs. I don't travel to my clients as much as I did as nearly everything can be done remotely. Hence, in my case, exceptional battery endurance at the expense of the screen size/keyboard comfort/port selection became a tough sell. But hey, all generalizations are false including this one.
@@belizarius_997 Apple is a shell of its former self honestly they're not a great investment like they used to be, that ship has sailed ever since Steve Jobs passed away
I've got a laptop with a monitor; mouse and keyboard; it's plugged to a thunderbolt hub through one cable; I have all the connectivity I need; the laptop screen makes a good secondary screen; and I need a laptop anyway so it's either this or a laptop plus a desktop (which I did for a while and it's more trouble than it's worth because you have to do constant back and forth with your data). The battery is a question but Apple is getting better at this since if you're always plugged it will probably limit the charge to 80% and conserve it.
My last Macbook was a Pro from mid-2017. Yep, would have typically bought a new one sooner. I just. bought the 16GB/1TB 15" Macbook Air last Friday. If you amortize the 400 quid or dollars for 16GB+1TB, it's 80 quid/dollars per year for 5 years or 21 cents per day. Not much of a decision. Also, the 6-letter word, resale, does help at the end when you buy the new M8 Macbook Air ;-)
Where I work we have a fully funded standard catalogue (deemed suitable for most) which is either 16GB Windows laptop or 8GB MacBook Air. I have the Air and as an IT Sys Admin it's perfectly fine for my needs.
yeah I don't think people realize with the m chips 8gb of Mac ram is like 16gb of windows ram. and swap apparently does not matter, as I've had an m1 for 4 years and the drive is completely healthy..
@@jamestribie3387 No it's absolutely not. Here is a simple explanation that has been thrown around that i hope will help you: RAM explanation - Think ram as a bucket and 1 GB Ram equals to 1 litter water. Apple giving 8 litters of bucket windows giving 16 litters of bucket So apple one might be high quality or faster it can't stores more then 8 litters of water, Windows one might be slow or little less quality than apple one but it can store 16 little or water. Basically, if your tasks requires you MORE ram than 8gb, it doesn't matter if your 8gb mac is more "efficient", it literraly can't go over 8gb. It's that simple. If you have 8gb, you will have to not multi tasks unless these are lights load of works (like word, power point + 15 tabs on your browser).
I built a 45K subscriber channel on a 2-core i5 MacBook Pro from 2017, base M1 Mini and the M1 Air with 8GB RAM and upgraded storage. Yes, it can be done.
Cool but you needed all 3 right? I don’t wanna come off as a Karen but if you did need all 3, it’s still a valid question to ask whether 8 or 16 is enough.
So memory swapping bc of 8gb makes the macbook air warmer than just having 16gb of ram? I wanna video edit and like the look of the air more and im trying to find out what is important for the smoothest playback in video editing and rendering. Exportjng times is not a concern of mine, i dont really care. Can you help?
@@edgar_annapurnaoh really? Im kinda struggling choosing between the macbook air m2 16GB 1 TB or macbook air m3 16GB 512 GB. I was wondering if the 1 TB storage would make the laptop hotter bc the laptop would be more fuller bc of the physically bigger SSD? And i didnt know if the m3 makes a lot of difference with video editing in premiere pro so if it barely makes a difference i could just get the bigger storage with m2 for the same price
It's easy, when you want to use Adobe Lightroom + photoshop with higher resolving photos, 8GB of RAM is not good. I have one of those, and it is choking with the mentioned programs.
Hey, here´s a remark from a Windows / Intel user: I have 2 almost identical 14" Lenovo notebooks 1) Ryzen 3 5300 + 4 GB RAM and Ryzen 5 5500 + 16 GB RAM. My usecase is similar to what you desrcibed and in real life I feel ZERO difference in performance
how? How will spending money on more memory make my computer "future proof"? I hear this all the time, but no one ever explains why. Will browsing the web or using Powerpoint suddenly need twice as much memory? Based on what? At least offer some backing for "future proof". Right now, just empty words.
@@grizfan93 Future proof is another marketing empty sentence... Buying future proof for another couple hundreds and than changing the laptop again in a few yers does not make any sense. It's better to upgrade when you hit the peak.
I currently have an M2 Pro Mac Mini with 16GB Memory and 512GB SSD as well as an M1 iPad Air with 256GB. I’m debating about selling the iPad to get either a larger iPad or a MacBook. Or I can try to get a MacBook on top of what I already have. What do you think would be the best choice?
I would sell Mac mini for MacBook and a good quality dock the iPad works great as a second screen with the continuity function and screen share function and you can just dock the MB for regular computer use. I’ve got 2 Mac minis, one I use as a server for media streaming, a MacBook and and iPad Pro and work full time in MacOS and would really recommend that mix of the product lineup
Same here I came from a 16gb Ram 512gb SSD HP...and this M2 destroy my Windows laptop im every task... especially for my artistic work while my HP was "all fans up" this MacBook do the task stone cold and IN SILRNCE.
@@Scornfull the thing is that apple's ram is special its not the same thing as regular ram for some reason. its way beefier. and it costs about what it should, but you're going to pay for it. by the time you're at 16 or 32gb of apple ram you're spending 200-400$ at which point you should just go buy a gaming PC because that's the only thing you'll use the ram for anyways.
@@Anthony-kp7sf False, RAM isn't "beefier" there's a hard limit on what a certain amount of RAM can do, also the way they get around that is by using the pagefile of the SSD which is much slower than RAM and it also greatly shortens its lifespan, anything outside of watching TH-cam and running office or microsoft word needs at least 12 GBs to function properly aka video editing, rendering, gaming and multitasking with a lot going on
Coming from a 2015 13 in Pro Dual Core w/ 16GB and 512GB, I got the 15 inch Air M3 w/ 1TB and maxed out the RAM. I paid $500 less for the 15in Air than the 13 in Pro(not considering inflation). I never thought I’d enjoy using a laptop again. The next time I would upgrade is when Apple gives the Air an OLED display. Mind you I had gotten the 13 in iPad Pro then returned it for the MacBook Air. I think the Air is more of a convertible than the iPad Pro.
I bought my wife an M2 15 inch MacBook Air last year because her 10 year year-old 15 inch 2015 MacBook Pro had stopped receiving security updates and because she had so much video I put the 512 GB option on it. I actually did a just a quick test of some easy video work that I do for TH-cam on itand it was exactly the same speed and frames per second as my M2 MacBook Pro with twice the ram more GPU cars and one terabyte hard drive. For simple work I just don’t think you can beat that M2 or M3 processor and I don’t think you need the pro and I’m starting to wonder if you really need 16 GB of ram
Well 16 GBs is standard for every other system in 2024 it's not needed there either but it does make everything feel snappier and it isn't a costly upgrade at all it's like 20 dollars, I'd say if you're spending a lot on a PC of any kind it should at least come with 16 GBs and since Apple is the only manufacturer to make expensive hardware with non upgradeable RAM I find it completely unacceptable
You described me between 8 vs 16. I had macbook pro 2015. Now I don't have any. I want a lightweight air 15. I do home video now and then not daily. I watch movies online often and do photo editing. Should I get 8 or 16?
When the M1 Air came out, I bought one with 8Gb ram and 512GB SSD. Continually got memory warnings. Sold it and bout a 15" M2 Air with 1TB SSD... and all is well. Because my favourite music notation software went belly up. What works with whatever system is what you get. So I bought a pristime 15" 2015 MacBook Pro 2.8GHz, 16GB Ram and 1TB SSD - also has a new screen and new battery ... for $200. Runs that old program perfectlz as well as the new ones I'm trying to learn. No memory problems, no slowdowns. the M2 is my daily driver, the 2015 Intel for music notation.
Hi Mark, I just watched this video and just subscribed to your channel. I would like to ask you a question: I have a 2020 Mac mini M1 with 8GB of RAM and since I installed Sonoma the animated wallpapers when restarted after a standby period appear slow, with jerky animations. I have 500 GB of SSD and 150 GB free. Do you think it's the RAM's fault? Could I get smooth animations again with a virtual cleanup of my Mac?
M2 or m3 is my dilemma. Considering i have 230gb to transfer to new MBA...should i keep MBA 15 M2 (16/1tb) priced at 1500 or return to get MBA 15 M3 (16/512) at 1550.
...I bought MacBook Air 13 with M1 back in 2020, and back then it was marvellous and with no issues with what I was doing with the machine... Here we are in 2024 yet over the past year I now run into MacBook Air M1 running out of memory and freezing and being nearly useless!... Perhaps Apple updated IOS since then a few times and deliberately slowed down my MacBook Air M1 to force me to buy a newer one, and/or 8GB RAM is simply useless! Anyone else experienced same issues?
I've really been on the fence with this, I hate buying something that you can't upgrade but it's hard to pass up a laptop that goes 15+ hours and performs so well on battery. That being said I'm primarily going to be using it for writing. The 8GB will definitely work I just rebel against the tyranny of that being the option. In a pinch I'd like to be able to use it for more. We've reached a point when we expect even the laptop we buy to use off the cord to do everything we need. It does seem like the 8GB will work for everything plus some light video editing, it's just hard to pull the trigger thinking it might not last as long as a 16GB model.
What is better? Air 13 m2 with 16gb/512gb or take m3 with bigger storage or RAM. Too confused 😭😭 prices are almost the same. Will use it for studying, browsing and tutoring.
Using swap on an 8GB does ruin the SSD. Maybe it does this quite slowly with light usage, and you probably won't notice it in this context if you turn around your Airs every 2 - 3 years, but it doesn't bode well for the person who wants to use the laptop for quite some time or buys a second-hand device.
The problem is RAM is non upgradable post purchase. With storage you can still buy external SSDs but you're always stuck with RAM that you purchase. Apple still sticking with 8GB even on the pro models is ridiculous. I have both 8 and 16 GB M1, and the performance difference is night and day. The 8GB RAM variant is a major bottleneck despite the powerful M1 chip.
Are you talking about the macbook air or pro? And do you notice a difference with the playback while video editing in premiere pro? Or any other video editing software
8GB is fine for me. I usually get the base model because I only work with text. I can see if you work with images, especially video, 16GB might be tempting, even if it is only as a comfort blanket. But for me, 8GB is fine.
If you're only doing text then just get a chromebook or a laptop? Like why spend over a grand for something that you don't really need? Like it's your money but holy moly use that extra money to donate to charity or something lol
Great overall analysis. My advice, anyone who needs their MacBook for more "professional" tasks, get a used M1/M2 Pro/Max if you can't pick up a newer M3/M3 Pro MacBook.
What no-one mentions in videos is that the CPU AND GPU are sharing that 8Gb of memory. Which means there's less memory for apps. Does that mean more paying? I don't know. Unified memory is going to be faster than separate memory chips for the CPU and GPU. It's always a race between between performance, cost and capacity.
My usecase adds daily usage of Figma on top of what he mentioned. On an M1 air with 8gigs, I end up with the not enough memory message practically every other day. So if yours matches my use case, do consider the 16.
My hot take, and by the way Mark love your videos. I just bought the M3, 8 gig 15inch MacBook Air Midnight color. it was an opened box from Best Buy for $1050.00 US. My laptop is for stuff like you described. Running a business. My next purchase will be a M3 iMac and I will get the 16 gig ram because I want the head room to do some amateur video editing. Still rocking the 2017 iMac I5 27 inch and get this, it came with 8 gigs and it's been running like champ.
I just got the 16gb m3 iMac was going to go with the MacBook Pro but the iMac is so light its portable enough for me to bring it from house to house lol
You know what I wonder about? I using a 2018 MBA with dual core Intel i5 with 16 GB RAM. I have two or three browsers open with dozens of windows open. I don't do photo or video processing, but I do use Blender. I code a bit including a specialized audio composition tool called Supercollider. I have no troubles. I don't know what it means when people say that their Apple Silicon Mac crawls to a stop when a few browser windows are open. I am going to upgrade to a M3 MBA this week, not because my 6 year old laptop is failing, but because I hate the butterfly keyboard. Thanks for your video!
Yes, for those complaining, buying the 16GB/256GB should stop the worrying. Although people will whine about £200 being too much, on the MB Air 13-inch, you also get the 10-core GPU instead of the 8-core, which is a £100 upgrade. So the reality is that £ 200 is quite reasonable. But I have used an MB Pro 13 M1 for 3.5 years and am typing on it now. The efficiency of RAM has improved since it was new, so I find myself with even more headroom than on day one. As my workflow will not change, this base MB will last as long as I need it or if it breaks. For casual users, 8GB is absolutely enough. Ignore the people rushing to Mac reviews and flexing on this, as their agenda is biased. They will never mention that MS, for example, starts at 8GB/256GB (Surface Laptop 6 (2024)) for a similar price as the MB Air M3. You never see this brought up in Surface reviews; it's hypocrisy and a sign of the hate the Windows community has for Macs.
Could you be more of a victim? Jesus Christ. Apple, the poor, oppressed $3 trillion company, and their poor, misunderstood, affluent userbase. 😂Grab the wheel, dude. Apple charges extortionate upgrade fees and they outright LIE about RAM somehow working "differently" on Apple silicon versus x86 platforms. It's all complete crap. They're lying to you and you're defending your captors. As for Microsoft, I have the same opinion: 8GB of RAM in 2024 is just perverse, and the only reason they keep doing it is because people keep buying it. 8GB of non-upgradable RAM should be against the law, because it'll be e-waste soon.
I'll mention it. MS should not sell that spec. I know someone who bought a 8GB surface for work, and it can't even run Teams meetings reliably - he lost a contract because of it. We had to buy a replacement surface book. I say 8GB is not a good idea on macOS, but it does depend what you do on it - the native Apple apps are quite memory efficient, you can get away with it. I would go further on Windows, 8GB is nowhere near enough to run Teams and Outlook, never mind anything else at the same time. The only saving grace with many Windows devices is you can add more RAM later - many, but not all.
No offense, but 8mb is not enough for more than the bare minimum. I bought an 8 GB Macbook Air and had to return it, it simply didn't do the job and I am not a power user.
lol I’m on a 4 GB RAM intel Macbook Pro and it works. The only problem is that Apple stopped releasing updates for this model. So, I have to buy a new one.
I am considering the Mac book air. You mentioned that you use it as a backup for video editing. Would you mind sharing what video editor you use? I use iMovie currently but am considering going to FCP Thanks for all your great reviews!
@@MarkEllisReviews Thank you for letting me know!!!! I am buying the M3 Studio when released. I am running with a 2017 MBP as my only computer at the moment. I also need a new laptop for travel so adding the Air to my list. Thanks so very much!
Well . I purchased a MacBook Pro 14’ 14 M4 10 core 16GB , 512GB SSD , Space BLACK. I’m getting for my dj software . Virtual dj build 7042 . Will this work with my dj software?
I just bought a base model 8/256 13-inch Air to see how it feels. First day, while researching for my side hustle, an ad-heavy website all of a sudden started using 3.1 GB of RAM and required a force quit. Not to say that this is a reason to panic (though I am considering returning and buying the 16/512 model), but it is discouraging that any website or application may suddenly cause a crash because there isn't enough RAM.
If you go for 8GB of RAM you need to compensate that with a good amount of free storage available on your mac. Minimum is 512GB to help that 8GB of memory. 16GB of memory with 512GB or 1TB of SSD storage should last anyone 4-6 yrs with no hiccups.
Just fired up my new M1 Macbook Air 8GB 256 SSD. Comparing this to an iPad is silly. I can't believe how great the viewing/owning experience is. Walmart Macbook Air is the best consumer choice...
Resale value was mentioned about 14 times during the video, but something isn't exactly clear for me. After a few years, when the prices drop let's say 50% across the board, and the 16GB version would be priced at €750 instead of €1500, you think people won't buy the 8GB version for €550? I highly doubt that, since a majority of buyers are budget oriented, and at the lower pricepoints the €200 difference becomes much more significant.
What people should understand is that those Apple Macbook are an investment and depend on your workflow. As an upcoming artist I still don't need the power of the Macbook Pro. This is not the case for Windows laptops
I have an macbook air from 2017.An intel. 8 Gb and 121 Gb in Storage. ofcause I am stuck back at Monterey. I use my computer for Internet.email, youtube, Watching movies. I do like to be able to keep my apple for 10 years. My dream is to buy a 15 inch..I do not have a tv and no plans to buy one either at this time. What do you think ?
Hey mate! I would have love a little bit of data on the swap issue, because you just say it doesn't exist and yet, it does. Seeing how your SSD is compared to the brand new one would have been nice. With Smartmontools, for example. Even if it's not criminal 😇I'm on the "8 GB is not enough" side, because it's a unified memory, shared with the graphic part of the chip. So it's not 8 GB dedicated to the CPU as we are used to. But yeah, like you, I don't have the data to back my argument and I would have love to see it (being right or wrong doesn't matter, knowing does). Thank you for your videos !
If you search, there are zero records of RAM swap and breaking SSDs, and the math suggests you have to write for decades for them to fail. It is up to you to prove this is an issue, as it is scaremongering by people with agendas. Unfortunately, Apple uses proprietary NAND storage that is not public records, so no one knows precisely how they squeeze so much efficiency out of their RAM management. The suggestions are: 1/They use enterprise-quality SSDs. 2/ They have a quality SLC reservoir for faster swap. 3/ They have a larger than usual DDR4 memory cache on the SSD that handles not only the controller software and algorithms but also acts as a pool for the faster swap that has no wear implication. MaxTech proved the latter when he tested single versus dual 256GB NAND. The dual NAND had better swap speeds due to having two pools of SLC/DDR4 memory cache. So, to conclude, and from my research and experience, 8GB is effectively 11-12GB of non-destructive RAM (including swap on the disk RAM) before flash storage is touched. So, for the average ultrabook user, that would be enough with no risk of SSD wear, let alone worrying about the SSD's half-life. Ergo; it is a fallacy promoted by those who want to flex on Apple.
8 or 16, M2 or M3…. I would say go for 8GB M1. I had a M1 8 GB MacBook Air for a couple years now and doing a lot of photo editing and some video editing and all normal web and mail use and I’ll have no problem at all This upgrade hysteria is only making the tech industry richer.
A lot of people greatly underestimate what an 8GB machine can do, even before the era of "unified memory". For a purely web surfing, email, office tasks, and entertainment (streaming) machine, 8GB is totally sufficient. And that's exactly how most people use their laptop. Of course it's not sufficient if you're doing heavy video editing and gaming.
that even depends on what kind of gaming you do...If it's light gaming such as apple arcade and ONLY apple silicon native games you'll be satisfied with the 8gb ! the problem is when people start to make some crazy stuff such as emulate windows trough crossover or parallels, than 8gb would be a joke.
What is slacking and what is swapping? What a wonderful, precise, personable presenter you are! Thank you so much! Subscribed! BTW it is a pleasure to hear one speak such lovely English! I have just moved from San Francisco to Central Florida, and the manners of speacking by most people here is painful.
Another thing that is worth considering is that upgrading either the storage or RAM bumps you up to the higher spec version of the M3 chip (10 vs 8 GPU cores) at no additional price (normally a £100 upgrade) so the jump from 8gb to 16gb or 256gb to 512gb is more of a £100 upgrade
4 years ago, I gave my Dad my 2012 I7 Macbook Pro (i'd upgraded over the years to 16Gb and 512SSD) and bought a 16Gb M1 Air. 4 years on and I'm still delighted with it, only the old Pro is out of security updates and is struggling, even for Dad's limited usage. So, I've passed down my M1. Went round in circles but decided as I don't intend to replace this new one for 10+ years, 8/256 could potentially become a problem. Plus, no point saving £100 if I come to regret it longer term, so M2 is out. Just taken delivery of an M3 16/512. Can't honestly tell it apart from my M1 in terms of performance (browsing/email/docs etc), but should, I hope, easily see me to 2034 and beyond.
I need to decide this week between the €1.709 Air M3 16/512 and the €1.399,99 Asus Zenbook ux3405ma (14'' intel ultra 7 155h ram: 32GB 1TB SSD)... I don't think the Asus will last as long as the Air...
@@XanaFernandes Very confident it won't. I dare say with the reduced rate of development you'd get 5 years from the Asus but not the 10 you'll see from the Mac. On board storage is also not as important as it used to be as everything is backed up to the cloud these days - IOS manages it, offloading older items in the background as disk space is needed. I assume MS does something similar.
@@julben1900Thank you for confirming. I’ve never had the Air, only two MacBook Pro. I’ll give it a try this time. It’s way more than a teacher’s monthly salary, but if it lasts for ten years, it will be worth it.
Cue geeks/nerds in the comments whinging about 8GB just because they personally might want more but don't understand the needs for average users... Even tech TH-camrs are annoying now as most don't seem to have a clue about real world usage and the target market.
I think the answer is somewhere in the middle which is (and apologies as I’m posting this before I’ve finished watching the video so this may have been raised). 8GB can actually perform well and is ok for many. The issue for me is for those that want more, why charge so much for the upgrade? Upgrade price needs to be halved to be anywhere close to fair. …. A few mins later Yeah you did refer to the price point. Sorry. 😂
Please make a video comparing MacBook Air m3 with 16 gb ram 256gb storage to MacBook Air m2 16 gb ram 512 gb storage. Because in this configuration the price is almost same. Which one should I go for.???
So, let’s look to 16GB M2, how does that perform in 2024? 2xNAND? 512-1TB SSD? Better than a base M3 with base spec? Thanks Mark, I always enjoy your material, even if I don’t understand what you’re saying 😂
I can't believe that people defend this choice, especially with new iGPU on M3 which, having dual display support and new featurs should at very least start with 12 GB. M2 was clearly stop gap or original M1.... M1 or M3.
Need a replacement for my 8 year old iPad Pro. Waiting on the new iPads but they don’t seem to be appearing any time soon. Gave me time to think. Need a portable device for work purposes (word documents, photo editing and about to start to learn how to code). 13 inch new iPad Pro would be in MacBook Air territory with 16GB but the MBA seems better for battery and typing!
Hi Mark, just wondering what your thoughts are on this - I currently have the 16" M1 Pro - I'd like to shed some weight on my tech and was considering the M3 Air 15", if I went to the M3 Air from the 16" M1 Pro MBP do you think that's a very bad move? I don't do anything intensive on my laptop, I use it for photo editing via Lightroom and media (TH-cam, Netflix etc) so I don't need much power. Just wondering what your thoughts are - keep the MBP or get the Air? Thank you ☺
1st downgrade I can think of is the 120hz to 60hz display. Some people would say it’s not big of a trade off but imho once you are used to 120hz screen the 60hz looks awfully stuttering. You can change the 16” display to 60hz to see what I meant and see how you like it. The colour pops better on 16” display since it’s a mini led as well. 2nd trade off would be speakers quality. 3rd is the screen real estate. 4th I can think of is the bezel size of the screen. 5th would be the power when you need it. For me I wouldn’t trade all these just for 700g weight saving or maybe a bit longer battery life. But it depends on what you prefer more I guess
...by the way I disagree with you on 1TB as one can simply buy more TBs for much less, however totally agree with you on 16GB or more RAM... one comment, could you please do a bending test to see if MacBook Air M3 15 inch is solid or flimsy and seems it will break easily? I remember when I did that to MacBook Air M2 15 inch it was a bit on the flimsy side...
Just purchased an M3 Air for my wife, went 16GB/512. We have 3 M1 Pros, 1 M2 Pro and a Studio with a M1 Max - none with less than 16GB (we have 4 boys, 2 of them studying to be developers). I agree unified memory is different but as she will do a lot of photo editing and likes multiple programs open, 8 just isn't enough in 2024. On a Windows computer is hasn't been enough in probably 10 years.
Of course it matters. Over time even the most conservative of users will notice 16 vs 8. But in the short term anyone who keeps more than 5 or so things open and active, especially if one of them is Chrome, will notice the difference. It sucks they used to charge something like a 20% price premium for 16 vs 8. Now its baseline, should have happened at least 3 years ago but oh well.
Great points and great video Mark! I actually just got a 16 Go M3 Macbook Air as my trusted mid 2012 Macbook Pro was finally pronounced dead yesterday after all ressuscitation attempts failed... Fantastic machine! And it will certainly last for years with those 16 Go (although realistically, maybe not 12 years, I pushed my luck a bit with the last one ;-).
I use the base model 2022 MacBook Pro 13 M2 with 8 GB of memory. To be honest, it was fine for the first year but as my needs have increased and expanded I am increasingly getting the spinning beachball which I am quite annoyed about. This usually comes with SPSS and ARC GIS software which runs perfectly on 16 GB Windows laptops but causes this computer lots of problems and increasingly more frequently. I don't agree with you Mark about Apple 8 GB ram being different. 8 GB is still 8 GB and it simply does not compete with a 16 GB ThinkPad that I have to use more regularly now. My fault for not buying a 16 GB version but equally Apple needs to take a look at themselves and really question whether "Professional" models should be sold with 8 GB of ram. Because I think we all know that it is an absolute scam they are running. All MacBook pros should come with 16 GB of ram. No excuses. But I think it's fair enough to sell the MacBook Air with just 8 GB as the base model as this is really for people such a students or those who do administrative work.
At the end of the day, people using RAM-intensive apps must buy sensibly. As you say, it needs 16GB on Windows, so that should have been your starting point. The 8GB MB Pro 14 M2 is more for ultrabook users that want more features (miniLED, 120Hz, better speakers, more IO, etc), and you still have to use common sense; it is not as if Apple does not offer a 16GB model.
I personally think it's a bad idea to get an 8GB Macbook with just a 256GB SSD. I would go for the 16GB/512GB version but at least buy the 8GB/512GB version so that the Unified Memory has some room on the SSD to use where necessary.
I just want to figure out which one to buy. I do digital painting and graphic design with Adobe CS and Affinity as well as clip studio paint and connect a cintiq to my still working MBP 2019 and I keep my laptops for 7-8 years at least as I don’t have money for expensive upgrades so easily. Would an air be enough for that with 8GB long term or upgrade to 16 RAM? Or look for an older pro with M2 chip which will have no apple suppprt a year before the M3 does?
Is the 1TB of storage necessary? I have a 2019 MBP with 1TB and use it for work mainly now. I was looking to strictly get this for work using zoom, and chrome mainly
I'm a developer. I use dockers and virtual machines. I have a 16GB M2 Air with 512GB Storage. It was fine when I got it, but to be honest, even 16GB isn't enough. (It limits me to a single VM .. for me, 32GB is the bare minimum, which puts me out of the air on the next iteration. My company has me a 16" M3 MBP with 18GB, and even that RAM is too limiting. Put me in to the "8GB is criminal" category. There's almost no excuse for that in 2024.
I just got a apple refurbished m2 mb air with 1TB SSD and 24GB RAM for "£1599". After using it for a few days I see the RAM usage constantly hover around 11GB. Dont know why reviewers are misleading people saying 8GB is enough for browsing and other stuffs
Your conclusion is wrong because you need to understand how Apple manages RAM. Apple uses available RAM for caching (prefetching cache), ergo "Cached Files". The system is not actually using this, so you need to deduct that from what "Memory Used" says. It will take it from "Cached Files" when it needs more RAM. That will get you below 8GB, and then if you count 3-4GB of swap that it can use, as well as compressing app RAM that is not being used, your 11GB is probably nearer 4GB with plenty of headroom for the base models. I have an 8GB base M1 MB Pro 13 and regularly have "Memory Used" between 11-12GB with no slowdowns and memory pressure remaining in the green.
Hi Mark, I follow your reviews on a regular basis. I was just wondering whether you would help me out in choosing a Macbook to run Parallels 19 desktop applications, mainly for Windows. I do not play any games on the computer, and I use it mainly for productivity. I would be grateful if he could answer the question.
Oct 2024, Apple raises the base memory to 16GB, so now what? I see leftover new 8GB models on sale for decent prices (but not at apple, not even refurbished). Makes it even harder. As a retired windows guy my needs are now minimal, but I have 16GB in the Windows 10 machine anyway. Why should I retreat on this??
256GB Vs 512GB SSD on a M series Mac. Here is the question. Would you be ok using an external drive to make up for the lack of storage? You cannot swap the SSD on these like you can on a lot of PCs. If you plan on using this as a your daily driver, go with the 512. If this is going to be something to use occasionally while on the move, a 256GB should be fine.
Although 8 GB of memory might not be a criminal offense, 16 GB is not much more expensive and to me a minimum to be at least a bit of future proof for the next 5 years. For maschines priced the way they are, it’s kinda criminal…
Need some advice for 15" Air. I always do refurb'ed gear from Apple. Casual user, no heavy lifting like video editing; watch movies, some photo editing, lots of web browsing. So....should I dive for an M2 8/512 or an M3 8/512? Not too worried about "future proofing", as my Apple Macbooks last me 8-10 yrs. Thanks!
Thank you Mark. I’ve watched about 8 videos on this subject & yours was the BEST. Clear. Humble. Helpful. Understandable. (I have a 14yr old iMac & and 7yr old £200 Chromebook). This will be my 1st MacBook. I will be doing the basics: Web, Google docs/sheets, Tv… + maybe a bit of iMovie editing + I have 150,000 Photos (850GB) & I have 2TB iCloud for these. So… I think I’m going MacBook Air M3 15inch 16gb 512gb ?! (With Education discount & giftcard) ANY THOUGHTS??
It's very weird watching that intro knowing the steps taken to record after watching the vlogs! 🤣 Out of interest, is there any reason why you opt for the higher in-built SSD over external storage at a lower cost?
What kinda person are you: 8GB or 16GB?
I have both but I like 8gb
24GB 😂
I think of 16gb as the new standard and wanted to future proof it a little bit more (if that’s even possible).
Graphic design purposes, no 3d, and just really like the fanless thin design..
Since I couldn't make up my mind between a 8 or 16 GB, I bought the 24 GB. Just to make sure it could help me for the next few years.
We got the 16gb, do you think TH-cam doesn't promote videos that are darker (less bright)?
iMac M1 16 GB, MacBook Air M1 8Gb 699.00 😊
My M1 MacBook Air has 8GB of memory and it's fine with me. Though I will say, Apple should just drop the 8GB memory and just give the 16GB memory as the base standard
Bright idea, but they`ll just pump up the base price up £$500€… Price for storage is just MENTAL though…
Then in the future the 16GB will become the 8GB
I do think they should go with base 12GB and upgraded 24GB after sell all the 8GB memory they had bought...
@@just_a_random_dude3 That's exactly what I think. 8GB is going to be limited, and I don't believe they will give us 16GB as baseline air, so perhaps 12GB will be the baseline in the future.
@@chennyye28 Considering how much you're paying 16 GBs of RAM is what you should get from the base model or at least allow you to install more like a normal manufacturer instead of forcing you to spend more for no reason other than their greed
The issue is the lack of upgradability post-purchase and the fact that these machines tend to last for a long time. I'll be putting the extra memory in mine when I order it.
Yes that’s what I did
I just ordered the MBA M3 with 16GB 256SSD (I have Icloud storage) because I am going for 8 years of law studies and I want it to last as long as my studies. Hope I did the right thing.
I have the same one just with 512gb and i guarantee you will have that laptop throughout those 8 years due its reliability, i would buy and external hard drive further down the line
I bought a macbook pro 9 years ago for med school and i’m still using it today as a radiologist. They last for ages
Same here! I bought my MacBook pro in january 2014, for school, and I’m still using it. Considering the air m3 now though, as it won’t last forever..
I also just started my 7 year course of law studies and I’m debating which MacBook I should get
I’ve been editing 4K GoPro footage on my base M1 Mac Mini with a 256GB SSD and 8GB memory and I’ve never had an issue. Sure, I can’t keep multiple apps open when I’m video editing, but apart from that it’s golden.
With m3? That’s great
@@Literallyarealhumanif I buy MacBook Air m3 chip 8gb ram so will it work good for like school and normal work and keep tabs open in back? Will it lag or what
@@Nothdufugidkaj Yes it will work fine - I doubt there will be any lag. I use a m3 air with 8gb for light programming, browsing, and listening to youtube at the same time with no issues at all
@@ThiccGungan ok thank you
I have the M1 Mac Air 8Gig , And have been using it for about 4Years , and not had an issue . Vscode , terraform Docker running multipass hypervisor for running ubuntu. Drive access as you said since i have 2 nandchips is not an issue. This year for my desktop replaced my old Mac Air that was being used as a desktop, with a Macmini M2 Pro 16Gig . So far all system perform with no issues. MacBook Air Rocks in most user case's .
what about Lightroom?
What kind of hypervisor do you use?
Dude how, I have an hase m2 MacBook Air and I only have one web browser, Wezterm with neovim and OBS web browsing slows down significantly
I’m still using a 2013 MacBook Pro with 8gb ram. Still running fine.
Omg i have that as well right now but mines a trainwreck. How is yours okay? I really want a new one bc watching a youtube video is hard on it
A much more important question you should ask yourself is whether you need a laptop or a desktop. My 2020 MBP M1 spent four years docked and never left my desk. I had enough of its limited port selection and gradually dying battery. I swapped it for the base model M2 Pro Mac mini and I couldn't be happier. I got the monitor I want, a keyboard I like and a lot of ports.
I don't think this is even a question needs to be considered by a lot of people, if you don't need the portability, why would you even buy a laptop in the first place? People who go for the MacBook obviously need the portability, simple as that.
@@obscvreThe reason is limited space. Many people don’t have a separate desk or office so a laptop, with an integrated screen and keyboard, will fit fine on a kitchen table.
@@obscvre I agree with the principal, however, my point was about perspective and the ever-changing work environment. People usually treat purchases like that as a long-term investment (3-6 years). What we need now might not be necessary in a few years. Working from home has completely reshaped my portability needs. I don't travel to my clients as much as I did as nearly everything can be done remotely. Hence, in my case, exceptional battery endurance at the expense of the screen size/keyboard comfort/port selection became a tough sell. But hey, all generalizations are false including this one.
@@belizarius_997 Apple is a shell of its former self honestly they're not a great investment like they used to be, that ship has sailed ever since Steve Jobs passed away
I've got a laptop with a monitor; mouse and keyboard; it's plugged to a thunderbolt hub through one cable; I have all the connectivity I need; the laptop screen makes a good secondary screen; and I need a laptop anyway so it's either this or a laptop plus a desktop (which I did for a while and it's more trouble than it's worth because you have to do constant back and forth with your data). The battery is a question but Apple is getting better at this since if you're always plugged it will probably limit the charge to 80% and conserve it.
My last Macbook was a Pro from mid-2017. Yep, would have typically bought a new one sooner. I just. bought the 16GB/1TB 15" Macbook Air last Friday. If you amortize the 400 quid or dollars for 16GB+1TB, it's 80 quid/dollars per year for 5 years or 21 cents per day. Not much of a decision. Also, the 6-letter word, resale, does help at the end when you buy the new M8 Macbook Air ;-)
Where I work we have a fully funded standard catalogue (deemed suitable for most) which is either 16GB Windows laptop or 8GB MacBook Air. I have the Air and as an IT Sys Admin it's perfectly fine for my needs.
yeah I don't think people realize with the m chips 8gb of Mac ram is like 16gb of windows ram. and swap apparently does not matter, as I've had an m1 for 4 years and the drive is completely healthy..
@@Anthony-kp7sf im sorry what ?8gb isn't 16gb of ram, that's not how it works at all.
@@ThomasAndy-qu8dpno, apple created a way where the 8gb of ram works so efficiently that its comparable to 16gb from a PC
@@jamestribie3387 No it's absolutely not.
Here is a simple explanation that has been thrown around that i hope will help you:
RAM explanation -
Think ram as a bucket and 1 GB Ram equals to 1 litter water.
Apple giving 8 litters of bucket windows giving 16 litters of bucket
So apple one might be high quality or faster it can't stores more then 8 litters of water,
Windows one might be slow or little less quality than apple one but it can store 16 little or water.
Basically, if your tasks requires you MORE ram than 8gb, it doesn't matter if your 8gb mac is more "efficient", it literraly can't go over 8gb. It's that simple. If you have 8gb, you will have to not multi tasks unless these are lights load of works (like word, power point + 15 tabs on your browser).
@@jamestribie3387 Yeah this has been debunked to death, 8Gb RAM on Mac is not equivalent to 16Gb on Windows. People need to stop spewing this lie.
I built a 45K subscriber channel on a 2-core i5 MacBook Pro from 2017, base M1 Mini and the M1 Air with 8GB RAM and upgraded storage.
Yes, it can be done.
Well, there you go 💪
Cool but you needed all 3 right? I don’t wanna come off as a Karen but if you did need all 3, it’s still a valid question to ask whether 8 or 16 is enough.
just because you can doesn't mean one should
What's your point? Like you can do a lot of things on overly priced terrible products but like why should you?
I recently built a 10k channel on a 2013 macbook pro i5 8gb. Checkmate! (Do not recommend btw)
I disagree. M2 16GB is the best. Solves the NAND chip issue, and less thermal throttling.
I agree. I have the 16gb 1tb m2 and my partner has the m3. It heats up faster
So memory swapping bc of 8gb makes the macbook air warmer than just having 16gb of ram? I wanna video edit and like the look of the air more and im trying to find out what is important for the smoothest playback in video editing and rendering. Exportjng times is not a concern of mine, i dont really care. Can you help?
@@edgar_annapurnaoh really? Im kinda struggling choosing between the macbook air m2 16GB 1 TB or macbook air m3 16GB 512 GB. I was wondering if the 1 TB storage would make the laptop hotter bc the laptop would be more fuller bc of the physically bigger SSD? And i didnt know if the m3 makes a lot of difference with video editing in premiere pro so if it barely makes a difference i could just get the bigger storage with m2 for the same price
It's easy, when you want to use Adobe Lightroom + photoshop with higher resolving photos, 8GB of RAM is not good. I have one of those, and it is choking with the mentioned programs.
Hey, here´s a remark from a Windows / Intel user: I have 2 almost identical 14" Lenovo notebooks 1) Ryzen 3 5300 + 4 GB RAM and Ryzen 5 5500 + 16 GB RAM. My usecase is similar to what you desrcibed and in real life I feel ZERO difference in performance
get 16GB, you won't regret it and you'll be more "future proof"
how? How will spending money on more memory make my computer "future proof"? I hear this all the time, but no one ever explains why. Will browsing the web or using Powerpoint suddenly need twice as much memory? Based on what? At least offer some backing for "future proof". Right now, just empty words.
@@grizfan93 have you accepted Korean Jesus into your life yet?
@@breadgarlichouse2265 No need, I'm future proof".
@@grizfan93 Future proof is another marketing empty sentence... Buying future proof for another couple hundreds and than changing the laptop again in a few yers does not make any sense. It's better to upgrade when you hit the peak.
@@breadgarlichouse2265 No, but I have accepted Korean BBQ into my life.
I currently have an M2 Pro Mac Mini with 16GB Memory and 512GB SSD as well as an M1 iPad Air with 256GB. I’m debating about selling the iPad to get either a larger iPad or a MacBook. Or I can try to get a MacBook on top of what I already have. What do you think would be the best choice?
I would sell Mac mini for MacBook and a good quality dock the iPad works great as a second screen with the continuity function and screen share function and you can just dock the MB for regular computer use. I’ve got 2 Mac minis, one I use as a server for media streaming, a MacBook and and iPad Pro and work full time in MacOS and would really recommend that mix of the product lineup
Im using a base m2 and its fine no problems at all.
Same here I came from a 16gb Ram 512gb SSD HP...and this M2 destroy my Windows laptop im every task... especially for my artistic work while my HP was "all fans up" this MacBook do the task stone cold and IN SILRNCE.
@@nicolasb.henry294 You do realize CPU and GPU also matters right? Also how much did that system cost?
@@Scornfull the thing is that apple's ram is special its not the same thing as regular ram for some reason. its way beefier. and it costs about what it should, but you're going to pay for it. by the time you're at 16 or 32gb of apple ram you're spending 200-400$ at which point you should just go buy a gaming PC because that's the only thing you'll use the ram for anyways.
@@Anthony-kp7sf False, RAM isn't "beefier" there's a hard limit on what a certain amount of RAM can do, also the way they get around that is by using the pagefile of the SSD which is much slower than RAM and it also greatly shortens its lifespan, anything outside of watching TH-cam and running office or microsoft word needs at least 12 GBs to function properly aka video editing, rendering, gaming and multitasking with a lot going on
with what? Do yo use Lightroom?
I had an M1 MacBook Pro and now I’ve got an M2 air both had eight gigs of ram and I never had an issue
Should I get m3 8 gb ram?
comment section is why Apple can get away with this for so many years. at this point, 16GB should be the minimum but y'all enable this bad behavior
Coming from a 2015 13 in Pro Dual Core w/ 16GB and 512GB, I got the 15 inch Air M3 w/ 1TB and maxed out the RAM. I paid $500 less for the 15in Air than the 13 in Pro(not considering inflation). I never thought I’d enjoy using a laptop again. The next time I would upgrade is when Apple gives the Air an OLED display. Mind you I had gotten the 13 in iPad Pro then returned it for the MacBook Air. I think the Air is more of a convertible than the iPad Pro.
I bought my wife an M2 15 inch MacBook Air last year because her 10 year year-old 15 inch 2015 MacBook Pro had stopped receiving security updates and because she had so much video I put the 512 GB option on it. I actually did a just a quick test of some easy video work that I do for TH-cam on itand it was exactly the same speed and frames per second as my M2 MacBook Pro with twice the ram more GPU cars and one terabyte hard drive. For simple work I just don’t think you can beat that M2 or M3 processor and I don’t think you need the pro and I’m starting to wonder if you really need 16 GB of ram
Well 16 GBs is standard for every other system in 2024 it's not needed there either but it does make everything feel snappier and it isn't a costly upgrade at all it's like 20 dollars, I'd say if you're spending a lot on a PC of any kind it should at least come with 16 GBs and since Apple is the only manufacturer to make expensive hardware with non upgradeable RAM I find it completely unacceptable
You described me between 8 vs 16. I had macbook pro 2015. Now I don't have any. I want a lightweight air 15. I do home video now and then not daily. I watch movies online often and do photo editing. Should I get 8 or 16?
I have the 8g MacBook Air m2. It has no problems with photos or websites, very quick and slick. Never slow.
When the M1 Air came out, I bought one with 8Gb ram and 512GB SSD. Continually got memory warnings. Sold it and bout a 15" M2 Air with 1TB SSD... and all is well.
Because my favourite music notation software went belly up. What works with whatever system is what you get. So I bought a pristime 15" 2015 MacBook Pro 2.8GHz, 16GB Ram and 1TB SSD - also has a new screen and new battery ... for $200. Runs that old program perfectlz as well as the new ones I'm trying to learn. No memory problems, no slowdowns. the M2 is my daily driver, the 2015 Intel for music notation.
Hi Mark, I just watched this video and just subscribed to your channel. I would like to ask you a question: I have a 2020 Mac mini M1 with 8GB of RAM and since I installed Sonoma the animated wallpapers when restarted after a standby period appear slow, with jerky animations. I have 500 GB of SSD and 150 GB free. Do you think it's the RAM's fault? Could I get smooth animations again with a virtual cleanup of my Mac?
One other question, you sold me on the 16gb unified memory (is that a marketing term???). Which is a better combination, the 256 or 512gb drive?
M2 or m3 is my dilemma. Considering i have 230gb to transfer to new MBA...should i keep MBA 15 M2 (16/1tb) priced at 1500 or return to get MBA 15 M3 (16/512) at 1550.
If not much of heavy usage,I'll go with 1 tb
Just bought a MacBook Air M3 16gb 265gb of memory should be good for about three years.
The base M2 Air has dropped to £903 on Amazon though, so that's an attractive option compared to the base M3 Air's £1099 price.
...I bought MacBook Air 13 with M1 back in 2020, and back then it was marvellous and with no issues with what I was doing with the machine... Here we are in 2024 yet over the past year I now run into MacBook Air M1 running out of memory and freezing and being nearly useless!... Perhaps Apple updated IOS since then a few times and deliberately slowed down my MacBook Air M1 to force me to buy a newer one, and/or 8GB RAM is simply useless! Anyone else experienced same issues?
I've really been on the fence with this, I hate buying something that you can't upgrade but it's hard to pass up a laptop that goes 15+ hours and performs so well on battery. That being said I'm primarily going to be using it for writing. The 8GB will definitely work I just rebel against the tyranny of that being the option. In a pinch I'd like to be able to use it for more. We've reached a point when we expect even the laptop we buy to use off the cord to do everything we need. It does seem like the 8GB will work for everything plus some light video editing, it's just hard to pull the trigger thinking it might not last as long as a 16GB model.
If you buy refurbished online you might find a 16gb for close to the price of an 8gb depending on the chip you want
8GB is fine for a normal user for emails and watching a clip. 256GB is good too for all files are in the cloud
What is better? Air 13 m2 with 16gb/512gb or take m3 with bigger storage or RAM.
Too confused 😭😭 prices are almost the same. Will use it for studying, browsing and tutoring.
Using swap on an 8GB does ruin the SSD. Maybe it does this quite slowly with light usage, and you probably won't notice it in this context if you turn around your Airs every 2 - 3 years, but it doesn't bode well for the person who wants to use the laptop for quite some time or buys a second-hand device.
The problem is RAM is non upgradable post purchase. With storage you can still buy external SSDs but you're always stuck with RAM that you purchase. Apple still sticking with 8GB even on the pro models is ridiculous.
I have both 8 and 16 GB M1, and the performance difference is night and day. The 8GB RAM variant is a major bottleneck despite the powerful M1 chip.
Are you talking about the macbook air or pro? And do you notice a difference with the playback while video editing in premiere pro? Or any other video editing software
8GB is fine for me. I usually get the base model because I only work with text. I can see if you work with images, especially video, 16GB might be tempting, even if it is only as a comfort blanket. But for me, 8GB is fine.
If you're only doing text then just get a chromebook or a laptop? Like why spend over a grand for something that you don't really need? Like it's your money but holy moly use that extra money to donate to charity or something lol
It matters. I am selling my 8GB M2 Air and bought a 24GB M3 Air. 8GB is not enough if you are running multiple tabs or multitasking.
how does it matter ?At this price range, 16 gb should be NORMAL.
Great overall analysis. My advice, anyone who needs their MacBook for more "professional" tasks, get a used M1/M2 Pro/Max if you can't pick up a newer M3/M3 Pro MacBook.
What no-one mentions in videos is that the CPU AND GPU are sharing that 8Gb of memory. Which means there's less memory for apps. Does that mean more paying? I don't know.
Unified memory is going to be faster than separate memory chips for the CPU and GPU. It's always a race between between performance, cost and capacity.
My usecase adds daily usage of Figma on top of what he mentioned. On an M1 air with 8gigs, I end up with the not enough memory message practically every other day. So if yours matches my use case, do consider the 16.
My hot take, and by the way Mark love your videos. I just bought the M3, 8 gig 15inch MacBook Air Midnight color. it was an opened box from Best Buy for $1050.00 US. My laptop is for stuff like you described. Running a business. My next purchase will be a M3 iMac and I will get the 16 gig ram because I want the head room to do some amateur video editing. Still rocking the 2017 iMac I5 27 inch and get this, it came with 8 gigs and it's been running like champ.
I just got the 16gb m3 iMac was going to go with the MacBook Pro but the iMac is so light its portable enough for me to bring it from house to house lol
You know what I wonder about? I using a 2018 MBA with dual core Intel i5 with 16 GB RAM. I have two or three browsers open with dozens of windows open. I don't do photo or video processing, but I do use Blender. I code a bit including a specialized audio composition tool called Supercollider. I have no troubles. I don't know what it means when people say that their Apple Silicon Mac crawls to a stop when a few browser windows are open. I am going to upgrade to a M3 MBA this week, not because my 6 year old laptop is failing, but because I hate the butterfly keyboard. Thanks for your video!
Yes, for those complaining, buying the 16GB/256GB should stop the worrying. Although people will whine about £200 being too much, on the MB Air 13-inch, you also get the 10-core GPU instead of the 8-core, which is a £100 upgrade. So the reality is that £ 200 is quite reasonable.
But I have used an MB Pro 13 M1 for 3.5 years and am typing on it now. The efficiency of RAM has improved since it was new, so I find myself with even more headroom than on day one. As my workflow will not change, this base MB will last as long as I need it or if it breaks.
For casual users, 8GB is absolutely enough. Ignore the people rushing to Mac reviews and flexing on this, as their agenda is biased. They will never mention that MS, for example, starts at 8GB/256GB (Surface Laptop 6 (2024)) for a similar price as the MB Air M3. You never see this brought up in Surface reviews; it's hypocrisy and a sign of the hate the Windows community has for Macs.
Spot on 👍
Could you be more of a victim? Jesus Christ. Apple, the poor, oppressed $3 trillion company, and their poor, misunderstood, affluent userbase. 😂Grab the wheel, dude. Apple charges extortionate upgrade fees and they outright LIE about RAM somehow working "differently" on Apple silicon versus x86 platforms. It's all complete crap. They're lying to you and you're defending your captors. As for Microsoft, I have the same opinion: 8GB of RAM in 2024 is just perverse, and the only reason they keep doing it is because people keep buying it. 8GB of non-upgradable RAM should be against the law, because it'll be e-waste soon.
I'll mention it. MS should not sell that spec. I know someone who bought a 8GB surface for work, and it can't even run Teams meetings reliably - he lost a contract because of it. We had to buy a replacement surface book. I say 8GB is not a good idea on macOS, but it does depend what you do on it - the native Apple apps are quite memory efficient, you can get away with it. I would go further on Windows, 8GB is nowhere near enough to run Teams and Outlook, never mind anything else at the same time. The only saving grace with many Windows devices is you can add more RAM later - many, but not all.
No offense, but 8mb is not enough for more than the bare minimum. I bought an 8 GB Macbook Air and had to return it, it simply didn't do the job and I am not a power user.
8MB definitely isn't enough - I agree.
Liar
lol I’m on a 4 GB RAM intel Macbook Pro and it works. The only problem is that Apple stopped releasing updates for this model. So, I have to buy a new one.
I am considering the Mac book air. You mentioned that you use it as a backup for video editing. Would you mind sharing what video editor you use? I use iMovie currently but am considering going to FCP
Thanks for all your great reviews!
I use Final Cut Pro. Thanks for the kind words!
@@MarkEllisReviews Thank you for letting me know!!!! I am buying the M3 Studio when released. I am running with a 2017 MBP as my only computer at the moment. I also need a new laptop for travel so adding the Air to my list.
Thanks so very much!
Well . I purchased a MacBook Pro 14’ 14 M4 10 core 16GB , 512GB SSD , Space BLACK. I’m getting for my dj software . Virtual dj build 7042 . Will this work with my dj software?
I just bought a base model 8/256 13-inch Air to see how it feels. First day, while researching for my side hustle, an ad-heavy website all of a sudden started using 3.1 GB of RAM and required a force quit.
Not to say that this is a reason to panic (though I am considering returning and buying the 16/512 model), but it is discouraging that any website or application may suddenly cause a crash because there isn't enough RAM.
Yes get the 16gb one and use them side by side to see which you prefer. Return one of them.
If you go for 8GB of RAM you need to compensate that with a good amount of free storage available on your mac. Minimum is 512GB to help that 8GB of memory. 16GB of memory with 512GB or 1TB of SSD storage should last anyone 4-6 yrs with no hiccups.
Just fired up my new M1 Macbook Air 8GB 256 SSD. Comparing this to an iPad is silly. I can't believe how great the viewing/owning experience is. Walmart Macbook Air is the best consumer choice...
Resale value was mentioned about 14 times during the video, but something isn't exactly clear for me. After a few years, when the prices drop let's say 50% across the board, and the 16GB version would be priced at €750 instead of €1500, you think people won't buy the 8GB version for €550? I highly doubt that, since a majority of buyers are budget oriented, and at the lower pricepoints the €200 difference becomes much more significant.
You've lost me a bit there mate, I'm afraid.
Is 8 G good enough for i movie? I only use Mac for that. The cost difference between M2 MacMini with 8 RAM and 16 RAM is $400 !!
What people should understand is that those Apple Macbook are an investment and depend on your workflow. As an upcoming artist I still don't need the power of the Macbook Pro. This is not the case for Windows laptops
I have an macbook air from 2017.An intel. 8 Gb and 121 Gb in Storage. ofcause I am stuck back at Monterey. I use my computer for Internet.email, youtube, Watching movies. I do like to be able to keep my apple for 10 years. My dream is to buy a 15 inch..I do not have a tv and no plans to buy one either at this time. What do you think ?
Hey mate!
I would have love a little bit of data on the swap issue, because you just say it doesn't exist and yet, it does. Seeing how your SSD is compared to the brand new one would have been nice. With Smartmontools, for example.
Even if it's not criminal 😇I'm on the "8 GB is not enough" side, because it's a unified memory, shared with the graphic part of the chip. So it's not 8 GB dedicated to the CPU as we are used to.
But yeah, like you, I don't have the data to back my argument and I would have love to see it (being right or wrong doesn't matter, knowing does).
Thank you for your videos !
If you search, there are zero records of RAM swap and breaking SSDs, and the math suggests you have to write for decades for them to fail. It is up to you to prove this is an issue, as it is scaremongering by people with agendas. Unfortunately, Apple uses proprietary NAND storage that is not public records, so no one knows precisely how they squeeze so much efficiency out of their RAM management.
The suggestions are: 1/They use enterprise-quality SSDs. 2/ They have a quality SLC reservoir for faster swap. 3/ They have a larger than usual DDR4 memory cache on the SSD that handles not only the controller software and algorithms but also acts as a pool for the faster swap that has no wear implication. MaxTech proved the latter when he tested single versus dual 256GB NAND. The dual NAND had better swap speeds due to having two pools of SLC/DDR4 memory cache.
So, to conclude, and from my research and experience, 8GB is effectively 11-12GB of non-destructive RAM (including swap on the disk RAM) before flash storage is touched. So, for the average ultrabook user, that would be enough with no risk of SSD wear, let alone worrying about the SSD's half-life. Ergo; it is a fallacy promoted by those who want to flex on Apple.
8 or 16, M2 or M3…. I would say go for 8GB M1. I had a M1 8 GB MacBook Air for a couple years now and doing a lot of photo editing and some video editing and all normal web and mail use and I’ll have no problem at all This upgrade hysteria is only making the tech industry richer.
A lot of people greatly underestimate what an 8GB machine can do, even before the era of "unified memory". For a purely web surfing, email, office tasks, and entertainment (streaming) machine, 8GB is totally sufficient. And that's exactly how most people use their laptop.
Of course it's not sufficient if you're doing heavy video editing and gaming.
that even depends on what kind of gaming you do...If it's light gaming such as apple arcade and ONLY apple silicon native games you'll be satisfied with the 8gb ! the problem is when people start to make some crazy stuff such as emulate windows trough crossover or parallels, than 8gb would be a joke.
What is slacking and what is swapping? What a wonderful, precise, personable presenter you are! Thank you so much! Subscribed! BTW it is a pleasure to hear one speak such lovely English! I have just moved from San Francisco to Central Florida, and the manners of speacking by most people here is painful.
Another thing that is worth considering is that upgrading either the storage or RAM bumps you up to the higher spec version of the M3 chip (10 vs 8 GPU cores) at no additional price (normally a £100 upgrade) so the jump from 8gb to 16gb or 256gb to 512gb is more of a £100 upgrade
4 years ago, I gave my Dad my 2012 I7 Macbook Pro (i'd upgraded over the years to 16Gb and 512SSD) and bought a 16Gb M1 Air. 4 years on and I'm still delighted with it, only the old Pro is out of security updates and is struggling, even for Dad's limited usage. So, I've passed down my M1. Went round in circles but decided as I don't intend to replace this new one for 10+ years, 8/256 could potentially become a problem. Plus, no point saving £100 if I come to regret it longer term, so M2 is out. Just taken delivery of an M3 16/512. Can't honestly tell it apart from my M1 in terms of performance (browsing/email/docs etc), but should, I hope, easily see me to 2034 and beyond.
I need to decide this week between the €1.709 Air M3 16/512 and the €1.399,99 Asus Zenbook ux3405ma (14'' intel ultra 7 155h ram: 32GB 1TB SSD)... I don't think the Asus will last as long as the Air...
@@XanaFernandes Very confident it won't. I dare say with the reduced rate of development you'd get 5 years from the Asus but not the 10 you'll see from the Mac. On board storage is also not as important as it used to be as everything is backed up to the cloud these days - IOS manages it, offloading older items in the background as disk space is needed. I assume MS does something similar.
@@julben1900Thank you for confirming. I’ve never had the Air, only two MacBook Pro. I’ll give it a try this time. It’s way more than a teacher’s monthly salary, but if it lasts for ten years, it will be worth it.
Cue geeks/nerds in the comments whinging about 8GB just because they personally might want more but don't understand the needs for average users... Even tech TH-camrs are annoying now as most don't seem to have a clue about real world usage and the target market.
I think the answer is somewhere in the middle which is (and apologies as I’m posting this before I’ve finished watching the video so this may have been raised).
8GB can actually perform well and is ok for many. The issue for me is for those that want more, why charge so much for the upgrade? Upgrade price needs to be halved to be anywhere close to fair.
…. A few mins later
Yeah you did refer to the price point. Sorry. 😂
Please make a video comparing MacBook Air m3 with 16 gb ram 256gb storage to MacBook Air m2 16 gb ram 512 gb storage. Because in this configuration the price is almost same. Which one should I go for.???
There will be zero difference in performance
I use a m3 MacBook Air a with 16gb of unified memory and 512gb of storage and I am happy I got the extra ram because I often use 12gb of ram
So, let’s look to 16GB M2, how does that perform in 2024? 2xNAND? 512-1TB SSD? Better than a base M3 with base spec? Thanks Mark, I always enjoy your material, even if I don’t understand what you’re saying 😂
I can't believe that people defend this choice, especially with new iGPU on M3 which, having dual display support and new featurs should at very least start with 12 GB. M2 was clearly stop gap or original M1.... M1 or M3.
The real challenge is not the 8GB vs 16 GB, it's the 256 GB. It's high time Apple should make 512 GB as the standard
they should make 16gb the standard too
Great video. Solidified my decision, thanks!
Glad I could help!
Need a replacement for my 8 year old iPad Pro. Waiting on the new iPads but they don’t seem to be appearing any time soon. Gave me time to think. Need a portable device for work purposes (word documents, photo editing and about to start to learn how to code). 13 inch new iPad Pro would be in MacBook Air territory with 16GB but the MBA seems better for battery and typing!
@@MarkEllisReviews I am confused about this variant MacBook Air M2 16GB and MacBook Air M3 8GB. Whats your suggestion for the next 5-6 years?
@@mzeshanbthe iPad event is on may 7th!
I had an 8gb Mac book air m3 space grey and because of this video changed it to a 16gb Mac book air midnight with 512gb of storage 🤣
Hi Mark, just wondering what your thoughts are on this - I currently have the 16" M1 Pro - I'd like to shed some weight on my tech and was considering the M3 Air 15", if I went to the M3 Air from the 16" M1 Pro MBP do you think that's a very bad move? I don't do anything intensive on my laptop, I use it for photo editing via Lightroom and media (TH-cam, Netflix etc) so I don't need much power. Just wondering what your thoughts are - keep the MBP or get the Air? Thank you ☺
1st downgrade I can think of is the 120hz to 60hz display. Some people would say it’s not big of a trade off but imho once you are used to 120hz screen the 60hz looks awfully stuttering. You can change the 16” display to 60hz to see what I meant and see how you like it. The colour pops better on 16” display since it’s a mini led as well. 2nd trade off would be speakers quality. 3rd is the screen real estate. 4th I can think of is the bezel size of the screen. 5th would be the power when you need it. For me I wouldn’t trade all these just for 700g weight saving or maybe a bit longer battery life. But it depends on what you prefer more I guess
...by the way I disagree with you on 1TB as one can simply buy more TBs for much less, however totally agree with you on 16GB or more RAM... one comment, could you please do a bending test to see if MacBook Air M3 15 inch is solid or flimsy and seems it will break easily? I remember when I did that to MacBook Air M2 15 inch it was a bit on the flimsy side...
Just purchased an M3 Air for my wife, went 16GB/512. We have 3 M1 Pros, 1 M2 Pro and a Studio with a M1 Max - none with less than 16GB (we have 4 boys, 2 of them studying to be developers). I agree unified memory is different but as she will do a lot of photo editing and likes multiple programs open, 8 just isn't enough in 2024. On a Windows computer is hasn't been enough in probably 10 years.
Alright show off
Of course it matters. Over time even the most conservative of users will notice 16 vs 8. But in the short term anyone who keeps more than 5 or so things open and active, especially if one of them is Chrome, will notice the difference. It sucks they used to charge something like a 20% price premium for 16 vs 8. Now its baseline, should have happened at least 3 years ago but oh well.
This exact confusion made me not buy macbook for past 4 years and I found that my intel i7 laptop (Windows) is perfect for me. Saved a lot of money.
Great points and great video Mark! I actually just got a 16 Go M3 Macbook Air as my trusted mid 2012 Macbook Pro was finally pronounced dead yesterday after all ressuscitation attempts failed... Fantastic machine! And it will certainly last for years with those 16 Go (although realistically, maybe not 12 years, I pushed my luck a bit with the last one ;-).
Do you do video editing on the macbook air? And if so what programme and how is your video playback while editing and experience?
@@verasambience I don't, sorry I can't help. 🙂
what about as a cyber security student? Should i get 8gb or 16gb?
I use the base model 2022 MacBook Pro 13 M2 with 8 GB of memory. To be honest, it was fine for the first year but as my needs have increased and expanded I am increasingly getting the spinning beachball which I am quite annoyed about. This usually comes with SPSS and ARC GIS software which runs perfectly on 16 GB Windows laptops but causes this computer lots of problems and increasingly more frequently. I don't agree with you Mark about Apple 8 GB ram being different. 8 GB is still 8 GB and it simply does not compete with a 16 GB ThinkPad that I have to use more regularly now. My fault for not buying a 16 GB version but equally Apple needs to take a look at themselves and really question whether "Professional" models should be sold with 8 GB of ram. Because I think we all know that it is an absolute scam they are running. All MacBook pros should come with 16 GB of ram. No excuses. But I think it's fair enough to sell the MacBook Air with just 8 GB as the base model as this is really for people such a students or those who do administrative work.
At the end of the day, people using RAM-intensive apps must buy sensibly. As you say, it needs 16GB on Windows, so that should have been your starting point. The 8GB MB Pro 14 M2 is more for ultrabook users that want more features (miniLED, 120Hz, better speakers, more IO, etc), and you still have to use common sense; it is not as if Apple does not offer a 16GB model.
Should i go for 16gb mac air m3 or 8gb mac m3 pro
Alright fine I'll get the 16gb. But 1TB is expensive no?! Why not just use an external SSD for overflow if needed? Much cheaper alternative
I personally think it's a bad idea to get an 8GB Macbook with just a 256GB SSD. I would go for the 16GB/512GB version but at least buy the 8GB/512GB version so that the Unified Memory has some room on the SSD to use where necessary.
8Gigs for an entry level macbook air might be borderline fine, but am Macbook PRO with 8gb is a sheer insult to the customer.
Good video, Mark. As a recent purchaser of M3 base model I'm fairly reassured!
As a side question...what mouse do you use with your MacBooks?!?
Nice! The Logitech MX Master 3S.
@@MarkEllisReviews thanks. I've got the magic mouse (for first time) and I'm not convinced.
@@richardbaker7480after a month with the Magic Mouse you won’t go back
I just want to figure out which one to buy. I do digital painting and graphic design with Adobe CS and Affinity as well as clip studio paint and connect a cintiq to my still working MBP 2019 and I keep my laptops for 7-8 years at least as I don’t have money for expensive upgrades so easily. Would an air be enough for that with 8GB long term or upgrade to 16 RAM? Or look for an older pro with M2 chip which will have no apple suppprt a year before the M3 does?
Look for M1 Max or a M2 pro.
@@thecooldude4564 thanks cool dude. Was actually just looking at refurbished and the M1 Max is way down in price now
@@brandondelgado7731 yea and it’s still better than a M3 MacBook Air.
Is the 1TB of storage necessary? I have a 2019 MBP with 1TB and use it for work mainly now. I was looking to strictly get this for work using zoom, and chrome mainly
I'm a developer. I use dockers and virtual machines. I have a 16GB M2 Air with 512GB Storage. It was fine when I got it, but to be honest, even 16GB isn't enough. (It limits me to a single VM .. for me, 32GB is the bare minimum, which puts me out of the air on the next iteration. My company has me a 16" M3 MBP with 18GB, and even that RAM is too limiting.
Put me in to the "8GB is criminal" category. There's almost no excuse for that in 2024.
I just got a apple refurbished m2 mb air with 1TB SSD and 24GB RAM for "£1599". After using it for a few days I see the RAM usage constantly hover around 11GB. Dont know why reviewers are misleading people saying 8GB is enough for browsing and other stuffs
Your conclusion is wrong because you need to understand how Apple manages RAM. Apple uses available RAM for caching (prefetching cache), ergo "Cached Files". The system is not actually using this, so you need to deduct that from what "Memory Used" says. It will take it from "Cached Files" when it needs more RAM. That will get you below 8GB, and then if you count 3-4GB of swap that it can use, as well as compressing app RAM that is not being used, your 11GB is probably nearer 4GB with plenty of headroom for the base models.
I have an 8GB base M1 MB Pro 13 and regularly have "Memory Used" between 11-12GB with no slowdowns and memory pressure remaining in the green.
Hence the notion unused RAM is wasted RAM
Hi Mark, I follow your reviews on a regular basis. I was just wondering whether you would help me out in choosing a Macbook to run Parallels 19 desktop applications, mainly for Windows. I do not play any games on the computer, and I use it mainly for productivity. I would be grateful if he could answer the question.
Oct 2024, Apple raises the base memory to 16GB, so now what? I see leftover new 8GB models on sale for decent prices (but not at apple, not even refurbished). Makes it even harder. As a retired windows guy my needs are now minimal, but I have 16GB in the Windows 10 machine anyway. Why should I retreat on this??
Grab a 16GB Mac.
So would be 16gb with 256gb ssd ok? It’s the ssd I’m not sure about
Where do you stick all your apple stickers? 👍
I have both and I like base model is great
I am confused between 250gb and 500gb ssd, should I go with 250gb and buy a fast ssd after market or should I spec my mac with 500gb?
256GB Vs 512GB SSD on a M series Mac. Here is the question. Would you be ok using an external drive to make up for the lack of storage? You cannot swap the SSD on these like you can on a lot of PCs. If you plan on using this as a your daily driver, go with the 512. If this is going to be something to use occasionally while on the move, a 256GB should be fine.
@@cferguson1134 thanks for helping me out dude
Although 8 GB of memory might not be a criminal offense, 16 GB is not much more expensive and to me a minimum to be at least a bit of future proof for the next 5 years. For maschines priced the way they are, it’s kinda criminal…
Looking to get my daughter a M2 512GB MacBook Air for college and want to make sure she will not have any issues.
Need some advice for 15" Air.
I always do refurb'ed gear from Apple. Casual user, no heavy lifting like video editing; watch movies, some photo editing, lots of web browsing.
So....should I dive for an M2 8/512 or an M3 8/512?
Not too worried about "future proofing", as my Apple Macbooks last me 8-10 yrs.
Thanks!
M2 is already amazing and powerful!
Thank you! Love your clear answer and also your delivery, fun to listen to and now I am going to get the right laptop for me with confidence.
Thank you Mark. I’ve watched about 8 videos on this subject & yours was the BEST. Clear. Humble. Helpful. Understandable.
(I have a 14yr old iMac & and 7yr old £200 Chromebook).
This will be my 1st MacBook.
I will be doing the basics: Web, Google docs/sheets, Tv…
+ maybe a bit of iMovie editing
+ I have 150,000 Photos (850GB)
& I have 2TB iCloud for these.
So… I think I’m going MacBook Air M3 15inch 16gb 512gb ?!
(With Education discount & giftcard)
ANY THOUGHTS??
MBA M2 16gb or MBA M3 8gb ?
8/256 m3 air life span of 256 is 150tb if m3 air swap 200gb memory every day after 3 year it will be a slow king. And get new one again.
It's very weird watching that intro knowing the steps taken to record after watching the vlogs! 🤣
Out of interest, is there any reason why you opt for the higher in-built SSD over external storage at a lower cost?
Haha - those who know, know, eh? As for the storage, I just think that 1TB gives enough internal headroom alongside any external added in the future.