IMac M1 RAM question

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“One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them.” – Thomas Sowell

September 26, 2021, 10:37 AM

smschulz

quote:
Originally posted by CoolRich59:
quote:
Originally posted by 0-0: Can’t stop bitching about my iPhone UI…

0-0

Soon you will know no other way.

Welcome to the collective.

September 26, 2021, 02:09 PM

Veeper

quote:
Originally posted by mark123:
Since you can't upgrade the RAM on the M1 iMac, I'd go with the 16GB version.

This is sagely advice. As the world moves on and your Mac’s specs stay the same, 16G will become more and more important.

Please spend the money on 16G. In 3 or 4 years you’ll be very grateful.

September 26, 2021, 02:34 PM

Lefty Sig

16GB RAM is a $200 custom build option, so it's not a huge cost. But there are no standard configurations with 16GB on the 24" iMac, so you have to custom order it through the Apple Store vs. buying at another retailer. Apple almost never discounts, but some retailers like Amazon and Best Buy do, along with offering rewards points in their systems.

Again, M1 processors with unified memory are different than anything that came before, so the rules have changed. The amount of RAM you needed for Intel processors is not a good comparator. Notice there is also no published processor clock speed. The PC industry became obsessed with MHz and then GHz but clock speed is not directly correlated to actual processing speed, it's just one factor. iPhones and iPads do not advertise and sell on processor speed or RAM, only flash storage space which does make a difference as to the amount of apps, photos, music, videos, etc. you can store on the device.

The amount of RAM in an M1 has almost no bearing on speed. It does affect multitasking though. If you tend to do one or two things at a time, even processor intensive things, 8 GB is fine. If you do many things at one time, as previously alluded to with having many browser tabs open, then 16GB may be helpful.

September 27, 2021, 09:39 AM

sigcrazy7

You could earn $200 in a half day, and live without regrets, or you could get the 8GB version and regret it for years. I've never trusted Apple to tell me how much RAM I need. Apple has a history of selling a first-release product with insufficient RAM. The original MAC with 128K, the original iPad with 512MB.