Running mac, not sure what the right balance is between cost and capacity for good experience. I think I have 16GB and hasn't been an issue for me (simple usages - nothing stressful like video editing or gaming).

Running windows, 16GB is a minimum for me. 32GB seems to be a good sweetspot; more than enough and not too costly. I have one system that is now 64GB but that's because it came with 1 channel of 32GB; it was cheaper to buy a matching second memory of 32GB than to buy 2 16GB memory modules. System is usually at about 10GB (after boot, at 6GB) memory usage.

I've never bought more RAM and regretted it. Yes, it's expensive up front. Yes, I *might* be able to upgrade it myself (and have on many machines).

But your time isn't free, and hardware availability/compatibility isn't guaranteed at a later date.

With the continuity of supply issues we're currently facing in the electronics industry, I'd say upgrade it now and be done with it.

I'm glad to see this. I said "Why not?" when I built my last two PCs. One's maxxed out at 4x32GB, the other has 2x32GB.

I guess it depends on whether or not you actually need it.
With today's new great hardware > memory is much less of a factor in performance.
Especially when a standard first comes out the memory is uber-expensive.
YES, of course there are areas where more is mo-better but not for general use.
64gb is not remotely necessary for almost everyone.
32gb for super power users is fine.
16gb for most everyone is more than adequate.
8gb for lightweight use.

If anybody is listening your disk drive is your weak link in most systems.

I run my Ryzen 7 video editing computer with 32GB. I’ve never required more.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
If anybody is listening your disk drive is your weak link in most systems.

BOOM! That's the pitfall right there. Spot on, sir!

When I was online gaming pretty heavily 4 or 5 years ago, I had my system maxed out on 24gb RAM...maximum for this MB (ASUS Sabertooth X58 circa 2010 release). Since I no longer do any online gaming, I've had no need to upgrade or build a new entire system. If I did build, however, and unless I were building a liquid-cooled, powerhouse, online gaming system, I doubt I'd max out the RAM just because "I could". I'd rather spend that money elsewhere. JMHO...

Running 64GB here. I game, and encode video from time to time.

Up until a couple of years ago I was in the camp that most normal computer users/gamers only needed 8gb of ram.

I now believe 16gb is plenty for 90% of computer users out there.

If you really want more than you need I wouldn't get more than 32gb.

I've had a computer in my house since I was 4 or 5 years old so about 35 years. Worked in a computer shop a couple of years in a small town building and fixing computers when I was a teenager.

No one has regretted too much RAM.

I'm running 64DDR3 in my desktop and 64DDR4 in my laptop. Just picked up a ThinkPad on presidents day sale for my partner - 32DDR4

We're running SSD & NVME on everything except our RAID network backup drive.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
I'm debating just throwing extra hundred$ and going from 32GB to 64GB.

If the conversation was going from 8 to 16, or even 16 to 32 then the choice would be more obvious. But going from 32 to 64 is less obvious. If you don't run some special engineering simulation SW, or something like Solidworks, or something else SPECIFIC that would function better at 64, then you probably don't need 64.

The post by smschulz above makes a lot of sense, IMHO. Plus he generally has good, data driven advice on computer topics.

My 2017 iMac has 40GB. It came with 8GB - 2x 4GB - and has four slots so I dropped in 2x 16 GB sticks.

BUT, M1 macs are different. You can get 16GB by custom order vs. the standard 8GB, but very few reviews show any difference in performance except during very processor and memory intensive tasks. The M1 chips have onboard main memory and an SSD bus that is so fast that performance is similar regardless of RAM. But if you can get 16GB easily it won't hurt. I always buy a standard Mac config and do not custom order.

Think of an iPhone - the RAM and processor speeds are unpublished. The only thing anyone cares about is storage capacity - basically SSD size. M silicon is similar.

On an iPad Pro with the M1 chip, the extra ram was negligible cost. Didn’t make sense not to order.

I can’t imagine 64GB of ram. My laptop only has 32, which is overkill. On the other hand, it has 4.5TB of SSD.

My 15yo son just built a gaming computer and only put in 2 -16GB modules. The motherboard only has two RAM slots. It’s an AMD chipset and supposedly two modules will overclock easier than 4. The 32GB modules are expensive for the speed and class he wanted.

If it were me, I would buy Apple stock with the price difference between 32GB and 64GB to future proof. By the time you need a new laptop, sell the stock.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
If it were me, I would buy Apple stock with the price difference between 32GB and 64GB to future proof. By the time you need a new laptop, sell the stock.

I like the way you think. That sounds like something I would have come up with.

 
You will find that the system uses a LOT more RAM for caching, if it is available.
 
I have a 16GB MBP (2015), and a 32GB Mini (2018), both running Mojave with pretty much identical setups. The 16GB MBP actually seems to run a bit smoother in most basic areas, like surfing, email, installations, file manipulation, etc. It is caching less than half what the Mini does.

I also don't do any high power stuff like video editing, either. I would still go with 32GB for a new MBP. I think 64GB is future-proofing beyond the useful life of the machine, and if you do decide to sell/trade at some future point, you won't get much back on that extra RAM expense.

It's seems the M1 Max chips are back-ordered right now. You need to spec the M1 Max in order to select the 64GB of RAM on a build. So if I want the MBP within 1 to 2 weeks instead of 5 to 6 weeks, I need to select the M1 Pro, which maxes out at 32GB. Which by all accounts is at the very least, very ample.

I think henryaz's statement: "I think 64GB is future-proofing beyond the useful life of the machine." is quite astute. At some point, your battery is bulging, or your "g" key is sticking, and you just want a new machine anyway. I'm on a 2017 MBP, with that stupid touch bar, the worst keyboard ever fitted to a laptop, no MagSafe connector, no HDMI and no SD slot. This purchase is primarily to go"Back to the Future" for me.

Thanks for the help everyone. By the way, 14" smaller-sized option for my build, if anyone is interested.

I do broadcast TV and online video editing (1080P) on a 2018 MBP with 16 GB of RAM. No hiccups. In fact, it is very fast when compared to my previous 2011 MBP.
A typical 2-3 minute video is 500-900 MB in size, and takes 1-2 minutes to output on this machine.
Only animation (After Effects) slows it down, but even then, it’s tolerable.
If I go to 4K output in the future, I might consider upping to a machine with more RAM.
Just a point of reference for you.

I run 64Gb memory, a SSD, and an I7 on my laptop. It's really nice for a development platform. I am able to run a web server, database server, API server, and Visual Studio simultaneously. My old laptop which prior gen of an I7, 16gb and SSD would have quite a few hiccups while running unit and load tests. I'm not sure if 32gb of memory would do the trick for my use.

quote:

I'm debating just throwing extra hundred$ and going from 32GB to 64GB. Is that just burning cash for nothing? I do not do video editing. But I do keep laptops for the long haul. So it would be a future proofing measure only.

It's a noble thought and as IT guy it would facilitate an easy sale to a client with that notion.
However, not trying to talk you out of it but you need to consider use.
Additionally consider the cost and as it goes - evaluate the cost/benefit.

As buying to future proof then that is something I would dispute.
Unless you are planning to utilize memory intensive operations like data bases, video editing and only somewhat with gamers to name a few only then consider it.
Also virtualization is a good reason for more memory - the more instances the more you need.

As far as future proofing it is more likely software/application obsolesce and hardware failures of other components will be more of a concern > most notably the disk drive.
Memory does not make your computer run faster - more memory doesn't help unless you need it.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/...uch-ram-do-you-need/

Ordered!

14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display MacBook Pro
Apple M1 Pro with 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
32GB unified memory
2TB SSD storage
Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, MagSafe 3 port

All that deliberation about RAM, and what I'm most excited about is to have a MagSafe charger again, and an HDMI port!