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Had the 8gb of RAM. Never had any issues.

I have a M1 mac air with 16 gb and it was worth it. I’ve never once had an issue with things being slow except for SOME video games on high graphics (I now have a proper gaming pc, so not using it to game anymore)

Ofc I never had 8gb ram so I can’t tell you if its significantly better, but iirc its only like 200 or so extra? and I enjoy it lol

Depends what you’re doing with it…

Photo editing may need a bit more. I’m doing some light development with mine on some side projects and haven’t hit anything that needed more than 8GB yet.

If photo editing is your line of work and not just a hobby, go for the 16GB and I’d also bump up the storage to 512GB.

Yes, you do, and should pay the extra cash for longevity’s sake. With how much memory apps use nowadays, 8GB shouldn’t even be offered any longer.

8GB is a good for those basic clerical roles that use email/web apps/notepad/etc.

You’ll be fine with 8gb. These new macs deal with memory is a great way.

People on here love to hype 16for everyone. $200 isn’t chump change for most students.

I would do 16gb just for longevity sake. Unless you plan to upgrade in a couple years.

Wait for m3 with 12gb of ram of you still confused

The answer is yes. The instant you said “gaming and photo editing” the conversation is over. You’re going to see less swap by having more available RAM. That has an impact on performance when doing these kind of activities.

Yep even 16gb is not enough when you work with it For example if you go 8 / 256 let’s say for photo editing macos will be laggy real fast because of the swapping

Have you looked into Apple’s certified refurbished section? They have the 16gb ram model at a cheaper price than a new 8gb model. I’ve purchased a 2019 refurbished iMac and it still works amazing. We’ve purchased refurbished Macs for our company with no problems. They look brand new. We would only from apple if it’s a refurbished purchase.

I would get 16gb if you can. I have a 2020 M1 8/256 and that’s the only thing I wish I did different. My phone has more RAM. Come on apple!

Bite the bullet and get the 16gb. You can’t upgrade after you buy your Mac. But for storage, you still can attach SSD over USB.

Tech enthusiast here and I can say for regular/light use. The base configuration works just great.

I have a souped up pc at home and a light macbook air for classes.

I rarely use my PC because the M2 air works great for most of my uses.

Also, M3 macbooks are coming out in a week. I suggest waiting for those to release so you can get a better price on the M2 air.

I max specd an m2 air and it’s nice for majorly multitasking tons of apps but it’s really unnecessary tbh