Apple argues in favor of selling Macs with only 8GB of RAM

With the launch of the M3 MacBook Pro last year, many reviewers and customers criticized the company for still selling premium computers with 8GB of RAM. At the time, Apple said that 8GB in a Mac is equivalent to having 16GB of RAM in a Windows PC. Now the company is again arguing in favor of selling Macs with 8GB of RAM in 2024.

Apple believes Macs with 8GB RAM are enough

In an interview with IT Home, Mac marketing executive Evan Buyze spoke in favor of Macs equipped with 8GB of RAM. According to Buyze, the 8GB of RAM in entry-level Macs is enough for most of the tasks that most users do with these computers. He used web browsing, media playback, light photo and video editing, and casual gaming as examples.

Kate Bergeron, Apple’s VP of hardware engineering, praised Apple Silicon chips for their unified memory architecture, which makes the Mac take full advantage of the hardware built into these chips. Last year, another Apple executive said that the company is able to use the RAM in Apple Silicon Macs more efficiently.

The interview is focused on the recently launched M3 MacBook Air, so these answers are partly true. In fact, users can run most basic tasks without any worries with 8GB of RAM. However, those who plan to use their Mac for video editing or programming may face some drawbacks due to the lack of more RAM.

Personally, while I think it’s okay to sell a MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM, the same can’t be said for the MacBook Pro, which is focused on users intending to run more intensive tasks. Apple charges $200 for the RAM upgrade, going from 8GB to 16GB.

More about Apple Silicon Macs

In the interview, the executives also talked about how Apple Silicon chips are ideal for AI-based tasks. They also mentioned that Apple has been focusing on making the Mac a great gaming platform thanks to advanced hardware and new macOS features such as the Game Porting Toolkit.

You can find the full interview (in Chinese) here.

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