Is 8GB Of Memory Enough For Your MAC?

Anyone who has ever purchased a Mac will ask if they should upgrade its memory. Most base Macs only come with 8GB of memory.

- KENNY YEO

This is true for the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Airs, the Mac mini, the iMac, and even the 14-inch MacBook Pro. 8GB sounds inadequate especially when you consider that most PC notebooks these days come with 16GB as standard.

This uncertainty is amplified by the fact that whatever decision you make is irreversible - there's no way to upgrade a Mac's memory. As I contemplated this quandary, I'm reminded of a saying: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. I'll elaborate.

Before I begin, let me preface whatever you are about to read with some details of my testing. The unit I used is the base model that comes with 8GB of memory and a 256GB SSD. It also comes with the base M3 chip that has 8 CPU cores and 8 GPU cores. It's the same unit I tested in the recent MacBook Air review.