How Much RAM Do You Need? Your Guide To Unified Memory. 

4:45 with the cat is peak humor haha! Good job mate. over 1000 views on your first video is very good. If you keep it up you'll be suprised where you end up by 2025, im sure of it. Just remember to enjoy the process, you've got to want to fight for it. You've got to want to play the game of youtube in order to succeed. Good luck!

Starting off strong with this quality. Instantly impressed by the visual composition of your video from the first few seconds. Clearly spoken, clearly explained, no cruft. Subbed!

I went with the 16 M3 Max. Upgraded to 128GB and 8TB. I use it daily for RU-vid, email and some light porn usage on the weekends. Wanted to be safe with over heating and future proofing.

Surprisingly well produced video for such a small channel. Keep it up and I'm sure you'll find an audience. I was impressed!

Great video, well articulated. I had a M2 13" Air with 8GB RAM for about a week. Ended up taking it back because it crashed a couple of times. Just not enough RAM. Currently have the Pro M3 MBP with 18 GB RAM. I went back and forth between 36 and 18. The decider was a couple of 16 vs 32 comparisons done on M1 Pro's that Created Tech and Max Tech did. Massive stress tests! End of the day the 16 GB using swap faired very well. Opted to upgrade the processor and storage instead. Still happy with the decision. I also practice closing apps that are RAM hungry when not in use. New subscriber. Cheers!

I don't usually comment but: I could not believe you a few hundred subscribers. Fantastic video, quality and production. Just subscribed. Keep up the great work!

Hi, First of all, great production quality, hope your channel grows over time, keep up the good work. Second: I have the base model M1 air with 8GB. I just got a great price on it and decided to jump, in worst case I sell it and upgrade to a 16GB model. Long story short, still using it. For everyday work, browsing the web, casual family image/video editing (4k60FPS from i13mini), and I have zero complains. Yes, it would be nice to have more, but I have not faced anything that slowed down this little machine, saying this with 8-12 hours of daily use since I have it. In long term, time will tell, but in the last two years of using it's a great little machine for the price, you just have to know your limits. If you use it as a productivity machine and video rendering times or 3D animation rendering times are important, go for more ram, no question asked, it will pay for itself over time. If you use it as a "facebook machine" and nothing serious, 8GB will do the job.

16Gb of ram are still 16GB of ram BUT... I bought a base M1 MacBook Air and I must confess that it works so much better than a Windows machine with 8GB of ram.

About to pull the trigger on the M3 16 GB I’m glad I came across your video

Instant subscribe. You have a fantastic style of breaking down these things in ways that are easy to understand. I work at the Apple Store and will be using your way of explaining Unified Memory like a studio apartment. With Mac customers, often times they come to the Apple store before they're ready to buy, but they need to learn more to help inform their decision when they do buy. Before they leave I always recommend a yt channel or two (like MKBHD) for them to do a lil further research. I'll definitely be telling them about you, because these two videos alone are going to be EXTREMELY impactful for helping people make informed decisions. Which is a big deal when you're spending that kind of money. Keep em coming!

Wow, great and very informative content. Subscribed!

One of the few videos that seem informative and concise at the same time! Subscribed and looking for more content now. Well done!

@TechDeclassified thx for the great video! Could you please tell us what video/audio/software stack you use for creating your YT videos or even consider making a short video about it😉? Video/Audio quality is excellent! And most importantly, content and presentation as well of course 👍 subscribed! Thank you, Stefan

Great video, thank you for explaining. Subbed.

Your content is Amazing! Keep it up. You should have a million subs

I've watched a lot of these tech videos on mackbooks but this was the only one that was helpful! Thanks man!

This was such a great video! Easy-to-understand and straight to the point!

Awesome video with high quality I hope that you succeed I wish that I discovered this channel sooner

Great content man. Just found your channel.

I couldn't believe seeing that you only had 122 subs when I finished your video. Very underrated channel! Good luck for the future. Im sure it will be a bright one with production quality and informative content like this 👏

I’m genuinely impressed by the accuracy of your content and the appealing visuals. Very well done. As someone who had a small hand in MacOS, iCloud, Maps, and others - me being impressed with videos like this is rare. You’ve earned an instant subscribe & like from me. Looking forward to your next video!

This is one of the fewest videos of this topic that holds my attention till the end.

Your videos are of very high quality! I thought you had hundreds of thousands of subscribers, you definitely deserve more attention!

I love your videos! they're so easy to understand

Only 2 video and i watched them both fully ... This channel is going to grow Bellow my nose i am telling u

loved the video! Brief and very explanatory! I'm buying my first ever laptop and also my first MacBook Pro. The one I'm thinking of is the M3 Pro Space Black 18GB RAM and 512GB SSD. I'm a filmmaker/photographer/colorist/editor. Do you think it will sufice my needs for 3/4 Years? PS: it's not going to be my main machine, and I'm not gonna edit 8k footage for the time being ahahah

I have a question. Ok my budget is limited ($1000/$1200) but I need to upgrade my laptop. I usually use illustrator, photoshop and Premiere. You think I should buy a refurbished 2020 MacBook Pro with 16gb of ram or a MacBook Air m3 baseline?

You explain very well. I like your similes of Ram and the different data chips

Great video, well made and straight to the point. Earned a sub.

that's some good quality video production! I came across your video thinking that you prob had a good following, but realised that you only have 3.28k subs and 4 videos released.

That was a great content , subscribed ❤

Love your new Channel... I have a quick question... I have a new MacBook Air 15" M3. I use it on and off throughout the day.. Should shut it down every evening and restart in the morning or just leave it running all night ?? Can't seem to get good answer from anybody including Apple...

Yeah that Is definitely a sub from me! Great video! I will enjoy following your journey here on RU-vid.

One of the best explanations of the unified memory. Where have u been mate? Subbed :)

I love it!!! Perfect video!!! Subscribed imediately 👍 ❤

this was a good video. Just subscribed.

This helped me a lot. I Just ordered a M3 18gb of RAM. I’m upgrading from a 2019 i9 16in MacBook Pro.

This is very helpful as an astrophotographer who needs ram and speed to stack Astro pics. Thank you

I remember updating my 486 from 4MB to 32MB RAM, that was powerful.

Great video with content that everyone can use. Very impressive!

I would just sell and upgrade over the years because the cost of upgrading the ram is not worth it (I only use 16gb with no issues editing audio and Final Cut at a pro level). So if I need 32gb I’ll sell and upgrade but I’ve been using 16gb since 2012 macs and never needed more?

I have one of the new MacBook Pro models with 18 GB of RAM. I can run the full MS Office suite, Adobe Acrobat with large files, multiple browser tabs, and a Windows VM comfortably. Were more than casual video editing thrown in, I would have upgraded but this setup has been working well since I purchased the computer on launch day last year.

You rock and your videos are so clear in providing technological details. You clearly explain the differences in ram. Thank you.

I have a i9 HMB MBP (64gb ram). I skipped the M1 because it was just too new. Now I am looking at an M3 Max 16c w/ 48 GB RAM. Regularly, my i9 is between 32 & 44GB memory used. Quite common for me to have Ps, Ai, Resolve, or Premiere, a browser, and AE open simultaneously for heavy animation and motion composite. So, I am looking at the MBP M3 Max w/ 48bg RAM. However, I think this might be enough due to this so-called faster RAM. What would you say? Should I go with 64 again or is the performance of the 48 as good as my current 64 in an i9?

Love the animations!!!

Currently I'm working on an Intel MacBook Pro 2019 with 32GB RAM, but I'm thinking about getting a MacBook Air 15" with 24GB of RAM for price reasons. No matter what I opened, the RAM on my current MacBook was always at around 24GB RAM. So do you think that 24 GB RAM is enough for my work as a programmer? Or even 16GB RAM with unified memory?

great video, well explained

Same here, couldn't believe there was an 8GB option even for the MB Pro. I am a UI/UX designer and my setup was a 2017 MacBook 12" with a nice PC I set up myself. I am planning on going for master's abroad, so bringing my PC is not an option. This week I upgraded my MacBook 12" to the base model of 14" M3 Pro. I was torn between 24GB of memory on regular M3 and 18GB on M3 Pro. I decided to trust unified memory and upgraded to M3 Pro for better CPU/GPU specs. I don't think I'll regret it 😁 Great video, keep up the good work!

Great video. Good information.

Excellent video, well done!

this was crazy helpful

thanks for the helpful guide!

I have 16inch M1 max with 64GB Ram and 2TB storage I always have 3-4 chrome instances with 50-100 tabs open, docker with 2-4 databases running, 8-10 VS code instances and many more.. Never seen any lag or fan running Love it I am sure i can use it for more than a decade

love the diagram in terms of the house and how you get to one side and the other Great video

I wanted to buy a Mac Mini Pro base model with 16 Gb of ram. Many RU-vidrs say the 16 GB is enough for video editing. On my 5k iMac from late 2015 I have 32 Gb of memory and I regularly use between 20 and 28 Gb of it Activity monitor is pretty much always in the green for the memory pressure. Will 16 GB be enough or on this newer Apple should I go for the Mac Studio base model?

I am the 63rd Subscriber, I want to see you grow to the millions, Your content is amazing, you'll surely get huge success, 😃 Grow to the millions so that I also can 😉 pride of being 63rd Subscriber.

How do you only have 1.5k subs? Your videos are simple and edited very well

I have relatively modest needs and when I bought an m2 air over the summer, I figured 8gb would be fine.. Long story short, it wasn't. Fast foward 6 months, I find a great deal on an 18gb m3pro and the air is currently up for sale. The Pro has been awesome though! I didn't really need the extra power but the extra ram has been perfect and I definitely appreciate all if the extra upgrades that came with the pro. Would definitely recommend this model for everyday light to heavy use that'll last you for the next several years.

I plan to get the m3 ultra Mac Studio with 128gb. It’s overkill but I intend to use it for 7 years at least.

I’m a way low from a casual user and my 16gig ram on my macbook m1, 8gig of it is already used up. I do not have heavy apps. Don’t even use chrome. Most of the tasks were just word processing, email, and surfing and using safari. Good thing I decided to have my mac with 16gig at the outset?

What a great explanation about RAM with the room analogy. Thanks for the quality content!

Thank you for this. Curious on your take on my hilarious (?) situation. Right now i'm using a 2013 MacBook Pro that I upgrade as much as i could at the time. I've used it HEAVILY - I am a sound designer and video editor, and i have also used Motion a few times (and will be using After Effects in the next couple of years). I'm more than due for an update, as you can imagine, I can't even update the operating system, and programs like Logic really struggle. So anything will be an improvement. Because of video editing, and my old eyes, right now i'm looking at getting the 16" M3 Max 16 Core - with 2TB. My question is - do you think the 128GB is worth it? The only reason the one i'm on now has survived is because of the money i put in it when I bought it - so the extra cost would be worth if that was the case. For sure I would get 64 at least - However it is a $1000K difference, and i'm an artist, no a rich person ha. Thoughts? I am leaning toward the 128GB.. but i also don't want to just be burning money. I give Apple enough of my money as it is.

Great breakdown ✌🏻

great video loved it.

Thanks! When I bought my M2 MacBook Air, the only upgrade I ordered was the 16GB unified memory. I regularly run Chrome with 50+ tabs open, Microsoft Office Suite (on my device), etc. This appears to have been a wise decision. Checking my activity monitor, I've been showing mostly green, but some yellow (using 13.35GB). For a basic M2 device, the upgraded 16GB of RAM appears to be decent. Any further upgrades, I would have then been better off with a Pro version.

I learned something after this video.

I bought the 8gb/512gb M1 two years ago, because that was all that Apple had available here in Australia. It works fine for me, including video editing. Only the storage of 512 is somewhat limiting so I keep all videos and iMovie on a separate pair of HDDs.

Man, you’re the best

I’m looking for a new laptop. I’m trying to decide between an M2 24gb MacBook Air or an M2 Pro 18gb MacBook Pro. The only things I plan on doing is (don’t laugh) play sims 4, photoshop/lightroom when I do photo shoots (which isn’t often) and browsing, watching movies, etc. I want to get away with the air since it’s cheaper, but want to be sure the 24gb M2 chip can handle it. Any ideas?

Great video well done

I personally own a new 16in M3 Pro with 18gb, and a M1 Air with 8gb of RAM. In my current use, I use the M1 air for all business needs, including writing emails, browsing the web, etc. and have noticed pretty much zero performance difference vs my M3 pro. If you regularly edit video, or use RAM hungry apps like those from Adobe, and want to be able to keep a bunch of tabs or other apps open, consider more than 8gb. But if you don't, it's hard to justify the 20% price increase for something that will decline in usability with age anyway due to coming processor innovations. This base M1 air has really blown my mind in terms of how well it can manage multitasking.

Coming from an iMac 2020 i5 with 32 gb ram currently on m2 pro Mac mini with 16 gb I almost get 10to 11 gb ram usage while casually using the pc for entertainment and business basic apps . But if I go really hard on with affinity projects I can go up to 14+ and then swap starts to get in play .

Great video (from a fellow Seattle-area Apple fan with a non-Apple RU-vid channel)! Good luck! 😄

I went with the base model M1 Pro MacBook Pro back in September of 2022. That came with 16GB of memory and even that's starting to get a bit strained with 4K video projects with multiple layers, so I couldn't imagine using 8GB.

I really just want toknow if 64gb willbe enough or will I ever need (or in which case) 96gb or ram as a filmmaker/video editor. My timelines can stretch upto an hour or two, with 6k raw footage

underrated channel + 1 subscriber :)

My Macbook Air M1 seems to be able to do with but 6 GB out of the 8 I have on it; my Studio seems to do with 15,5 GB of RAm used out of the 32 GB I bought it with.

Yep I bought the 8 gb air and I’m constantly going into swap memory. But my pressure is still always green. Wish I would have upgraded.

I will be upgrading RAM for next laptop or MacBook whatever I will be purchasing. The way 8 GB is not up to the mark for Mac, similarly windows Machine also requires minimum 12-16 GB. So either I will buy Mac with 16 GB RAM or Windows laptop with 32 GB RAM, next time when I will purchase; and yes it will be almost 2 years from today. Still I need to see ur other vides, but this one is definitely worth subscribing, esp when I see you have been approaching to 1000 subscribers. So, these are my two cent by subscribing your channel. Best of luck dear.

Amazing stuff

Great video.

You seem to imply that any yellow is the same as any red. Would also like your thought on when it goes yellow, does Mac OS try to bring it back to green.

I had a late gen Intel Mac and an M1 Mac running side by side with the same workload. The M1 used a 3rd of the memory of the intel based Mac.

That's cool and all, but in reality right now I can buy new m1 8GB mac for 899Euros and 16GB one for 1300Eur. Now is it worth it?

My daily is a Windows Surface with 8GB RAM and I’ve never had a problem. I remote into a server that has a ton of RAM where I can spin up VMs and do memory intensive stuff. An 8GB option is great to keep prices low.

Informative video 👌 ... and now completely unrelated - What glasses are you wearing? They look comfortable on the nose...

Good information

Great video. Very well done. Here’s my take. I use my home computer for very casual use however it is usually connected to a 1080p monitor for a larger screen. Web browsing, email, some excel, some tinkering here and there. I got a base M1 Air 3 yrs ago on a Black Friday deal for $750. It has been, and still is the best value computer I’ve owned. I had a gaming desktop that was great, but this Mac is incredible. No fan is the icing on the cake. It has 8gb of ram, but I have never noticed any slowdowns in the last 3 years. If I was to buy another Mac today, it would again be the base model Air. It’s just too good for a casual user.

I support a group of seniors. Almost everyone uses email, web surfing very light photo editing. I am now replacing their old 2015 Mac’s. 8gb on a MB Air or iMac seems to work well.

great video

Great video, I appreciate your calm demeanor. So many RU-vidrs overhype and clickbait products. I would add that choosing more ram in the purchase configuration is a cost effective way to get a longer life out of your SSD. Unlike ram, SSDs have a finite read/write limit so if you swap a lot of data you can kill your SSD fast. And agreed, Apple, stop selling Macs with 8GB of ram!

this is a good video of macos ram

Agree with u. Mine is Pro 8gb ram & 256 gb Ssd. Im doing nothing heavy. The heaviest perhaps adobe reader & opening multiple tabs take a toll. Gonna upgrade to 16gb ram mac now.

I have been using my 2 pc with 16gb RAM and they worked fine till now with my current usage. I am a video editor. I am getting Max studio with m2 max chip and base ram of 32gb. Hoping it will be sufficient for my future needs

🤣🤣🤣 I love the old Mac you’re using for this video. It looks like it’s got firewire 800 and a middle mini display port

I have 32 gig on my Studio. Never seems to be any issue, even while doing heavy tasks.

So just to be clear you should use activity monitor to see if you have the right level of ram that is ultimately unable to be upgraded? Should you not do this in the MAC store first??

If your memory pressure is yellow, it just means you may need to upgrade in future. remember as well, the money you keep in your pocket is a kind of future proofing. I was going to go with 128GB of RAM in my current Macbook, but instead I'll leave it at 64 and put that 800 bones towards the next model alongside a trade in. You can't out spec innovation.

It would’ve been helpful to see your own activity monitor while you edit this video and export. I just ordered M2 studio max with 32GB ram and 1TB ssd. I edit 4k HEVC video and do heavy photoshop work. I hope it’s enough. I used to have 40 GB on my Intel i9 iMac. RAM didn’t help much when it came to HEVC video editing. The fan was blowing 100% whenever I edited video.

Well i got a m3max (40 core gpu) with 64gb of memory to do the statistical modeling that i need to do for my papers at university and photo and video editing. I just didn’t have the funds to upgrade to 128gb for future proofing as this would have been a price increase of more than 1000$. (I regularly need 40gb just to run my models.)