Apple MacBook Air 2020 M1 Benchmarks: Should you get 7 or 8 GPU cores?

[ERIC GOLD]

I'm also trying to decide whether to spend an extra $200 for 8 more GB of RAM. For me it is more a case of future-proofing (I know, I know) so the decision comes down to how much the extra RAM reduces battery life.

Thanks!

[mock]

...performance of emulated x86/x64 apps, and how they perform. Perhaps even try some old applications /games to see backward compatibility and performance.
Thank you.

I have the Apple Mac Mini M1 (comes always with the 8-Core-GPU) with 8GB RAM + 256GB SSD. I just sold my old Intel i7 + 16 GB RAM + 256 GB SSD NVMe (Windows 10) + GTX 970 and this Mac mini is much much faster! (except on the GPU part) but is much faster than my laptop with an Nvidia MX150.

Using x64 (x86 64-bit) for Mac OS I can say that most apps are about 70-80% of performance from the ARM version. The only App lagging hard is the Steam app, but works fine and I installed some games (mainly Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, etc) and they work perfectly! Even on the high settings on 1080p (on my 4K monitor) they work very smoothly, a joy :-).

[cougar falcon]

Are you seeing any traces of PWM?

[mmick]

I'm also trying to decide whether to spend an extra $200 for 8 more GB of RAM. For me it is more a case of future-proofing (I know, I know) so the decision comes down to how much the extra RAM reduces battery life

On these Apple-silicon machines, 8GB = 16GB Intel devices; 16GB = 32GB Intel.

If you won´t use too much Adobe apps and not too much apps at same time, the 8 GB RAM version will work fine;
if you plan using Adobe apps frequently and many at same time, or 8K video, or many Office apps etc. then the 16 GB RAM.

I opted to buy the 8GB version (= 16GB Intel) as I don't do too much heavy work with many apps simultaneously, then I saved 200€. Perhaps in 2-3 years I replace for the M3 and perhaps by then it will come with 512 GB SSD / 16 GB RAM as default and only then I use the 200€ I saved now.

I have my Mac mini M1 8GB connected to an 8K monitor and everything runs very smoothly.

[Gmosk]

I'm also trying to decide whether to spend an extra $200 for 8 more GB of RAM. For me it is more a case of future-proofing (I know, I know) so the decision comes down to how much the extra RAM reduces battery life

On these Apple-silicon machines, 8GB = 16GB Intel devices; 16GB = 32GB Intel.

If you won´t use too much Adobe apps and not too much apps at same time, the 8 GB RAM version will work fine;
if you plan using Adobe apps frequently and many at same time, or 8K video, or many Office apps etc. then the 16 GB RAM.

I opted to buy the 8GB version (= 16GB Intel) as I don't do too much heavy work with many apps simultaneously, then I saved 200€. Perhaps in 2-3 years I replace for the M3 and perhaps by then it will come with 512 GB SSD / 16 GB RAM as default and only then I use the 200€ I saved now.

I have my Mac mini M1 8GB connected to an 8K monitor and everything runs very smoothly.

NO! The only reason that the ram difference does not make a difference to performance is because the SSD swaps the memory when the memory gets full. You will use basically just as much memory in any app as on an intel mac, it just won't be as noticeable, because of how fast swap memory is. The one thing you will notice, is that swap memory tends to degrade the SSD if used over a long period of time. So, if you tend to need more than 8gb, get more than 8gb.

[Mmick]

I'm also trying to decide whether to spend an extra $200 for 8 more GB of RAM. For me it is more a case of future-proofing (I know, I know) so the decision comes down to how much the extra RAM reduces battery life

On these Apple-silicon machines, 8GB = 16GB Intel devices; 16GB = 32GB Intel.

If you won´t use too much Adobe apps and not too much apps at same time, the 8 GB RAM version will work fine;
if you plan using Adobe apps frequently and many at same time, or 8K video, or many Office apps etc. then the 16 GB RAM.

I opted to buy the 8GB version (= 16GB Intel) as I don't do too much heavy work with many apps simultaneously, then I saved 200€. Perhaps in 2-3 years I replace for the M3 and perhaps by then it will come with 512 GB SSD / 16 GB RAM as default and only then I use the 200€ I saved now.

I have my Mac mini M1 8GB connected to an 8K monitor and everything runs very smoothly.

NO! The only reason that the ram difference does not make a difference to performance is because the SSD swaps the memory when the memory gets full. You will use basically just as much memory in any app as on an intel mac, it just won't be as noticeable, because of how fast swap memory is. The one thing you will notice, is that swap memory tends to degrade the SSD if used over a long period of time. So, if you tend to need more than 8gb, get more than 8gb.

All reviewers tested the amount vs. swap and every single version had swap, even the 16 GB RAM had more swap, as Mac OS is always backing up the RAM as swap. So the 16 GB even had bigger and more writing than the 8 GB RAM. So on the 8 GB RAM version the OS just releases more RAM (closes background Apps / Data) for the main App. Then it loads again the Apps / Processes, but as the SSD is so quick it *reads* very fast. At the end no issues with writing cycles.

I have the Mac mini M1 8GB and the writing processes are minimal, so I am fine with it.

[Ishraqiyun]

On these Apple-silicon machines, 8GB = 16GB Intel devices; 16GB = 32GB Intel.

If you won´t use too much Adobe apps and not too much apps at same time, the 8 GB RAM version will work fine;
if you plan using Adobe apps frequently and many at same time, or 8K video, or many Office apps etc. then the 16 GB RAM.

I opted to buy the 8GB version (= 16GB Intel) as I don't do too much heavy work with many apps simultaneously, then I saved 200€. Perhaps in 2-3 years I replace for the M3 and perhaps by then it will come with 512 GB SSD / 16 GB RAM as default and only then I use the 200€ I saved now.

I have my Mac mini M1 8GB connected to an 8K monitor and everything runs very smoothly.

:o
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