> I actually tried to subsist on a 8GB M1 for a few months, I managed to survive, but context switching became painfully slow as I'd have to shut down large par

> I actually tried to subsist on a 8GB M1 for a few months, I managed to survive, but context switching became painfully slow as I'd have to shut down large parts of my tool chain and carefully prune off browser tabs. It was a serious productivity drain. A friend recommended I try such a RAM diet, so I went from 64Gb to a 4Gb laptop. Unlike you, I've found it helped me focus. So I've kept this laptop as a "productivity" laptop - when I work on a tight deadline, I use it, because there will be 0 risk of context switching :)