> That's because a Mac with 8GB can easily run out of memory just browsing the web. That's particularly true with Chrome, which just so happens to be the most p

> That's because a Mac with 8GB can easily run out of memory just browsing the web. That's particularly true with Chrome, which just so happens to be the most popular browser around. > That's the point most observers miss. The usual narrative is that 8GB isn't good enough for serious workflows. It isn't but that completely misses the more important point. 8GB isn't even enough for browsing the web. What an awful writing style. Just barely factual but mostly misleading. Yes, you can run out of memory just using a web browser, but you'd need to use quite a few web apps, watch a few videos at the same time. And browsers suspend these things in the background, so it's even less likely. But technically, you can. Chrome is also technically the most popular browser, but the article is talking within the context of macOS. MacOS market share is about 16%, Safari market share as a desktop web browser is about 14%. These vary slightly by source, but it's evident that Safari is used by the majority of people on macOS, and it handles memory much better. Once again, strictly speaking, it is correct to say that Chrome is the most popular, but not in the context that matters. Technically correct, but irrelevant. Then the author concludes that 8GB is not good enough for browsing the web. Not only is this not true, as many people with Macs will point out (and in fact I've never had my leisure + basic office work M1 Mac mini 8GB stutter), but it's also a conclusion based on a snuck premise. The author merely said that you can technically run out of memory, and that it happened to them with a browser popular in a different market. But they make it seem as if those premises build up to the conclusion they make, which they don't. > Regular Chrome users will know what a memory hog Chrome can be. Right now, I have about 15 tabs open, which is actually pretty low for me. Often, my tab count can blow well past 50 in multiple windows. Once again this squeezes two ideas together as if they're connected. Most regular users of Chrome might not even know it's a memory hog as they probably don't inspect it too closely. But then the thought jumps completely to how the author has way more than 50 tabs open. Where is the connection? The regular users don't have "well past 50" tabs open. The author is presenting an exceptional use case in the context of "regular users" and implies there's some connection. > And three of my current tabs are chewing up over 500MB each. Here the author omits that tabs might be hibernated in different ways for different browsers. It is left for the reader to assume that 0.5GB per tab times "well past 50" tabs is "well past" 25GB of memory just for the browser. Another thing that was omitted is that software will eat RAM for caching when it can and a lot of garbage-collectors don't run purges very aggressively until system memory is low. That's fine, it's wiser to keep resources in system memory in case they need to be accessed again than to keep RAM empty. > Mac laptops and computers have lots of appealing attributes. I won't go into them here for fear of being set upon en masse by my co-workers and pummelled into a quivering puddle of blood and hair. Just some personal victimhood for no reason in an otherwise numbers-led story? > But even I, most fanboyish of fanboys for Mac computers in a certain non-gaming context, will tell you that 8GB being "suitable", even for light or casual computing", is complete and utter nonsense. Next! Well yes, that you have tried to tell indeed, very very poorly. I don't know what to call this but actively misleading. You can't write this badly by accident. The average person has not been complaining about 8GB Macs and people with specific needs probably would be wiser to buy a laptop that meets those specific needs. While it may be nice for everyone to have a bit of memory headroom when it's so cheap, 8GB machines do many office and casual workloads just fine. There are almost no benefits to 16GB vs 8GB when you run Teams and a slide/word processor all day, with an enterprise website or two open on a browser. Same as there are no benefits to 16GB vs 8GB when you watch one YouTube video and respond to your emails on a Mac.