Hello

I am looking at getting a M1 Pro and there is 16GB or 32GB

The 16GB are 10 Core and I am wondering, I am using waves audio plugins, UAD plugins, native instruments, superior drummer etc. At the moment on my MacBook Pro 2015 15” quad core it is starting to struggle and I am wondering…can I manage ok with 16GB or should I go 32Gb?

It being 10 core am I right in saying it should be able to handle things a lot better on 16GB as opposed to quad core?

Thanks

 

Always get as much RAM as you can afford. So I would definitely go for the 32gb of ram.

 

you can easily get away with 16, because you aren't a heavy Kontakt user. But the above rule of thumb is best about RAM, the more the merrier. With Mac, you should always get the best system you can afford when you buy it, because you probably will never upgrade it. If you even can.

 

For that use, It all depends on what kind of margins you want to move with.

16gb will work perfectly, 32gb is if you simply have money to spend. most probably in 1year you will say to your self it wasn’t really necessary but still nice to have.

 

With the latest Macbooks, RAM isn't as relevant as it used to be a few years ago IMHO.
Some of the working memory will be swapped to SSD anyway and these are exceptionally fast today in the current M1 Macbooks.
If I had to choose, I would always get more storage and stick with 16GB of RAM.

 

Yes, that’s what I’m thinking of doing to be honest, I know I can work of an SSD externally for contact libraries and logic pro projects, but it’s nice to have that storage just in case

 

the more the better, these expensive tools are not upgradable.

 

What MacBook Pro even comes with 32gb option? All I see listed is 8 and 16gb models. But anyway, usually if you get the internal SSD upgrade it comes with the max RAM installed.

 

The only place I can get 32GB is on apple site, but on Currys site you can only get either 8GB or 16GB.

 

I will run the kontakt libraries off my SSD externally

 

While you can use SSDs as virtual ram, it *will* damage your ssd every time you do it via page swapping and that should only be done as a last resort since once the ssds die there is no way to replace them as they're soldered to the motherboard.

 

At least 32, for a future using 64 GB.
In my opinion i will take care
-CPU
-SSD
-RAM

 

Minimum 32.

 

yea it's even worse,
nowadays unified memory is used not only as RAM, but also as graphics memory, SSD controller memory, neural engine memory etc...
basically if someone had 16GB ram on 2014 MacBook with nVidia gpu, now you get less memory by having 16GB on M1

 

True. And the later OSes consume more and more main memory with nonsense that nobody wants

 

32 ¡ is perfect

 

That's exactly what i said about 16GB limited M1.
And ppl said i known nothing ... even if i'm a computer tech for 25 years

16GB is NOT enough for intensive use
And NEVER will again

And fast SSD/NVME is NOTHING compared to RAM speed

 

Last edited: Jan 15, 2023

Thanks - I guess I've been deluding myself in all the intensive work I've got done on a 16GB MacbookPro for the last decade plus (DAW, audio, video, photography, 3D, motion graphics, programming, web design, live events, most of those things in paid/professional contexts to varying degrees). Good to know that what I did just simply isn't possible.

Also, I guess I should give up using this brand new fairly expensive 16GB 16" M1 MBP too. Maybe just checking emails and surfing this site is about all it can handle. Honestly, I never realised they were so useless. Is using it for Netflix OK? I'm kinda worried now. Thanks for the education - I thought I could get stuff done. What a dumb ass I've been..!

*off to cancel my life*...

 

You had to keep in your mind that if you want a new macbook, you don't need to see if you can run a software or plug in 2023 but at least for next 2/3 years if you don't want spending money every year for a new mac IMHO