[d3w4s9]

Serious question: how far can you go with base model's 8GB RAM?

Doing VM workflows is one reason I didn't bother with recent Macbooks, as nice as they are. It is simply much cheaper to get a machine with removable RAM and then upgrade them later. Without going there, I can also build a decent ThinkPad T14 with 32GB for around $1,100 even though RAM is soldered.

[_ph_]

If you want to do VM workflows, I definitely would recommend to upgrade the RAM (and probably the SSD) when buying the machine. Yes, it is not cheap with Apple, but still no reason not to get an Apple machine, if you are in the market for one in the first place. The big bonus you get is not only the nice hardware overall, but the ability to run Linux on a very fast ARM-Machine.

[mattl]

I can edit video in Final Cut Pro on my 8GB M1 Mac Mini while doing other things.

[foofie]

> I can edit video in Final Cut Pro on my 8GB M1 Mac Mini while doing other things.

I can't use IntelliJ or vscode with autocompletion on a 2023 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM with a bunch of my projects.

The same projects run like a breeze on a cheap and very crappy Beelink minipc with 16GB of RAM whose total cost is lower than a RAM upgrade on a MacBook Air.