I didn’t say they were running it locally. A single tab of ChatGPT eventually eats a few gb of ram if you leave it open and are using it constantly, which is how I see most “casual” people using it in my vicinity. I’ve seen it push 2-3 gigs regularly.
People also tend to just leave a lot of tabs open all the time. Even when they are paused I just see people’s computers slow to a crawl because of this constantly.
I agree it should be enough and it even often is, but unless we’re going to get everybody to change their habits and get websites to be more efficient with tam usage (like how at work every single HubSpot tab I have uses 300-400MB which is ridiculous) 8 will become an issue, especially on macOS and windows. The way things are going it’s going to become a real problem in 5 years, which is relevant when we’re talking about ewaste. I just don’t see an 8gb mac neo lasting 8-10 years.
This has been my experience. I understand why other people disagree with me, but this is just what I’ve witnessed around me.