undefined | Better HN

0 pointsdangus1mo ago0 comments

I don't know where this myth has come from that macOS magically uses less RAM even though you are using the same applications as everyone else.

The Just Josh Tech review of the MacBook Neo demonstrated that the Neo cannot do a fractional resolution playback of a very simple Adobe Premiere project. We are not even talking about doing any editing work, simply playing back the project in the timeline.

The ~$500 Acer loaded with 16GB of RAM performed much better on that workflow.

I think it's worth pointing out that the base RAM on a MacBook Air was 8GB six years ago.

The Neo is a low end machine that trades RAM, storage, keyboard backlight, I/O and battery capacity for fit and finish and aesthetics.

It is a machine that will introduce many people to the Mac, and it will be very successful, but I also think it is a machine that for many people will not last them a very long time. And who knows, that might have the same negative impact that cheap Windows PCs have had for Microsoft in the long run, which was the whole reason they started their premium Surface brand.

0 comments

kube-system1mo ago

> I don't know where this myth has come from that macOS magically uses less RAM even though you are using the same applications as everyone else.

Well, you're certainly not running the same code on both systems. Some applications absolutely use less RAM on MacOS... some use less on Windows.

Some of this is due to the various builds of the software itself, some of it is due to architectural differences in memory management, CPU instructions, differing memory access capabilities, etc.

8GB is tight for power users, definitely. But it is certainly very usable for on a Mac for the average person.

dangusOP1mo ago

I agree that it’s usable, but I think it’s still worth pointing out that it was the base configuration of the M1 Air almost 6 full years ago.

It feels to me a lot like past cut down systems such as the eMac or that horrendous 21” 1080p Intel iMac that sort of make sense by being cheap but don’t make as much sense in wider context of available choices.

Of course, I think the Neo will be a huge success and is a good product overall, but a product where an informed buyer can do better.

It is potentially a purchase decision that really won’t last as long as a cheap Acer with 16GB of memory, even though the Neo is built better.

Schiendelman1mo ago

In the last six years, the memory footprint of most Mac apps I use has decreased. When Apple Silicon was new, a lot of apps were still running Intel binaries. Now they almost all have native binaries and memory footprint has shrunk quite a bit!

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse