What Apple is doing with their RAM management though might be the key here, I just haven’t looked into it in detail. Typically RAM in ARM (RISC) processors is very important, more important to performance than x86/64 (CISC) processors. Well, this is an intricate subject I think. Do you have any insight into this? I think it would make for a good blog piece. But I have also seen folks say that perhaps memory works differently or is more efficient with an SoC architecture. So, I’ve been hearing some chatter about people complaining that the new M1 Macs have limited memory options available. I opened up a chat session with the 2nd smartest guy I know – OWC Product Marketing Manager, Chris Haeffner. Is there something magical about Apple silicon? Perhaps some sort of magic-mojo is baked into the M1 chip like the semi-sweet chocolate in a Tollhouse cookie? This could be big news, after all. The new 13-inch MacBook Pro has 1/2 the available memory, and the Mac mini a mere 1/4! There appear to be some minor performance differences when it comes to benchmarks, especially with system intensive tasks, but in day to day usage, the 8GB model holds up well and most people may not need the 16GB upgrade.As you can see, all but the MacBook Air have lower memory maximums. Max Tech's video is worth watching in full for those who are trying to decide between a machine with 8GB RAM and a machine with 16GB RAM. Notably, during these benchmarking performance tests, Max Tech saw low performance temperatures that didn't often require the fans to kick in, which was a huge difference when comparing the ‌M1‌ MacBook Pro models to Intel MacBook Pro models.

The 16GB model even beat out a $2,300 iMac.

Small differences were also seen in a 4K export test and a Lightroom Classic RAW export test, but the results were quite close, coming down to 17 seconds in the Lightroom test.

The biggest difference was seen in an 8K RAW R3D to 4K export, which took the 8GB MacBook Pro 13 minutes and 57 seconds to complete, while the 16GB MacBook Pro was able to complete it in 5 minutes and 59 seconds, a time on par with the 2019 16-inch Core i9 MacBook Pro with 32GB RAM. Geekbench and Cinebench benchmarks didn't demonstrate a difference in performance between the 8GB and 16GB models, but other tests designed to maximize RAM usage did show some differences.Ī Max Tech Xcode benchmark that mimics compiling code saw the 16GB model score 122 compared to the 136 scored by the 8GB model, with the lower score being better. The video includes a series of benchmark tests, ranging from Geekbench and Cinebench to RAW exporting tests.

M1 mac mini ram upgrade