Is M1 32GB RAM memory inefficient? Should I return it?
TLDR: Running basic programs takes up ~25GB of my 32GB of RAM. Will I be screwed when I need to run memory intensive programs again?
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Previously used 2015 8GB RAM 500GB MacBook Pro, then I started a Computer Science program and the software I now use regularly exhausts 6.5-7.0 gigs of RAM, which made my system really slow. So I bought the 2021 M1 32GB RAM 1TB Storage MacBook Pro. I was thinking I'd have an extra 20+GB to handle both my basic programs and the following RAM hungry apps simultaneously:
- Zoom/Teams w/video and screen share
- JetBrains IDEs
- Screen recording for 1.5+ hrs
- Google Chrome with 20+ tabs
But now that I have it, I see that it demands way more RAM to run the basic programs than I thought it would. For instance right now I'm only running Chrome (23 tabs), Messages, and Activity Monitor and the memory used is 24.70GB. School is out of session for the holidays and I can't simulate what class will actually demand, but I've tried a simple Zoom meeting and screen record, with Netflix in the background and got it up to 28GB.
So... if this system is like my last one, it'll start slowing at 30.5GB, which is only slightly more than the most I've used so far, and I'll be doing pretty much the same tasks I was doing before... except this time I'll've paid over $3K.
Unfortunately, I can't test the performance in a real setting because school restarts after the deadline to return the MacBook so I'm just looking for some insight. Especially if any CS students or developers have any spec recommendations. Thanks.
