Will I be losing out in the long run if I disabled Apple Intelligence or downgraded to MacOS Sonoma?

Question

Will I be losing out in the long run if I disabled Apple Intelligence or downgraded to MacOS Sonoma?

Hello, the question I'm about to ask is a little loaded. I have an M3 MacBook Air that runs MacOS Sequoia. I've turned off Apple Intelligence as I still aren't that familiar with it and heard that it requires a lot of RAM. My computer has 8GB of RAM. In the long run, I guess it's possible that more and more Apple Intelligence features will be introduced and I'm uncertain as to whether or not my computer will be able to handle it.

If I were to continue without enabling Apple Intelligence or downgraded to MacOS Sonoma, would I be losing out in the long run? Would artificial intelligence programmes in general be able to run on MacOS Sonoma, or will the notion of artificial intelligence be out of the window with MacOS Sonoma? Am I overall better off staying with MacOS Sequoia? Please pardon the loaded nature of my question. I'd be grateful if anyone could advise me on all this, please.

Posted on Mar 7, 2025 2:47 AM

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Answer 1

dialabrain

Level 10

136,487 points

Mar 7, 2025 4:33 AM in response to mrmagnetoman88

FWIW, I have an M1 MacBook AIr with 16GB and run Sequoia 15.3.1 w/AI enabled without any ill effects. Of course it's possible having 8GB with AI may make a difference depending on what else you run. As noted, your best bet is to try it.

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Answer 2

Zurarczurx

Level 4

3,777 points

Mar 7, 2025 2:53 AM in response to mrmagnetoman88

I think the best thing you could do is to turn on AI for a while and see if you like using it. I don't like it, so I've disabled it. My cousin finds it very useful and wouldn't be without it. If you find you don't like it then you haven't got a decision to make for a while yet. If you do like it then you might have to make a decision sooner or later, but I personally don't think it will be a problem for a while yet. No one here knows Apple's plans but I can't see them hobbling today's devices in the near future by increasing the necessity for running AI.

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Answer 3

Mar 8, 2025 1:17 AM in response to mrmagnetoman88

You can prefer to disable apple intelligence if you don't need or use it, You'll save yourself storage and RAM usage, I didn't need it, so I simply disabled it, I don't think you'll be missing out on much if you don't use any of the new AI stuff, but you might miss out on some features if you downgrade to Sonoma.

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Answer 4

dialabrain

Level 10

136,487 points

Mar 8, 2025 4:08 AM in response to mrmagnetoman88

mrmagnetoman88 wrote:

I'm not sure if turning off Apple Intelligence saves storage because under 'Storage', it states that 4.79GB of storage space is taken up by Apple Intelligence and this figure remains unchanged whether I turn on or turn off Apple Intelligence.

Apple AI requires 7 GB when enabled. See: How to get Apple Intelligence - Apple Support

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Answer 5

Mar 7, 2025 3:04 AM in response to Zurarczurx

Hello Zurarczurx, thanks for your response. Yes, I might consider turning it on and try it out. Do you happen to know if turning it on increases power consumption and reduces battery life, or does it not have an effect on power consumption and battery life?

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Answer 6

Mar 7, 2025 6:06 AM in response to dialabrain

Hello again, dialabrain, thanks for your response. Do you know approximately how much RAM is used while you use Apple Intelligence, by any chance? And keeping it turned on while not using it doesn't affect power consumption/battery life, does it?

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Answer 7

Mar 7, 2025 6:18 AM in response to mrmagnetoman88

What is Apple Intelligence?

I have turned mine off and have no idea what fantastic things I am missing but in my ignorance I am quite happy doing everything I want with my Mac including intensive 4K video processing.

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Answer 8

Mar 7, 2025 6:28 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Just satisfied my curiosity and discovered this Apple article and video.

It appears Apple Intelligence is ideal for folk without Personal Intelligence but until dementia gets me I'll keep it switched off.

Apple Intelligence

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Answer 9

Mar 7, 2025 6:42 AM in response to dialabrain

Oh, right. Do you foresee a time in the future where Apple Intelligence, and Artificial Intelligence for that matter, become the norm in the computing world the way the Internet is today such that a person who doesn't use or know about Apple Intelligence or Artificial Intelligence would inevitably feel left behind the way a person who doesn't know about or use the Internet would feel left behind today?

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Answer 10

Mar 8, 2025 2:05 AM in response to Goku3508_iOS

Hello Goku3508_iOS, thanks for your response and suggestions. I think I'll stay with MacOS Sequoia for now because as you said, I might miss out on some features if I don't.

I'm not sure if turning off Apple Intelligence saves storage because under 'Storage', it states that 4.79GB of storage space is taken up by Apple Intelligence and this figure remains unchanged whether I turn on or turn off Apple Intelligence.

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Answer 11

Mar 8, 2025 6:50 AM in response to dialabrain

Ooaah my.......that's quite a lot more than I realized. I'll have quite a bit of pondering to do on whether Apple Intelligence is something essential enough for me in the long run to warrant me sacrificing 7GB of drive space.

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