16GB vs. 32GB MacBook Pro: How Much is Plenty?

Apple tree's loftier-cease 14-inch and sixteen-inch MacBook Pro offers the M1 Pro flake with 16GB of RAM every bit standard, but y'all can upgrade to 32GB of RAM for $400.

m1 pro chip
When choosing your ‌M1 Pro‌ MacBook Pro configuration, should you upgrade to the 32GB memory pick, and does it justify its toll? Our guide helps to respond the question of how to decide which of these two memory options for the high-end MacBook Pro is best for you.

Unified Retentivity Architecture

Macs and PCs have traditionally needed to utilize multiple chips for the CPU, RAM, I/O, and more. With Apple silicon chips, these technologies are combined into a unmarried System on Chip (SoC), delivering a new level of integration for improved performance and power efficiency.

m1 pro chip
Like the M1 bit, the ‌M1 Pro‌ features a unified memory compages. This brings together loftier-bandwidth, depression-latency memory into a single pool within a custom packet. This allows all of the technologies in the SoC to admission the aforementioned data without copying information technology between multiple pools of retentiveness, which significantly improves functioning and efficiency.

The MacBook Pro's substantially different memory hardware is the ground for its improved memory performance, but the ‌M1 Pro‌ MacBook Pro is also bolstered by 200GB/s unified memory and a faster, vii.4GB/s SSD, which means that the retention is much quicker and the system tin can swap with the SSD faster. Overall, this means that the new MacBook Pro's memory performance is massively improved compared to previous MacBook Pro models, every bit well as most PCs.

Decisions about getting either 16GB or 32GB of retention should therefore be rooted in the understanding that the MacBook Pro'south retentivity is not conventional RAM, simply rather a much faster unified memory architecture.

macOS Optimization

macOS intelligently optimizes memory usage in the background, filling upward much of the available RAM for better performance. This means that high memory usage does not necessarily indicate that y'all need additional memory.

macbook pro workload
Using the faster SSD in the loftier-finish MacBook Pro, the arrangement can besides swap data on the memory with the SSD if it needs to exercise so. Every bit evidenced past the performance of previous Apple silicon Macs, macOS is able to optimize the unified memory pool extremely well. As a result, the extent and effectiveness of macOS optimization should be factored into decisions about paying for the $400 32GB memory upgrade.

Real-Globe Tests

The YouTube channel Max Tech recently compared the 16GB and 32GB MacBook Pro models when performing a number of intense tasks to requite an indication of how the ii memory configurations weigh upward.

In Lightroom Classic, Max Tech found that the 32GB MacBook Pro performed exports just two seconds faster than the 16GB model. With multiple memory-hungry applications open up in the groundwork, the gap betwixt the machines but increased by one second.

m1 pro lightroom classic benchmark
When exporting 4K ProRes RAW video, the 16GB MacBook Pro was but half-dozen seconds slower than the 32GB version. When exporting 8K ProRes RAW video, this gap was reduced to just a single second.

m1 pro 8k prores raw benchmark
In Xcode, the 16GB model compiled a project in 137 seconds, compared to the 32GB model's 115 seconds. When performing photograph editing, video editing, audio editing, coding, and heavy browsing, the 32GB model did not substantially outperform the 16GB model.

m1 pro xcode benchmark
Max Tech did not detect any tangible slowdowns on the 16GB model, even when simultaneously running large and resource-heavy Logic Pro Ten and Final Cut Pro 10 projects. The narrowness of the divergence between the 2 models was shown in exercise when the 16GB model did not noticeably demand to reload browser tabs more often than the 32GB model, despite a large number of intense tasks being agile in the groundwork.

We did our own memory test, comparison the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, which has 16GB RAM, with the high-stop 16-inch MacBook Pro equipped with 32GB RAM. This was a existent-world memory test, then we loaded up a series of apps that ane might use in a video editing workflow, like Terminal Cut Pro, Lightroom, Chrome, Safari, Music, and a few others, and in that location were zero operation hiccups with either automobile, with the 16GB MacBook Pro performing as well equally the higher-end model.

Final Thoughts

Unless you are configuring your MacBook Pro with the M1 Max bit, which starts with 32GB of retentiveness, you likely do non need the $400 add-on. In existent-globe tests, the 32GB MacBook Pro is not significantly outperforming the 16GB model, fifty-fifty during intense workflows.

Memory is often the limiting factor for older workstations, leading some observers to merits that upgrading to more than retentiveness is a worthwhile investment in terms of futureproofing. It should be remembered that other parts of the machine will inevitably historic period over time, and so information technology is upwards to yous if yous experience the $400 upgrade is worthwhile for potential futureproofing. Alternatively, this money could be saved to spend on a future machine instead.

macbook pro box apple
Apple's unified retention architecture and fantabulous memory direction in macOS appear to be getting much more than out of its memory compared to machines that do not have an Apple tree silicon SoC. The loftier-cease 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models benefit from much faster SSD and memory, enabling them to swap retentivity even faster. This is the ground for the excellent retention functioning of the 16GB model and why it should suffice for most users.

Moreover, it is important to empathize that intense tasks often as well heavily rely on the CPU or GPU. This ways that retentiveness is not always the choke-point for operation lag. You may max out other hardware earlier you begin to button the limits of the unified retentiveness, resulting in slowdowns regardless of the corporeality of memory you have.

More often than not, if you demand 32GB of memory, you will know that you need information technology for extremely intense workflows such as running virtual machines or heavy video editing with multiple 4K or 8K streams. That being said, most customers with workflows of sufficient intensity to warrant 32GB of RAM volition opt for the ‌M1 Max‌ chip over the ‌M1 Pro‌.

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