Eugenia L

The Macbook Neo is a great product, except the amount of RAM. At 8 GB with MacOS, you are constantly, and I mean, constantly swapping. It' just not enough. It's enough for Linux (although it lately has become bloated too; Fedora/Ubuntu need 4 GB for an equivalent experience), but MacOS needs a lot of tightening to get such a product out of the door and call it a day with so little RAM.

RAM, RAM, RAM. Only thing that matters on a computer.

#apple #macbookneo #macbook #linux #macos #mac #laptop

Mar 14 at 12:31pmWeb
Show threadEugenia LMar 14
I'd say that for Macbook Neo to make sense, it would require 12 GB of RAM. MacOS uses about 9 GB of RAM with a single Chrome tab open here. It used to be 6 GB I remember, it's now at around 9 GB (after a couple days of usage at least, not cold boot). Nothing else is open. 8 GB is just not enough, and I'm talking about normal internet usage here, not 4k video editing or Blender.
Show threadKen MilmoreMar 14
@eugenialoli It's not the RAM, its the operating system. My computer is using about 1.7GiB typing this. (Debian trixie Xfce desktop, Firefox ESR).
Show threadEugenia LMar 14

@kbm0 Well, yes, but MacOS is what it is. In the history of computing no one went back to truly optimize their OS, because it makes no financial or time-engineering sense. Not even Linux distros have done that. So Apple won't do that either. So in that sense, it IS the RAM.

BTW, Arch with XFce takes 550 MB of RAM here on a cold boot. Although I'm primarily a Debian-testing user.

Show threadKen MilmoreMar 14
@eugenialoli Now you've got me wondering why my desktop is wasting so much memory! 😆 Looks like the whisker menu and panel plugins use about 50MiB each for a start.
Show threadEugenia LMar 14
@kbm0 I run these two. Debian just uses more ram for other things.
Show threadPeter KovářMar 14
@eugenialoli SRAM, DRAM or VRAM? D€p€nd$!
Show threadDesiknerMar 14
@1div0 @eugenialoli zram helps
Show threadEugenia LMar 14
@desikn @1div0 From the moment that it swaps, it's game over in terms of a good product. It doesn't matter if it's file swap or zram. Swap is swap. It just means that RAM is not enough. For normal internet usage, with MacOS, you need a minimum of 12 GB of RAM, not 8 GB. For 4k video editing you need 24 GB of RAM. It's how it is. Linux definitely needs a lot less, but it's getting big too lately.
Show threadMartin Schlüter 🌻Mar 14

@eugenialoli

> For normal internet usage, with MacOS,
> you need a minimum of 12 GB of RAM,
> not 8 GB.

Oh, thanks for that important information. I wonder how I manage to use the internet with just 8 GB RAM on my MB Air M2 though... 😬

@desikn @1div0

Show threadEugenia LMar 14
@maddin @desikn @1div0 you are constantly swapping. And that's never a good thing for performance (or your cpu usage, or your ssd if the swap ends up in the drive). The fact that you don't feel it much doesn't mean that it has no impact. Always have spare ram, you never know when you'll need it.
Show threadPeter KovářMar 14
@desikn @eugenialoli Eats CPU.
Pick your ☠
Show threadPatrick PrémartinMar 14

@eugenialoli I agree, 8Gb is not enough, but it's what I have on my main Mac : a Mac mini M1 which I use everyday for documents, video editing, coding in a Windows virtual machine, streaming with OBS, ...

The NEO is enough for many users. (Even if we all think Apple could have done a little better for a MacBook Air and PC killer).

Show threadsrxMar 14
@eugenialoli agreed, I've seen publications praising the Neo, but 8GB RAM? 16GB is the minimum these days
Show threadRockyCMar 15

@eugenialoli Just having a look at the ridiculous number of services that run all the time on macOS makes me wonder how it runs as well as it does. Apps must be constantly swapping.

I’m betting Apple kept the RAM at 8GB to allow them to keep the price stable with RAM prices going bananas at the moment.

As it’s non-upgradeable, (and I’ve moved to Linux) I still won’t be buying a Neo, but kudos to Apple for the repairability and for the market disruption.

Show threadcoldclimateMar 15
@eugenialoli strong agree that ram is the best way to make a good machine great
Show threadDominikMar 15

@eugenialoli So, your conclusion is that it's great, except it does not have enough of the only thing that matters in a computer?

Not sure I quite understand you Apple fans.

Show threadEugenia LMar 15
@chrastecky it's otherwise great, yes. Great screen and touchpad for example, and speakers. Only thing is the ram