jonridan: Regarding the RAM specifically, the 8 vs 16gb doesn't make that much difference except when running games or some extreme video editing workflow, but it doesn't magically run twice as fast or twice as slow, it is pretty comparable. The M1 doesn't use the RAM the same way x86 processor do (like iPhones with half the ram of an Android device yet still working faster and more fluid... well, sort of). If you don't do heavy work, there's no need for 16gb and save that money to get more SSD.
OPlays: Yeah, but what is heavy work?
Even if you just browse the internet and have some tabs open, the M1 computers will sooner or later have to use/create swap on the internal SSD, since 8 GB RAM wont last long. After all it is also shared between the integrated GPU.
If the amount of RAM is not important, why are there such topics in different forums "low memory warnings"?
Like this:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m1-imac-running-out-of-memory.2303392/
Oh and more RAM doesn't mean, that you computer will be faster. No, more RAM is good for one thing: you can have more applications open at once, you can have more tracks and effects in you favorite movie or sound editor, have open more pictures/images/photos and (big) documents at once. Or using more virtual machines at once. This is what RAM is all about.
jonridan: Also, EVERYTHING is soldered, so yeah, no upgrades AT ALL unfortunately.
OPlays: That is a BIG PROBLEM. If any of these components dies, especially the SSD you are fried. The computer won't even boot (turn on) at all. This wasn't the case with Intel Macs, you could always boot from any external source.
In case of Apple M1 Macs, you need to swap the logic board/mother board...
Look:
https://tidbits.com/2021/05/27/an-m1-mac-cant-boot-from-an-external-drive-if-its-internal-drive-is-dead/
QUOTE:
“An Apple Silicon Mac won’t boot if the internal storage has failed.”
i bet iphones just suspend apps and put them onto the ssd storage , so only a few apps are actually in the memory
nice , still people buy it...
