So does the new MacBook Pro M3 still need 8GB or 16GB? The tests are disappointing

In late October, Apple unveiled updated MacBook Pro laptops with M3 processors. And it came as a surprise to many that the base version of the 14-inch model has only 8GB of RAM instead of the usual 16GB. Apple said it uses integrated chips with a unified memory architecture, so 8GB in MacBook Pro is equivalent to 16GB in competitors' laptops. Whether it is so - real tests showed.

Here's What We Know

Real tests were conducted by the authors of the YouTube channel Max Tech - they compared the performance of two identical MacBook Pro M3, but with different amounts of memory (8 and 16 GB). Unsurprisingly, the 16GB laptop shows significant performance improvements across the board at both medium and higher workloads.

For example, the Cinebench test showed that the 8GB device took a few minutes longer to complete photo merging tasks in Photoshop, as well as media exports in Final Cut and Adobe Lightroom Classic. The performance gap widened further when tabs open in the background were added.

Notably, Blender ray tracing acceleration was available as an option on the 16GB models, but was conspicuously absent on the 8GB MacBook Pro for the identical rendering task. Therefore, we can assume that the reduced memory capacity affects functionality and prevents the GPU cores from utilising certain features.

So before buying a MacBook Pro (or a new 8GB iMac), carefully weigh the pros and cons, because once you buy it, you won't be able to upgrade your laptop by increasing the amount of memory. The 8GB version costs $1599, while the 16GB and 24GB versions will cost $200 and $400 respectively.

Source: YouTube