Apple M3 Air 8Gb vs 16 GB: definitive comparison

If you are thinking of purchasing an Apple Macbook Air laptop, you will surely want to know the differences between the version with M3 chip and 8GB of main memory, or between the 16 GB version with this same chip. A price difference that is not very well known if it also translates into performance improvements or if it is really worth opting for the version with more capacity in all cases.

Technical characteristics Apple Macbook Air M3 with 8GB vs 16 GB

So much the 13-inch version of the Air and the 15-inch version, have the same characteristics, only their size and weight varies. However, Apple has made an effort to ensure that the rest is identical in terms of features. In both cases we come across the 8GB and 16GB version to power the M3, although the version with 10 GPU cores already comes by default with a minimum of 16GB. A rectification from Apple for the error of putting so little memory in the 8-core version of the GPU? We will try to analyze that later.

If you are looking for alternatives to Apple’s Macbook, you can also read our guide to the best laptops on the market

Previous considerations

The unified memory It is a feature introduced by Apple in its M series chips, and although it is based on standards such as conventional DDR, it has some differences compared to the modules that you can find in any PC.

On the one hand, its name comes from the fact that it is a heterogeneous system, where the same memory space is shared by all SoC units, that is, the amount of main memory available is not only for use by the CPU, but will also have a percentage dedicated to the GPU when it needs it, as well as to the NPU, among other units. This means that they share a single address space and that their bandwidth is shared.

It may be that by being unified there some performance advantages, such as being able to traverse addresses more quickly, which would be equivalent to a slightly higher conventional RAM memory. However, it also has its problems, such as the bottleneck when all units use it and also the inability to expand it, since it is soldered on the PCB. By this I mean that, when buying a Macbook Air, you have to think very carefully about the use and requirements you will need, since once purchased, there will be no possible way to expand said memory…

On the other hand, another issue must be taken into account, and that is that the Macbook Air includes M3 chips, and It is not equipped with M3 Pro or M3 Max. Why do I say this? Well, because those 8, 16 or 24 GB of the Air have a 128-bit channel, while in the M3 Pro it grows to 192-bit and in the Max up to 512-bit. Therefore, it is a channel with a size like that of any conventional RAM.

To finish with this section, the question arises Is 8 GB of memory enough for current software? The answer depends on why. It is true that the macOS operating system is lighter in terms of resource requirements than others like Windows, so you will have more memory available for the software you run. And it is also true that the platform is highly optimized to maximize performance compared to the PC. But you will really find that many times you only have 4-6GB for your programs, the rest will be consumed by the OS.

Therefore, with 8GB of RAM you can have enough to perform tasks such as web browsing, office automation, photo and video editing, etc. And even to play a video game. In fact, Apple claims that 8GB in this device is equivalent to 16GB in a conventional device. However, if you are going to need the Air for somewhat heavier tasks, such as rendering, AAA titles, virtualization, etc., then the answer is that you should go straight for the 16GB version at least or the 24GB version. Otherwise you will regret it… For example, with virtual machines, Apple’s word of equivalence does not apply, you will have to assign vRAM to each machine, and these do not differentiate between real capacity or the estimated equivalence…

Tests and results

Regarding performance tests, to be able to see in a more graphic way the differences between the Macbook Air with M3 and 8GB vs 16GBwe can show the following examples for you to judge for yourself:

• In the scores with the benchmark with Cinebench, you can see a clear difference between the 8GB version and the 16GB version, despite the equality in all the rest of the hardware. The scores obtained are (more is better):

• If tested with software like Lightroom Classicwe can see that 16GB also comes into its own, with much better results (less is better, since it is measured in seconds):

• If tested with Final Cut softwarewe can also see a big difference when trying to convert video (less is better, since it is measured in seconds it takes):

• And finally, a curious detail about Apple’s comment that 8GB is equivalent to 16GB on a conventional PC. We see that it is true that the M3 with 8GB of memory is only 10 seconds slower than a base PC with 16GB running this test. However, the problem comes when more tabs are opened, and memory consumption increases (less is better, since it measures the time to execute the action in seconds):

Conclusion

Finally, it is true that Apple charges about 230 euros approximately for each jump in unified memory capacity that you make, the 16 GB being about €230 more expensive than the 8GB, and the 24GB being about €230 more than the 16…

But 230 euros should not confuse you and make you fall into Apple’s trap, since it is very likely that if you do not currently have problems with the software that you run on 8GB, in the future applications will be launched that demand more resources and then you will not have to spend €230 more, but simply throw the 8GB Macbook Air in the trash and pay the cost of another laptop with more memory…

There is no logical reason to equip an expensive and supposedly high-performance computer in 2024 with less than 16GB!

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