Has This Decision by Apple Put Me Out of a Job?
Saying goodbye to 8GB vs 16GB
Well, it was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it?
If you’re not sure who I am, I’m the bloke from Northampton (it’s a town in the UK that’s famous for shoes and Jo Whiley — you won’t have heard of it) who has basically made a living out of instigating arguments on the internet about unified memory.
Those arguments centred around Apple’s decision to ‘only’ equip its base-level Apple Silicon Macs with 8GB of unified memory.
Yesterday, that all changed with the launch of the M4 iMac, which now comes with 16GB of unified memory as standard. That’s right — the 8GB version no longer exists, and it’s looking like that trend will continue across the entire Mac product line as we enter the M4 (and beyond) era.
This is a bigger deal than it might sound.
The big 8GB vs 16GB debate
It might surprise you to hear that some of my top-performing content in both written and video form is about unified memory. Remember — I’m the tech reviewer who rarely deep dives into specs, and only gives them a brief mention at the start of any review.
Despite this, the unified memory debate for Apple Silicon Macs has always been a talking point within the…
