I just received my Mac Mini with M1 chip to replace my 2012 mini with I7 and 16gb ram. My wife bought a MacBook Air with M1 and 8 gb ram a few months ago and it’s performance convinced me it was time to upgrade. There are some good YouTube videos comparing the 8 vs 16GB RAM machines with M1 and the 8 looks like it will do the job as well as the 16 unless the machine is extremely tasked. However, I could not wrap my head around going from 16 on my current machine down to 8. So I spent the extra 200 on the 16. I just started setting it up last night so I can’t comment on the performance.

I don't have that Mini, but I do have an M1 MacBook Air with 16GB/1TB. My son has the same computer, but with 8GB/512GB. These are essentially the same machines as the 2020 M1 Mini, the 2021 24" M1 iMac, and the 2020 13" MacBook Pro. The Mini is a little faster than the MBA and the MBP, and about the same speed as the mid-tier iMac. That's due to the presence of its very efficient fan.

YES, the M1 family do use memory VERY differently from Intel machines. The "Unified" memory is used by all processing functions, without moving data unless a swap to the SSD happens. This is the way ALL Apple Silicon in iPhones and iPads has worked for the last decade. They've become very efficient about using data "in place" instead of bouncing it back and forth between graphic memory and RAM.

There are many reviews of the 8GB Mini on YouTube by people who use Lightroom, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, various software development and coding environments, ProTools and Logic Pro audio editing suites, and other heavy lifting software. Most of them say it is fine for YouTube content development and all but the most intensive work in the Adobe Photography apps. Adobe Premiere is the one app they don't like running on Macs, and never did like running on Macs, because it is better-tuned for Windows.

Depending on what you are doing, 8GB can be enough. It probably is for 95% of M1 Mac users.

My son has never complained about 8GB being too little. He is a media studies major at UNCG, and has done significant 4K video editing and graphics production on his MacBook Air. He HAS complained about 512GB SSD storage not being enough. I am working with him on strategies that make use of very fast external storage. Part of his issue is that he straddles the Mac/PC fence as I did for decades. The operating systems are just different. He's learning not to fight either one, but to use them as intended!

My recommendation for those buying M1 Macs is that unless you are making money with it on a daily basis, get the 8GB model with full processor cores and the most internal storage you can afford. Then attach FAST external drives via a Thunderbolt hub or dock.

My experience with the M1 is very satisfying. My system can export 30 – 16GB images from raw files in Lightroom in under 20 seconds. It can export a 20"x30" @ 240 PPI file for a poster print in four seconds. It does not stutter with 4K video with three effects and five audio channels. I've mixed more audio tracks than a normal person would want to use in a mix, with 4-6 processor plugins on each track, without any crashes, stutters, or other issues. Battery life does suffer when running Lightroom and the Negative Lab Pro plugin. But other than that, it can go all day without a charge when doing email, web browsing, and light office work.

The eerie thing about working with M1 Macs is near silence when running the MBP, iMac, or Mini. They just don't need to spin up the fans unless you work them to the brink of death. The Air just throttles back slightly under load, because it has NO fan. It is great to record audio on the Air, compared to my Intel iMac that made a lot of fan noise!

I'll add that you can save significant money by buying from Apple's online Refurbished store. You get a computer in a plain white box, but it is impeccable in every way and has the same exact warranty as a new machine.

Very good explanation - old time computer guy who had it stuck in my head 8GB was too small so when I purchased my M1 Mac Mini I got 16GM and 500GB SSD. Then I read a very good article on the architecture that told me the SSD is part of the architecture and when the cpu or gpu runs out of memory it is handled by the SSD WITHOUT any lost of performance. So in retrospect I would have done what Burkphoto suggested and bought 8/1TB or more. Too late to change that but you can buy a thunderbolt enclosure (CWS has one for $79) load a SSD chip in it , connect it to the thunderbolt port and use it as pretty damn fast memory. Only thing I would correct is that the M1 Mac Mini does not have a fan and doesn’t need one.

Mine has handled the worst of the photographic apps like Topaz Gigapixel without a hiccup and never gets warm. I have a number of apps watching performance and I am amazed at how little they move even when running PhotoShop, Illustrator and InDesign at the same time.

Very good explanation - old time computer guy who had it stuck in my head 8GB was too small so when I purchased my M1 Mac Mini I got 16GM and 500GB SSD. Then I read a very good article on the architecture that told me the SSD is part of the architecture and when the cpu or gpu runs out of memory it is handled by the SSD WITHOUT any lost of performance. So in retrospect I would have done what Burkphoto suggested and bought 8/1TB or more. Too late to change that but you can buy a thunderbolt enclosure (CWS has one for $79) load a SSD chip in it , connect it to the thunderbolt port and use it as pretty damn fast memory. Only thing I would correct is that the M1 Mac Mini does not have a fan and doesn’t need one.

Mine has handled the worst of the photographic apps like Topaz Gigapixel without a hiccup and never gets warm. I have a number of apps watching performance and I am amazed at how little they move even when running PhotoShop, Illustrator and InDesign at the same time.

I don't have that Mini, but I do have an M1 MacBook Air with 16GB/1TB. My son has the same computer, but with 8GB/512GB. These are essentially the same machines as the 2020 M1 Mini, the 2021 24" M1 iMac, and the 2020 13" MacBook Pro. The Mini is a little faster than the MBA and the MBP, and about the same speed as the mid-tier iMac. That's due to the presence of its very efficient fan.

YES, the M1 family do use memory VERY differently from Intel machines. The "Unified" memory is used by all processing functions, without moving data unless a swap to the SSD happens. This is the way ALL Apple Silicon in iPhones and iPads has worked for the last decade. They've become very efficient about using data "in place" instead of bouncing it back and forth between graphic memory and RAM.

There are many reviews of the 8GB Mini on YouTube by people who use Lightroom, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, various software development and coding environments, ProTools and Logic Pro audio editing suites, and other heavy lifting software. Most of them say it is fine for YouTube content development and all but the most intensive work in the Adobe Photography apps. Adobe Premiere is the one app they don't like running on Macs, and never did like running on Macs, because it is better-tuned for Windows.

Depending on what you are doing, 8GB can be enough. It probably is for 95% of M1 Mac users.

My son has never complained about 8GB being too little. He is a media studies major at UNCG, and has done significant 4K video editing and graphics production on his MacBook Air. He HAS complained about 512GB SSD storage not being enough. I am working with him on strategies that make use of very fast external storage. Part of his issue is that he straddles the Mac/PC fence as I did for decades. The operating systems are just different. He's learning not to fight either one, but to use them as intended!

My recommendation for those buying M1 Macs is that unless you are making money with it on a daily basis, get the 8GB model with full processor cores and the most internal storage you can afford. Then attach FAST external drives via a Thunderbolt hub or dock.

My experience with the M1 is very satisfying. My system can export 30 – 16GB images from raw files in Lightroom in under 20 seconds. It can export a 20"x30" @ 240 PPI file for a poster print in four seconds. It does not stutter with 4K video with three effects and five audio channels. I've mixed more audio tracks than a normal person would want to use in a mix, with 4-6 processor plugins on each track, without any crashes, stutters, or other issues. Battery life does suffer when running Lightroom and the Negative Lab Pro plugin. But other than that, it can go all day without a charge when doing email, web browsing, and light office work.

The eerie thing about working with M1 Macs is near silence when running the MBP, iMac, or Mini. They just don't need to spin up the fans unless you work them to the brink of death. The Air just throttles back slightly under load, because it has NO fan. It is great to record audio on the Air, compared to my Intel iMac that made a lot of fan noise!

I'll add that you can save significant money by buying from Apple's online Refurbished store. You get a computer in a plain white box, but it is impeccable in every way and has the same exact warranty as a new machine.