I had the 8Gb MBP. I bought it the day they were released so it arrived on launch day. Because of the holidays we had extended return window, so we could use it until January 15th before returning it. I used it that whole time and fell in love with the computer, but returned it for the 16Gb model. But not for the reasons you would expect.

I originally bought the 13" MBP on M1 because I was in desperate need of a new laptop. I previously had a maxed out 16" MBP that cost me around $3,500. I had used it for about 5 years and was looking to replace it. But Apple's systems were in flux and I didn't want to drop $3,500 again on an intel macbook right as they were going out of production. So when I saw the new M1 macs released, I decided to buy the $1,200 13" MBP with 8Gb of RAM and a 256HDD. Just the base model. The idea was that I would use this computer for a year, until Apple released the 16 inch "big boy" models. Then I would sell the 13 inch and get the real 16 inch that I was waiting for.

But when I got my new mac in November, I started using it and was just so amazed by the performance that I realized it could do what I was asking it to do, plus I loved the size, the epic battery life, and the no fan noise. I essentially fell in love with that computer. When I went back to my 16" macbook it felt so large and heavy, I wanted nothing to do with it. Even if Apple fixes the fan noise (that the 16" is horrible with) and the battery life, I still hate the size. I had truly fallen in love with the 13 inch computer I already had. And it was less than half the price I had planned on spending during my computer upgrade.

I originally bought the 13 inch macbook pro as a stop-gap until the 16 inch models were available on M1. But after using it, I decided that this was going to be my new long term computer. So at the end of the return window I had about 6-8 weeks using the computer. I had never had any trouble with the 8Gb of RAM. BUt my mind just kept telling me that 8Gb wasn't enough.

Since I was already upgrading the computer for more SSD storage, I really went back and forth on whether to upgrade the RAM as well.

The reason it was such a hard decision is that I couldn't pinpoint a single time when I felt that the 8Gb held me back.

But I kept going back to the idea that if I keep this computer for even 3 years, the $200 becomes insignificant (to me at least, I recognize I am very fortunate). So I couldn't really identify a good reason to upgrade to 16Gb, but because I decided to do it anyway because for $200, it was worth future proofing it. So I ended up returning my base model 13 inch macbook pro and upgrading it to a 1Tb SSD, with 16Gb of RAM. It is now my daily driver computer. Even fully loaded it is still a fraction of the cost of my old macbook pro. I couldn't be more happy with my computer right now.

The performance is just incredible. No fan noise ever. Epic length battery life. Perfect size. I just really love this thing.

So do you need 16Gb of RAM. No. Not at all. I have not yet identified a time when the 16Gb has helped me or made a noticable difference. When I had the 8Gb, I never felt like it was slowing me down. But with all that being said, if your budget allows for $200 extra, I would get it just to future proof your purchase. But if you are already penny pinching, then don't worry about the 8gb. You probably won't ever notice it holding you back.