Last year, we told you about Apple's claim that 8GB on a Mac is like 16GB on a PC. Not surprisingly, it wasn't, and still isn't. But now Apple has doubled down on the 8GB, claiming it is "suitable for many tasks" including browsing, video streaming, and even "light" video and image editing.

Of course, that doesn't change the fact that many entry-level Mac computer models are built with just 8GB. So do all MacBook Air laptops, Mac Minis, and most egregiously the MacBook Pro 14.

That might have been fine if not for the fact that Apple charges a ridiculous $200 to upgrade these machines from 8GB to 16GB. Moreover, Apple's silicon uses a unified memory architecture, which means that it is tied to the factory settings. RAM cannot be added later.

In an interview with IT Home, Apple representative Evan Buyze, leader of the Mac product marketing team, doubled down on the idea that 8GB is just right for many Mac users, saying that 8GB of memory is suitable for Internet browsing, streaming, messaging He explained that 8GB of memory is suitable for many tasks, such as Internet browsing, streaming, and messaging. To that he added light editing of photos and videos, casual gaming, etc.

It is difficult to clarify what "light video editing" and "casual gaming" really mean. Does casual gaming mean, for example, that 15 fps is acceptable? Even if there is such a thing as light video editing or casual gaming, and a Mac with 8GB performs those tasks acceptably, 8GB is still not acceptable.

Because an 8GB Mac can easily run out of memory just browsing the web. Chrome, in particular, is the most popular browser around.

If you are a regular Chrome user, you know how much memory Chrome eats. Right now I have about 15 tabs open, which is quite a few for me. When I have multiple windows open, the number of tabs often exceeds 50.

Conveniently, Chrome displays memory usage when I mouse over a given tab. Three of my current tabs are consuming more than 500 MB each. That is, 1.5 GB for the three Chrome tabs alone. Add to that the memory footprint of MacOS, and I am running out of RAM.

Overall, 12.5 GB of memory is used, and Chrome is the only application open. I used to use an 8GB Apple Silicon Air, which was a nightmare to say the least, as I was constantly running out of memory just browsing the web.

Most observers miss the point; the usual view is that 8GB is not enough for a serious workflow. But that completely misses the more important point: 8GB is not even enough to browse the web.

Mac laptops and computers have many attractive characteristics. I won't mention them here for fear of being attacked en masse by my colleagues and turning into a puddle of blood and hair. I have a track record of preaching the virtues of Macs in basic day-to-day tasks.

But even I, a fanboy among fanboys of Mac computers in non-gaming contexts, would say that it is utter nonsense to say that the 8GB is "good for light or casual computing." Next