16 GB Unified memory on Mac Mini M4 vs 16 GB RAM on 27-inch, mid-summer 2017 iMac

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ZeppoZeppo
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware
I apologize if my question has already been answered. If yes, I could not find it.

Hardware I use
On a mid-summer 2017 iMac 27-inch, I'm running MacOS Monterey 12.7.6 with 16 GB 2400 MHz DDR4 of memory and Radeon Pro 570 4 GB. Processor is 3.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5.

Software I use
Adobe InDesign 2024 mostly for book and magazine work. Some Photoshop 2024 for basic functions, e.g. color correction, knocking out backgrounds, selections. Basic Illustrator 2024 and Acrobat and Bridge. Zoom and Facetime. MS Word, Powerpoint and Excel. Apple Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.

Also up-to-date Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers. I have HUNDREDS of open windows open in my browsers, especially in Chrome. I have HUNDREDS (thousand?) Apple Mail emails sitting in several email accounts. Apple Mail is slow, often taking 5 minutes for emails to pop up. Browsers often as slow as well.

I'm sure my first order of business  would be  to delete emails and closeup browser windows, which will take quite a long time to read before I delete or closeup. Putting that aside, here's my question:

Assuming I do not delete email and do not close browser windows, 
1) would 16 GB of unified memory on a new Mac Mini M4 significantly speed up and make Apple Mail and my browsers and make them work more efficiently OR 
2) should I get 24 GB of unified memory?

Thanks so much.





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  • Reply 1 of 1
    thttht Posts: 6,021member
    Zeppo said:
    I apologize if my question has already been answered. If yes, I could not find it.

    Hardware I use
    On a mid-summer 2017 iMac 27-inch, I'm running MacOS Monterey 12.7.6 with 16 GB 2400 MHz DDR4 of memory and Radeon Pro 570 4 GB. Processor is 3.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5.

    Software I use
    Adobe InDesign 2024 mostly for book and magazine work. Some Photoshop 2024 for basic functions, e.g. color correction, knocking out backgrounds, selections. Basic Illustrator 2024 and Acrobat and Bridge. Zoom and Facetime. MS Word, Powerpoint and Excel. Apple Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.

    Also up-to-date Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers. I have HUNDREDS of open windows open in my browsers, especially in Chrome. I have HUNDREDS (thousand?) Apple Mail emails sitting in several email accounts. Apple Mail is slow, often taking 5 minutes for emails to pop up. Browsers often as slow as well.

    I'm sure my first order of business  would be  to delete emails and closeup browser windows, which will take quite a long time to read before I delete or closeup. Putting that aside, here's my question:

    Assuming I do not delete email and do not close browser windows, 
    1) would 16 GB of unified memory on a new Mac Mini M4 significantly speed up and make Apple Mail and my browsers and make them work more efficiently OR 
    2) should I get 24 GB of unified memory?

    Thanks so much.
    Storage configurations?

    Generally,

    1) Yes
    2) Yes

    Get the 24 GB RAM. Get 32 GB if you can afford it. You’ve used your iMac for about 7 years now. The cost for 32 GB RAM and, say, 512 GB storage, is quite minimal over 6 to 7 years you will be using a M4 Mac mini. 

    It ensures the Mac mini will run well in year 5, 6, 7 when it is running 10 different AI agents and the other 10 frenemy AI agents. 
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