Windows users always seem to think you need to bump Apple computers memory like they do Windows machines.
Not true.
Windows is a huge do everything operating system, Apple more organized and efficient and focused.
Anyway, the comments for more memory always come from non Apple users whom never owned one.
Apple OS is not Windows and not a memory hog like windows. Anyone who owns a current Apple computer will never have a memory or lack of memory issue if using it for its intended purpose.
Meaning, typical homeowner or college student will never need more then 8 megs in a current apple model, it will blow away windows 8 meg machines and be just as fast and faster then most their friends Windows laptops with 16 megs.
Its laughable to compare the two.
Remember I'm saying this as a Mac user who only uses Windows when there's no other option:
I won't argue that OS X/macOS is really efficient at memory management, and from what I've seen always seems to be a few steps ahead of Windows.
With that said, the underlying *nix philosophy is that memory not used is memory wasted, and the OS will find a way to use pretty much every scrap of memory you give it. Not all of that use is strictly necessary, but it benefits the overall performance/responsiveness of the system if you have excess memory. Within reason, that's why I will max the RAM wherever possible. Heck, right now, my Mac Pro 5,1(2010) has 96gb of RAM. Do I use anywhere near that amount? No, but it helps some of the stuff I do a whole lot.
Also, we're in a bit of a bind now on Macs in that we can't predict the future, but we're stuck with what we buy(at least on laptops and the current Mini, and I wouldn't be surprised if it happens with the next gen of desktops). 8gb is fine now with an M1, and for a couple of reasons 8gb doesn't feel anywhere near as tight as it would on an Intel system. I would not buy an Intel Mac with less than 16gb now, and would preferably go to 32gb. I'm okay with 8gb because I'm viewing this as a first-gen product that I will likely replace in a few years, not as a computer I'm planning on keeping 10+ years.
Back when I bought my first Mac in 2012, it came with 4gb. It didn't really feel slow at the time, but I could also see it paging out to the disk(a 5400rpm hard drive) regularly. I upgraded it to 8gb, and it was a night and day difference. At the time, I didn't have Apple do it since it was a $200 premium and an easy Apple sanctioned DIY. I think I paid $60 or $70 at the time for 2x4gb sticks, and got to keep the 2x2gb sticks that came in the computer.
Here's a bit of a brief anecdote on future proofing-right about the time MacOS Sierra Beta came out, I bought a 2010 white MacBook for my collection. Since it supported Sierra natively, it was my test system for it. The only issue was that it still had the 2gb of RAM it shipped with. I'd tried to sick 4gb I had lying around in it, but ran into a weird quirk of that particular generation of memory controllers that it would only work(and by work I mean POST/Boot) with exactly the correct spec memory installed. I think that it calls for DDR3 833mhz(I might have the exact speed wrong) and all I had on hand was 1066mhz and 1333mhz. Normally this isn't an issue since the faster RAM will downclock to the speed the system needs, but for whatever reason that wouldn't happen with this generation systems(it affected all the portables and also the Mini).
In any case, macOS Sierra was basically unuseable on it. At one point, Apple had a repair program in place for the rubber bottom on those computers, which tended to shrink and become detached. I took it to the Apple store to see if I could have that done(I'd missed the repair program-they had the parts to do it but it was going to be over $100 to have it fixed). In any case, though, that was the first computer running Sierra the genius helping me had seen, but it also took him 5 minutes to get About This Mac open to get the SN. Once I bumped that computer up to 8gb and an SSD, it was fine.
