There were a number of exciting announcements from Apple at WWDC 2024, from macOS Sequoia to Apple Intelligence. However, a subtle addition to Xcode 16 — the development environment for Apple platforms, like iOS and macOS — is a feature called Predictive Code Completion. Unfortunately, if you bought into Apple’s claim that 8GB of unified memory was enough for base-model Apple silicon Macs, you won’t be able to use it. There’s a memory requirement for Predictive Code Completion in Xcode 16, and it’s the closest thing we’ll get from Apple to an admission that 8GB of memory isn’t really enough for a new Mac in 2024.

  • RecluseRamble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    5 months ago

    I can’t believe, there’s no Linux reference yet!

    Give your “8 gigs not enough” hardware to one of us and see it revived running faster than whatever you’re running now with your subpar OS.

    • mightyfoolish@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Software and AI development would be hard with 8gb of RAM on Linux. Having you seen the memes on AI adding to global climate change? Not even Linux can fix the issues with ChatGPT…

      • prole@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        I don’t think anyone anywhere is claiming 8GB RAM is enough for software and AI development. Pretty sure we’re talking about consumer-grade hardware here. And low-end at that.

        • monnier@lemmy.ca
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          5 months ago

          My main development machine has 8 GB, for what it’s worth. And most of the software in use nowadays was developped when 8GB was a lot of RAM

        • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
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          5 months ago

          The lede by OP here contains this:

          […] addition to Xcode 16 […] is a feature called Predictive Code Completion. Unfortunately, if you bought into Apple’s claim that 8GB of unified memory was enough for base-model Apple silicon Macs, you won’t be able to use it

          So either RecluseRamble meant that development with a feature like predictive code completion would work on 8 GB of RAM if you were using Linux or his comparison was shit.

          • RecluseRamble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            5 months ago

            That’s absolutely what I’m saying. Apple is just holding back that feature for upselling (as always) and because it’s hardly possible to debloat macOS.

            • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
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              5 months ago

              Okay good, thanks for confirming. I remember Kate feeling very nice to use during my studies, more responsive than VS Code or Eclipse. But I also had 16Gigabytes of RAM, so I couldn’t be sure.

    • RedWeasel@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I actually bought a m1 mini for a linux low power server. I was getting tired of the Pi4 being so slow when I needed to compile something. Works real well, just need the Asahi team to get TB working. And for my server stuff, 8gb is plenty.

      • 🦄🦄🦄@feddit.de
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        5 months ago

        You wouldn’t happen to run a jellyfin server on that mac mini would you? Currently looking to find something performant with small form factor and low power consumption.

        • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          I’ve run Plex servers on Mac Minis (M1). Docker on MacOS runs well finally — the issues that were everywhere a couple of years ago are resolved.

          It ran very well on the hardware. The OP of this post is right, 8gb is not enough in 2024; however I would also wager that the vast majority of commenters have not used MacOS recently or regularly. It is actually very performant and has a memory scheduler that rivals that found on GNU/Linux. Apple’s users aren’t wrong when they talk about how much better the OS is than Windows at using memory.

        • RedWeasel@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          No I do not, but I don’t see any reason it shouldn’t work though. I have PiHole, Apache, email, cups, mythtv and samba currently.

    • el_abuelo@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      I’d love to see you run xcode 16 code completion on your superior OS. Send me a link once you’ve uploaded the vid.

      • Mojave@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Why limit it to proprietary software? Almost every linux distro can run Github Copilot X and Jetbrains, which both have had more time to be publicly used and tested and work better in my opinion.

        Send me a video link of Mac having direct access to containers without using a VM (which ruins the point of containers). THAT is directly related to my actual work, as opposed to needing a robot to code for me specifically using Apple’s AI

        • el_abuelo@lemmy.ml
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          5 months ago

          Because that was what the article was about…I actually am a Linux user and fan, folks just misreading the intentions of my post.

          I would genuinely love to see it, because I’m stuck on mac hardware to do my job and I really hope one day they get crucified for their anticompetative practices so I can freely choose the OS my business uses.

      • RedWeasel@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        There is a project being worked on called Darling, but it isn’t ready yet. The developers are making progress though.

      • RecluseRamble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 months ago

        As I said: feel free to upgrade your MacBook just don’t throw the one with a “meager” 8 gigs away since it’s totally usable with a non-bloated system.