The M1x will almost certainly have 64 gb support, possibly 128. Apple has left Intel Macs in the lineup for customers who need features that the M1 has not replicated, like large RAM capacity and 10 gb Ethernet. The M1 macs are still better for 90% of customers, but the intention is to only fully phase out Intel Macs in a product line when Apple Silicon is better for 100% of customers, as they did with the Air. The M1x will fill out the remainder of the Macbook Pro and Mac Mini lineup, which requires 64 gb support. It is likely (though not a guarantee) that the M1x will also fill out the entire iMac line (excluding the education M1 iMac they have not yet released). That would require 128 gb support.

People seem to be under the mistaken impression that supporting higher memory capacities is hard. It's not. It's trivial. The only reason the M1 doesn't is because of how it's packaged, and they only chose to package it that way because the products they were intending to replace it with only need 2 memory chips. They did what made sense for the M1, and they will do what makes sense for the M1x.

It'd be fun if they got 32GB parts with double the memory bandwidth (which could make sense with the doubled Firestorm and GPU cores).

Do we have perf counters that show how memory starved is M1 under pressure?

"Memory starving" a CPU is almost always a latency issue except with very specific workloads. A double wide memory controller would be very cool if they wanted to make a high performance integrated GPU though.

64GB is available on the current-gen 64GB, so not offering it would be a step backwards.

64GB was available on the previous Mac Mini, but they took a step backwards and capped the new one at 16GB, no reason they won't do the same with the MBP.

The Intel Mac Mini is still sold. If you need, you can get it with 64GB of RAM and 2TB of PCIe SSD.

Granted you'll feel bad if this leak is wrong and Apple shows an M1x with more than 16GB of RAM.

I suspect they'll release a faster mac mini with the M1x chip. They've got tons of space and an oversized PSU, so it would be easy to do.

I literally have a previous Mac Mini with maxed-out RAM thanks to OWC and their RAM upgrades. Also one of the new Macbook Pros.

From my experience with both, I think you might be very unhappy in retrospect if you bet that more RAM is going to make the most recent Intel one come within shouting distance of even an 8GB M1 Mini. The old one was one of the best for single-core performance within its generation, but they're not even the same thing, not even close. Again, I own both machines with the Intel Mini maxed out as far as it can go with RAM.

My gut level reaction is, you could give the new one lots more RAM (in theory) and it wouldn't end up using it. So they're capping them, otherwise people will assume there's a benefit and that the 8GB and 16GB ones aren't workable for heavy processing.

I've also got a suspicion (possibly just a weird cynicism) that this is why the previous-gen Mac Pro runs so huge and expensive: they've overpriced and overdesigned it so hard that it's unattainable for nearly anybody, making it a sort of status object with Veblen pricing, specifically to avoid class action lawsuits when they release newer machines that outperform it at a tenth of the price.

You were never supposed to actually buy the monstro cheese grater Mac Pro or its screen with the thousand dollar stand, and if you did, (a) it's of symbolic value to you and (b) it's your own fault. When the real high performance computer comes out of Apple it'll be at Mac Mini prices, and meant to iPhone-ify desktop computing as a category.

You can still buy the Intel Mini for a reason. I don't think it's an unreasonable assumption to expect a mini that takes more than 16GB of RAM.

They just started the Apple Silicon transition. A bit early for the doom and gloom, no?

Class action lawsuits?

Because there’s a ceiling on RAM capacity? If that’s your requirement there are many people happy to sell you a device that will satisfy you.

I started computing in the days when you could add your own instructions to your computer. I’m not suing anyone though that capability is no longer available

When the user guide prominently includes a wiring diagram for adding the memory necessary to run the product:

http://users.telenet.be/kim1-6502/6502/2ksa/2ksa.html

Cover:Schematics for a 5V, 3A regulated power supply and a 1K x 8 read/write memory block. The power supply and three such memory blocks can be added to the basic KIM-l microcomputer to provide the 4K RAM required by this assembler. Parts are available from Jameco Electronics.

You can't even get above 16GB with the M1. You can with the i9. It took me MONTHS to receive my 16GB M1.

Three weeks ago I ordered a 1 TB/16GB MBA and picked it up the same day (!)

It was a pleasant shock. I ended up returning it as it turns out I really do need at least 32GB of RAM, but it was VERY difficult to take it back.

Even if this rumor is way overhyped, I still can't wait for a MBP that can take at least 32GB of RAM. I'll be there with bells on!

Benchmarks have shown negligible performance difference between 8 and 16GB models for editing multiple 4K video streams and other pretty intensive tasks. What kind of software do you run?

Well, I got mine in 2 days, so...

Ordered mine end of December, got it last Thursday. Glad you had a better experience!

I'm not even in the US, we usually have worse delivery dates for everything, Apple or not. And the 16MB Pro is considered a "modification", but it was readily available in several resellers.

Ordered mine at the end of November and received it the week of Christmas. M1 Air with 16gb RAM and 1TB drive.

Yup, same specs here. It was due on the 29th of Jan, but somehow got delayed. I've had a few other friends relay the same experience. I wonder how some people are having much better luck. I had the same experience in the Spring last year when I tried to order a MacBook Air for my daughter with 16 Gigs. I left it for a few weeks and then finally went back to Apple and cancelled as it looked to be an eternity before they'd be able to ship it.

Definitely glad other people are having a better experience.