How Much Does A Mac Operating System Cost

The simplest answer to the question: how much RAM do I need for my Mac is ‘as much as possible.’ You can never have too much RAM, whereas having too little can seriously affect the performance of your Mac. Sadly, however, it’s not quite as simple as that. Adding extra RAM, whether you do it when you buy your new Mac or you add it later, costs money, quite a lot of money. So the question of how much RAM to put in a new Mac is comes down to the balance between affordability and the additional benefit you’ll get from more RAM.

How to Save Costs by Upgrading an Older Mac Rather than Buying a New Mac By Corbin Telligman / May 13, 2017 / Mac In recent years Apple has soldered in many parts of their Macs – including HDDs, SSDs, RAM, etc. – to prevent users from upgrading.

  1. Testing conducted by Apple in October 2020 using preproduction MacBook Air systems with Apple M1 chip and 8-core GPU, configured with 8GB of RAM and 512GB SSD. The Apple TV app movie playback test measures battery life by playing back HD 1080p content with display brightness set to 8 clicks from bottom. Battery life varies by use and configuration.
  2. Considering Apple's premium pricing for all of its products, that cost of making the OS was in part subsidized that way. Arguably, Microsoft works in the same way with all of its Surface devices.

Why upgrade Mac RAM?

It used to be the case that adding more RAM would improve the performance of your Mac in almost every task. But computers have moved on since then. Better memory management, faster storage for caching files that can’t be stored in RAM, and blazing fast graphics processing units (GPUs) with their own dedicated RAM mean that the load on your main Mac RAM is less than it used to be.

Much of the work in generating frames for games, for example, is done by the GPU and its RAM. However, if you work with large images (bigger than, say, 100MB) or with huge databases or monster-sized spreadsheets, more RAM will be a huge benefit.

How to check your Mac's RAM usage

The quickest way to identify whether you need more memory is to check your Mac’s RAM usage.

One way to do that is to use the Manu App in CleanMyMac X. This feature will show you immediately how much free RAM you have and allows you to free up memory at the click of a button. It’s the easiest way to monitor and free up RAM. So, download the app (for free) and monitor your memory usage.

Alternatively, you can check the RAM usage manually:

  1. Go to your Applications folder.
  2. Open the Utilities folder and launch Activity Monitor.
  3. Click the Memory tab at the top and look at the Memory Pressure graph at the bottom of the screen.
  4. To the right of the graph, you’ll see a table. In that table, Physical Memory is the amount of RAM installed on your Mac.

Keep that window open while you work and check it now and again. If the graph stays green, there’s nothing to worry about and you don’t need more memory. If it’s green and yellow, there’s some pressure on your Mac’s RAM but it’s ok. If the graph is mostly red, however, it’s under serious pressure and your Mac’s startup drive is being used to store data that should be in RAM. This will slow down your Mac.

Just because the graph is in the red doesn’t mean you need to rush out and buy more RAM (assuming you have a Mac that can be upgraded), however. Closing browser tabs you’re not using will help, too. And you can free up memory by closing applications you’re not using or by logging out of accounts that aren’t in use, if you’re signed into more than one account.

To find out which apps, processes and browser tabs are using up the most RAM, click the down arrow at the top of the Memory column in Activity Monitor. That will order processes by how much RAM they’re using, allowing you to easily see who the culprits are. If you see any apps or web pages that are using lots of RAM and you don’t need, close them.

There are also third-party utilities that can report memory usage and ‘clean’ RAM when you close applications, so that the memory is freed up for use by other applications.

How can I upgrade Mac RAM?

Some Macs can be upgraded and some can’t. If you’ve bought a MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air in the last five years or so, you won’t be able to upgrade the memory in it. If you have an iMac, you may be able to perform a Mac RAM upgrade, depending on when it was made and whether it has free slots. You can find a complete list of which iMacs can be upgraded here.

The iMac Pro’s memory can only be upgraded by Apple or an Authorised Service Provider. Both the Mac Pro and Mac mini can be upgraded.

How much RAM do I actually need?

So, after all that: how much RAM should you have fitted in a new Mac? For most users, 8GB is fine. You’ll be able to quite comfortably work on documents, edit photos and video and surf the web without any problems.

If you work on very large image files, databases, or spreadsheets, or if you really need to have lots of applications open at the same time, you might consider upgrading to 16GB. But you’d need to weigh the cost of the extra RAM against the benefit you’d notice.

What else can I do to improve my Mac’s performance?

The one and only reason for adding more RAM is to make your Mac run faster and more smoothly. However, there are other ways you can do this. Swapping a hard drive for an SSD, for example, won’t just boost startup times, but because macOS uses the startup drive to cache files, it will improve performance too.

How Much Does A Mac Operating System Cost Installed

Also, freeing up space on your startup drive will help, particularly getting rid of files you don’t need and that clog up your system. The best way to do that is to use a tool like CleanMyMac X. CleanMyMac scans your Mac for files it thinks you no longer need. These include system junk, Photos files that can be safely removed, and Mail attachments that can be re-downloaded if you ever need them again, and much more. By the way, the app is free to download, so give it a try!

As you can see, deciding how much RAM you need for your Mac isn’t straightforward. There are lots of things to consider. However, adding more RAM isn’t the guaranteed performance boost it used to be. For most people, the base 8GB that ships with current Macs is enough. If you do think your Mac could do with a performance boost, try the techniques described above before you rush out and buy more RAM.

These might also interest you:

Mac OS X Pricing

Mac OS X is a growing cloud-based System software, it is designed to support medium and large size business. Mac OS X received a rating of 3.3 from ITQlick team. The software cost is considered affordable (1.9...

Mac OS X Pricing - The Ultimate Guide

Shlomi Lavi / Sep 15, 2019

Mac OS X Total Cost Rating: (3.8/10)

When comparing Mac OS X to their competitors, on a scale between 1 to 10 Mac OS X is rated 3.8, which is lower than the average System software cost. Mac OS X are offering few flexible plans to their customers, read the article below in order to calculate the total cost of ownership (TCO) which includes: customization, data migration, training, hardware, maintnance, updgrades, and more.
You can also leave your info with us to get a free custom quote with the break downs for your business needs.

System Total Cost Breakdown

When it comes to selecting System software product, buyers are primarily concerned about its cost. In fact, it is the cost that determines whether a potential buyer would go with the product. True, there is no one-size-fits-all formula to determine the “worth” of a software product, but as a software buyer, you want to make sure you get the best value for your money, without having to dig a big hole in your pocket.
Understanding the exact price of System Software isn't easy as The overall cost of software includes the cost of software license, subscription fees, software training cost, customization cost, required hardware, and the cost of maintenance & support and other related services. It's critical that you account for all of these costs to gain an understanding of the system's 'total cost of ownership.'

3 Software Pricing Models

There are primarily three common pricing models – Perpetual License, Subscription, and Commercial open source.
  • Subscription/Software-As-A-Service: - Not relevant for Mac OS X
    Under this software pricing model, the software is accessed over the Internet, as opposed to installed on-premises. The payment is made either on a per user basis or subscription basis. Ideally, customers are required to pay a recurring monthly fee until a specific period for using the software. Subscription pricing model is more common with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) apps.
  • Upfront cost for customization and integration is less compared to perpetual license cost because there is not much flexibility with SaaS systems in this area.
  • Recurring cost is greater as customers are required to make monthly payments as subscription fee. Additionally customers using premium support services must pay an extra fee.
  • All in all, the total cost of ownership in the both cases is almost the same and may span over a period of 7-10 years, though you may have to pay a higher perpetual license fee upfront. The software cost may vary from starter to mid range to enterprise level apps in both cases.
  • Perpetual license: - Relevant for Mac OS X
    A common pricing model for on-premise applications, perpetual license requires a customer to pay an upfront sum to own the software or other intellectual property on-premises for a fixed term.
  • Upfront cost involves the fee for installation, customization, integration with existing systems, besides perpetual license fee.
  • Recurring cost is low in this pricing model and may include cost for updates, maintenance, upgrades, and patches. Some vendors do offer premium support services, which come for an extra price.
  • Commercial open source: Not relevant for Mac OS X
    The customer can acquire the software free of cost without having to incur any upfront license fee. As a customer, you’re solely responsible for the ongoing maintenance, upgrading, customization, and troubleshooting of the application to meet your specific needs. You are on your own for providing end-user support, since you are not locked in with a vendor-supplied software solution.

Mac OS X - cost of customization:

If you need specific features in your software catering to your specific business requirements, the vendor will charge customization cost, depending on your needs and feature requirement. Ideally customization cost is more complex to calculate compared to licensing cost.
Some apps allow you to easily combine data from multiple sources, without any complicated query requirements, while some others can be embedded into different applications to provide enhanced reporting. If you seek products that support customizable dashboards and predictive analysis to identity possible trends and facilitate decision making, you may have to pay higher for all the customization features.
Additionally, the following factors may affect the cost of customization:
  • User interface changes
  • Configurable dashboards
  • Data elements required for tracking
  • Forms to collect additional data
  • Dashboard, management and operational reports that are needed.
  • Workflows and how complex they are.
  • Forms to collect additional data.
Here are some questions to answer: How much customization is needed? How many system you want to integrate to? Does your company work like industry standars or has it's own customize processes? What kind of special reports are needed?

In order to calculate the cost of customization you can use the following estimates:

  • Minimal customization - integrate with 1-2 systems: $2,500
  • Standard customization - integrate with 3-5 systems: $10,000
  • Fully customized system - integrate with more than 5 systems: $25,000

Mac OS X - cost of data migration: Relevant for Mac OS X

Most companies opt for data migration services from a vendor, which raises the cost of product ownership. If you choose to transfer data on your own, you can avoid paying the cost of data migration.
Data migration cost depends on the amount of data to be transferred, your current software, availability of migration tools, complexity of data, and gaps between the existing system and the new system.
If your data is stored in excel spreadsheets, then it may incur you a lot of time and money to migrate data from excel.
By involving a software services provider in data migration, you are asking them to offer additional services, for which you may have to pay extra.

As a rule of thumb the cost of data migration depents on how many records you want to migrate. Records can include number of Customers, invoices, financial transactions, products, versions, etc. Here is a list you can use as a rule of thumb:

How Much Does A Mac Operating System Cost Per

  • 1,000 records: $500
  • 10,000 records: $2,500
  • 100,000 records: $10,000
  • 1,000,000+ records: $25,000

Mac OS X - cost of training: Relevant for Mac OS X

As a software buyer, you are required to pay extra for in-person training, though some vendors offer web-based training as part of the package. Training cost may involve end-user training, video/self training, group training, department training, and train the trainer.
Training cost derived from the training approach that you select for your organization:
  • End-user training.
  • Group/Department training.
  • Video /self training.
  • Train the trainer approach.

HowHowHere are some questions to answer: How many training groups (different departments, usages, type of users) are needed?

In order to calculate the cost of training you can use the following estimates:

  • 1-2 Training Sessions: $500
  • 3-4 Training Sessions: $1,500
  • 5-7 Training Sessions: $2,500
  • 8-10 Training Sessions: $5,000

Cost of Hardware & IT: - Relevant for Mac OS X

This can be a major expense for on-premise software buyers that need their own servers and other infrastructure to install the solution. This may be a costlier alternative than cloud solutions. In that case, you may want to go with cloud services that do not involve infrastructural investments and you can rely on the vendor’s web-based solutions.
Software pricing may also depend on software capabilities, including marketing automation, sales automation, help desk, and call center.

Cost of support for Mac OS X - An Important Factor:

How Much Does A Macbook Cost

As a customer investing in a software product, you are looking for constant support, besides the price of the software. Support has become a crucial part of value-based pricing that you are willing to pay as a customer.
There is no use buying a software product and facing inconvenience due to some technical glitches that you know nothing about and are reliant on the vendor to give you a solution. It is crucial that you go for a product from a vendor that provides solutions to ongoing problems.

Shift From Licensing Fee to Subscription Fee Models: - Not relevant for Mac OS X

In an effort to build more sustained relationships with customers, most software vendors have chosen to offer the managed services model to accommodate changing customer behavior. There has been a significant drop in licensing revenue, thanks to the emergence of software-as-a-service model and downfall of the packaged software.
The new pricing model requires customers to pay little upfront fee and ongoing subscription fee on a monthly basis. The alternate pricing model stretches payments over a period of few years compared to lump-sum licensing fee.
Customers are happy to pay small monthly installments for subscribing to the ongoing support and maintenance services from vendors, without having to pay large upfront payment which can be too much for small businesses.

How Much Does A Mac Operating System Cost Work


Compare Mac OS X pricing to Alternarive System solutions:

When comparing Mac OS X to their competitors, on a scale between 1 to 10 Mac OS X is rated 3.8, which is lower than the average System software cost.

How Can We Help?

The science of software cost/pricing may not be easy to understand. If you seek to understand software pricing model, get in touch with ITQlick experts. Contact us today and find solutions to all your questions. We will match software vendors that offer the best pricing on technology that fits your needs.

Questions about Mac OS X pricing?