In article , PAS wrote:

I will definitely spec it with 16GB of RAM, no less. Yes, I've
developed quite a lot of habits using Windows for over 20 years. I'm
sure the transition won't be too frustrating. I'll have all the time I
need to get adapted - I'm retiring in 2 1/2 weeks.
what are you going to use the mac for?

don't assume that memory requirements of windows are the same as macos,
particularly when the mac has *extremely* fast ssd.

Most likely I'll use it for Photoshop and other imaging apps.

then 16 gig is probably a good idea.

Maybe I'll
like it enough to use it for everything else too

you just might.

Let's assume we have a Mac and a Windows PC with similar hardware
specs. How would the memory performance be different and why would it
be different? I'm ignorant as to how a Mac OS utilizes hardware. If we
take an SSD out of the equation for both comparable systems, is the
performance any different?

why take the ssd out of the equation? ssds on the latest macs are much
faster than the ssds usually found on windows systems, especially if
they're using a sata ssd, benchmarking in the range of 3 gigabytes (not
bits) per second.