Ram usage for Photoshop on Mac

[marcPhotoNYC]

I'm looking at buying a new Mac I currently have 32 gigs of RAM. My files are anywhere from 250 MB to 1 GB. My photography store recommends that I stay with 32 gigs of RAM and I would need more but I'm thinking of getting 64 gigs does that make any sense if I'm mostly doing photography related projects

[Peru Bob]

What processor?

Do you multitask and have many windows and programs open at once?

[marcPhotoNYC]

I plan to get the 8 core processor and yes I have lots of windows and apps open!

[Peru Bob]

Get 64 GB.

[marcPhotoNYC]

Why do you suggest I get 64 gigs of ram?

[D Fosse]

But much more important than that is the scratch disk. I assume this new machine will have a PCIe M.2 system drive, and these drives are so fast that RAM isn't really as important as it used to be. But make sure it has decent capacity - 500GB is bare minimum, 1TB better.

There is no such thing as enough RAM, no matter how much you have. Big files go to scratch disk, period, and RAM is at best a cache. That used to be critical with slow slow spinning HDD drives, not so much anymore.

For the cost of 32 GB extra RAM, you can more than double the size of the system drive, which IMO is more cost effective.

[marcPhotoNYC]

Thank you for your smart advice! Would you also recommend I partition the 1T boot drive for the scratch drive or is that unnecessary.

[D Fosse]

No, don't partition. The scratch file will find its own way as long as the space is there.

[marcPhotoNYC]

Great. I won't. Thank you again