Is 8 GB memory sufficient for Photoshop Elements and multitasking on iMac?

If you do decide to get a machine with more RAM:

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I'm afraid the guidance you were given was less than excellent.

IMHO, 8GB is not an acceptable amount of RAM for any computer in today's world. It may be fine for someone who only uses a computer for email, some web browsing and perhaps a little bit of document creation. Someone like a student or maybe those who really don't like top use computers.

But as the modern OS and apps have grown in size and complexity of features, I would never advise anything less than 16GB. This has been my base choice for a number of years now. A good rule or thumb regarding RAM and storage is to buy more than you think you will need. Now that Mac memory and storage is not upgradeable it has become more important than ever to follow this guidance. 24GB or 32GB of RAM is better future-proofing, and storage can always be adjusted by using external drives.

SharLeeSylvania wrote:

... how much memory I should buy (8 or 16 GB) for doing lots of surfing, some emailing and lots of photo editing for an online store where I design and sell products with my images. I most often have all of this going on simultaneously.

16GB RAM is the minimum I suggest, given what you said about your use of your Mac & PS Elements.

Will it run in 8GB? Sure. But you are not likely to be happy with performance. 16GB gives you the extra space for all the work you are doing simultaneously ... as well as some future-proofing because future releases of macOS, PS Elements and other apps are more likely than not to require increasing amounts of RAM.

There are a lot of 8GB Macs on the used market because people purchased the minimum and then discovered it didn't perform to their satisfaction. Don't be one of them.

You are confusing RAM memory with storage.

The 5.96GB surely refers to the hard drive storage space required to install elements, not the amount of RAM required to run it smoothly.

With that said, in this day and age and even with Apple's new Unified memory and their super fast Apple Silicon chips, I would not get anything less than 16GB of RAM.

RAM cannot be upgraded after purchase on new Macs, so you are stuck with whatever you pick. It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/system-requirements.html

Adobe indicates that 8 GB is sufficient for Elements. (Tech specs)

Surfing, and mail are light usage, and basic photo editing is also lightweight.

The iMac has exceedingly speedy storage. Which is where stuff that doesn’t fit into main memory goes. Mac main storage now runs at roughly the speed of main memory, from maybe ten years ago. That is, reading and writing main storage is about as fast as reading and writing main memory on an iMac from 2011.

I’d usually go for 16 GB memory more generally though, given that usage and apps and macOS itself will all tend to grow over the usable lifetime of this Mac, and given you’re probably going to be running multiple apps, and given that there are no upgrades for memory or internal storage after purchase. And you may well be keeping this Mac for a dozen years.

Personally, I would not purchase a new Mac with less than 16 GB of RAM or less than a 1 TB SSD. Unlike older 27" Intel iMacs once purchased their RAM can't be added to.