I am currently typing this from an M2 Max with 64gb of RAM and I have an M1 Pro with 16gb of RAM for personal use.

In-between, I got a base M2 Mini with 8gb/256gb SSD.

I did extensive dev work, played video games like WoW, and did lots of stuff on that Mini. It never once felt slower than my M2 Max except for the things it simply can't run (high end models, etc).

I think people really underestimate what Mac can do with 8gb of RAM. I would obviously prefer 16gb as a base, but I was very pleasantly surprised.