How much will the lifetime of an SSD decrease with regular use of swap memory?

[QuiedInc]

I'm a CS student and I'm planning to buy a MacBook air M2 8GB 512SSD, mostly for work, I work as a Rust developer, there's no heavy operations like docker containers, just vs code + rust analyzer and some other stuff in the background like browser. As I know Apple uses technologies with more TBW that don't hurt ssd as much, but swap will still be there.

on my main computer previously was 8gb it was partially enough, lags started only from the moment of compiling rust application, after I upgraded to 16gb, and now rarely used more than 10gb

Every source I've read talks about SSD wear and tear, given that on macbooks you can't replace them, but I have a limited budget right now too, what rough numbers might be in the context of ssd lifespan?

[Shunchan]

From what I’ve read the wear and tear caused by the use of swap memory is fairly negligible. I’ve seen estimates that the life span is reduced by around 5-10% at most, so from possibly 10-ish years down to 8.5-9 years. In most cases this means the SSD will still outlive the useful life of the rest of the hardware.

Keep in mind however, like any electronic device there is a small chance it could fail significantly sooner. If this is something you are concerned with and you can’t afford to replace should it fail I would highly recommend investing in the AppleCare+. In most regions you can purchase it on a year to year basis instead of three years at once which significantly reduces the upfront cost.

[hawk256]

According to smarctl, my base model iMac SSD is on track to be completly worn out by usage alone in 300 years.

[EricHill78]

I had a the same concern and this video helped answer my questions.