Think different (tm). Snark aside you're right, Macs are much better at memory management than Linux, swap handling in particular. But that's a very low bar.
> the usage patterns on those devices is significantly different.
You're right, Mac users tend to run more multimedia productivity tools that benefit greatly from more RAM!
> You can get higher memory Apple kit if you need it…
You can pay the $800 premium yes, just make sure to plan what your future usage will be for the next 10 years because you can't buy it after the fact.