What lightweight Email client for MacOS

It might not be lightweight enough, but I use eM Client on my PC instead of Outlook.

They also do a mac version so might be worth a look?

https://www.emclient.com/

improvement on the Gmail web interface, really to just avoid the nesting of replies which is a bit of a pain

Turn off Conversation view in Gmail?

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/5900?hl=en-GB&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop

I tried loads of different ones and always went back to Thunderbird. Not exactly lightweight, and it was probably partly through familiarity, but it was the only one that did everything I wanted.

Mail is due a massive upgrade with the next OS.

If your problem with the standard MacOS Mail app is that it is too basic, then I think there is a chance that the nice simplicity of the interface is fooling you into thinking it's basic. It's pretty fully featured when you dig into it.

Dont really like the basic Mac one

what don’t you like about it?

what would you like your email client to be like?

In the past I have used thunderbird. I kept returning to the MacOS included email app.

agreed, Outlook is awful. Big. Clunky. Ugly. Etc.

if you only use gmail and are OK with browser-based email then the suggestion to turn off conversation view may be all you need?

edit. If you’re after very lightweight then there’s always the CLI. https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/44764/is-there-a-command-line-mail-program-for-mac

dunno how lightweight it is, but I use Spark. However it doesn't let you turn off nested emails (they call them "threads") which I also find a bit of a pain, sometimes. Therefore:

Mail is due a massive upgrade with the next OS.

I've tried a few but keep coming back to Mail!

I've used Airmail in the past which seemed OK.

I'll try Thunderbird, thanks.

Edison is what I use. Works well.

Safari?  The fannying about with message order is a setting within Gmail which you can turn off as others have suggested (ditto Hotmail).

I haven't used a full-fat desktop email client outside of work since Windows 7.  It's a pain in the ass, webmail is the future.

Think I must have used thunderbird for close to 20 years.

I always used to use Thunderbird back in the dark ages when I used PC. Since moving to Mac many years ago now I haven't felt the need for anything other than Mail. What don't you like about it?

I just use webmail/login via browser these days on mobile devices.

Aside from Gmail on andriod phone and outlook on windows PC so that basically makes the above a lie!

But I maintain an Gmail account and a hotmail account both used for different purposes.

As cougar, heavy email clients are the dodo.

But you also have to look at your OS and how good it is at memory (RAM) management... for example outlook on my win10 pc right now is using half a gb of RAM, which is crazy, BUT..and it's a big BUT...it will get relageted to free up ram-space automagically if I start playing a game or something that needs more RAM, and deemed higher priority.

Stuff can linger in RAM and it's not a problem as long as it's not refusing access to other apps or processes.

Mail is due a massive upgrade with the next OS

This got my attention too. If Apple use all their AI tools it should be a game changer.

 If Apple use all their Microsoft's AI tools it should be much like outlook.

On my M1 MPB, I find Outlook is faster and more stable than the Mac one. Across 3 different email accounts all of which are 10 years plus with lots of mail/folders.