Apple boosts the RAM on MacBook Airs without raising prices
Apple has upgraded the amount of unified memory across its MacBook Air laptops by an additional eight gigabytes, but prices haven’t changed.
Twice the RAM and no price increase make the MacBook Air an even better proposition, as upgrading the RAM to 16GB used to cost an extra $200!
It’s been rumored that M4-based Macs might feature double the RAM—and they do, as evidenced by the new M4 iMac, MacBook Pro and Mac mini. Still, we haven’t expected the company to increase the amount of RAM on its most popular laptop, which isn’t likely to receive an M4 refresh until March 2025.
Call it the Apple Intelligence effect. Apple Intelligence requires Apple silicon with at least eight gigabytes of RAM. Apple’s computers don’t need as much RAM as Windows PCs. That being said, however, allocating eight gigabytes to Apple Intelligence alone without boosting the RAM would have been a terrible idea.
MacBook Air now comes with 16GB of RAM
“MacBook Air is the world’s most popular laptop, and with Apple Intelligence, it’s even better,” the company wrote in today’s press release announcing the new M4 Pro and Max-based MacBook Pro laptops. “Now, models with M2 and M3 double the starting memory to 16GB while keeping the starting price at just $999,” it added.
With this change, the entire Mac lineup now starts with at least sixteen gigabytes of unified memory, ensuring smooth performance even if Apple Intelligence is used to the fullest all the time. The following MacBook Air models now ship with sixteen gigabytes of unified memory instead of eight:
- $999 M2 MacBook Air (13-inch)
- $1099 M3 MacBook Air (13-inch)
- $1299 M3 MacBook Air (13-inch)
- $1299 M3 MacBook Air (15-inch)
- $1499 M3 MacBook Air (15-inch)
Meanwhile, the flagship 13-inch and 15-inch M3 MacBook Air models have been boosted from 16 to 24 gigabytes of unified memory—at no extra cost. While places like Amazon and Best Buy may still show old RAM capacities, their listings will be refreshed soon to reflect this change.
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