All Macs now start with at least 16GB RAM

In 2016, the MacBook Air with 4GB of RAM was discontinued and Apple made 8GB RAM the base standard across its Mac lineup. On Wednesday, Apple upped the base RAM for Macs to 16GB as RAM-hungry Apple Intelligence features begin to roll out.

Filipe Espósito for 9to5Mac:
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Not only do all new Macs come with 16GB of RAM as standard, but Apple has also updated both the M2 and M3 MacBook Air base models with 16GB of RAM.

The move came as a complete surprise, as the company could at least have waited until the launch of a new MacBook Air next year.

[W]hat exactly has changed since April? The answer is simple: Apple Intelligence. As my colleague Zac Hall said yesterday, the new AI features have certainly played a big role in pushing Apple to upgrade RAM across the entire Mac lineup. That’s because AI features do require a lot of RAM.

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MacDailyNews Take: Of course, Apple Silicon uses memory much more efficiently than did Macs with Intel chips or any old crappy Wintel PC, but it’s still nice to have all of that headroom to run intensive applications even on entry-level Macs.

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