The MacBook Air gets a surprise upgrade to 16GB of RAM

Apple has just announced that 16GB of RAM is now the minimum for the M2 and M3 MacBook Air, giving the laptops the same RAM bump as all of the company’s other new computers this week. The cheapest MacBook Air still starts at $999.

Before this, it was a $200 upsell to get a MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM. Now, that’s no longer the case, bringing Apple’s cheapest laptop more in line with its competitors. Apple made a similar move in 2016 when it made 8GB the minimum for the 13-inch MacBook Air and discontinued the 4GB 11-inch version months later.

Of the company’s new iMacs, a smaller Mac Mini, and refreshed MacBook Pros introduced this week, none start with less than 16GB. Given the high RAM floor of the existing Mac Studio and Mac Pro models, the 8GB RAM tier is now gone from the company’s computer lineup.

The most likely reason for all that extra RAM? It’s Apple Intelligence — AI models tend to need a lot of RAM to function well. While 8GB seems to be fine for the iPhone, 16GB is the new table stakes for machines running the much more open macOS.