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Apple Announces MacBook Air Now Starts With Increased 16GB of RAM With No Price Increase

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Apple today in its new MacBook Pro press release announced that the MacBook Air lineup now starts with 16GB of RAM, up from 8GB previously.

m3-macbook-air-blue.jpg

This change applies to the 13-inch model with the M2 chip, the 13-inch model with the M3 chip, and the 15-inch model with the M3 chip.

In the U.S., the MacBook Air lineup continues to start at $999, so there is no price increase associated with the boost in RAM.

Apple:
MacBook Air is the world's most popular laptop, and with Apple Intelligence, it's even better. Now, models with M2 and M3 double the starting memory to 16GB, while keeping the starting price at just $999 — a terrific value for the world's best-selling laptop.
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In addition, the highest-end MacBook Air configurations now include 24GB of RAM at no extra cost, as part of a corresponding lineup adjustment.

This increase comes after Apple announced new iMac, Mac mini, and base 14-inch MacBook Pro models this week with a minimum of 16GB of RAM as well, ending the 8GB of RAM era for the Mac after years of criticism from a vocal contingent.

No other changes beyond RAM were announced for the MacBook Air today.

The latest 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models with the M3 chip were released in March, and new models with the M4 chip are expected in March again next year.

Article Link: Apple Announces MacBook Air Now Starts With Increased 16GB of RAM With No Price Increase
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/10/30/macbook-air-now-starts-with-16gb-ram/
Last edited:
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If I only had a nickel for how many defender posts I've read making Apple RAM out to be super special and thus rationalizing $200 for 8GB more vs. commoditized RAM available at retail for quantity 1 unit at peanuts. Here's absolute evidence that Apple RAM is not so expensive because we know they don't just throw away "nearly $200" cost for nothing.

And once again, I'm looking for those defenders who wrote thousands of posts about how 8GB was plenty for nearly all users to now rip into Apple for "forcing too much" RAM on all buyers. But I haven't even seen 1 such post yet... as if they didn't really mean what they were writing but just pushing whatever the company was selling. If they believed what they wrote as recently as last few weeks (and often throughout 2024), they should now find fault with Apple for "forcing" too much. Where's those comments? (rhetorical- we know- as Apple makes such hops, so evolves their passionate opinions to align with the Corp).

Congrats to all who look forward to buying base spec Macs at third party retailer sale prices. We finally were thrown a consumer bone instead of having every bit of focus on shareholder maximization. More of this Apple! More!

A magical side effect of delivering more consumer value is that it can move customers to BUY MORE and/or BUY NOW... which then benefits them shareholders too via volume accumulations instead of squeezing every penny out of each transaction.
 
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adamw said:
This wasn't expected at ALL!
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A surprise but not in some ways. I believe this is all in response to their scramble on the AI train. The RAM was fine for normal computing tasks but for AI and on device AI it’s not enough.

It’s a pity for people who recently bought MacBooks as essentially those who bought the 8GB versions could end up horribly hobbled in terms of AI support and Apple will probably use the RAM spec as a cut off for OS support.

MacBooks Air with 16 GB will likely be far longer supported by OS updates than the 8 GB versions unless they just drop lots of AI support for the lower spec.

These unexpected updates to RAM mid cycle scream scrambling and no forward long term anticipation or thinking. Apple has for too long been restrictive on RAM but has been caught out by the increased requirements of AI.
 
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