Hidden among all the new M4 Mac Mini, MacBook Pro news is a tantalizing tidbit about one of our favorite laptops, the Apple MacBook Air. The existing MacBook Air M2 and MacBook Air M3 are both doubling their base memory from 8GB to 16GB of unified memory while not raising the price.
This is good news because while we loved the MacBook Air M3, our chief criticism was that Apple neglected to upgrade the base memory from the previous M2 model.
The bigger surprise here is that Apple is treating memory like a relatively cheap commodity and not raising the price of the laptop to accommodate it. The Apple MacBook Air M2 will still start at $999 / £999 / AU$1,599, and the Apple MacBook Air M3 will start at $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,799. The MacBook Air M3 15-inch will also get the RAM boost, going from 8B to 16GB while maintaining the $1,299 / £1,399 / AU$2,199 starting price.
But why?
Perhaps Apple is being generous, but the more likely reason is that the new base requirement for MacBooks running Apple Intelligence (Apple’s brand of generative AI) is no longer 8GB. Apple’s efforts to run as much of the large language and image models on board may strain an 8GB base system significantly. 16GB should offer enough headroom for basic, creative, pro, and AI tasks.
Apple Intelligence support aside, doubling the RAM solidifies its position as one of the best laptops. Furthermore, it puts this 13-inch portable on par, memory-wise, with our top pick for the best laptop, Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 7 Copilot+ PC, which starts with 16GB of RAM for $999 / £1,049.99 incl. VAT / AU$1,899 incl. GST. If you add Apple Intelligence to the mix, we will have a head-to-head competition between the best AI Microsoft offers and Apple’s still relatively untested AI entry.
All Apple Silicon-class MacBook Air models can run Apple Intelligence, even our beloved MacBook Air M1, but that now discontinued model is stuck at 8GB. One might assume that the new M2 and M3 MacBook Air laptops will be even more efficient Generative AI-capable systems.
No word from Apple for now on when we might see an M4 chip in the MacBook Air.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
