Apple is gearing up to introduce a new lineup of M4-powered Macs later this year. A new Bloomberg News report suggests that all of these M4 Macs will come equipped with at least 16GB of RAM, and some models may even feature 32GB to start. This marks a significant departure from Apple’s previous practice of offering 8GB RAM as the base configuration for its Mac lineup.
Rajesh Pandey for Cult of Mac:
Since 2016, entry-level Macs have shipped with 8GB RAM on the entry-level model. Apple stuck to the same 8GB baseline with the switch to Apple silicon in late 2020.
In his latest Power On newsletter copy, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman claims Apple could finally change this. Reportedly, the company is testing multiple M4 Macs with 16 or 32GB of system memory. The lack of an 8GB model indicates the company might do away with the configuration entirely.
Gurman also claims that M4 Macs will support up to 32GB of system memory — up by 8GB compared to M3 Macs, which max out at 24GB.
The additional entry-level RAM will help M4 Macs with Apple Intelligence and other AI-related tasks. It’s unclear whether the bump in system memory will come with a price bump.
MacDailyNews Take: What’s clear is that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but Apple may be able to save in other areas to keep prices similar to current models.
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Always a good idea to get as much RAM as possible when buying a new Mac.
At the prices Apple charges and the efficiency of Apple Silicon the vast majority of people are going to be just fine with 16GB. I assume this change has to do with Apple Intelligence, an as of yet unproven feature that won’t hit its stride for several years at least.
I agree with you that the bump (should it happen) likely relates to AI. However, even if Apple’s in-house AI is unproven, it would still behoove many users to get more RAM so they can run third-party models locally. I have been surprised at how decent the models are that I can run on an M2 MBA with 16 GB RAM, and when I buy my next computer I’ll certainly be upgrading so that I can run larger models.