While Apple is releasing a number of new M4-powered Macs this year, including the redesigned, smaller Mac Mini and the MacBook Pro M4, the Cupertino-company didn't forget about the MacBook Air.
As part of a slew of announcements this week, Apple revealed that both the 13-inch M2-powered MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Air M3 will be getting their starting RAM doubled. Currently, both versions of the MacBook Air feature 8GB of RAM to start. Going forward they will now have 16GB to start, which matches what is available in the 15-inch MacBook Air M3.
Otherwise, nothing else will change about the laptops, including their starting prices of $999 (M2) and $1,099 (M3). Both will also retain their 13.6-inch Liquid Retina displays and two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports. The M3 version comes with a 512GB SSD for storage and can be bumped up to 2TB for more money. The M2 SSD starts at 256GB.
Apple didn't release any other information about the laptops, but our guess as to why the tech giant massively boosted the RAM for the MacBook is so that people can take advantage of new Apple Intelligence features announced for macOS Sequoia. Apple Intelligence requires a lot of power that the M3 and M2 CPUs might not be able to handle on their own, but extra RAM makes it easier.
Apple's version of artificial intelligence did not launch when Sequoia launched in September 2024. However, those features are slowly starting to appear on Sequoia upgraded systems. Including Writing Tools, which acts as an editor for you. More tools including ChatGPT integration with Siri should launch in December with macOS 15.2.
The newly upgraded 13-inch M2 and M3 MacBook Airs should be available shortly, while the new M4 Macs are up for preorder now and are expected to begin shipping on November 8.
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