Apple has now voluntarily increased the standard RAM of all new MacBooks to 16GB, a full year after claiming that 8GB RAM on a Mac is 'analogous' to 16GB on PCs.

Well, well. Well, well, well. Look who has decided to move away from the 2010s, and create computers with enough memory for modern tasks. Apple has been announcing new Mac Hardware this week, including the new Mac Mini. But the biggest news is that Apple, a company known for selling expensive laptops, now puts more than 8GB RAM in all of them. No more paying $200 for a 16GB upgrade!

Apple's laptops are generally great, but there's always something for which they charge an eye-watering fee. For years, that was an adequate amount RAM. Bob Borchers was the Apple VP who finally addressed this criticism in late 2023.

"Comparing memory between systems is not equivalent because we have an efficient memory use, we use memory compression and we have a unified architecture," he said. "In reality, 8GB of memory on an M3 MacBook Pro would be equivalent to 16GB in other systems." We are able to use the memory much more efficiently.

This answer was met with a lot of laughter and raised eyebrows. It was immediately tested. Bob, it turns out that opening a few browser tabs and doing some light multitasking used up all the memory, causing the system to slow down. This didn't happen with a Windows laptop that had 16GB of RAM. Apple's 8GB RAM models are "inflicted with insult" because there is no way to upgrade later. Apple's expensive upgrade fee is required to upgrade the RAM, which is soldered directly to the motherboard.

Apple will still bill you $200 for 8GB extra RAM in the new MacBook models. This upgrade is no longer as important. Apple MacBooks are now equipped with a minimum of 16GB RAM, even older models.

• 13-inch MacBook Air with M2 chip (from 2022): 16GB of RAM
• 13-inch MacBook Air with M3 chip (from March 2024 onwards): 16GB RAM
• 15-inch MacBook Air with M3 chip (from March 2024 onwards): 16GB RAM
• 14-inch MacBook Pro (new M4 chip): 16GB RAM
• 16-inch MacBook Pro (new M4 Pro chip): 24GB RAM
• 16-inch MacBook Pro (new M4 Max chip): 36GB RAM

The MacBook Air can be upgraded to 24GB RAM for just $200. Certain MacBook Pro models can go as high as 128GB if you are willing to spend $300 on a graphics card upgrade and an additional $1,000 on memory upgrades. Throw in a 2TB SSD for a borderline-unbelievable $400--because even a system this premium defaults to 1TB of storage!--and you've got yourself a $4,999 PC. Of course, this is before taxes.

Apple's upgrade pricing is still ridiculous, but the company has at least given its computers enough RAM to run modern software efficiently. The 13-inch MacBook Air, with its still-stunning M3 chip, is only $1099, which is a great price for a wonderfully-built ultraportable system. There's got to be a catch, right? Apple would not sell a computer for such a friendly price. Let's check the SSD...

Ah, there you are. Apple, never change. Anyone have an extra $800?