I will likely purchase a new MacBook Air M4 when it comes out in a few days. My current Mac is an M1 MBA with 16 GB of memory and 500 GB of storage. I am almost certainly looking at 1 TB but wondering (here’s the perennial question) if I should purchase 16GB or go up to 24 GB? The heaviest task I have is some audio processing for podcasting. Every step up is $200, 15 inch vs. 13, more RAM, more storage. Thoughts my friends? Thanks.
A laptop is a personal choice, so only you can decide what to buy for your own needs.
You have 16gb in your current model, but how much of it are you actually using? How long do you expect to keep your new MBA?
If your use when using it normally is less than 12 or 13gb, I’d be tempted to stick with 16GB. Macs are decent (if not perfect) at managing your RAM use, so they’ll push less used programs out of RAM and into Swap temporarily, and the swap files these days aren’t particularly slow (unlike when they were on spinning drives) so the cost of these when switching to an app whose data is in swap is much more tolerable.
If your RAM standard use is more than 13GB regularly, I’d be tempted to push up to 24GB to futureproof yourself for the new 3-4 years.
The newer macs come with more memory to support Apple Intelligence, but the emergence of Deepseek has led AI providers to work towards smaller models. If you’re not that bothered about AI or Applie Intelligence then your needs aren’t likely to grow that much.
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Thanks Geoff…typically, I use 12 or 13 GB at any one time. Leaning toward getting 24GB!
For me it’s entirely a question of budget. If you have it, yes, you will never regret the extra RAM. If you don’t, you’ll be very happy with the computer you bought that didn’t go over budget.
IMO: From a technical POV (since I think that’s what you’re asking), yes, you will notice the difference between 16 and 24GB of RAM. Even your browser uses more than you think. That doesn’t mean the 16GB version will feel slow either.
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Every time I’ve increased RAM I’ve been happy. Every time I haven’t it has felt like a bottleneck getting a much faster computer but not being able to do more stuff at any one time with it.
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Also, what will you do with it when time to upgrade again?
Selling privately, more ram will probably keep the resale higher. Giving to family or relative or trading in to Apple, value of added ram is probably less?
My personal priority is always more ram first, then more storage. You can’t add more ram, but you can tolerate a compact external SSD if you overflow storage.
But buy enough internal storage for everything you need most of the time.
That’s my biggest challenge with planning any new upgrades now. I need 4 TB, but want more, but the wallet can’t justify the huge mark-up/profit Apple still takes for SSD upgrades.
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You’re lucky, as it’s €250 in Europe…
RAM vs Storage.
The cloud can keep stored files - it can’t keep files in RAM. Therefore, always prioritise RAM
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Great advice all! I’m learning toward spending the extra cash. Rob. sorry about the extra Euros. 
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im holding on to my M1 Air.
at some point they asked in a survey about I-LOVEs and I-WISHes for the original Air series, and although I haven’t seen an interview from Jony Ive on it, I’m convinced that the razor edge of the original was his design INSISTENCE.
an Air isn’t an Air without the razor edge. everything else harkens back to to the bulky powerbooks and macbooks of the past.
i’m really noticing the slowness of spotlight these days, and am itching for an M4, but the M1 Air’s edge still feels cool, more than 10 years after the original Air’s edge brought that same wow factor.
Apple needs a new design voice, that is at the level of purity that Jony Ive had. A visionary of design.
Someone who could have listened to Tim when he pushed for glasses, not a headset.
And Apple needs a visionary at the helm, like Steve, to sit with that new design voice, every day, at lunch, as Jony did, and speak intensely about those bold ideas, and ideate about them. I’m not advocating for Tim to step down, not at all. Rather to be more brave.
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I don’t think it does.
The Macs have taken a significant step forward in functionality since Jony Ive stepped away. On Macbooks alone, more USB ports (Macbook with a single USB port anyone?, you can charge it or back it up, but not both), MagSafe’s return, HDMI ports, and SD card slots are key for more than just Pros, Jony was in charge as all were removed. Yes it looked cleaner, but it was significantly worse in the real world with a need to carry dongles.
The Butterfly keyboard was released on Jony’s watch, Thinness when it wasn’t really needed and a fragile, broken design.
Yes, Jony designed the iPod, the iMac (G3, G4, and Intel designs), the iPhone 4 (My favourite just ahead of the X), and the iPad. He did some fantastic work, but it wasn’t all good.
In the end, Apple are making money hand over fist, the new Macbooks Air are far more functional, and they don’t need the thin edge which was a visual illusion to make them look thinner than they actually were.
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On the other hand, I quite enjoyed the bulk of the weight being towards the back of the laptop. I feel it made it easier to pick up than the current evenly distributed weight / thickness
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Same boat and will sacrifice HD space for more RAM all day
Just ordered it…MBA M4, 24GB/1TB SkyBlue. They gave me $355 for my MBA Air M1 from 2020. Will pick it up at the Manchester, NH Apple Store two weeks from Wednesday! Did it on the phone with a salesperson, which was a new experience. She was great. I’m hearing that lines are long in stores right now with taxrefunds and new products. Appreciate everyone’s help.
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I will prob upgrade as well. My Intel MacBook Air is really seeming slow lately and these things seem amazing. Plus I kinda dig the sky blue.
Buy once, cry once.
I’ve ordered a 13" M4 MBA with 24Gb RAM and 2Tb SSD to upgrade from my 2020 Intel MBA. I plan on hanging on to the M4 for at least 5 years but I wouldn’t be surprised if I get 7 years or more out of it.
I’ve been doing more audio work for a couple of music projects so opted for more RAM and storage.
You’re going to find an amazing difference between your Intel Mac and the M4!