MacBook Air is one of the best notebooks developed and built by Apple Inc., and it is known for its thin and light structure. You can purchase a MacBook Air with 8GB RAM or 16GB RAM. The RAM capacity plays an important role in every laptop’s performance, and you might be wondering if you need a 16 GB RAM MacBook Air.
So, do I need a 16GB RAM MacBook Air? You need a 16GB RAM MacBook Air if you intend to use the laptop to run demanding applications. Demanding apps need a large memory capacity to run perfectly; if the memory capacity is low, the application might be slow or crash frequently.
If you are a video editor or hardcore gamer, getting anything less than a 16GB will be detrimental to your work. You also need a 16GB RAM MacBook Air if you need it for light work but anticipate using demanding apps in the future.
When you are looking for laptops to buy in the Apple Store, you will be concentrating on the specifications of each device. If you want a MacBook Air, you can buy one with 8GB RAM or 16GB RAM.
RAM or random-access memory is one of the crucial parts of your laptop because that is where it stores its short-term memory. The MacBook Air comes in either an 8GB RAM or a 16GB RAM, and, as a user, you need to decide which one is the best for you. While looking at both RAMs, you might be wondering if you need to use a 16GB MacBook Air.
You need a 16GB RAM MacBook Air if you use the laptop to run demanding applications. Many applications require large-capacity RAM to run perfectly because of the large data they are processing.
If you use such applications on a device with low RAM, like 4GB or 8GB, you will have a poor user experience. For example, if you are a hardcore gamer and like playing heavy video games, you will need a 16GB MacBook Air.
It is also best to get a 16GB MacBook Air even if you want to use it for light work. If you have to use a demanding app, your device can easily adapt to your new applications.
Before you purchase a MacBook Air, you already know how you are going to use it. You can check your needs and see if the 16GB is the correct RAM for those particular needs. If you use your MacBook Air for light work, the 16GB RAM might seem like a luxury.
However, if you are going to use MacBook Air to perform heavy tasks, then getting a 16GB MacBook Air is the best move. For example, suppose you are a photographer and usually use Adobe Photoshop to edit your pictures.
In that case, you need a laptop with enough RAM to support a heavy application like Adobe Photoshop. A 16GB MacBook Air will serve you perfectly when you need to edit your pictures using Adobe Photoshop or any other demanding photo-editing app.
It is important to note that the price will increase if you purchase the 16GB RAM MacBook Air. The 16GB MacBook Air costs 200 USD more than its 8GB counterpart. However, this price is worth it because you will be getting a laptop that will perform at a high level.
After selecting the 16GB MacBook Air, you need to choose storage that can match the 16GB RAM. You can select the 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB storage. Most demanding apps usually take up a lot of storage space; hence, if you select a 16GB MacBook Air, you should select the one with 512GB or 1TB of storage space. If you select a 16GB RAM 1TB SSD Storage MacBook Air, you will be required to pay 1,799 USD or 149.91 USD per month.
It is impossible to predict the future, but it is easy to prepare for the future. At the moment, your work might revolve around browsing the internet, doing research or entering data on spreadsheets.
You do not need large RAM to use applications like Safari on your MacBook Air. However, your work might change in the next 6 or 12 months requiring you to use demanding applications. If you have a 16GB MacBook Air, it will be easy to install and use demanding apps. Therefore, if you are not sure whether your work might change in the future, you should get the 16GB MacBook Air to be ready for any eventualities.
Is 8GB Enough for the MacBook Air?
When you are looking for a new laptop to purchase, you want to get one with the correct specifications for your intended use. MacBook Air has two RAM specifications, 8GB and 16GB, with the 8GB RAM being the lowest capacity. Before buying a MacBook Air, you might wonder if the 8GB RAM is enough.
The 8GB RAM is enough on a MacBook Air because it is the best RAM for a majority of users. An 8GB RAM can handle most common applications used for browsing, playing multimedia and preparing documents, among others. You can also use an 8GB RAM MacBook Air to play less demanding games without training the device.
The 8GB MacBook Air might be able to run some heavy applications; however, you will be asking too much of your device. If you intend to use your MacBook Air for demanding tasks like coding, editing or gaming, you should get one with more RAM capacity.
Most people use their MacBook Air for light duties such as preparing documents and browsing the internet. Therefore, buying a MacBook Air with a lot of RAM usually seems like a waste of money.
An 8GB MacBook Air would be perfect for anyone who wants a laptop for light work. Most people use applications that do not have much RAM, making the 8GB MacBook Air the best laptop for an average user.
You can also multitask using an 8GB MacBook Air without having a bad user experience. For example, you can open your browser, listen to music and work on a spreadsheet without straining your MacBook Air.
When you are looking for a laptop to purchase for a particular use, you need to check the specifications of the software you are going to use. Most software developers usually provide information on the minimum requirements for the software to perform well.
If you are going to use software that requires a laptop with 4GB RAM, purchasing an 8GB RAM MacBook Air is the best move. Sometimes software developers will upgrade their products, and, by doing so, will increase the minimum RAM requirement.
Getting an 8GB RAM MacBook Air will ensure that you will continue using the same device even if the software developers update their minimum RAM requirements.
It is important to understand how RAM works. RAM usually comes in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB or 16GB. The more RAM capacity a computer has, the more demanding applications it can run. Therefore, a 1GB laptop cannot run demanding applications, while a 16GB laptop would not have any issues running a demanding application.
Your computer requires data to run a specific application, and this data is usually stored in the RAM. Your computer requires enough RAM to access data; hence if you have a computer with low RAM capacities like 1GB or 2GB, you might not be able to multitask.
An 8GB MacBook Air will have no difficulty multitasking because it has enough RAM. However, it might become slow if you open multiple heavy apps simultaneously.
You should also note that RAM is quite different from your MacBook Air’s storage. RAM is where your MacBook Air performs all of its work. Your 8GB RAM MacBook Air will use that RAM like a desk where it will access certain data with ease.
When you open a certain application, it takes up space on that RAM. The more applications you open, the more space is covered in the RAM. When you close a certain app, your MacBook Air will remove its data from the RAM, freeing space for other apps.
On the other hand, storage is where data is stored on your MacBook Air until you delete it. The data stored on your MacBook Air’s storage will stay there even if you are not using that app.
Can You Add RAM To a MacBook Air After Purchase?
If your laptop is slow or you want to improve its performance, one way to do so is to add more RAM. When you add more RAM, your laptop has more space to work on, making it easy to run multiple apps at once or run demanding apps. If you have purchased an 8GB or 16GB RAM, you might be wondering if you can add more RAM to it.
You cannot add RAM to a MacBook Air after purchase because Apple Inc. did not design it with room for users to upgrade the RAM. The MacBook Air’s RAM is soldered onto the motherboard; hence you cannot remove it and replace it with a bigger RAM. If you have bought an 8GB MacBook Air, you will not be able to upgrade to 16GB or 32GB RAM.
Therefore, before purchasing a MacBook Air, ensure you buy one with the RAM you need. If you buy the 8GB RAM MacBook Air to save money, hoping you will upgrade the RAM later, you will be disappointed.
If you want to upgrade your laptop’s RAM, the most important thing you need is an extra RAM slot where you can insert the extra RAM stick or module. If your laptop does not have an extra RAM slot, you can remove the existing RAM and replace it with a higher capacity RAM.
For example, if you have an 8GB laptop, you can upgrade its RAM by adding another RAM stick to upgrade it to 16GB or remove the 8GB RAM and replace it with 16GB RAM. When you purchase a MacBook Air, you should know that it does not have these options.
You cannot add another RAM stick because it does not have an extra slot, and you cannot remove the existing RAM because it is soldered onto the laptop’s motherboard.
Other laptop manufacturers like Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo and ASUS, among others, allow users to upgrade their devices’ RAMs. For users that like to upgrade their laptops, that freedom is taken away with the MacBook Air.
Once you buy an 8GB MacBook Air, that is the RAM that you will use until you buy another MacBook Air with a higher RAM. Apple made sure no one could upgrade their MacBook Air’s RAM by soldering the RAM onto the motherboard.
If you open your MacBook Air to remove the RAM, you will have a higher chance of damaging it, and it will cost you more to repair or replace it.
If your MacBook Air is slow and has run out of application memory, you can clear the memory to improve its performance. Because you cannot upgrade your MacBook Air’s RAM, the only option is to clear the RAM to create more space.
You can download an app that can clear unnecessary data on your MacBook Air’s RAM. You can also clear your MacBook Air’s RAM by restarting it. Restarting your MacBook Air will empty all data on its RAM, ensuring the apps you have opened have enough space to run smoothly.
If your MacBook Air’s performance does not improve, try to update macOS. If you are running on out-of-date macOS, some of your applications might not work properly, making your MacBook Air appear slow.
Summary
When you are looking for a new laptop to purchase and have settled on a MacBook Air, the next step is to decide which capacity of RAM is best for you. If you intend to use demanding apps such as video gaming and video editing apps, you will need a 16 GB MacBook Air. If you intend to use your MacBook Air for light work like preparing documents, the 8GB RAM is enough.
You should also think about the future when buying a MacBook Air. If currently, your work uses light apps, an 8GB RAM will work; however, if you start using demanding apps, the 8GB RAM will not be enough.
To be safe, you should add 200 USD and buy the 16GB RAM MacBook Air. You should note that Apple Inc. designed the MacBook Air without user-upgradable memory; therefore, when you buy that 8GB RAM MacBook Air, the only way to upgrade the RAM is to buy the 16GB MacBook Air.
