Apple Intelligence, Apple's suite of artificial intelligence features, is just now becoming generally available, but its biggest initial impact could be seen as early as this week.
It all started yesterday with the M4 iMac line, which doubled the base RAM from 8GB to 16GB. Today, Apple did it again with the M4 Mac mini. Education customers can buy an M4 Mac mini with 16GB of RAM for just $499 — that's wild. The new M4 Mac mini is a steal. It replaces the 8GB M2 Mac mini for the same price.
We expect the base M4 MacBook Pro to arrive tomorrow with the same RAM doubling. Why is Apple suddenly so generous with RAM? AI, of course.
In a world without Apple Intelligence, Apple would have increased the base RAM in every Mac over time. However, this year, Apple clearly wants to future-proof the Mac for upcoming generative AI features. Apple doesn’t want a repeat of the iPhone 15 situation where it announces software features that can’t run on existing flagship hardware.
Does this mean the M4 MacBook Air will make the jump from 8GB to 16GB of RAM when we see those machines later this year? If so, this is a great upgrade for Mac users — even if you never use generative AI.
One final thought: Oh, how the Mac mini has grown since that form factor was still a product in Apple's lineup. The M4 Mac line is proving to be a powerhouse in its own right.
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