Laptop makers revert to 8GB RAM in budget notebooks, reversing 16GB standard
By
Andrew E. Freedman
Summary
The article discusses how laptop manufacturers are reverting from the 16GB RAM standard back to 8GB in affordable notebooks, despite Microsoft and Apple having pushed 16GB as the new minimum. Companies like Dell, Acer, Microsoft, and Chuwi are offering 8GB RAM configurations to keep prices low, with the MacBook Neo being a notable example featuring 8GB of RAM and an A18 Pro chip. This marks a reversal of the short-lived 16GB standard that emerged in 2024-2025.
Source
bskyLaptop makers revert to 8GB RAM in budget notebooks, reversing 16GB standardtomshardware.comKey quotes
· 5 pulledFor a brief time from 2024 through 2025, it really seemed that 16GB of RAM was the new standard on mid-range and premium laptops.
Microsoft made 16GB of memory a standard to be labeled a Copilot+ PC, and Apple made 16GB the minimum on all of its systems.
Then came the MacBook Neo. It was made of aluminum, looked and felt premium, and used a version of the A18 Pro system on a chip from the iPhone 16 Pro, which features 8GB of RAM.
While there was some blowback from the enthusiast community, most reviewers found that for the most basic tasks, 8GB was sufficient.
Dell, Acer, Microsoft, and Chuwi are among those who have eschewed the short-lived 16GB standard before and at Computex.
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