Your Mac relies on memory to keep the files and apps you’re running open and available. Memory stores data temporarily, providing much faster access to your apps and files than storage.
Apple silicon includes unified memory, which is more efficient than traditional RAM. This single pool of high-performance memory allows apps to efficiently share data between the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine — so everything you do is fast and fluid. This means you can do more with unified memory than you could with the same amount of traditional RAM.
The amount of memory that’s right for you depends on how you will use your Mac. The more memory you choose, the more apps you can run simultaneously and the better they will perform.
8GB: Great for browersing online, streaming movies, messaging with friends and family, editing photos and personal video, casual gaming, and running everyday productivity apps.
16GB: Recommended if you plan on multitasking across a large number of memory-intensive apps, including professional video editing.
Note: Unified memory is not user accessible. If you think you’ll need additional memory, it’s a good idea to upgrade now.