For years, one of the complaints about Apple's iMacs and MacBooks has been the low amount of RAM in the cheapest models; with memory soldered onto Apple's M-series chips, you can't even upgrade at a later date after purchase

However, Apple may finally be raising the starting RAM with the upcoming M4 Mac, and in a recent Bloomberg article covering the announcement schedule, primarily at the September event, this well-connected reporter noted that after the iPhone 16 announcement, the M4 Mac mentioned that testing is scheduled to take place

Importantly, all four test Macs are described as being “base-level versions of the M4 chip,” each with either 16GB or 32GB RAM The M2 Mac mini base model and M3 iMac can only be upgraded to 16GB or 24GB of RAM, suggesting that the M4 version (which is comparable in size to an Apple TV and is said to be smaller than ever) will have a larger initial capacity

While it is possible that Apple has configurations other than the test log available, it seems a sensible time to upgrade the basic configuration Apple's AI implementation, Apple Intelligence, will be included in the Mac, and its memory requirements could be significant It is also possible that Apple will keep the M2 and M3 models with 8GB RAM as a budget option for those who are ambivalent about AI

The four M4 models are identified as “16,1,” “16,2,” “16,3,” and ”16,10” Three of the test computers have 10-core CPUs and 10-core GPUs, while one low-end version has a total of eight cores each For the former, Gurman writes that it has the same specifications found in the M4 iPad Pro, with four high-performance cores and six for efficiency The latter, on the other hand, has four of each

The fact that all four models are described as “base-level versions” should not worry power users Historically, Apple has staggered the release of the Pro, Max, and Ultra versions of its M chips, with the M1 Pro and Max arriving 11 months after the base M1 and the high-end M2 chip arriving 7 months after the M2

This historical data points to a high-end version in 2025, as Gurman believes Apple will keep the tradition of reserving the new Mac for a separate event from the iPhone 16 launch He writes that “Mac updates typically don't arrive until about a month after the annual iPhone announcement,” suggesting that an October event could be scheduled

As for what specific Macs are likely to appear, Bloomberg's past articles suggest that a smaller Mac mini, a new MacBook Pro, and an updated iMac will be the first to harness the power of the M4