Apple quietly upgraded a crucial piece of the MacBook Air

Flickr/Tim Trueman

Apple made a quiet upgrade to the 13-inch MacBook Air on Tuesday that makes the base model a more attractive buy. Instead of getting 4GB of RAM at the laptop's entry level price, you now get 8GB.

The upgrade from 4GB of RAM to 8GB previously cost $100.

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It may not sound like a huge improvement, but RAM is incredibly important for keeping a computer running smoothly. If you plan on using a MacBook for at least a couple of years for anything besides the most basic tasks, you should have at least 8GB of RAM.

Unfortunately, the 11-inch MacBook Air base model still comes with 4GB of RAM. Apple also refreshed the 12-inch MacBook on Tuesday with updated specs and a Rose Gold color option.