M4 MacBook Air 15” – 16GB or 24GB RAM?

If you are planning to run Windows 11 for ARM inside of a Parallels virtual machine, I would not think the question would be whether to buy 16 GB or 24 GB of RAM. It would be whether to buy 24 GB or 32 GB.

Note that if you are planning to run any "off the shelf" Windows/Intel applications, you would need to run those inside of Microsoft's Intel emulator, inside of a copy of Windows for ARM that itself is running inside of a virtual machine. There will be overhead and there may be limitations.

Microsoft Support – Options for using Windows 11 with Mac® computers with Apple® M1®, M2™, and M3™ chips

For Parallels

Unlike running Parallels on an Intel-based Mac, running it on a Silicon Mac has not been fully implemented ... yet.

The latest Parallels Desktop 20 fully supports running macOS Sequoia, various Linux distributions, and Windows 11 ARM on the M4‑equipped MacBook Air models. You can check the Parallels Knowledge Base for more information. Ref: https://kb.parallels.com/130273/

A bit more details on what operating systems Parallels support on a Silicon Mac ...

• For macOS: You can easily create macOS guest VMs only for the newer versions of macOS (Monterey+), since the hardware and host OS support them natively.
• For Linux: Common distributions like Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, and others run reliably in Parallels on Apple Silicon.
• Now for Windows: Parallels supports Windows 11 ARM Edition on Apple Silicon Macs. Traditional x86‑64 Windows (Intel builds) are now supported only in experimental emulation mode in Parallels 20.2 and later — with very slow boot times and limited USB device support.

For RAM

As far as RAM, I concur with BobTheFisherman. The more the better, especially for running Parallels or playing games.

From what I gleaned from the Internet of shared user experiences on M4 Air, allocating 8–12 GB of VM memory to Windows runs well for light tasks; 4 GB may work but is sluggish. For more serious multitasking — e.g. running both macOS and Windows concurrently with multiple apps — 24 GB unified memory is ideal.

So my suggestion: go for **at least 16 GB**, but if you plan to use Parallels regularly, invest in **24 GB** if configuration allows.

For the Case Color Durability

The M4 MacBook Air retains the same aluminum unibody build quality as prior generations, meaning that all color finishes offer similar durability and scratch resistance. The standout new option this year is a “light blue” finish replacing the former Space Gray. This new color is more tolerant of scratches or smudges than darker finishes visually—scratches may appear less obvious—but structurally it's the same anodized aluminum no matter the color ... so the color selection is totally a user choice.

For Gaming

The M4 chip has significantly improved GPU performance, especially the 10-core GPU version in higher-tier MacBook Air models. While it's not a "gaming rig," it handles many games surprisingly well — particularly those optimized for Metal or with native Apple Silicon support.

Specifically for Minecraft

Again from what I can gather from the Internet, go with the Minecraft Java Edition. The Minecraft Bedrock Edition only runs via virtualization/emulation (e.g. Windows ARM in Parallels). It performs decently but is not as optimized on Apple Silicon.

Niki_27 wrote:

Microsoft Office

If you get a Mac, don't get Parallels and Windows just for the purpose of running Microsoft Office. The key Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) have both Mac and Windows versions. You'll be much happier running the native Mac version, than running the Windows version inside of a virtual machine.

Microsoft – Compare All Microsoft 365 Products

I know the MacBook Air isn’t a gaming laptop, but it would be nice to play casually every now and then.

Something that may be of interest:

1. There is an Apple Arcade subscription service that gives you access to many games for $6.99/month. A nice thing is that none of these games nickel-and-dime you with "in-app purchases" of artificial consumables.
2. Apple Silicon Macs can run some iPad games. (These games, unfortunately, usually are loaded chock-full of those "in-app purchases".)

Visual Studio is for Windows, and related apps.

Visual Studio Code is cross-platform, with what that adds both positive and negative.

The native IDE is Xcode, and with Playgrounds for Swift work.

You’ll be using Windows for Arm in that guest or using a VM with x86-64 emulation too, which might add wrinkles for anything running, or might be adding substantial emulation load for x86-64 apps and code. If you’re thinking about running VMs, more physical memory is often advisable as you’re running multiple complete installations of operating systems and apps.

As an alternative to running a VM and guests locally, Windows Remote Desktop with hosted Windows in Azure or elsewhere can be an option.

Beyond infrequent use, I wouldn’t usually pick a Mac for Windows development.

Parallels can use lots of memory, and don’t get RAM (main memory) and VRAM (video memory) confused.

Given apps and macOS and local memory and storage usage only tends to increase over time, I’d usually avoid the bottom-end configurations.

The key thing to remember is that you cannot add additional RAM later, should you run into any memory pressure issues in the future using your new computer. It's really your decision on how to best configure your Mac. As mentioned by another, you can also contact Apple Sales directly and they can offer advice on what would work best for you.

I'll only respond to your RAM question. Get as much RAM as you can. This will help future-proof your computer as more memory demanding apps are released.

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If your have enough budget, then go with 24GB, PD eats up pretty much RAM on your Mac.

Ferensom wrote:

If your have enough budget, then go with 24GB, PD eats up pretty much RAM on your Mac.

Virtual Machines in general all use lots of memory, not just Parallels.