2024 could be the year all laptops get 16GB of RAM - and you can thank Microsoft's AI for that

Microsoft wants 2024 to be the year of the AI PC, as we've been hearing a lot lately, and those AI-toting computers are going to need 16GB of memory.

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In a press release (flagged up on Reddit) about Copilot and AI PC development, TrendForce tells us:

"Microsoft has set the baseline for DRAM in AI PCs at 16GB. In the long term, TrendForce projects that AI PCs will catalyze an increase in annual demand for PC DRAM bits, with consumer upgrade trends further boosting this demand."

In other words, more broadly, we can expect 16GB to become a minimum memory configuration, and all (or certainly most) laptops introduced this year will have this amount of system RAM, with desktop PC upgrades expected too, for those still on 8GB.

It's about time in some ways, as 8GB is looking increasingly shaky these days, for anything beyond a laptop that's needed for just basic emails and web surfing only. But as Microsoft builds Windows 11, and next-gen Windows moreover, with a greater emphasis on AI and Copilot, even the basic running of the OS will be more demanding on the PC.

As you no doubt know, the new AI PCs will also have an NPU to accelerate AI workloads, as already seen in Intel's new Meteor Lake chips for laptops, and AMD's Ryzen Pro CPUs (which have Ryzen AI).

Microsoft is working on integrating Copilot across Windows 11 in a deeper fashion - bringing the AI to File Explorer, for example, according to clues buried in the OS - and it's clear enough that the firm has huge plans for the desktop-based assistant.

That includes a dedicated key on the keyboard to invoke Copilot - the last time Microsoft ushered in such a move was the introduction of the Windows key itself. If you wanted a measure of how important Copilot is to Microsoft, there you have it.