Sixteen gigabytes stopped being generous a while ago. Whether you need to go past it depends on a few specific things.

The short answer is that it depends on where you use the device, but the longer answer is more useful, because the trade-offs are predictable once you know what to look for.

Start with the environment. A quiet home office, an open-plan floor and a plane cabin each place completely different demands on the same hardware, and a product tuned for one can be actively worse in another.

What to check before you buy

Specifications help, but only up to a point. Two products quoting the same headline number can behave very differently in practice, because the number describes a peak rather than a sustained figure.

If you are upgrading rather than buying for the first time, the honest question is what specifically frustrates you about what you already own. That answer usually points at one feature, and buying for that one feature will serve you better than buying the highest tier available.

Budget for the accessories. Cases, cables and replacement pads are rarely included at the level people expect, and they meaningfully change the total cost over a couple of years.