16GB vs 32GB RAM for Excel: 32GB is the sweet spot for heavy data work

16GB is a big upgrade over 8GB for large Excel files and Power Query, but you’ll still hit memory limits with >100MB spreadsheets or complex data models. 32GB avoids those “Not enough memory” errors and crashes. Get 32GB if you can’t upgrade later; start with 16GB if you can swap RAM down the road.