Virtual RAM | How to increase on older MacBook Air

All MacBook Airs run some version of {Mac OS X / macOS}. That OS has built-in virtual memory support. It is not something that you "set up" – it is just there.

If you're asking how to add more RAM, the 4 GB of real RAM that your machine has is soldered in, and there is no way to add more. No doubt your computer is already using virtual memory (virtual RAM), and is swapping out the contents of main RAM to blocks of compressed RAM, and/or to your internal SSD). However, simulated memory is much slower than the real thing, and if you are pushing your computer too hard, performance may drop off a cliff.

FYI, if you run Activity Monitor (in the Utilities folder, inside the Application folder), while you are doing other work, and look at the colors on the Memory Pressure graph, that may give you a rough idea of your RAM situation

• Green means the computer has adequate memory
• Yellow means the amount of memory is marginal for the workload
• Red means that you're overloading the system and things are likely to get slow.

Aside: According to MacTracker, the model ID "MacBookAir6,2" corresponds to one of these models:

• MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013)
• MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014)

Both can run Big Sur – but nothing higher. Although Big Sur will technically run on Macs with only 4 GB of RAM, I'd expect that the 4 GB would be, in many cases, a bit of a performance bottleneck.

macOS Big Sur is compatible with these computers - Apple Support

macOS Big Sur - Technical Specifications

Virtual RAM = The Swap file. When needed, your Mac will put what would normally go into RAM onto the drive itself temporarily. This is normal and nothing you have control over.

Restarting the Mac will clear virtual RAM/Swap file.

What are you trying to solve that you think you need "virtual RAM"?

I have xCode using LOTS of swap, and today I had usage of 64 GB RAM with system putting it on "paused", with "System run out of memory" dialogue. How to increase swap with command line?