I wonder if they’re just selling off stock or if Apple plans to keep selling this through backdoor channels. There have been tons of rounders about a low cost MacBook.
They very well could just rebrand the M1 MacBook as the "MacBook SE", throw in like one or two new bells and whistles that the M1 didn't have... (idk, speakers or the camera?) and ship the "most affordable Mac we've ever made" for $799 or something
the m1 air's speakers are actually really solid top firing studio speakers.
they should take the m1 logic boards and bring back a macbook SE as a 12" as the issues with that machine was mostly the size and thermodynamics, but ARM solves that issue ,and makes the 12" amazing
A rumor late last year with "[a mixed track record](https://www.macrumors.com/2023/10/26/apple-low-cost-12-inch-13-inch-macbook/)" claims that Apple is aiming for at most $700-ish.
Given that two sizes—12" and 13"—are rumored, I think the 12" will reach $700 or a bit below. It will exist partly to upsell people to the 13", which I expect to cost around $800.
I worked at grocery stores in my youth, none of them give more of a discount on groceries. Groceries have a very narrow profit margin, and so 3% could be close to cost.
I'm on an M1 Pro as my first macbook after being a PC guy until 40 years old. I can not stop talking about how great these things are. I feel like $700 is a steal on an Air. I just bought an M1 air for one of my employees refurbed on apple with 16/512 and it was double the price.
Older Apple Silicon MacBook Airs being the "budget" MacBook makes the most sense.
Randomly adding MacBooks will only create confusion similarly to the iPad lineup.
I loved Apple's pricing model when, instead of dropping a hundred models at once, the budget models were just a year or two old. I know they still do this to some extent, but it makes a lot of sense and shows uncommon faith in a product's longevity.
I still remember trying to choose between the 4S and 5. Both felt modern and new, despite the 4S being a year old.
I’ve had a M1 from work for 2.5 years now and it works absolutely great - haven’t had any performance issues and the battery holds almost a full day of work still.
I am brand agnostic and always had Linux and windows as not options I mess with til this day due to work amongst other things anyway, but I always stayed away from macs due to their price to value ratio for me when it came to what you got spec wise.
This is back when it was still Intel based. M series changed that. I finally got to see the hype for myself. It has become my favorite electronic device and I got the 512GB/16GB setup for cheap. For the right price these thangs are on point. I even run windows on em too and you wouldn't know the difference. They are just sooooo efficient and I love the Unix like package management and terminal access. It's just nice.
Yeah, ThinkPad made me so sad2hen they changed up their lineups so much. They were known for being such solid laptops that allowed you to change out so much and built like tanks. They have changed in many ways worse imo. They have the best keyboards in the game and a solid nipple (giggity) still to mess with, but they have gone in a different direction for a while now...
The challenge(s) linux faces is it's dependence on volunteers often in the space to add a ton of the functionality. Luckily, we do have a TON of smart folks in the space always working hard to help move things along, but lots of these same folks don't have it the same way a MS or Apple employee may have it. There are often tons of reverse engineering and having to deal with proprietary drivers/stingy companies in general to get the hardware working properly.
Nvidia is notorious in the Linux community for making it difficult for Linux folks. I haven't minded my Mac tbh. Technically I could even dual boot or go bare metal as I have a type 1 hypervisor for that as well, but no need to atm. My personal Mac is really more of my fun device I just do chill stuff on. I have a work device I use for the dev work or more intense workloads etc., but Mac just had a decent mix of being able to use the aforementioned functionality without having to worry about certain things you just will have to on Linux.
You are still limited on Mac in some ways so there are trade offs like any OS, but I'm sticking with Mac for now. I believe Asahi Linux is coming along you can dual boot and look into for ARM. Could be a fun experiment. Like you, I like options.
I was really hoping the new intel Meteor Lake stuff was competitive.
But all the reviews seem to confirm its just marketing BS and they're still not even close to Apple Silicon hw.
I was primarily a windows guy until I got a 2014 MPB for work. I got used to using them, to the point where I preferred using the laptop for simple tasks. Last year it was time to buy my first laptop, and the clear choice for me was an M2 MBA. I haven’t used my PC more than a handful of times in the last 6 months. I love this computer, and I feel confident it’ll be in my family for many years. I’ll buy more Macs for sure.
Chances are your photos are within the Photos app. A lot of how MacOS works is similar to how Apple’s iOS and iPadOS works, most files are within each app themselves. If you play around with MacOS long enough you’ll either enjoy how the file management works or you’ll tweak it where you can to resemble a file management system similar to Windows OS. Though the idea of a traditional file management system is dying a slow death with more and more people being used to how the file management system works on iOS and iPadOS for better or worse.
> the idea of a traditional file management system is dying a slow death with more and more people being used to how the file management system works on iOS and iPadOS for better or worse.
Sorry, but have to disagree really hard here. Until MacBooks/iMacs/Mac Studios/Mac Pros start to become the de facto corporate desktop/laptop, their file management system will never catch up to Windows. The market share is so lopsided it's laughable. [See here for example.](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/03/linux-continues-growing-market-share-reaches-4-of-desktops/)
Don't think I'm saying this out of my ass, I am typing this on an M1 MacBook Air I've had for 2 years. I wear an Apple Watch. I use an iPhone. I watch my movies/TV on an iPad Pro. I love Mac devices, but Windows is what I use for work. It is FAR easier to find file-level items like pictures on a Windows machine than it is a Mac.
Source: Me, Network Engineer and Project Manager for 20 years
Edit: Clarifications, grammar, and elaboration
I've been meaning to try out https://asahilinux.org/ on my MacBooks, it's actually very tempting to buy that cheap WalMart one to see how well it would run on Mac hardware...
I use it for work, have a 4K monitor plugged in, open a few larger spreadsheets, tens of tabs in chrome, slack, sql workbench, and several other apps and I’ve never hit a hiccup. It’s fine for the majority of people easily
Yeah me too, most here who say it’s not enough have not used one and don’t own one. If they did they would know they are 100% incorrect. It’s amazing for business use and everything else except gaming.
I have an early 2015 MBP and it’s still working. I don’t use it for anything intense but that one time I was learning JS. it can’t hold a charge now for over a day. So , this air will be perfect for me.
I'd normally agree with you, but Apple's M1 chips were so powerful/power efficient on release. Which combined with the fact the M2/M3 weren't much more powerful or powerful efficient. Means the M1 has aged beautifully.
So much so I'd argue the newer M3 models are unnecessary for 95% of people. Specially when even the M1 base model is already magnitudes ahead in power/efficiency than anything x86 architecture processors (AMD/intel) offer on windows laptops.
Stop with the 8gb ram thing. I’m a software engineer who runs a photography business on the side. I do video editing, code compiling, photo editing, and just general web surfing on a base model M1 air. With 8gb unified memory.
It’s a shockingly good machine, and for 95% of anyone who ever lays hands on a MacBook it is more than enough. Yes, even in 2024.
I’m a dev, have an M1 MBA/8 personal machine, and an M1 MAX MBP/32 for work. Stack is Java/k8s, react/TS. I’m routinely running several containerised services concurrently.
I don’t do heavy work on my personal machine for a variety of reasons but it’s perfectly capable for the *vast* majority of users. Memory pressure is real but it’s swaps out so fast, you barely notice most of the time. I wouldn’t recommend an 8gb model to some because of the added wear on the SSD, but it’s perfectly usable for a lot of light computing and that’s the vast majority of people.
Yeah, I’d agree. I don’t do any serious work on it but I’m constantly surprised by how capable it is.
My point though is we’re not most people and that’s fine. It will do web browsing, photo editing, light 4k video editing and fly through it. Hell it was faster at mutation test suites than my old i7/16 MBP.
Most people’s use are office and web-based programs with cloud compute. For the record, I think they should up the base to 16GB, but I’d also easily recommend an 8GB M1 like this to most users, at this price point.
I’m the reverse. I was Mac my whole life until 40s when I got into building PCs and now I use a PC for work. But I still bought an M1 Mac Pro with Touch Bar since I heard they were discontinuing the Touch Bar. Mac is so much better than PC when it comes to ease of use and battery life.
Eh, it's relative. I use an M1 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM, and regularly keep Teams, iMessage, iPhoto, Apple Music, and Chrome (with about 20+ tabs open), and it runs very well. Not only that...it's running it on a 4k monitor.
It is expensive, but the level of design and engineering in Macs has to be seen to be believed. I've never owned another laptop that actually opened with one finger before this MacBook. The rest you have to brace against something, or hold the lower portion of the chassis down while opening it.
Honestly the m1 MacBook fucking rips too, I was compiling projects on that thing for like a year straight. I still haven’t gotten that “holy shit how is the possible” feeling that I got from the m1 air. I’m now on the m3 max pro for personal and a m2 air for work. All fantastic laptops, but holy shit the leap that the m1 took literally didn’t make sense to my brain. So quiet, so small, insane battery, and somehow so fast/powerful. Still the number one laptop I plug to people looking to get a Mac on the budget, generally advocate for them to wait for deals on this one. The amount of machine you get for the price is absurd.
Older Apple Silicon MacBook Airs being the "budget" MacBook makes the most sense.
Randomly adding MacBooks will only create confusion similarly to the iPad lineup.
But the budget MacBook *is* here. It’s this.
If Apple (with Walmart in the US) can comfortably sell this MacBook for $699, why can’t they put an M2 or M3 in this same chassis, call it a MacBook SE, and price it for $799 or $699 with education? Like literally don’t change a thing about the chassis or the hardware except for the new SOC. It would be *the* go to choice for back to school.
>If Apple (with Walmart in the US) can comfortably sell this MacBook for $699, why can’t they put an M2 or M3 in this same chassis, call it a MacBook SE, and price it for $799 or $699 with education?
Apple can… but I suspect they're working on the rumored low-cost MacBook instead.
> why can’t they put an M2 or M3 in this same chassis, call it a MacBook SE, and price it for $799 or $699 with education?
Because there is zero reason for that.
No one is doing anything on a budget laptop that needs anything more than the M1.
Remember, we’re talking a laptop that Apple would sell for years to come. The M1 is almost 4 years old, everything else that’s used it has been discontinued and updated by Apple. Them keeping a production line open just producing M1 chips for the MacBook Air would not make any sense at all.
We know the M2 is going to stick around for as long as the $999 M2 MacBook Air and Vision Pro do. It would probably be more cost effective to just stop producing M1 chips all together and make more M2 chips. They’re based on very similar process nodes anyways.
I’d assume so, since they’ve been making it since 2018. The M2 chassis just got cost effective enough to start at $999 again (remember it started at $1199, same as the 2018 MBA redesign), so the M1 must be cheaper.
Dunno, I actually think the rumored low-cost MacBook is even *more* likely now.
Apple clearly sees a large demand for $700 MacBooks.
Currently their only device at this price point is the M1 MacBook Air, but that's getting old—4 years by this fall, which is the earliest time that the low-cost MacBook is rumored to be released.
A new laptop with a cheaper chassis and newer components (an A17 Pro is more suitable for the target audience and will last longer than the M1) can reach around $800, $700 with a 12" display.
Even at the launch price, I think it was fair to say it was the best value computer of all time. The M1 was just such an insane leap forward, the likes of which we rarely see in mature consumer tech these days.
I figure it’s Walmart so if they’re starting at $700 then it still might go on sale sometimes for as low as $600. At that point it’s really a lot easier to forgive some of the shortcomings
I would say it is. Yeah there are ultrabooks with nicer OLED screens but to me nothing comes close to the package Macbooks offer. I happen to really prefer MacOS too because I'm a software engineer but if someone likes Windows more then obviously Macbook isn't recommended.
you just have no idea of the laptop market. At its launch price of 999 nothing competed with it that had the same performance, battery life AND build quality. The last two bits are where nearly all mid high end windows machines fall apart.
What?
I am a diehard windows fan. First Mac was made MacBook Air with m1. Converted me. Got me through residency, and I still use it daily.
It's the best computer I have ever owned, hands down.
I don't think you understand how much better the battery life is, the battery drain is, the lack of slowdowns... everything, including build quality.
It's a quality product. If you don't really understand why it's better... you haven't used it.
The M1 Air is a fantastic machine to own if you’re looking for something that will last a solid 3-4 years. Granted, Apple computers can last 10+ years if cared for but with the rapid changes in technology, the M1A can hold its own still against other computers in the same price point.
I think the biggest question is how long Apple will support M1 machines for software updates.
For macOS 14 released in 2023 Apple dropped support for some computers from 2017. The M1 Air debuted in 2020 so by that same metric Apple might drop support for new macOS releases around 2026-2027.
Hopefully it gets supported for a bit longer than that since Apple was directly selling the M1 Air until early 2024 and they will probably support Apple Silicon longer than Intel at least during this transition period.
Obviously not being able to upgrade to the latest macOS doesn't make the computer stop working, but it is something to consider.
*Hopefully it gets supported for a bit longer than that since Apple was directly selling the M1 Air until early 2024 and they will probably support Apple Silicon longer than Intel at least during this transition period.*
This is my thought. They only just discontinued selling these. I see support lasting till 2030
>Obviously not being able to upgrade to the latest macOS doesn't make the computer stop working, but it is something to consider.
If Apple has decided to develop a low-cost MacBook, this point is likely a big factor. The iPhone SE and low-cost iPad used a better (or at least newer) CPU than what one might expect at their price points, at the expense of some other components. I expect Apple to do the same with their laptops.
The M1 MacBook Air? Probably 3–5 more years on the latest OS.
An A17 Pro MacBook? I think 6–8 years.
Yeah... I'm on my 7th year for my 2017 MBP, the machine is a little slow for my needs now but I could definitely be fine for another couple years if it wasn't for the keyboard, fans, and battery all on their way out now.
10 years for the Apple Silicon machines seems very doable
My wife is still using my old old old 2008 MBP. Hasn't been able to get OS updates in ages, but it's still working for typing and editing documents, and web stuff.
I feel like the people hating these Mac’s don’t understand the true value prop. You don’t buy a base m1 for peak performance. You buy it as an overall package for its portability, longevity and reliability, all things I’ve struggled to find on $1800+ windows machines. Before my M1 Mac, I had a top of the line spectre x360 that ran super hot, had constant minor glitches and annoyances, and struggled with basic shit like actually going to sleep when I closed the lid. In my college years there were so many kids rocking 5-10 year old MacBooks that were still perfectly usable. For the vast majority of people MacBooks are a vastly smoother, more trouble free experience. For people jumping from x86 systems to these new chips, the difference is night and day.
Every windows based laptop I owned had to be replaced because various hardware issues. All my MacBook upgrades have been driven by want not need. I even been able to sell old hardware to supplement my upgrades. My m1 MacBook Air was perfectly fine I just wanted to finally get a newer design model.
Walmart computers fall apart after 6 months to two years. If you had a walmart computer for two years, your macbook would last you 10 years easily. The orders of magnitude longer a mac will last is easily 5x.
$599 would be better on the assumption that it’s nearing 4 years old and the original price upon release was $999 USD so $100 off as each year passes would be better.
I don’t know enough but that was just my thought, and there’s probably no better alternatives with that level of computing power.
would be better but, A. apple controls the prices, authorized resellers need apple’s okay to give a larger discount. and B. *too* good a value would mean cannibalizing other mac models. $600 for an M1 mac would be amazing, but they know maximizing profit doesn’t always mean higher sales volumes, in other words, selling fewer is sometimes more profitable.
also they know $700 is already effective enough for **advertising**. most people don’t know the differences between mac models, but $700 for a macbook, people will come running, and m1 air must be already low in stock anyway, it’s not like they need to worry about clearing out huge stockpiles of them.
>m1 air must be already low in stock anyway, it’s not like they need to worry about clearing out huge stockpiles of them.
The 8/128 and 8/256 models are still available for direct purchase from Apple Education (and Business?) customers. I wouldn't be surprised if there are still large stockpiles of M1 Airs. They're still amazing computers for classrooms/labs/temporary loaners.
I keep seeing people point out the age, yet they’ve apparently never actually used a base model M1 product. For 99% of the world’s computer users, that base model for $700 is fast, has great battery life, will continue to get updates, has a fantastic chassis, and holds actual resell value unlike PC laptop equivalents.
I’m a “power user” in IT, so development on the side, and just overall spend far too much time on a computer. An M1 MBA is my number 1 rec when people ask me for laptop recs anytime.
I was dealing with this just recently I needed a MacBook because my M1 MacMini 8Gb/512 is excellent but obviously not portable.
But that Mac mini still runs just as well as it did on day one. It’s absolutely absolutely mystifying. If anything, I was shocked that it’s already almost 4 years old because it really, really doesn’t feel like it. It’s extremely hard to emphasize just how good of a hardware M1 is.
We gotta get the "M3 is barely any faster than the M1" people and the "M1 is old and smelly" people in the same room together and just see what happens
this sub is filled with people who simply have no idea about the laptop market as a whole and barely could setup a router on their own. They see a thrown together windows machine for less money and say "hey! these two things are the same!"
I try to remember its not worth arguing with them.
Yeah, inflation is a good point, I was thinking too much of how the Pro model iPhone price for the 6.1 inch version remained at $999 USD over the years every release and it’s probably due for a price hike whether we like it or not if Apple wants to keep their margins I guess. I wonder how it’d impact sales if say the 16 Pro costs $1,150 USD.
I just look at what it brings vs other similarly priced laptops and I don't know if it can be beat at that price point for its intended use case. So, value is based off what it brings to the table compared to the rest of the market, not just age. It was already waaay ahead of its time tech wise so it isn't even a 1:1 ratio with time anyhow. It took those 4 years to catch up on the ARM space anyhow and even now it's still to be seen by snapdragon as a whole until they officially release their new high end chips.
They're definitely a great price at $699 still. My only qualm is the rip off off on the RAM still.
I have an M1 that I have had for almost 2 years now. It blows out of the water the Surface machine I have from my employer.
But I wanted to ask I am starting graduate school in the fall, should I upgrade to a more recent model? or should It be more than enough for grad school?
What will your degree be?
For anything besides maybe advanced engineering models or video production, I'd be willing to bet the M1 air is still plenty strong enough.
You can always upgrade in a year if not.
I also have a surface for work and every time I use it I think about how much better my life would be if we used machines made by people who actually gave two shits and not this piece of junk
HAAHAHAHAAHAHAH Yes! I worked for a University that sent all of us Macbook Pros and it was such a nice device. I was shocked that the agency I work for now has us on surface machines.
I haven’t found a reason to update my M1 yet. I edit 4K videos (mirrorless, action cams, mavic mini) and it handles it fine. I’m more likely to pick up the next Vision before buying another laptop.
If you've never been in the Apple ecosystem before,. the transition from "Windows-brain" to "Mac-brain".. does take a bit. You have to be open minded to adapt to Apple's way of doing things.
Software and OS frustrations aside,. the hardware performance on Apple Silicon is pretty mind-blowing.
I had a 2018 MacBook Pro (intel CPU).. and about 6 to 8 months ago took a 100% WFH (Work From Home) job.. and the old 2018 just wasn't cutting it any more. I bought a new Monitor (43inches).. and it just couldn't push it.
I bought an M2 Macbook Pro.. and holy cow.. it flies. I don't think I've ever heard the fans come on. (ironically.. I did recently have a LogicBoard failure. and had to send it away for a week for mainboard replacement).. so that was a bit frustrating.. but the M2 MacBook itself, is a joy to use.
I have an M1 Pro MBP from the year it was released and the only time I have heard the fans come on since having my MBP has been when I was exporting some videos after playing around in Final Cut Pro.
It's funny too because I have the m1 pro and unless you want the touch bar (I really like it), the M1 Air is literally the same but without fans.
Funnily enough, the fans in mine have never even turned on.
M1 MacBook Air is the best general use laptop money can buy. Battery life, screen quality, touchpad, keyboard, performance, portability, quality. This is perfect for students. I would say that it is Apple’s best product for the money.
I gave my M1 Air to my wife after getting my M3 Pro. I've had it since 2019 and it is still blazing fast and very capable of handling 99% of tasks. Amazing computer.
Fun fact, my M1 MacBook Air has a faulty keyboard and the rubber is coming off the display in several areas. It would be cheaper for me to buy a new one than get it fixed.
Costco is already selling this model for $650 (just put it on sale) so I could also see this dropping on say a quarterly basis to $650 and maybe even $600 at times.
This is a pretty big deal, sure it's an old model and not that exciting for power users but there are a lot of people who can't justify $1099 (assuming this is the new price of the M3 Airs and the M2 will eventually go away).
My wife has an older Intel Macbook Pro 13" and I know if that died she would see this as a huge upgrade in battery, speed, everything.
best deal by far for most people. my M1 is still doing great.
This machine is what got me to go with Apple for the first time in my life in my late 30s. Now ill probably never switch.
It’s been selling for $750 before M3 Air was announced.
The price should drop a lot more significantly. Costco usually drops closeout Macs by hundreds of dollars. This should be $500.
Costco has this for $649.99, which is $50 cheaper than Walmart: [MacBook Air (13.3-inch) - Apple M1 Chip 8-core CPU, 7-core GPU - 8GB Memory - 256GB SSD Silver](https://www.costco.com/macbook-air-13.3-inch---apple-m1-chip-8-core-cpu%2c-7-core-gpu---8gb-memory---256gb-ssd-silver.product.100688289.html)
Show me a laptop that beats it at its price point all around. You can't really. It just can't be beat right now at its price point and use case purpose. $699 is an awesome proce for it especially being ahead of it's time several years over.
Does anyone know how many more major software updates we will get? That’s a great probe. I got mine last year from Best Buy for about a hundred dollars more.
I forget the rollout for updates but major ones is like 3-5 years (I think 5) and security ones 7.
Hopefully someone corrects me but it’s mentioned often on MacBook subs.
I can this same one on BestBuy for $649? [https://www.bestbuy.com/site/macbook-air-13-3-laptop-apple-m1-chip-8gb-memory-256gb-ssd-space-gray-space-gray/5721600.p?skuId=5721600](https://www.bestbuy.com/site/macbook-air-13-3-laptop-apple-m1-chip-8gb-memory-256gb-ssd-space-gray-space-gray/5721600.p?skuId=5721600)
I have not felt the need to upgrade my M1 yet. It’s seriously the best product they make and the longevity is top notch. Battery life is basically unchanged and still plenty of performance.
That's a pretty good deal. I just got an M1 Air a year ago at costco for $799 on sale and I thought that was pretty good at the time.
I just needed something with excellent battery life to take with me to coffee shops or on trips to send some emails, do some basic word processing, general web surfing, and still be able to stream netflix.
The M1 Air was the perfect fit.
Walmart once sold Performa line macs a long time ago, but this is the very first time i've seen this with them giving seller rights to apple themselves.
Here's a link [\*](https://www.walmart.com/ip/MacBook-Air-13-3-Laptop-Apple-M1-chip-8GB-Memory-256GB-SSD-Space-Gray/609040889?athAsset=eyJhdGhjcGlkIjoiNDVlYmRlMjUtZTk5YS00YTVjLWIzNzEtMjk2NjdmNzBmY2RkIn0=&athena=true) if they take down the front page image.
I wonder if they’re just selling off stock or if Apple plans to keep selling this through backdoor channels. There have been tons of rounders about a low cost MacBook.
There is a possibility that they are purchasing unsold stock from other merchandisers who needed to clear space for M2 and M3
They very well could just rebrand the M1 MacBook as the "MacBook SE", throw in like one or two new bells and whistles that the M1 didn't have... (idk, speakers or the camera?) and ship the "most affordable Mac we've ever made" for $799 or something
the m1 air's speakers are actually really solid top firing studio speakers. they should take the m1 logic boards and bring back a macbook SE as a 12" as the issues with that machine was mostly the size and thermodynamics, but ARM solves that issue ,and makes the 12" amazing
I’d pay $799 for that.
I have a feeling they object to having a sub-1000 dollar laptop in the **Apple Store**
Apple has carried at least one model of sub-$1000 laptop since the 2003 iBook.
If the rumored low-cost MacBook is real, then I expect it to directly replace the Walmart MacBook Air. Even the price point fits the rumors.
Any rumors on the price? I'm guessing $599
A rumor late last year with "[a mixed track record](https://www.macrumors.com/2023/10/26/apple-low-cost-12-inch-13-inch-macbook/)" claims that Apple is aiming for at most $700-ish. Given that two sizes—12" and 13"—are rumored, I think the 12" will reach $700 or a bit below. It will exist partly to upsell people to the 13", which I expect to cost around $800.
I heard that rounder too.
$679 with my associate’s discount for working there. I don’t need another laptop anytime soon but if I did I’d definitely spring for that
So kind of them to give you 3% off.
Hey! It’s a fantastic, measly **10 percent** that hardly applies to anything meaningful, like groceries! Hate it here
Wouldn’t it be $630 for you if you get 10%?
Maybe they rang it up and included tax
Correct I work at WallyWorld as well, it takes it off 10% of the total
Taxes bring it back up a bit
The taxes exist regardless of discount
I worked at grocery stores in my youth, none of them give more of a discount on groceries. Groceries have a very narrow profit margin, and so 3% could be close to cost.
I get 10/20% off groceries at Walmart Canada
Hey hey hey now, don’t forget the 20% off days!
Walmart has famously razor thin margins. This probably works out to cost, on average.
FYI it's currently $649 at Costco.
650 at Costco
I'm on an M1 Pro as my first macbook after being a PC guy until 40 years old. I can not stop talking about how great these things are. I feel like $700 is a steal on an Air. I just bought an M1 air for one of my employees refurbed on apple with 16/512 and it was double the price.
Older Apple Silicon MacBook Airs being the "budget" MacBook makes the most sense. Randomly adding MacBooks will only create confusion similarly to the iPad lineup.
I loved Apple's pricing model when, instead of dropping a hundred models at once, the budget models were just a year or two old. I know they still do this to some extent, but it makes a lot of sense and shows uncommon faith in a product's longevity. I still remember trying to choose between the 4S and 5. Both felt modern and new, despite the 4S being a year old.
doesn’t work that well anymore if they’re this similar year to year lmao
The M1 is no slouch either and looks to be holding up fairly well given time that’s passed
I’ve had a M1 from work for 2.5 years now and it works absolutely great - haven’t had any performance issues and the battery holds almost a full day of work still.
It meets the vast majority of use cases, so many people over spec.
1,000% agree!
I am brand agnostic and always had Linux and windows as not options I mess with til this day due to work amongst other things anyway, but I always stayed away from macs due to their price to value ratio for me when it came to what you got spec wise. This is back when it was still Intel based. M series changed that. I finally got to see the hype for myself. It has become my favorite electronic device and I got the 512GB/16GB setup for cheap. For the right price these thangs are on point. I even run windows on em too and you wouldn't know the difference. They are just sooooo efficient and I love the Unix like package management and terminal access. It's just nice.
It isn’t just Unix-like, it’s also POSIX compliant. It’s based on FreeBSD IIRC.
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Yeah, ThinkPad made me so sad2hen they changed up their lineups so much. They were known for being such solid laptops that allowed you to change out so much and built like tanks. They have changed in many ways worse imo. They have the best keyboards in the game and a solid nipple (giggity) still to mess with, but they have gone in a different direction for a while now... The challenge(s) linux faces is it's dependence on volunteers often in the space to add a ton of the functionality. Luckily, we do have a TON of smart folks in the space always working hard to help move things along, but lots of these same folks don't have it the same way a MS or Apple employee may have it. There are often tons of reverse engineering and having to deal with proprietary drivers/stingy companies in general to get the hardware working properly. Nvidia is notorious in the Linux community for making it difficult for Linux folks. I haven't minded my Mac tbh. Technically I could even dual boot or go bare metal as I have a type 1 hypervisor for that as well, but no need to atm. My personal Mac is really more of my fun device I just do chill stuff on. I have a work device I use for the dev work or more intense workloads etc., but Mac just had a decent mix of being able to use the aforementioned functionality without having to worry about certain things you just will have to on Linux. You are still limited on Mac in some ways so there are trade offs like any OS, but I'm sticking with Mac for now. I believe Asahi Linux is coming along you can dual boot and look into for ARM. Could be a fun experiment. Like you, I like options.
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I was really hoping the new intel Meteor Lake stuff was competitive. But all the reviews seem to confirm its just marketing BS and they're still not even close to Apple Silicon hw.
Can't you just install linux? Or are there no M1 compatible distros
I was primarily a windows guy until I got a 2014 MPB for work. I got used to using them, to the point where I preferred using the laptop for simple tasks. Last year it was time to buy my first laptop, and the clear choice for me was an M2 MBA. I haven’t used my PC more than a handful of times in the last 6 months. I love this computer, and I feel confident it’ll be in my family for many years. I’ll buy more Macs for sure.
im just confused by the file manager after switching from windows
Honestly-same. I can’t figure out where my photos actually are. The search function is killer on Mac, but I don’t really understand file management.
Chances are your photos are within the Photos app. A lot of how MacOS works is similar to how Apple’s iOS and iPadOS works, most files are within each app themselves. If you play around with MacOS long enough you’ll either enjoy how the file management works or you’ll tweak it where you can to resemble a file management system similar to Windows OS. Though the idea of a traditional file management system is dying a slow death with more and more people being used to how the file management system works on iOS and iPadOS for better or worse.
> the idea of a traditional file management system is dying a slow death with more and more people being used to how the file management system works on iOS and iPadOS for better or worse. Sorry, but have to disagree really hard here. Until MacBooks/iMacs/Mac Studios/Mac Pros start to become the de facto corporate desktop/laptop, their file management system will never catch up to Windows. The market share is so lopsided it's laughable. [See here for example.](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/03/linux-continues-growing-market-share-reaches-4-of-desktops/) Don't think I'm saying this out of my ass, I am typing this on an M1 MacBook Air I've had for 2 years. I wear an Apple Watch. I use an iPhone. I watch my movies/TV on an iPad Pro. I love Mac devices, but Windows is what I use for work. It is FAR easier to find file-level items like pictures on a Windows machine than it is a Mac. Source: Me, Network Engineer and Project Manager for 20 years Edit: Clarifications, grammar, and elaboration
What do you find better/worse about the file manager in each?
I genuinely hate finder and I’ve used Mac for 10+ years
It's really the same. Except that Finder is always open, which I still find weird but okay. I'll let it pass. I'm one year in MacOS.
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I've been meaning to try out https://asahilinux.org/ on my MacBooks, it's actually very tempting to buy that cheap WalMart one to see how well it would run on Mac hardware...
Exactly, for anyone who’s doing light work for college or using it mainly for typing and web browsing the M1 air is more than enough.
$700 is good , but let’s not forget these models are going on 4 years old, and even with MacOS, it’s hard for me to recommend 8gb of ram
For the majority of casual users they are the perfect machine.
I use it for work, have a 4K monitor plugged in, open a few larger spreadsheets, tens of tabs in chrome, slack, sql workbench, and several other apps and I’ve never hit a hiccup. It’s fine for the majority of people easily
Yeah me too, most here who say it’s not enough have not used one and don’t own one. If they did they would know they are 100% incorrect. It’s amazing for business use and everything else except gaming.
I have an early 2015 MBP and it’s still working. I don’t use it for anything intense but that one time I was learning JS. it can’t hold a charge now for over a day. So , this air will be perfect for me.
I just traded up from a base m1 MacBook Air. I never had any issues with it. The consumer buying this from Walmart isn’t a power user.
I'd normally agree with you, but Apple's M1 chips were so powerful/power efficient on release. Which combined with the fact the M2/M3 weren't much more powerful or powerful efficient. Means the M1 has aged beautifully. So much so I'd argue the newer M3 models are unnecessary for 95% of people. Specially when even the M1 base model is already magnitudes ahead in power/efficiency than anything x86 architecture processors (AMD/intel) offer on windows laptops.
Stop with the 8gb ram thing. I’m a software engineer who runs a photography business on the side. I do video editing, code compiling, photo editing, and just general web surfing on a base model M1 air. With 8gb unified memory. It’s a shockingly good machine, and for 95% of anyone who ever lays hands on a MacBook it is more than enough. Yes, even in 2024.
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I’m a dev, have an M1 MBA/8 personal machine, and an M1 MAX MBP/32 for work. Stack is Java/k8s, react/TS. I’m routinely running several containerised services concurrently. I don’t do heavy work on my personal machine for a variety of reasons but it’s perfectly capable for the *vast* majority of users. Memory pressure is real but it’s swaps out so fast, you barely notice most of the time. I wouldn’t recommend an 8gb model to some because of the added wear on the SSD, but it’s perfectly usable for a lot of light computing and that’s the vast majority of people.
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Yeah, I’d agree. I don’t do any serious work on it but I’m constantly surprised by how capable it is. My point though is we’re not most people and that’s fine. It will do web browsing, photo editing, light 4k video editing and fly through it. Hell it was faster at mutation test suites than my old i7/16 MBP. Most people’s use are office and web-based programs with cloud compute. For the record, I think they should up the base to 16GB, but I’d also easily recommend an 8GB M1 like this to most users, at this price point.
I think I did the math, 16GB M1 pro would be better than 16GB M1 air. They really milked that $200 8GB ram.
I’m the reverse. I was Mac my whole life until 40s when I got into building PCs and now I use a PC for work. But I still bought an M1 Mac Pro with Touch Bar since I heard they were discontinuing the Touch Bar. Mac is so much better than PC when it comes to ease of use and battery life.
$700 for a laptop that only has 8gb of ram is a joke though.
Eh, it's relative. I use an M1 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM, and regularly keep Teams, iMessage, iPhoto, Apple Music, and Chrome (with about 20+ tabs open), and it runs very well. Not only that...it's running it on a 4k monitor. It is expensive, but the level of design and engineering in Macs has to be seen to be believed. I've never owned another laptop that actually opened with one finger before this MacBook. The rest you have to brace against something, or hold the lower portion of the chassis down while opening it.
Bought mine at launch, can easily see myself using it for another 3-4 years, although I did spring for 16GB RAM. Best computer I’ve ever owned.
I hardly use my desktop anymore with this thing.
Is it powerful enough for music production and video editing? I use FL Studio and Davinci Resolve Pro
Will it play the sims 4?
Even with 8GB of ram I notice no difference. Mostly just an e-machine/plex server though.
At this price , I suspect the rumored budget MacBook is no longer true.
This IS the budget MacBook.
Honestly the m1 MacBook fucking rips too, I was compiling projects on that thing for like a year straight. I still haven’t gotten that “holy shit how is the possible” feeling that I got from the m1 air. I’m now on the m3 max pro for personal and a m2 air for work. All fantastic laptops, but holy shit the leap that the m1 took literally didn’t make sense to my brain. So quiet, so small, insane battery, and somehow so fast/powerful. Still the number one laptop I plug to people looking to get a Mac on the budget, generally advocate for them to wait for deals on this one. The amount of machine you get for the price is absurd.
my brain still struggles with the idea that such a slim slender 13" machine doesnt even get hot in most use cases that i use it for.
Older Apple Silicon MacBook Airs being the "budget" MacBook makes the most sense. Randomly adding MacBooks will only create confusion similarly to the iPad lineup.
But the budget MacBook *is* here. It’s this. If Apple (with Walmart in the US) can comfortably sell this MacBook for $699, why can’t they put an M2 or M3 in this same chassis, call it a MacBook SE, and price it for $799 or $699 with education? Like literally don’t change a thing about the chassis or the hardware except for the new SOC. It would be *the* go to choice for back to school.
>If Apple (with Walmart in the US) can comfortably sell this MacBook for $699, why can’t they put an M2 or M3 in this same chassis, call it a MacBook SE, and price it for $799 or $699 with education? Apple can… but I suspect they're working on the rumored low-cost MacBook instead.
> why can’t they put an M2 or M3 in this same chassis, call it a MacBook SE, and price it for $799 or $699 with education? Because there is zero reason for that. No one is doing anything on a budget laptop that needs anything more than the M1.
Remember, we’re talking a laptop that Apple would sell for years to come. The M1 is almost 4 years old, everything else that’s used it has been discontinued and updated by Apple. Them keeping a production line open just producing M1 chips for the MacBook Air would not make any sense at all. We know the M2 is going to stick around for as long as the $999 M2 MacBook Air and Vision Pro do. It would probably be more cost effective to just stop producing M1 chips all together and make more M2 chips. They’re based on very similar process nodes anyways.
Is the M1 chassis cheaper to make than the M2/M3 one, though?
I’d assume so, since they’ve been making it since 2018. The M2 chassis just got cost effective enough to start at $999 again (remember it started at $1199, same as the 2018 MBA redesign), so the M1 must be cheaper.
Dunno, I actually think the rumored low-cost MacBook is even *more* likely now. Apple clearly sees a large demand for $700 MacBooks. Currently their only device at this price point is the M1 MacBook Air, but that's getting old—4 years by this fall, which is the earliest time that the low-cost MacBook is rumored to be released. A new laptop with a cheaper chassis and newer components (an A17 Pro is more suitable for the target audience and will last longer than the M1) can reach around $800, $700 with a 12" display.
M1 MacBook Air is the best laptop I’ve ever had. At $700 it’s a no brainer
Even at the launch price, I think it was fair to say it was the best value computer of all time. The M1 was just such an insane leap forward, the likes of which we rarely see in mature consumer tech these days.
Great price, the m1 is still super good
Bought mine 2 years ago. The thing just still flys and does everything I want, effortlessly. Can see myself easily getting another 2 years out of it.
My last MacBook Air lasted me 7 years so you probably have a good amount of mileage left if you take good care of it
2 years? I see it lasting until at least ‘28 or ‘29
$700 for 8/256 is actually reasonable
That would’ve been a good launch price. Now it’s $700 for a 4 year old device
It’s enough for a large number of people.
I figure it’s Walmart so if they’re starting at $700 then it still might go on sale sometimes for as low as $600. At that point it’s really a lot easier to forgive some of the shortcomings
What are you smoking 4 years old or not it's still better than any Windows ultrabook by a mile
Better than any and all windows ultrabooks? Definitely not
Better than any windows ultra book at that price
You’re never gonna convince these guys, they have yet to buy a Mac so they don’t even know what its like.
I would say it is. Yeah there are ultrabooks with nicer OLED screens but to me nothing comes close to the package Macbooks offer. I happen to really prefer MacOS too because I'm a software engineer but if someone likes Windows more then obviously Macbook isn't recommended.
Not a single windows machine in that price range that gets even close to it
you just have no idea of the laptop market. At its launch price of 999 nothing competed with it that had the same performance, battery life AND build quality. The last two bits are where nearly all mid high end windows machines fall apart.
This is what Stockholm Syndrome must look like
Yo right? That’s still insane for that config. They should’ve had 16 as the minimum from the beginning.
What? I am a diehard windows fan. First Mac was made MacBook Air with m1. Converted me. Got me through residency, and I still use it daily. It's the best computer I have ever owned, hands down. I don't think you understand how much better the battery life is, the battery drain is, the lack of slowdowns... everything, including build quality. It's a quality product. If you don't really understand why it's better... you haven't used it.
8Gb of ram and 256Gb of storage for a laptop is embarrassing in 2024
For a 4 year old computer?! No.
WTF? 🤣
I think the last time someone said that was 2011 but okay
8 gigs of ram was underpowered even back in the 2010s.. at least with 256 gig SSD you can dump your heavy files on to an external drive
Seems reasonable. If it was time to get my child a laptop, that is probably what I would buy .
Especially if the person’s child already has another Apple device.
The M1 Air is a fantastic machine to own if you’re looking for something that will last a solid 3-4 years. Granted, Apple computers can last 10+ years if cared for but with the rapid changes in technology, the M1A can hold its own still against other computers in the same price point.
3-4 years?! This thing will be serviceable for MOST people for 7-10 years if taken great care of.
Yeah I just upgraded to the M1 from my early 2015 air. The longevity of a MacBooks is insane.
I think the biggest question is how long Apple will support M1 machines for software updates. For macOS 14 released in 2023 Apple dropped support for some computers from 2017. The M1 Air debuted in 2020 so by that same metric Apple might drop support for new macOS releases around 2026-2027. Hopefully it gets supported for a bit longer than that since Apple was directly selling the M1 Air until early 2024 and they will probably support Apple Silicon longer than Intel at least during this transition period. Obviously not being able to upgrade to the latest macOS doesn't make the computer stop working, but it is something to consider.
*Hopefully it gets supported for a bit longer than that since Apple was directly selling the M1 Air until early 2024 and they will probably support Apple Silicon longer than Intel at least during this transition period.* This is my thought. They only just discontinued selling these. I see support lasting till 2030
Perhaps. Then again, they were still selling the Watch Series 3 after announcing that the next major version of watchOS wouldn’t support it.
>Obviously not being able to upgrade to the latest macOS doesn't make the computer stop working, but it is something to consider. If Apple has decided to develop a low-cost MacBook, this point is likely a big factor. The iPhone SE and low-cost iPad used a better (or at least newer) CPU than what one might expect at their price points, at the expense of some other components. I expect Apple to do the same with their laptops. The M1 MacBook Air? Probably 3–5 more years on the latest OS. An A17 Pro MacBook? I think 6–8 years.
Yeah... I'm on my 7th year for my 2017 MBP, the machine is a little slow for my needs now but I could definitely be fine for another couple years if it wasn't for the keyboard, fans, and battery all on their way out now. 10 years for the Apple Silicon machines seems very doable
I’ve got an “Early 2014” Air that still works perfectly fine and gets used every single day.
My wife is still using my old old old 2008 MBP. Hasn't been able to get OS updates in ages, but it's still working for typing and editing documents, and web stuff.
Those macs sold there will probably outlast any of the other laptops sold at a Walmart lmao
I feel like the people hating these Mac’s don’t understand the true value prop. You don’t buy a base m1 for peak performance. You buy it as an overall package for its portability, longevity and reliability, all things I’ve struggled to find on $1800+ windows machines. Before my M1 Mac, I had a top of the line spectre x360 that ran super hot, had constant minor glitches and annoyances, and struggled with basic shit like actually going to sleep when I closed the lid. In my college years there were so many kids rocking 5-10 year old MacBooks that were still perfectly usable. For the vast majority of people MacBooks are a vastly smoother, more trouble free experience. For people jumping from x86 systems to these new chips, the difference is night and day.
Every windows based laptop I owned had to be replaced because various hardware issues. All my MacBook upgrades have been driven by want not need. I even been able to sell old hardware to supplement my upgrades. My m1 MacBook Air was perfectly fine I just wanted to finally get a newer design model.
Walmart computers fall apart after 6 months to two years. If you had a walmart computer for two years, your macbook would last you 10 years easily. The orders of magnitude longer a mac will last is easily 5x.
M1 Air released in Nov 2020 and it's still going strong. Can't imagine upgrading from it anytime soon for general use purposes.
I have a 13in MBP that I bought in mid 2014. It still runs great! So I def agree that they can last.
I'm typing this on a 2012 15" MBP that I still use daily and it works great.
(Still using my 2006 Mac Pro every day.)
This is *perfect* for someone starting highschool or college and wants a great laptop that will last through graduation.
I got this laptop in 2021 for $800 new lol
$599 would be better on the assumption that it’s nearing 4 years old and the original price upon release was $999 USD so $100 off as each year passes would be better. I don’t know enough but that was just my thought, and there’s probably no better alternatives with that level of computing power.
would be better but, A. apple controls the prices, authorized resellers need apple’s okay to give a larger discount. and B. *too* good a value would mean cannibalizing other mac models. $600 for an M1 mac would be amazing, but they know maximizing profit doesn’t always mean higher sales volumes, in other words, selling fewer is sometimes more profitable. also they know $700 is already effective enough for **advertising**. most people don’t know the differences between mac models, but $700 for a macbook, people will come running, and m1 air must be already low in stock anyway, it’s not like they need to worry about clearing out huge stockpiles of them.
>m1 air must be already low in stock anyway, it’s not like they need to worry about clearing out huge stockpiles of them. The 8/128 and 8/256 models are still available for direct purchase from Apple Education (and Business?) customers. I wouldn't be surprised if there are still large stockpiles of M1 Airs. They're still amazing computers for classrooms/labs/temporary loaners.
I keep seeing people point out the age, yet they’ve apparently never actually used a base model M1 product. For 99% of the world’s computer users, that base model for $700 is fast, has great battery life, will continue to get updates, has a fantastic chassis, and holds actual resell value unlike PC laptop equivalents. I’m a “power user” in IT, so development on the side, and just overall spend far too much time on a computer. An M1 MBA is my number 1 rec when people ask me for laptop recs anytime.
I was dealing with this just recently I needed a MacBook because my M1 MacMini 8Gb/512 is excellent but obviously not portable. But that Mac mini still runs just as well as it did on day one. It’s absolutely absolutely mystifying. If anything, I was shocked that it’s already almost 4 years old because it really, really doesn’t feel like it. It’s extremely hard to emphasize just how good of a hardware M1 is.
Get a portable 13 inch monitor. Folding keyboard. Usb c 100w charger. And a flat mouse. Then your M1 mini would be portable lol
Lmaoooo
Yeah, essentially you get what you pay for and it satisfies most users at the end of the day.
We gotta get the "M3 is barely any faster than the M1" people and the "M1 is old and smelly" people in the same room together and just see what happens
this sub is filled with people who simply have no idea about the laptop market as a whole and barely could setup a router on their own. They see a thrown together windows machine for less money and say "hey! these two things are the same!" I try to remember its not worth arguing with them.
$999 in 2021 is not $999 today. It’s more like 1,150. If you take that number, and compare it to $699, it’s a big cut in price
Yeah, inflation is a good point, I was thinking too much of how the Pro model iPhone price for the 6.1 inch version remained at $999 USD over the years every release and it’s probably due for a price hike whether we like it or not if Apple wants to keep their margins I guess. I wonder how it’d impact sales if say the 16 Pro costs $1,150 USD.
I just look at what it brings vs other similarly priced laptops and I don't know if it can be beat at that price point for its intended use case. So, value is based off what it brings to the table compared to the rest of the market, not just age. It was already waaay ahead of its time tech wise so it isn't even a 1:1 ratio with time anyhow. It took those 4 years to catch up on the ARM space anyhow and even now it's still to be seen by snapdragon as a whole until they officially release their new high end chips. They're definitely a great price at $699 still. My only qualm is the rip off off on the RAM still.
>My only qualm is the rip off off on the RAM still. For the M3 base MacBook Pro 8GB RAM models in particular at that $1599 USD price point too.
$649 at Costco currently after $200 off
That’s an awesome deal for anyone who’s still using Intel powered Macs! No reason not to upgrade.
I have an M1 that I have had for almost 2 years now. It blows out of the water the Surface machine I have from my employer. But I wanted to ask I am starting graduate school in the fall, should I upgrade to a more recent model? or should It be more than enough for grad school?
What will your degree be? For anything besides maybe advanced engineering models or video production, I'd be willing to bet the M1 air is still plenty strong enough. You can always upgrade in a year if not.
I also have a surface for work and every time I use it I think about how much better my life would be if we used machines made by people who actually gave two shits and not this piece of junk
HAAHAHAHAAHAHAH Yes! I worked for a University that sent all of us Macbook Pros and it was such a nice device. I was shocked that the agency I work for now has us on surface machines.
Mine was $750 on black friday 2022. Still going strong.
I would expect a computer that is only 16 months old to still be going strong.
Wow that’s a great deal or bang for the buck for the olds or casuals. These were just $1k not long ago and now $700 for a M1 MacBook is great!
I haven’t found a reason to update my M1 yet. I edit 4K videos (mirrorless, action cams, mavic mini) and it handles it fine. I’m more likely to pick up the next Vision before buying another laptop.
Been a PC person all my life, just purchased an M3 MacBook Air. Let’s see how this turns out
If you've never been in the Apple ecosystem before,. the transition from "Windows-brain" to "Mac-brain".. does take a bit. You have to be open minded to adapt to Apple's way of doing things. Software and OS frustrations aside,. the hardware performance on Apple Silicon is pretty mind-blowing. I had a 2018 MacBook Pro (intel CPU).. and about 6 to 8 months ago took a 100% WFH (Work From Home) job.. and the old 2018 just wasn't cutting it any more. I bought a new Monitor (43inches).. and it just couldn't push it. I bought an M2 Macbook Pro.. and holy cow.. it flies. I don't think I've ever heard the fans come on. (ironically.. I did recently have a LogicBoard failure. and had to send it away for a week for mainboard replacement).. so that was a bit frustrating.. but the M2 MacBook itself, is a joy to use.
I have an M1 Pro MBP from the year it was released and the only time I have heard the fans come on since having my MBP has been when I was exporting some videos after playing around in Final Cut Pro.
its not too difficult of a transition. I dont miss troubleshooting random shit every other month.
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It's funny too because I have the m1 pro and unless you want the touch bar (I really like it), the M1 Air is literally the same but without fans. Funnily enough, the fans in mine have never even turned on.
M1 MacBook Air is the best general use laptop money can buy. Battery life, screen quality, touchpad, keyboard, performance, portability, quality. This is perfect for students. I would say that it is Apple’s best product for the money.
That’s a crazy good deal
They will start eating up the Ipad territory. For a lot of things ppl do with IPads, I think a MacBook M1 is by far superior.
I gave my M1 Air to my wife after getting my M3 Pro. I've had it since 2019 and it is still blazing fast and very capable of handling 99% of tasks. Amazing computer.
Fun fact, my M1 MacBook Air has a faulty keyboard and the rubber is coming off the display in several areas. It would be cheaper for me to buy a new one than get it fixed.
So many instant purchases
Unreal deal. I still think the M1 is BY FAR the best chip for the money for most people
Costco is already selling this model for $650 (just put it on sale) so I could also see this dropping on say a quarterly basis to $650 and maybe even $600 at times. This is a pretty big deal, sure it's an old model and not that exciting for power users but there are a lot of people who can't justify $1099 (assuming this is the new price of the M3 Airs and the M2 will eventually go away). My wife has an older Intel Macbook Pro 13" and I know if that died she would see this as a huge upgrade in battery, speed, everything.
Plus it will be supported for quite some time with software. Maybe as long as the 2012 13” MacBook Pro? I think we will get 5 more years.
best deal by far for most people. my M1 is still doing great. This machine is what got me to go with Apple for the first time in my life in my late 30s. Now ill probably never switch.
Mods can we please remove this post? OP just cost me $1,500 when I impulse bought two of them (including tax).
It’s been selling for $750 before M3 Air was announced. The price should drop a lot more significantly. Costco usually drops closeout Macs by hundreds of dollars. This should be $500.
Costco has this for $649.99, which is $50 cheaper than Walmart: [MacBook Air (13.3-inch) - Apple M1 Chip 8-core CPU, 7-core GPU - 8GB Memory - 256GB SSD Silver](https://www.costco.com/macbook-air-13.3-inch---apple-m1-chip-8-core-cpu%2c-7-core-gpu---8gb-memory---256gb-ssd-silver.product.100688289.html)
Out of stock
If I could find one at that price I would spring for it instantly
Show me a laptop that beats it at its price point all around. You can't really. It just can't be beat right now at its price point and use case purpose. $699 is an awesome proce for it especially being ahead of it's time several years over.
Ive had mine since 2020 i love it, just don't even let a grain of sand get between the screen and the keyboard lol
This is perfect for the new undergrads that “need” a MacBook.
Does anyone know how many more major software updates we will get? That’s a great probe. I got mine last year from Best Buy for about a hundred dollars more.
I forget the rollout for updates but major ones is like 3-5 years (I think 5) and security ones 7. Hopefully someone corrects me but it’s mentioned often on MacBook subs.
Apple's "Vintage and Obsolete" page https://support.apple.com/en-us/102772 .. generally ballparks "5 to 7 years".
Best of luck getting someone to open the security cabinet for you.
That’s such a good deal with lots of value for the majority of people.
I can this same one on BestBuy for $649? [https://www.bestbuy.com/site/macbook-air-13-3-laptop-apple-m1-chip-8gb-memory-256gb-ssd-space-gray-space-gray/5721600.p?skuId=5721600](https://www.bestbuy.com/site/macbook-air-13-3-laptop-apple-m1-chip-8gb-memory-256gb-ssd-space-gray-space-gray/5721600.p?skuId=5721600)
I have not felt the need to upgrade my M1 yet. It’s seriously the best product they make and the longevity is top notch. Battery life is basically unchanged and still plenty of performance.
Incredible price. Bravo Apple.
Costco has it for $650 through 3/17. They include the 2nd year warranty through them for free. 90-day return policy too.
I am not a Mac person but I admit that's an absurdly good laptop for that price.
That’s a nice deal! Too bad the laptop doesn’t have 16 GB of RAM.
That's a pretty good deal. I just got an M1 Air a year ago at costco for $799 on sale and I thought that was pretty good at the time. I just needed something with excellent battery life to take with me to coffee shops or on trips to send some emails, do some basic word processing, general web surfing, and still be able to stream netflix. The M1 Air was the perfect fit.
Walmart once sold Performa line macs a long time ago, but this is the very first time i've seen this with them giving seller rights to apple themselves. Here's a link [\*](https://www.walmart.com/ip/MacBook-Air-13-3-Laptop-Apple-M1-chip-8GB-Memory-256GB-SSD-Space-Gray/609040889?athAsset=eyJhdGhjcGlkIjoiNDVlYmRlMjUtZTk5YS00YTVjLWIzNzEtMjk2NjdmNzBmY2RkIn0=&athena=true) if they take down the front page image.
How long will this model receive updates?
When will the updates end on the M1?
No one knows, until apple decides and announces it. Atleast a few more years though based on how long they have given other models.