$799 M1 MacBook Air With 128GB Storage for Education Institutions Spotted Online

[MacRumors]

A new configuration of the M1 MacBook Air with 128GB of storage and a lower $799 price has today been spotted on Apple's U.S. Education Institution Hardware and Software Price List.

The M1 MacBook Air is only available with 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage. There is currently no 128GB configuration on the Apple Store.

However, Reddit user "u/dduci97" noticed that Apple has listed "13-inch MacBook Air: Apple M1 chip w/8-core CPU and 7-core GPU, 8GB, 128GB" in Silver, Gold, and Space Gray on its U.S. Education Price List at a price of $799. Apple also has options to purchase this MacBook Air configuration in bulk quantities, as is the case with many other devices on the Education Price List.

Although Apple's U.S. Education Store is not yet displaying a 128GB MacBook Air, another Reddit user shared a screenshot of the education institutions page showing the new configuration.

It is unclear whether this lower-cost MacBook Air configuration will ever be sold to the general public. Factoring in education discount, it seems that a 128GB MacBook Air would come in at $899 for the average consumer, making it the cheapest MacBook option for years.

Alternately, it is possible that the configuration may be reserved for education customers only. Apple has been known to reserve some Mac models for education, such as the Intel Core i3 iMac, as well as older models such as the eMac and "molar" Power Mac G3.

Article Link: $799 M1 MacBook Air With 128GB Storage for Education Institutions Spotted Online

 

[citysnaps]

A nice option for some.

 

[dwaltwhit]

Get kids hooked early and they will be customers for life.

 

[Apple_Robert]

At that price, I wish I could get the discount.

 

[robinp]

That’s a great deal

 

[spyguy10709]

for those that aren't storing local media on their machines anymore, this is a really great option.

I personally wouldn't pick a machine with less than 500GB these days, but for those that are buying a macbook air as a web browsing/homework appliance? Save the cash.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Cannot see this in the Norwegian store, yet: https://www.apple.com/no-edu/shop/buy-mac/macbook-air

Nice option for those with minimum storage needs and/or large iCloud accounts.

 

[Benjamin Nabulsi]

The price point and configuration should’ve been an option for non educational. It’s a good alternative for iPad Pro except the bad camera.

 

[CyberBob859]

It won't compete with cheap Chromebooks on price, but you get so much more. A lot of K-12 education customers rely on web and server-based back-end systems, so this would fit in nicely. Throw in more powerful Mac and iOS/iPad app support and you have a well-rounded and complete system.

You will have to bring your own external storage if you need more than 128 GB (which many will for more advanced projects.) But I would go after this versus a Pixelbook Go or Surface Go anytime.

 

[eric89074]

It won't compete with cheap Chromebooks on price, but you get so much more. A lot of K-12 education customers rely on web and server-based back-end systems, so this would fit in nicely. Throw in more powerful Mac and iOS/iPad app support and you have a well-rounded and complete system.

You will have to bring your own external storage if you need more than 128 GB (which many will for more advanced projects.) But I would go after this versus a Pixelbook Go or Surface Go anytime.

This is more for staff. 128GB is
rough to deal with though. Better off paying an extra $100 for the 256GB with the EDU discount.

 

[bommai]

I bought a MacBook Pro just 15 months ago from education store for my daughter for $1199 and it was a core i5 with 8GB ram and 128GB storage. Both my son and daughter take turns using it and they have run out of space. I honestly won’t recommend 128GB unless all they deal with are just word files and spreadsheets. My daughter used garage band and filled it up.

 

[sblemmy]

Interesting. My university is moving faculty and staff from desktops to laptops this coming summer, so my 2015 iMac will be replaced with either a MacBook Air or Pro. I think Intel Macs are still available for EDU customers, so I’m curious to see what we end up with.

 

[GeoStructural]

At that price, I wish I could get the discount.

Find someone with a student ID and purchase it, I know people who has done exactly that.

By the way, this is a great deal, the only downside is that primitive 128 GB, honestly I think these machines should come with 512 GB minimum. Most of my projects are in the 5 to 14 GB range, I would fill this up in a week.

 

[Black.Infinity]

I think this 128GB configuration is only available for institutions who order in bulk.

 

[2ilent8cho]

As somebody who manages thousands of iPads and hundreds of Mac's in a few schools I find this very weird. Who is this aimed at? Apple are really out of touch when it comes to Education and the Mac.

If they aim it at a Teacher the 128GB is too small, once you install Office a few other apps and put say a few videos on there and some other content its full and your updates/patches fail and user complains of disk full message.

If the aim it at students for use in say a laptop trolley the keyboards would get broken and that would be eye watering to repair, so that's a no. Education need cheap, quick repairable devices. iPads work great in this respect as they are easy to manage and less to break compared to a laptop (no hinge, keyboard, trackpad etc)

If its aimed at university students I think they will have the same issue a Teacher would, the 128GB will fill up to quickly.

I just wish Apple would take the Mac and Education a bit more seriously, I love them they are way easier to manage than Windows devices and have other advantages, BUT you cannot order a Mac with a wired keyboard and mouse anymore from Apple, you have to have worse looking 3rd party ones. On what planet do they think wireless keyboards and mice will be a good idea in an IT Lab? I just wish somebody at Apple would actually fully understand Education needs and cater for them properly.

 

[AnthonyHarris]

I think this 128GB configuration is only available for institutions who order in bulk.

Yeah. I imagine they would be used to kit out computer rooms and you'd probably be expected as a student to bring your own storage. At least that's how it was when I was at college.

 

[EugW]

This is more for staff. 128GB is rough to deal with though. Better off paying an extra $100 for the 256GB with the EDU discount.

This is for institutional purchases only it appears. Staff purchase through the regular edu store in general, unless the department is buying for them.

And 128 GB is fine for a lot of people if they use iCloud. A lot of my colleagues use less than 60 GB even without cloud storage, and that’s with MS Office and a bunch of other applications installed, and all their documents. YMMV.

IIRC, a full install including OS and a bunch of apps is around 30 GB.

 

[acidfast7_redux]

Wow, everything is so cheap in the states!

(I understand that they don't pay tax and have abysmal social service from a European perspective.)

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Can we extrapolate from here to say that a 64 GB Educational MacBook Air would be $699, 32 GB would be $599, 16 GB would be $499... 1 GB would be $99 and 512 MB would be -$1?

 

[Internaut]

128GB is not a lot for the latest MacOS. My MacBook Pro 2015 has 128GB and I have to pick and choose what I have installed and do photos in the cloud/on an external disk (though blanket statements about 128GB being totally inadequate for Big Sur are plainly wrong - it works).

 

[robjulo]

Get kids hooked early and they will be customers for life.

Which is great in theory but the price point is tone deaf to the realities of current State and school budgets. Schools, even private, largely cannot afford to give each student an $800 laptop.

 

[ghanwani]

They need to go a lot lower if their intent is to compete with chromebooks and entry level windows laptops. But hey, they might be able to sell a few more if they bundle it with free iCloud storage.

 

[Bandaman]

128 GB should not be an option anymore, regardless if you use cloud services or not. It's barely enough for the applications on the computer.

 

[fuchsdh]

for those that aren't storing local media on their machines anymore, this is a really great option.

I personally wouldn't pick a machine with less than 500GB these days, but for those that are buying a macbook air as a web browsing/homework appliance? Save the cash.

While it'd be a different factor if it was my main machine, my 128GB refurb 13" MBP has served me well for five years. You adapt your usage to the space you have; if you have more you're going to use proportionately more, and vice versa.

The main thing taking up space on my computers are the absolutely massive Creative Cloud applications.

Ultimately, I think the lower entry price is a more important thing. Storage is the easiest upgrade to do with a thumb drive or external drive, and you're getting the same everything else in the process. Viewed from that angle it's a bargain.

 

[Ramchi]

Can’t believe that a full blown latest high performing Notebook is cheaper than iPhone Mini 128 GB ? excellent deal