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

[Apple Desktop Bus (ADB)]

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.

They don't need nor want local storage. They store projects in the cloud and download what's needed locally for that session.

Remember that 99% of students aren't working on projects that are even 1GB. They're doing web browsing, email, text editing, and maybe some light programming work.

 

[citysnaps]

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.

It doesn't cost Apple any more to offer a 128 GB option at a lower price. Not enough storage for you? Simply choose a storage option that meets your needs. Easy.

 

[EugW]

They don't need nor want local storage. They store projects in the cloud and download what's needed locally for that session.

Remember that 99% of students aren't working on projects that are even 1GB. They're doing web browsing, email, text editing, and maybe some light programming work.

My kids were doing remote learning on their 64 GB iPad Air 2s. Their total storage usage on those iPads was less than 10 GB each.

I do agree a 256 GB minimum is recommended for the general public where we don’t know the usage habits, but 128 GB for a laptop is most definitely usable for edu in many situations. It really depends on those usage habits and workflows.

 

[[AUT] Thomas]

128GB with a desktop class OS... even for education purpose this is questionable....
The problem is not just the storage itself, but also the fact that halving the storage means that NAND cycles will double for certain use cases.
This is why one should never combine low amount of memory with a small SSD. Low amount of memory will excessively use the SSD as swap file... That said 8GB is not a low amount of memory, but it's also not much.
Under the bottom line this is likely money saved on the wrong end...

 

[EugW]

128GB with a desktop class OS... even for education purpose this is questionable....
The problem is not just the storage itself, but also the fact that halving the storage means that NAND cycles will double for certain use cases.
This is why one should never combine low amount of memory with a small SSD. Low amount of memory will excessively use the SSD as swap file... That said 8GB is not a low amount of memory, but it's also not much.
Under the bottom line this is likely money saved on the wrong end...

NAND cycle concerns are way overblown unless you’re running a data centre. I’ve been running 96 GB and 128 GB SSDs in my Macs for close to a decade now.

The failed drives I’ve had, and I have had more than one, were much larger capacity. They failed for other reasons.

 

[UndefinedxJoker]

Imagine if Apple had actually released a MacBook Air at this price... maybe with a 4 or 6-core M1 instead of 8?

 

[amartinez1660]

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

That's... quite a a good angle to look at it.
Different use cases, miniaturization has its costs and all, but yeah, for what this laptops gives performance and efficiency wise, damn.

 

[Bandaman]

It doesn't cost Apple any more to offer a 128 GB option at a lower price. Not enough storage for you? Simply choose a storage option that meets your needs. Easy.

I’ve worked in educational institutions managing thousands of devices and the biggest issue was running out of storage. 128 GB is not enough in most cases. I wasn’t speaking for me I was speaking generally. 256 GB should be a minimum.

 

[markcres]

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.

At the university where I work, we have a huge stash of laptops that students can book out from the Library - on loan. A student can pick up a book and sign out a laptop for a few days (up to a week) before returning it. They have standard software on it (not just Office apps but all sorts of packages) and when they log in it loads their student cloud storage area.
Although we use Windows laptops (science faculty) I can imagine this would be very attractive to our Arts faculty who might use it for some 'creative' work as they already use iMacs for teaching. When the student logs out, the laptops can reset itself and will appear fresh for the next student.

 

[SchrodingersMartian]

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

I hope so because there some cheap folks out there who would take advantage of this. As someone who works in Educational sales for one of the largest tech companies on earth I can tell you schools are very much underfunded more now than ever.

They need the discount more than your typical Amex tech working Apple user.

 

[citysnaps]

I’ve worked in educational institutions managing thousands of devices and the biggest issue was running out of storage. 128 GB is not enough in most cases. I wasn’t speaking for me I was speaking generally. 256 GB should be a minimum.

Great! Then for your situation the 256 GB option MBA should be purchased.

*Others* who can do with less, especially with cloud storage available, have a less expensive option to consider. A win for all.

 

[Bandaman]

Great! Then for your situation the 256 GB option MBA should be purchased.

*Others* who can do with less, especially with cloud storage available, have a less expensive option to consider. A win for all.

The thousands of students using Macs for education struggled with 128 GB. Chromebooks were even worse. I’m not sure what you’re not comprehending. 256 GB should be the minimal standard for education.

 

[citysnaps]

The thousands of students using Macs for education struggled with 128 GB. Chromebooks were even worse. I’m not sure what you’re not comprehending. 256 GB should be the minimal standard for education.

What I'm comprehending is your education-related needs may be different than others. For your needs, simply purchase the 256 GB option.

Choice is good. Simply pay for what you need.

 

[Shivetya]

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

Military gets similar discounts as education, just validate through id.me

 

[Bandaman]

What I'm comprehending is your education-related needs may be different than others. For your needs, simply purchase the 256 GB option.

Choice is good. Simply pay for what you need.

You’re clearly not reading my text. 128 GB didn’t meet the needs of thousands of students. These aren’t my needs. So I’m still not sure what you’re not comprehending.

 

[citysnaps]

You’re clearly not reading my text.

I am. You are not the final arbiter for all educational needs. Even though you appear to think you are.

Again, simply pay for what you need.

 

[EugW]

You’re clearly not reading my text. 128 GB didn’t meet the needs of thousands of students. These aren’t my needs. So I’m still not sure what you’re not comprehending.

You’re not comprehending that not all institutions have needs similar to your institutions.

 

[citysnaps]

You’re not comprehending that not all institutions have needs similar to your institutions.

Excellent! I thought I was in the Twilight Zone up above.

 

[Bandaman]

You’re not comprehending that not all institutions have needs similar to your institutions.

I’ve worked in institutions that have K-12 students as well as college and it’s been a problem for both. It’s less of an issue on iPads, but it’s a big issue with the laptops.

I am. You are not the final arbiter for all educational needs. Even though you appear to think you are.

Again, simply pay for what you need.

I’m not paying for anything. The schools are. My point was in this day and age, 128 GB should not be the base. Yes, more storage can be always be purchased, but it’s very low. There’s barely storage left after the school applications are loaded in. Why people continue to defend the lowest common denominator on this site is beyond me.

And yes, the schools bought higher storage devices eventually. This was not my point.

 

[Bandaman]

They don't need nor want local storage. They store projects in the cloud and download what's needed locally for that session.

Remember that 99% of students aren't working on projects that are even 1GB. They're doing web browsing, email, text editing, and maybe some light programming work.

This isn’t true at all.

 

[JustAnExpat]

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

Depends on what they are studying, and if they are using it strictly for school (and for assignments that are not graphic intensive), or if they are also using it store pictures/ games.

What a lot of students should do is archive their old classes/ files off the laptops into a backup drive as reference. This is great for students who are in text heavy/ minimal graphic majors including:

1. Business majors
2. Accountants
3. *POTENTIALLY* Education
4. Marketing [but not advertising because of how graphic heavy advertising is]
5. Humanities/ literature

 

[citysnaps]

I’ve worked in institutions that have K-12 students as well as college and it’s been a problem for both. It’s less of an issue on iPads, but it’s a big issue with the laptops.




I’m not paying for anything. The schools are. My point was in this day and age, 128 GB should not be the base. Yes, more storage can be always be purchased, but it’s very low. There’s barely storage left after the school applications are loaded in. Why people continue to defend the lowest common denominator on this site is beyond me.

And yes, the schools bought higher storage devices eventually. This was not my point.

Please...I understood that right from the beginning.

You have an opinion for what works for your schools.

You don't speak for others, even though you appear to want to. Let others choose what they believe works for their schools. That's why Apple provides options.

What works for others should not be a concern for you.

 

[Bandaman]

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.

The only people that understand this are the ones that work in education dealing with both students and teachers. Everyone vehemently defending 128 GB are even more out of touch with educational needs than Apple is.

 

[Bandaman]

Please...I understood that right from the beginning.

You have an opinion for what works for your schools.

You don't speak for others, even though you appear to want to.

An opinion based on actual experience working with thousands of students across multiple institutions. What is your experience based on? Your personal feelings for Apple?

 

[citysnaps]

An opinion based on actual experience working with thousands of students across multiple institutions. What is your experience based on? Your personal feelings for Apple?

OMG... You apparently believe every school computer administrator in the world has the same characteristics, structure, and needs and requirements as yours regarding number of schools, students, teachers, grade levels, programs, budgets, etc. Whether it's a rural district with several elementary schools in Appalachia or a university such as Oxford or Harvard.