It’s not about holding up, it’s about how long you get software updates. And Apple obsolete policy is 5 years after they discontinue selling officially. If you have problems, repairs may not be available. I still have a 2015 MBP, but it stopped receiving security updates few years back.
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Anyone else thinking the M1 MBA is still quite pricey used?
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I have an M1 Macbook Pro and it's still works great.
I guess the notable point is that you can get an open box *M4* Macbook air, 16gb for $725 at Best buy.
I guess the notable point is that you can get an open box *M4* Macbook air, 16gb for $725 at Best buy.
Products with unusually long lifecycles typically lose support early. The 2013 Mac Pro “trash can” wasn’t technically discontinued until December 2019 and lost support with Ventura in 2022. The 2018 Mac Mini wasn’t discontinued until January 2023 when the M2 models came out, but those machines will not be getting macOS 26 Tahoe this fall. The 2019 Intel Mac Pro wasn’t discontinued until June 2024 and will not get macOS 27 next year.
I, personally, wouldn't pay much for that. People like to think their used stuff is still worth nearly as much as it was when it was hot off the presses (moi is no exception, though 
). But, realistically, kit that's 5 years old now should only cost a tiny fraction of what it used to.
Supply and demand don't really apply here. These aren't COVID times, thank God. Stuff is readily available from the manufacturer and their numerous resellers, often at steep discounts. Apple could make things better by making 16 GB of RAM standard across the entire range, though.
). But, realistically, kit that's 5 years old now should only cost a tiny fraction of what it used to.Supply and demand don't really apply here. These aren't COVID times, thank God. Stuff is readily available from the manufacturer and their numerous resellers, often at steep discounts. Apple could make things better by making 16 GB of RAM standard across the entire range, though.
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Apple has done this with the M4's. I really love my M4 Mac mini with 16GB for just $499.
As for the original post, make sure to shop around for the best deal you can get if you go M1. I had a family member switch from a troublesome windows 11 machine to a M1 8/256 last summer new from walmart. It does everything he wants to do with a laptop, and he then bought his own M4 Mini for desktop use. There's gonna be the support and some speed differences depending on what you're doing, but if its just general productivity like stuff then it will be about the same.
Apple computers tend to work well for a long time, so they have value on the second-hand market. A used price might seem too much, but if someone is willing to buy at that price, it is the correct price.
Hopefully Apple give its own cpu longer support than Intels.
Time will tell🙂
Even if MacOs 26 is the last MacOs for the M1, it will get 2 more years of security updates. So if you count MacOs 26 for a whole year (until Os27), you get a total 3 years from now.
I bought an M1 Air late last year for £909, new and boxed, unopened, via UK eBay. 16GB memory, 512 SSD, 8/7 CPU/GPU. Great machine.
At the time, I wanted the last of the wedge-shaped models, with the sort of spec I ended up with, and ideally space grey (which is what I eventually got). I’d almost written off the likelihood of getting one of these new though. Lots of 8GB models. Yet clearly they do come up occasionally.
Right now, for example, on the UK eBay site there is a similarly spec’d Air for sale (16GB memory etc), new and boxed (unopened) for £729.99 (including voucher discount, which ends today).
I know that M2, 3 and 4 models are available at great prices too but if anyone is keen to get the ‘classic’ Air model with 16GB memory then I think £729.99 is a very good price instead of going for a used model with its attendant risks.
I use my Air for text editing, proofing PDFs, e-mail, internet stuff and watching video content. It should do me proud for the next three to five years hopefully.
I was also impressed by the Air’s speakers when I bought it, and the keyboard and track pad are excellent too, in my opinion.
Good luck with your purchase, whatever way you go OP.
At the time, I wanted the last of the wedge-shaped models, with the sort of spec I ended up with, and ideally space grey (which is what I eventually got). I’d almost written off the likelihood of getting one of these new though. Lots of 8GB models. Yet clearly they do come up occasionally.
Right now, for example, on the UK eBay site there is a similarly spec’d Air for sale (16GB memory etc), new and boxed (unopened) for £729.99 (including voucher discount, which ends today).
I know that M2, 3 and 4 models are available at great prices too but if anyone is keen to get the ‘classic’ Air model with 16GB memory then I think £729.99 is a very good price instead of going for a used model with its attendant risks.
I use my Air for text editing, proofing PDFs, e-mail, internet stuff and watching video content. It should do me proud for the next three to five years hopefully.
I was also impressed by the Air’s speakers when I bought it, and the keyboard and track pad are excellent too, in my opinion.
Good luck with your purchase, whatever way you go OP.
Remember that those that purchased an M1 MacBook Air with 16GB RAM new paid $1,299 at least, and closer to $1,500 if they chose more storage. So they are trying to get 50%+ back on their purchase.
In contrast, an M4 13 Inch MacBook Air with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage costs $1,049 today new from Amazon, and includes:
1) Two USB ports + Magsafe
2) Upgraded camera
3) Ability to power 2 external displays
4) M4 chip, with years more software support and increased speed
5) Will be worth 500+ in four years, while the M1 won't be worth much at all
Other options for M4 Macbook purchases include open box, and most likely refurbished pretty soon
Overall, the M4 MacBook Air, given its current pricing, is simply a much better long term buy than the M1 either new from Walmart or even used
In contrast, an M4 13 Inch MacBook Air with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage costs $1,049 today new from Amazon, and includes:
1) Two USB ports + Magsafe
2) Upgraded camera
3) Ability to power 2 external displays
4) M4 chip, with years more software support and increased speed
5) Will be worth 500+ in four years, while the M1 won't be worth much at all
Other options for M4 Macbook purchases include open box, and most likely refurbished pretty soon
Overall, the M4 MacBook Air, given its current pricing, is simply a much better long term buy than the M1 either new from Walmart or even used
We actually haven't seen an Apple Silicon Mac get support dropped yet. The next couple of years will be pretty telling. Possibly now that Apple controls the chip architecture they can keep support in the OS for longer than they could with Intel. That's the optimistic take anyway.
Here's a great deep dive from Ars Technica on the length of support for Macs. There's a link to their complete data set, which is pretty interesting https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...quoia-being-the-final-release-for-intel-macs/
You hit the nail on the head, anyone who is looking for a used or even new M1 Mac these days has to consider that the MSRP for these with upgraded memory was higher compared to the M4 base models that now all come with double the memory. People want to sell their used Macs for as much money as possible and are now faced with the reality that the older models don't hold their value as much as Macs did in the Intel days. That's in part because of how much M4 has increased performance over M1 in such a short timespan. With the Intels it was the predicable small increase from year to year that helped keeped pricing for used Macs stable.
That is indeed the reality and not just optimism. With other vendors like Intel Apple is forced to drop support for the entire device the moment the contract for security firmware fixes ends. Today Apple has this very same situation in the iPhones with Qualcomm modems. Once that Qualcomm support ends there are unfixable security issues and Apple has no choice but to drop the affected iPhones from support.
That's a part of why switching the 16e to their own Apple modem is such a big deal and should be to us customers as well, since it enables Apple to support devices for much longer. Whether they will actually lengthen support is another question of course.
With other computers you don't typically get security firmware updates for every single component so for example the UEFI that powers all personal computers these days has gaping holes where Secure Boot should be assumed not to work on any computer whatsoever as of today. It's a major security feature and no PC customer can currently rely on that feature. Yet it just remains broken and nobody seems to care.
Microsoft also enforces firmware security with their Surface line of laptops but other than that line an Apple's Macs I don't know of any platform that guarantees security fixes for the entire device with all its components.
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I had an 11" 2015 Air, loved that thing and used almost daily until 2023.
I got an M2 13" Air and got used to it very quickly.
I thought I would hate not having the wedge shape, but I got used to it really quickly and came to love the M2 form. Once you're using it daily, it becomes habit. Now the old M1 wedge feels antique.
So just an advice, you will adapt quickly to whatever you have.
Nah, it's the reality. Otherwise, you'd see iPad Pro get more than 6 years of major iPadOS updates. MacBook M1 won't be any different. It's an artificial limitation on Apple's part.
The exact same Intel XMM 7560 modem is used in Apple Watch Series 4 and Series 10. The modem was introduced in 2017. Intel and Qualcomm will provide firmware updates for as long as Apple pays them. So the idea that C1 is some big deal makes no sense.
In short, there's no logical reason to expect Apple to offer more than 6-7 years of major macOS updates.
Right...yeah...cause Americans were bad for electing an evil dictator and now we need to be spanked and sit in time-out. I get it.
I expect any MacBook Air with 16 GB before the M4 would be very rare. The upgrade was expensive and only those that really wanted it bought it and would probably not want to part with it.
If I were you, I would wait until the M5 air comes out and get a used M4 or get a cheap M1 8GB now and sell it and look for a cheap air with 16 GB when the M1 8 GB no longer works for your use case.
If I were you, I would wait until the M5 air comes out and get a used M4 or get a cheap M1 8GB now and sell it and look for a cheap air with 16 GB when the M1 8 GB no longer works for your use case.
It was $200. Not a kingly sum, IMO, for a laptop one is liable to use for 3-5 years. And no, they don't seem to be very rare. A casual eBay search shows plenty of used M1 Airs. Per the OP's observation, though, they do seem to be holding their value pretty well.