Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple's M2 MacBook Air Hits All-Time Low Prices at Best Buy, Get Up to $300 Off

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,563
37,946


Best Buy's weekend sale includes great deals on the 13-inch and 15-inch M2 MacBook Air, both of which have hit all-time low prices. Anyone can get these deals and you don't need a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership to see the discounts.

macbook-air-blue-image.jpg
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Starting with the 15-inch M2 MacBook Air, you can get the 256GB model for $999.00, down from $1,299.00. The 512GB model has hit $1,199.00, down from $1,499.00. Both of these are record low prices on the 15-inch M2 MacBook Air.




The 13-inch M2 MacBook Air is available for $100 off across the board this weekend at Best Buy. The 256GB model is on sale for $899.00 and the 512GB model is available for $1,099.00. You can get both models in all four colors: Starlight, Space Gray, Silver, and Midnight.




Apple discontinued the 15-inch M2 MacBook Air earlier this month, following the introduction of the M3 MacBook Air. At the same time, the company knocked the price of the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air down by $100, selling them alongside the M3 models.

Be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.

Article Link: Apple's M2 MacBook Air Hits All-Time Low Prices at Best Buy, Get Up to $300 Off
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/03/17/apples-m2-macbook-air-low-prices/
Waiting for Best Buy to give a better than $499 price for the M2 Mac Mini so I can get the difference, just picked one up the last week.

Since all my hard drives are external I don’t really care about the internal drive but I tested it gets about 1500 MB a second which is pretty snappy. I can use that as swap space for temporary files.

Now they just need a firmware update for USB C 3.2 2.2 external drive. I had the plug in the USB A connector to install Sonoma. Once it’s installed I switched back and it works fine. :rolleyes:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Burnincoco and turbineseaplane
Jacoblee23 said:
Makes zero difference in real world usage. This is majorly overblown. I have the 13” m2 base and 15” m2 base.
Click to expand...
that really is a good deal right now lol... im tempted and I bought a m3 Max/64gb/2tb when it was released. But this is a good for the wife or the kids....
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jacoblee23
With the M1 Air gone (well, discontinued, but inventory is still out there) the now entry level M2 Air is distinctly a lesser performer than the M3 Air. The slower read/write speeds of the M2 with 256 were probably not noticeable in normal everyday tasks, but now it’s not undone by the M1 Air.

The M1 Air should be seeing some serious discounts to move out remaining inventory—ideal for those looking for a great laptop at a bargain price. Ditto for 15in. M2 Air.
 
  • Like
Reactions: turbineseaplane
Jacoblee23 said:
Makes zero difference in real world usage. This is majorly overblown. I have the 13” m2 base and 15” m2 base.
Click to expand...
Real world as in typical iPad-like usage. That is, if Safari, Chrome, etc. is most of what you use the computer for, the base configuration is more than sufficient. Ditto for basic office productivity use.

But if you want to dabble in creative or development work, upgrading to 16GB and 512GB or better is a safer option.
 
The M2 never had a reason to exist. Get a super great deal on an M1 for basic computing (faster NAND) or get a an M3. No reason for anyone to pick up an M2 even when they were brand new. Or especially when they were brand new.
 
  • Disagree
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: miguel cortez, snipr125 and DrWojtek
M2 Air is $899 in Apple Edu store and you don't need anything to qualify. I decided to spend $100 and got M3 Air for my wife. She would probably never tell a difference between, but at least I can expect an extra year of macOS support, so that might be worth it.
 
The M2 Mac Air is now the best value proposition… if you cant get a hold of the M1.

Mac Mini/iMac and the Airs are what youd have if they only made a desktop, all in one, laptop, and ipad.

These are consumer targeted middle ground premium.
 
turbineseaplane said:
An "ALL TIME LOW SALE PRICE!" ....seemingly every couple days, if not every single day
Odd times

Is this just the Apple strategy now, or are there some demand issues?
I guess a mix of both?
Click to expand...
I think it's Apple, in the obvious way, spreading the range to cover every price point. We always knew this was going to happen, same way it happened for iPhones – there's leading edge, then one chip behind, then two chips behind.

It's more obvious with macs because a wider range of types of stores sell macs, and they are willing to occasionally take a dive and sell at cost or maybe $10 below cost to get publicity, get people in the store for a particular event, or whatever.
So I don't think it's demand issues so much as the new normal.
 
Jacoblee23 said:
Makes zero difference in real world usage. This is majorly overblown. I have the 13” m2 base and 15” m2 base.
Click to expand...
Actually owning and having experience doesn’t seem to matter these days, as it seems to be more important to run benchmarks with multiple background apps open, as we all know that is the real world. :rolleyes:

Sorry, I’m just tired of people believing these dumb clickbait videos. I used to enjoy their videos until I discovered how many people couldn’t distinguish an interesting stress test from actual usage. My base M1 Air is probably my favourite computer, even compared to my 14” Pro… but the Pro is awesome, too. I’m glad you are happy with your M2 Airs and thanks for the testimonial!
 
  • Like
Reactions: name99, aParkerMusic, sracer and 1 other person
nutmac said:
Real world as in typical iPad-like usage. That is, if Safari, Chrome, etc. is most of what you use the computer for, the base configuration is more than sufficient. Ditto for basic office productivity use.

But if you want to dabble in creative or development work, upgrading to 16GB and 512GB or better is a safer option.
Click to expand...
Sure, more RAM and storage are always preferable. However, if you are just dabbling, you can actually do those on a base Air. Unless you have a specific piece of software that requires more than 8GB… at which point you usually aren’t waiting for a Best Buy sale on a prior generation computer that doesn’t meet your requirements.
 
  • Like
Reactions: aParkerMusic and sracer
lindros2 said:
The 256GB 13" MBAir is very dicey - single chip = terrible benchmark performance (not sure if this is 100% true in real world use).
The gem in the Best Buy inventory is the 15" 16GB/1TB. I picked two up.
Click to expand...
What does a buyer—of the smallest-drive size of a MacBook Air—do that is bottlenecked by a 1500 MB/s sequential read/write speed?

Answer: nothing

This is one of those specs that gets under an enthusiast's skin—but when you account for the idea that buyers of 256 GB drive are storing PDFs—not 8K video footage—you realize using only one NAND chip is a non-issue—it's still opening 1 GB files in less than a second and almost every external USB 3.2 SSD is slower than 1500 MB/s.

Putting $200 into a 512 GB drive does not improve performance; putting $200 into 16 GB RAM does improve performance. Yet too many people wasted their money upgrading storage.

Glad we can put this debacle behind us.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: sracer, aParkerMusic and bgillander
SAdProZ said:
What does a buyer—of the smallest-drive size of a MacBook Air—do that is bottlenecked by a 1500 MB/s sequential read/write speed?

Answer: nothing

This is one of those specs that gets under an enthusiast's skin—but when you account for the idea that buyers of 256 GB drive are storing PDFs—not 8K video footage—you realize using only one NAND chip is a non-issue—it's still opening 1 GB files in less than a second and almost every external USB 3.2 SSD is slower than 1500 MB/s.

Putting $200 into a 512 GB drive does not improve performance; putting $200 into 16 GB RAM does improve performance. Yet too many people wasted their money upgrading storage.

Glad we can put this debacle behind us.
Click to expand...
It's the principle. I know that people nowadays don't let principle bother them, but the fact that Apple still, in good conscious, puts 8GB RAM or 256GB SSD in a relatively expensive computer is them making a fool of anyone who buys it. Especially considering that it would cost Apple only a few dollars to put an extra 8GB RAM or an extra NAND SSD chip but then they don't get that $400 pure upgrade profit.
 
The display on the MBA is just not good enough. In normal lighting it’s too dim. I had one and I kept trying to increase the brightness only to realize I was already maxed out. I wish Apple would realize that many people don’t need a super fast amazing chip, but they would love to have a nice display in the form factor of a MBA.
 
You know 8GB isn't enough when you have to click links to find out a ram spec. You wouldn't have youtubers
making comparison videos either unless they do 16GB vs 24GB lol. I think for what you pay 16/512 for the base price should be the norm these days.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back