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Best Buy Selling M1 MacBook Air for $650, a New All-Time Low Price
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Nice whataboutism! Do you have an actual useful comment?
Successfully got my $109.20 difference refunded this morning.
macOS tries to use as much physical memory as possible.
You can't use a Mac with 16Gb RAM to judge how much RAM is used on a 8Gb RAM model.
Exactly! It doesn't explain how my M2 base Mini with 8GB is twice as fast as my 2018 i5 Mini with 32GB of RAM.
Most Windows laptops throttle simply by not plugging in a power adaptor when in use
A discontinued, open-box, 8/256 machine is the used white rental car of computers.
It'll work, but will need heavy rebates to sell.
It'll work, but will need heavy rebates to sell.
Now?? Apple and especially third party Apple retailers have been discounting Apple computers for over 40 years. While Apple itself (online and through its own stores) is more "disciplined" about discounting and tries to avoid the discounter image, they too have been discounting previous generation models for decades. For example, the M2 MacBook Air is now priced at $999 which is $200 less than its original price. Of course, you can get it for even less ($899) at places like Best Buy. Apple prefers to let third party retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, etc. do more of the discount "dirty work."
What new, unlocked, SIM-free iPhones can you get at Best Buy at a discount (less than Apple retail)?
Hopefully, this means that the M1 MacBook Air 8GB/256GB is the 9th gen iPad of MacBooks. If so, I’m all for it.
Again, I am not talking about Apple discounting older models. That is correct they've done that for years.
Nowadays Apple products get discounts days after announcing. The new USB-C AirPods Pro went on sale for less than Apple's MSRP before they were even announced. I don't think they've ever been sold for MSRP at Best Buy. The M3 MacBook Airs are already discounted. Etc. MSRP is irrelevant.
According to Best Buy's website, the iPhone 14 128GB is $579.99 unlocked.
I dont care what anyone thinks…. Apple Silicon laptop (new) for 650 dollars. This deal is steal of the year surely… maybe of the decade. This is massive value…. If i didnt have my M2 macbook air and was looking… id buy this 100 percent.
That's not really a new thing, though. Discounting on Apple computers, even those on the market for less than a year, by third party Apple retailers has been going on for decades.
Apple is deceptive and smart. They want to sell a $699 MacBook Air without "ruining" the $999 perceived value of the MacBook Air line. It could be that all the retail partners have the same program available to them and this is only news because Walmart is selling M1 Airs for the first time (Best Buy has always been selling M1 Airs).
Why would Best Buy have a $50 sale? For the same reasons they've always had sales on Apple laptops—its great for business because it (a) becomes Hot News around the internet aka free advertising, which brings in new and existing customers and (b) Best Buy makes up lost profits with huge profits in selling accessories, warranty, and putting these incoming customers on credit programs (most customers can't buy a laptop in cash). Best Buy, Amazon, etc have used this model for years which is why Apple laptops are always on sale—theres a huge ROI in it.
You had said "SIM-free." The $579.99 price requires customer to carrier connect (new line or account on AT&T or Verizon) through Best Buy.
The Best Buy price for a new, unlocked, SIM-free (connect to any carrier later) 128GB iPhone 14 is actually $729.99 which is the same as Apple retail and not discounted.
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People were reporting excessive writes back in 2020. The 256GB SSD's are rated for at least 150TB writes over its lifespan but most likely be good for 3-4x more than that.
So even allowing going with the excessive (and now fixed) initial write bug in MacOS, it would still be quite a long time (5 or 6 years) before it becomes an issue and only with certain heavy workloads and certain apps (e.g. Adobe Rendering).
Peeps that have been tracking their SSD writes have calculated literally decades of life left on their Mac SSD's with normal use.
Apple computers have had SSD's for a long time now and even 10 year old ones aren't spontaneously dying, no reason to think that will change anytime soon.
Shows me right for not reading. I saw the ad said "Save $250 off iPhone 14 unlocked" but didn't read beyond that. Thanks.
During the Jobs era, the best you'd get off a current-model Mac was $5-10. Retailers would sometimes throw in free software or a mail-in rebate, but as far as actual dollars off - a few bucks was the most you'd get.
I drove over to the nearest Best Buy today and picked up an M2 MacBook Air w/16g memory and 1t SSD at a savings of $400, plus two years of free Apple Care. It's going to be my retirement travel Mac. My M2 16-inch MacBook Pro Max with 32g memory and 1t SSD will be for doing stuff at home.
Yeah, expercom would bundle AppleCare at a steep discount on top of a minor discount on the computer, and offer larger RAM and HD configurations at a bigger discount by taking out the Apple parts (and reusing them elsewhere) and putting in higher capacity. With free shipping.
Those were the days.
You can do Photoshop work and all but the most demanding video editing on them for money and the machine will work faster than you can think or move the mouse.
Discounting on Apple.com has ceased for a long time already.
Discounting from authorized Apple resellers regularly occurs.
Buying from an Apple Store feels so nice... unlike online ordering.
But the penny smart crowd would look at MR's pricelist or https://slickdeals.net/ and find offers.
The 40 month old MBA 13" M1 5nm for $650 isn't a bad value considering it is a 13.3" 2560x1600 400 nits IPS display at 1.27kg.
These are the 7nm & 10nm PC laptops between $640-660 on BH photo.
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I started with an Apple IIe and added a RAM card. I upgraded to a Mac II, a very expensive computer then. I have had PowerPC and Intel Macs over the years. My early 2011 MacBook Pro 17” is still running my old software, it has maxed out memory and two SSDs in it. I had a couple Mac Pros with maxed out memory and multi-drive raids.
BUT,
I was blown away when I got a 2020 M1 MacBook Air! Just 8/512, wish I had waited for the 2TB storage then I wouldn’t need to hang a drive for big projects. I think this is the perfect machine, small and lightweight, but it does everything I need fast and silently. I use Final Cut and Logic which operate smoothly and there is no waiting.
If some of you guys don’t believe this, that’s fine with me.
I too think Apple should keep this machine as a cheap entry level laptop.
It truly is my favorite Mac of all time!
BUT,
I was blown away when I got a 2020 M1 MacBook Air! Just 8/512, wish I had waited for the 2TB storage then I wouldn’t need to hang a drive for big projects. I think this is the perfect machine, small and lightweight, but it does everything I need fast and silently. I use Final Cut and Logic which operate smoothly and there is no waiting.
If some of you guys don’t believe this, that’s fine with me.
I too think Apple should keep this machine as a cheap entry level laptop.
It truly is my favorite Mac of all time!