Best Buy Takes $300 Off 15-Inch MacBook Air With Multiple All-Time Low Prices Starting at $999 [Updated]

[CalMin]

Win-win. They’re making space for the incoming M3s, and now you can get a fantastic laptop for a fairly reasonable price. Picked one up this morning at Best Buy.

This is the way. The M3 will surely benchmark faster, but it’s not going to feel subjectively faster when you’re using it (unless a couple seconds here and there on long renders means something to you.)

Heck. If blind tested I doubt M3Max feels subjectively faster than M1 for the kind of workload than an Air is designed for.

If Dell can do it, so can Apple. I believe in the supply chain prowess of Tim Cook.

Of course they can do it, but why would they? Upcharging RAM and SSD is a huge profit center for them. They get away with it because, well, the machines run beautifully in base spec.

It's an unpopular opinion in these parts, but several of my 'muggle' friends (i.e. normal computer users, not geeks or enthusiasts like us) have purchased base spec. MacBooks Air's M1 and M2 and LOVE them. They love the performance, the speed, they don't need lots of space for media because they stream everything. 8GB/256GB is fine for them - especially when bought in the sale or with EDU discount.

My wife LOVES her 8GB/256GB M1 Air. It does all her email and photos. She uses a million Safari tabs (because she forgets to close windows). She does light MS Office stuff with it and it's fantastic for that - and all her apps are open all the time because she doesn't care to quit them properly - she just leaves them. It's great for FaceTime with family. She never reboots - ever. I do that and find she's had 3-months of uptime, sometimes longer because she always says no to software updates.

Putting in 16GB/512 would literally be a waste for her. It could be argued that in a couple of years she might want more, but she keeps her laptops for 6-8 years and it's only because I am pushing her to change that she does.

These things are just appliances to most people. And and 8/256 works well enough for them. Those of us that want more, know it and pay (excessively) for it.

 

[brofkand]

This is the way. The M3 will surely benchmark faster, but it’s not going to feel subjectively faster when you’re using it (unless a couple seconds here and there on long renders means something to you.)

Heck. If blind tested I doubt M3Max feels subjectively faster than M1 for the kind of workload than an Air is designed for.



Of course they can do it, but why would they? Upcharging RAM and SSD is a huge profit center for them. They get away with it because, well, the machines run beautifully in base spec.

It's an unpopular opinion in these parts, but several of my 'muggle' friends (i.e. normal computer users, not geeks or enthusiasts like us) have purchased base spec. MacBooks Air's M1 and M2 and LOVE them. They love the performance, the speed, they don't need lots of space for media because they stream everything. 8GB/256GB is fine for them - especially when bought in the sale or with EDU discount.

My wife LOVES her 8GB/256GB M1 Air. It does all her email and photos. She uses a million Safari tabs (because she forgets to close windows). She does light MS Office stuff with it and it's fantastic for that - and all her apps are open all the time because she doesn't care to quit them properly - she just leaves them. It's great for FaceTime with family. She never reboots - ever. I do that and find she's had 3-months of uptime, sometimes longer because she always says no to software updates.

Putting in 16GB/512 would literally be a waste for her. It could be argued that in a couple of years she might want more, but she keeps her laptops for 6-8 years and it's only because I am pushing her to change that she does.

These things are just appliances to most people. And and 8/256 works well enough for them. Those of us that want more, know it and pay (excessively) for it.

They might as well have bought a $200 Chromebook. Each to their own.

 

[Fuzzball84]

They might as well have bought a $200 Chromebook. Each to their own.

In reality… most of Apples customers could probably get by doing what they do on a Chromebook platform laptop. Im sure it would be hilarious to see the metrics for the most commonly used software on Mac…. Safari, Mail, Photos, Messages and Calendar…. 😂

Some Mac Pros ive seen during my time… the user was using Safari and Office 🥴

So in reality M2 vs M3 or M4 wont make much difference to the vast majority of Apple customers expect those really pushing the hardware… and they know who they are and what they need for the job.

Thats why Apple should release Macbook again…but business wise… why sell a cheaper version when people are buying Air and Pro 🤔

 

[brofkand]

In reality… most of Apples customers could probably get by doing what they do on a Chromebook platform laptop. Im sure it would be hilarious to see the metrics for the most commonly used software on Mac…. Safari, Mail, Photos, Messages and Calendar…. 😂

Some Mac Pros ive seen during my time… the user was using Safari and Office 🥴

So in reality M2 vs M3 or M4 wont make much difference to the vast majority of Apple customers expect those really pushing the hardware… and they know who they are and what they need for the job.

Thats why Apple should release Macbook again…but business wise… why sell a cheaper version when people are buying Air and Pro 🤔

If Apple is pleased with their Mac sales, then they don't need to change strategy at all. They have plenty of levers to pull if they decide they want more sales or what have you.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

My wife LOVES her 8GB/256GB M1 Air. It does all her email and photos. She uses a million Safari tabs (because she forgets to close windows). She does light MS Office stuff with it and it's fantastic for that - and all her apps are open all the time because she doesn't care to quit them properly - she just leaves them. It's great for FaceTime with family. She never reboots - ever. I do that and find she's had 3-months of uptime, sometimes longer because she always says no to software updates.

These things are just appliances to most people. And and 8/256 works well enough for them. Those of us that want more, know it and pay (excessively) for it.

You summed up quite nicely what has been going on in the thread titled "is 8GB of RAM enough in a Macbook Pro?" or 8GB is the bottleneck. For the casual user a laptop with 8GB is plenty. I have stated over and over that my M2 base spec Mini is twice as fast at everything vs my 2018 Intel i5 Mini with the faster SSD and I upgraded the RAM from 8 to 32GB because I got caught in the 8GB is not enough. The cold boot to desktop is at a ridiculous <9 secs on the M2 Mini.

You gave a really solid example of what can be done with a base spec M1 Macbook Air and why there's not a whole lot of reasons to spend the extra money when the user might not see a lot of difference in performance. If a person feels they need more headroom then they can pay for it. For most, the base spec will suffice.

 

[cardfan]

If Apple is pleased with their Mac sales, then they don't need to change strategy at all. They have plenty of levers to pull if they decide they want more sales or what have you.

It’s not often you see someone honestly pleased with sales. What levers you talking about? Lower prices isn’t one. Comes with hit to margins.

You said plenty of levers. Like what? I’m sure apple wouldn’t mind selling more Mac’s. Coupons? Contests? Pay employees more to sell these things? Open an eBay store? So many levers.

Heck I bet Tim was recently at a staff meeting and someone said you know Tim we have plenty of levers to pull if we need more Mac sales.

In fact Tim he continued. iPhones? iPads? Even Vision Pros. We have so many levers. We can pull them. Pull them all at the same time!

The staff at the table looks at him in disbelief. Or it at appears that way. Tough to tell with that new eyesight feature. Tim looks like he’s suffocating as he struggles to take off his vision goggles.

 

[TechRunner]

if they are a friend or family member, they shouldn't

They shouldn't from a Mac perspective, but they all live in the Windows world (with a few exceptions), so they probably would

 

[Kay_Ess]

My god, if I’m ever going to get a MacBook I’m getting a return plane ticket to NYC or something, spend a weekend there in a hotel and go to an American sports venue AND get the MacBook and it will be cheaper than buying it in Europe……. 🤪

 

[brofkand]

It’s not often you see someone honestly pleased with sales. What levers you talking about? Lower prices isn’t one. Comes with hit to margins.

You said plenty of levers. Like what? I’m sure apple wouldn’t mind selling more Mac’s. Coupons? Contests? Pay employees more to sell these things? Open an eBay store? So many levers.

Heck I bet Tim was recently at a staff meeting and someone said you know Tim we have plenty of levers to pull if we need more Mac sales.

In fact Tim he continued. iPhones? iPads? Even Vision Pros. We have so many levers. We can pull them. Pull them all at the same time!

The staff at the table looks at him in disbelief. Or it at appears that way. Tough to tell with that new eyesight feature. Tim looks like he’s suffocating as he struggles to take off his vision goggles.

Well that's why I said they'd only need to change strategy if they're unhappy with sales. If they are unhappy they'll have to give up margin to cut prices, or spend more in R&D to add features that customers that aren't buying demand, etc.

 

[brofkand]

You summed up quite nicely what has been going on in the thread titled "is 8GB of RAM enough in a Macbook Pro?" or 8GB is the bottleneck. For the casual user a laptop with 8GB is plenty. I have stated over and over that my M2 base spec Mini is twice as fast at everything vs my 2018 Intel i5 Mini with the faster SSD and I upgraded the RAM from 8 to 32GB because I got caught in the 8GB is not enough. The cold boot to desktop is at a ridiculous <9 secs on the M2 Mini.

You gave a really solid example of what can be done with a base spec M1 Macbook Air and why there's not a whole lot of reasons to spend the extra money when the user might not see a lot of difference in performance. If a person feels they need more headroom then they can pay for it. For most, the base spec will suffice.

Counterpoint: if you use your Mac like it's a Chromebook, you could have kept your 10 year old model.

 

[Altis]

Counterpoint: if you use your Mac like it's a Chromebook, you could have kept your 10 year old model.

It's the same point. If all someone does is basic browser/office stuff, any half-decent computer from the past decade does that stuff about as well (with an SSD, of course).

Which is why it's kind of irrelevant to whether or not 8GB should be the base for the 'MacBook Pro' line, ie the same as a Raspberry Pi. Nobody is saying you can't do basic stuff with it, but that it's incredibly stingey and an obvious bottleneck for an otherwise powerful and lasting machine.

 

[eXan]

This is the way. The M3 will surely benchmark faster, but it’s not going to feel subjectively faster when you’re using it (unless a couple seconds here and there on long renders means something to you.)

Heck. If blind tested I doubt M3Max feels subjectively faster than M1 for the kind of workload than an Air is designed for.



Of course they can do it, but why would they? Upcharging RAM and SSD is a huge profit center for them. They get away with it because, well, the machines run beautifully in base spec.

It's an unpopular opinion in these parts, but several of my 'muggle' friends (i.e. normal computer users, not geeks or enthusiasts like us) have purchased base spec. MacBooks Air's M1 and M2 and LOVE them. They love the performance, the speed, they don't need lots of space for media because they stream everything. 8GB/256GB is fine for them - especially when bought in the sale or with EDU discount.

My wife LOVES her 8GB/256GB M1 Air. It does all her email and photos. She uses a million Safari tabs (because she forgets to close windows). She does light MS Office stuff with it and it's fantastic for that - and all her apps are open all the time because she doesn't care to quit them properly - she just leaves them. It's great for FaceTime with family. She never reboots - ever. I do that and find she's had 3-months of uptime, sometimes longer because she always says no to software updates.

Putting in 16GB/512 would literally be a waste for her. It could be argued that in a couple of years she might want more, but she keeps her laptops for 6-8 years and it's only because I am pushing her to change that she does.

These things are just appliances to most people. And and 8/256 works well enough for them. Those of us that want more, know it and pay (excessively) for it.

Agree with what you're saying.

Another thing I consider was for them to "hide" the true starting price of modern Macs. We saw the writing on the wall when M1 Pro / Max machines came out late 2021. With inflation ramping up at that time, it was bound to trickle into the lower end machines. You can enter into any Apple system for much less now than in early 2000's and 2010's (at least in US/CA). Everything "starts from" much less in today's money.

For example, iMac G4 came out in 2002 and started from USD 1,299.00. That's USD 2,200 in today's money. Look at Apple's website today, the iMac M3 starts from .... USD 1,299.00. Get the model with ports, two fans and touch ID, spec it to 16 GB / 1 TB and it would cost USD 2,099.

 

[svish]

Great price for the 15". Love my 15" MacBook Air. A very good MacBook.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Counterpoint: if you use your Mac like it's a Chromebook, you could have kept your 10 year old model.

I do keep them. I still have my 2012 Mini running ZorinOS. My 2018 is running Ventura and the M2 is on Sonoma. When they lose Apple support I run unsupported versions of macOS until they become too slow then they become a Linux device.

 

[CalMin]

They might as well have bought a $200 Chromebook. Each to their own.

Assuming that you're being serious and not just trolling me - if you've ever actually used a $200 ChromeBook, I think you would find the experience just slightly inferior to a 15" MacBook. But sure, you do you!

 

[brofkand]

Assuming that you're being serious and not just trolling me - if you've ever actually used a $200 ChromeBook, I think you would find the experience just slightly inferior to a 15" MacBook. But sure, you do you!

Yet Google Chrome is essentially identical between the two.

 

[Saturn007]

Counterpoint: if you use your Mac like it's a Chromebook, you could have kept your 10 year old model.

Counter-counterpoint. 😂

There are still plenty of reasons to buy a new Mac over that 10-year-old model! Wear and tear, ports not functioning, suffering from short battery life or wanting the much much longer battery life of the M series models, keyboard issues, need for more storage, desire for bigger screen, needing a new model to a newer OS to run certain software, etc.