Deals: Amazon Takes $100 Off New 15.3-Inch MacBook Air, Available From $1,199

[MacRumors]

Apple's 256GB 15.3-inch MacBook Air is available for $1,199.00 today on Amazon, down from its original price of $1,299.00. We've seen this sale only a few times over the summer, and it remains the best deal tracked yet on the latest MacBook Air.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

This sale is available in three of the four colors: Midnight, Space Gray, and Silver. All three models are in stock and have an estimated delivery date between August 5 and August 9.

15-inch MacBook Air (256GB) for $1,199.00 ($100 OFF)​

We're also tracking an all-time low price on the 512GB 15.3-inch MacBook Air, which is on sale for $1,399.00, down from $1,499.00. This one is available in two colors (Midnight and Space Gray), and has an estimated delivery date between August 7 and August 9.

15-inch MacBook Air (256GB) for $1,399.00 ($100 OFF)​

Head to our full Deals Roundup to get caught up with all of the latest deals and discounts that we've been tracking over the past week.

Article Link: Deals: Amazon Takes $100 Off New 15.3-Inch MacBook Air, Available From $1,199

 

[ilikewhey]

i wonder how long can apple keep up with this 8gb base trend. and before ppl comment "8gb is more than enough for most" yeah so was 4gb back in the days but tech moves forward.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

You might as well wait for the M3

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

i wonder how long can apple keep up with this 8gb base trend. and before ppl comment "8gb is more than enough for most" yeah so was 4gb back in the days but tech moves forward.

Apple can keep up with 8GB base as long as people keep buying. It actually serves Apple well. People who know no better buy too little for their present & future needs and that leads to eventually realizing they need more horsepower under the hood. Replacements come sooner, making Apple more money.

People who do know better opt to pay outrageous prices to get it where "it should be" (or better), raining great profit on Apple for additional RAM and more SSD, now only available from a single source that can basically charge anything it wants. Again, Apple makes lots of additional money on this "smarter" crowd "getting it right."

We consumers actually control all such wants. We simply have to illustrate our demand in the language any seller understands: stop buying and seller will evolve their product (and/or upgrade pricing) to better motivate us to part with our money. Consumers seem to have just forgotten the great power of collectively endorsing or rejecting with their wallet. Instead, we roll over and buy anyway... and then complain about it on forums.

Revenue speaks farrrrrrrrrrrr louder than words.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I agree, 16 GBs and 512 GB should be standard now. You would be surprised how tech savvy the average consumer is on stuff like this these days. Came across a Twitter thread yesterday about the 2020 MacBook Air being on sale at COSTCO for 750, yet everyone in the comments seem pan it for the 8 GBs of RAM. Apple needs to show a little good will. Yeah, its DDR5 and its likely super fast. But the reality is people are keeping devices longer. Then again, I still use a 2015 13 inch MacBook Pro with a Broadwell CPU and 8 GBs of DDR3 and its surprisingly works well for email, web browsing, listening music, watching YouTube. So, maybe thats the angle Apple is approaching this from.

 

[darngooddesign]

You might as well wait for the M3

That could be a year away on the 15” Air.

 

[Anglagard]

Tired of this useless base models, just axe the 8GB will ya?

 

[seek3r]

i wonder how long can apple keep up with this 8gb base trend. and before ppl comment "8gb is more than enough for most" yeah so was 4gb back in the days but tech moves forward.

Wouldnt be surprised if M3 jumps to 12GB (betting on 12 not 16, we’ll see) on the next gen airs, if for no other reason than iPads and iPhones are going to overtake base model Macs at the rate we’re going otherwise

 

[wigby]

I agree, 16 GBs and 512 GB should be standard now. You would be surprised how tech savvy the average consumer is on stuff like this these days. Came across a Twitter thread yesterday about the 2020 MacBook Air being on sale at COSTCO for 750, yet everyone in the comments seem pan it for the 8 GBs of RAM. Apple needs to show a little good will. Yeah, its DDR5 and its likely super fast. But the reality is people are keeping devices longer. Then again, I still use a 2015 13 inch MacBook Pro with a Broadwell CPU and 8 GBs of DDR3 and its surprisingly works well for email, web browsing, listening music, watching YouTube. So, maybe thats the angle Apple is approaching this from.

As we all know, 95% of customers never even come close to unlocking the full potential of their Macs or iPhones. They check email and browse the web and not much else. The small, vocal minority are the ones that complain about too little RAM and SSD storage because they actually need it for content creation. They simply complain in the hopes that Apple lowers the prices of base models or increases storage and keeps the prices low so they can save a buck on their next purchase. Apple is not stupid so they will not be changing anything because this products work for 95% of their customers. And the other 5% will simply buy their pro products and pay the extra for more storage because these people make money using Apple products and are willing to pay 2x more than they currently do. They just don't realize it themselves because they are cheap.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

I used the base model with the 8gb ram and it burst into flames when I launched chrome. When will Apple learn?

 

[compwiz1202]

The text for the 512 link shows 256. It does point the the 512 model though

 

[ilikewhey]

As we all know, 95% of customers never even come close to unlocking the full potential of their Macs or iPhones. They check email and browse the web and not much else. The small, vocal minority are the ones that complain about too little RAM and SSD storage because they actually need it for content creation. They simply complain in the hopes that Apple lowers the prices of base models or increases storage and keeps the prices low so they can save a buck on their next purchase. Apple is not stupid so they will not be changing anything because this products work for 95% of their customers. And the other 5% will simply buy their pro products and pay the extra for more storage because these people make money using Apple products and are willing to pay 2x more than they currently do. They just don't realize it themselves because they are cheap.

i disagree, causal apps like maps are ever increasingly upping their processing need and ram usage, using google maps on iphone x and older will turn the phone into a hot brick, as for ram limitations, most folks are hitting their phone limit even when they don't realize it, largely because they don't know the symptoms.

 

[Gherkin]

I think it’s likely Apple will switch to 16 GB base at some point because the supply chain won’t even offer 8 GB RAM chips. That’s when Apple will switch…. when it becomes more expensive for them to offer 8 GB.

Maybe things are different now with the design of the logic board. The RAM is integrated, but I assume they still essentially need to buy it from a supplier that may no longer offer 8 GB at some point?

 

[k1121j]

Apple can keep up with 8GB base as long as people keep buying. It actually serves Apple well. People who know no better buy too little for their present & future needs and that leads to eventually realizing they need more horsepower under the hood. Replacements come sooner, making Apple more money.

People who do know better opt to pay outrageous prices to get it where "it should be" (or better), raining great profit on Apple for additional RAM and more SSD, now only available from a single source that can basically charge anything it wants. Again, Apple makes lots of additional money on this "smarter" crowd "getting it right."

We consumers actually control all such wants. We simply have to illustrate our demand in the language any seller understands: stop buying and seller will evolve their product (and/or upgrade pricing) to better motivate us to part with our money. Consumers seem to have just forgotten the great power of collectively endorsing or rejecting with their wallet. Instead, we roll over and buy anyway... and then complain about it on forums.

Revenue speaks farrrrrrrrrrrr louder than words.

You are right but no one’s buying the base models. This is why the only ones on sale are these base configs it’s the only way they can sell em.

 

[GMShadow]

I think it’s likely Apple will switch to 16 GB base at some point because the supply chain won’t even offer 8 GB RAM chips. That’s when Apple will switch…. when it becomes more expensive for them to offer 8 GB.

Maybe things are different now with the design of the logic board. The RAM is integrated, but I assume they still essentially need to buy it from a supplier that may no longer offer 8 GB at some point?

They'll consider switching when the costs work in their favor, but plenty of devices don't need that much RAM, so your scenario isn't going to happen.

 

[Gherkin]

They'll consider switching when the costs work in their favor, but plenty of devices don't need that much RAM, so your scenario isn't going to happen.

not sure what you are saying… you say “they consider switching when the costs work in their favor” which is exactly what I said. They’ll switch when it’s cheaper to buy 16 GB chips. Or am I misunderstanding you?

I think there was a report when they moved on from 128 GB SSDs that it was actually cheaper to put 256 GB SSDs in because no one really ordered 128 GB SSDs anymore so they were more expensive to manufacture at scale.

 

[Sir_Macs_A_Lot]

You might as well wait for the M3

I am waiting for the M3 (13" that is)...so I can get the M2 at an even cheaper price.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

You are right but no one’s buying the base models. This is why the only ones on sale are these base configs it’s the only way they can sell em.

I suspect LOTS of people buy the base models. Apple won't make a bunch of Macs to NOT sell them or discount them away. If nobody is buying, Apple will stop making them.

 

[AppleEnthusiast1995]

I like that they offer choice on their models across the board. Some people really only need 8gb of ram.

 

[wigby]

i disagree, causal apps like maps are ever increasingly upping their processing need and ram usage, using google maps on iphone x and older will turn the phone into a hot brick, as for ram limitations, most folks are hitting their phone limit even when they don't realize it, largely because they don't know the symptoms.

You're probably right. I was really replying to the comment about desktops and laptops. I threw in iPhones too but I don't know if it's the same case. Most people I know buy the phone with the lowest amount of storage and then complain about running out of space. But these same people also refuse to pay for a larger iCloud storage plan which would alleviate the problem. And sometimes these are people hear about 16GB of RAM in a Samsung phone and only 8GB in an iPhone and think they are directly comparable. My point is that Apple collects data on every user and knows exactly how much they can "get away with" before they have to include more storage with the base models. People like to complain but their user experience and their purchases tell the real story.

 

[Lakersfan74]

Keep the 8GB ram and 128 storage just don’t price gouge on the upgrades.

 

[mike2q]

As we all know, 95% of customers never even come close to unlocking the full potential of their Macs or iPhones. They check email and browse the web and not much else. The small, vocal minority are the ones that complain about too little RAM and SSD storage because they actually need it for content creation. They simply complain in the hopes that Apple lowers the prices of base models or increases storage and keeps the prices low so they can save a buck on their next purchase. Apple is not stupid so they will not be changing anything because this products work for 95% of their customers. And the other 5% will simply buy their pro products and pay the extra for more storage because these people make money using Apple products and are willing to pay 2x more than they currently do. They just don't realize it themselves because they are cheap.

You've got that backwards. It's Apple who is being cheap here, not the customer who dropped $1,200 on a criminally under equipped laptop. The only reason they offer these almost useless "base" models is so they can advertise attractive prices to lure in potential customers. Bait, switch, profit.

 

[seek3r]

You've got that backwards. It's Apple who is being cheap here, not the customer who dropped $1,200 on a criminally under equipped laptop. The only reason they offer these almost useless "base" models is so they can advertise attractive prices to lure in potential customers. Bait, switch, profit.

For professional use 8gb would be crap for me, which is why my work laptop has 32gb and things I need more (a *lot* more in many cases) are remote machines, but for personal light desktop use… my base model 8gb RAM M1 mini has been damn solid, it’s surprised me with how well it chugs along when under load with a lot of stuff open with only that. The base model is fine for most people right now. That said, 12 or 16 would future proof people better even when 8gb is fine now, since you cant upgrade it later (but most people will have replaced the machine by the time they run into that honestly)

 

[svish]

Good to have $100 discount on the latest 15" Air

 

[wigby]

You've got that backwards. It's Apple who is being cheap here, not the customer who dropped $1,200 on a criminally under equipped laptop. The only reason they offer these almost useless "base" models is so they can advertise attractive prices to lure in potential customers. Bait, switch, profit.

It's not a bait and switch. Customers pay for the low end models to save money or they pay more and get more. It's marketing 101 and basic business. And the base models aren't useless for most users. Your assertion makes no sense.