Deals: Apple's 512GB M1 MacBook Air Hits New Low Price at $1,099 ($150 Off)

[MacRumors]

Amazon today is offering the 512GB M1 MacBook Air for $1,099.00, down from $1,249.00. This is beating the previous sale price by about $50, and represents a new low price for this model of the 2020 MacBook Air.

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

You can get the M1 MacBook Air at this price in both Gold and Silver. For the latter color option, you'll see the price reflected at the checkout screen once a $50 coupon is automatically applied.

M1 MacBook Air (512GB) for $1,099.00 ($150 OFF)​

The 256GB model is on sale as well, available for $899.00, down from $999.00. This is a sale price that we've been tracking for most of the summer, so it remains a solid deal if you are shopping for the entry level model of the MacBook Air.

You can find even more discounts on other MacBooks by visiting our Best Deals guide for MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. In this guide we track the steepest discounts for the newest MacBook models every week, so be sure to bookmark it and check back often if you're shopping for a new Apple notebook.

Article Link: Deals: Apple's 512GB M1 MacBook Air Hits New Low Price at $1,099 ($150 Off)

 

[Edgecrusherr]

But only 8GB of RAM ?

 

[Oogler]

Well that's interesting. I was debating buying an iPad Pro 11" and this deal would be a little bit cheaper than that or the iPad Air 4th gen with smartfolio keyboard and pencil 2, by a small margin. Different use case tho as I wanted the portability of the tablet over the laptop but dang, makes me question the decision a bit.

 

[nilk]

But only 8GB of RAM ?

Yeah, I never see the 16GB RAM models on sale, but maybe I missed it. 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD is minimum spec I'd want in a MacBook Air.

 

[ghanwani]

If we are expecting new MBPs before the new MBAs, why are we seeing better sales for the MBAs? I think there's something off with the rumors.

 

[ncbill]

Yeah, I never see the 16GB RAM models on sale, but maybe I missed it. 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD is minimum spec I'd want in a MacBook Air.

What are you people doing with your MBAs?

Fourier transforms in Mathematica?

My 2012 MBP with a failed upper RAM slot (so limited to 8GB total) still does just fine for any online work (including that resource hog Zoom) plus office applications (MS Office, Libre Office, etc.) though I'm sure switching to a SSD helped.

 

[arcite]

8gigs ram?..... in 2021? ..... not usable.

 

[Gherkin]

Yeah, I never see the 16GB RAM models on sale, but maybe I missed it. 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD is minimum spec I'd want in a MacBook Air.

does anyone besides Apple even sell a 16 GB model?

 

[danvdr]

8gigs ram?..... in 2021? ..... not usable.

With Apple's SOC (hope I got that abbreviation right) it is. I've got an M1 Mac Mini at home and M1 MBA at work, both with 8 GB RAM. I'm not a power user, but have never noticed a RAM related slow down.

 

[jcshas]

This is a steal, if you can live with the gold version! I paid slightly less for my M1 MBA (same specs, space gray) used on eBay last month. The M1 MBA knocks the socks off my 15” 2017 Intel based MacBook Pro.

 

[bpeeps]

Anyone know how these M1 Macbooks perform with Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop?

 

[scaramoosh]

Anyone know how these M1 Macbooks perform with Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop?

They cache the hell out of the SSD, get the 16GB version.

 

[Mr. Dee]

8 GBs of RAM is sufficient for most users. The niche users who need it for creative apps and IT Pro scenarios like running multiple VMs are quite small. I don’t even think you need more 8 GBs for dev work. Yes, if you want future proof your machine, 16 GBs are more is nice to have but that’s why you have the option to customize the machine at purchase. With Windows VMs becoming a thing of the past for me, any future Mac I buy will be mid tier.

I plan on getting a Windows 11 device as a back up later this year or next year just for back up purposes. Also, just to be in the know with the platform and write occasional articles for Microsoft community.

 

[Chiromac81]

Why can't they discount the 1TB model?!?

 

[0128672]

Why can't they discount the 1TB model?!?

You can get an 8/7 16/1TB MBA refurb from Apple for $1359. That $240 off. Or an 8/8 for $1399, $250 off.

Refurbished 13.3-inch MacBook Air Apple M1 Chip with 8‑Core CPU and 7‑Core GPU - Space Gray

Originally released November 2020|13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch|16GB unified memory|1TB SSD1|Touch ID sensor|720p FaceTime HD Camera

www.apple.com

 

[ajfahey]

With Apple's SOC (hope I got that abbreviation right) it is. I've got an M1 Mac Mini at home and M1 MBA at work, both with 8 GB RAM. I'm not a power user, but have never noticed a RAM related slow down.

RAM can no longer be upgraded and most people buy computers expecting to hold on to them for 6-10 years. They configure their purchase for what they WILL need in 6-10 years. They do not buy what is good enough for now but will almost certainly be inadequate later. Do you really expect 8 GB that can’t be updated and with no speed issues now to be just hunky dorie 4-6 years out? I’m certainly don’t and that’s not even taking into account the increased likelihood of SSD failures that will be a consequence of the OS compensating for inadequate RAM by physically assaulting the SSD. That extra $200 for 16GB future proofs my purchase now. It’s insurance against needing to buy a whole new computer in 3-4 years for 4-6 times the cost of an additional 8GB of RAM in the present.

 

[ajfahey]

They cache the hell out of the SSD, get the 16GB version.

RAM can‘t be field upgraded. SSD can be upgraded with an external drive but an external SSD will never be as fast as the current soldered on SSD storage. It’s also external and another thing to carry around and that uses 1 of only 2 TB3 ports. SSD caching may not be an issue for most over 1-2 years but will likely matter in the medium term and definitively matter from medium term through the remaining life cycle. Don’t get 8 when buying a current model and avoid 16 when the M1X MBPs are released. 32GB should be your low end target configuration. There is a reason the 8GB models are being discounted. The market demand knows better. Apple marketing analysts blew it and the deep discounting hit they are taking to dump the excess product is the profit hit they are paying.

 

[azentropy]

RAM can no longer be upgraded and most people buy computers expecting to hold on to them for 6-10 years. They configure their purchase for what they WILL need in 6-10 years. They do not buy what is good enough for now but will almost certainly be inadequate later. Do you really expect 8 GB that can’t be updated and with no speed issues now to be just hunky dorie 4-6 years out? I’m certainly don’t and that’s not even taking into account the increased likelihood of SSD failures that will be a consequence of the OS compensating for inadequate RAM by physically assaulting the SSD. That extra $200 for 16GB future proofs my purchase now. It’s insurance against needing to buy a whole new computer in 3-4 years for 4-6 times the cost of an additional 8GB of RAM in the present.

Yes an no. The problem with the MBA is since they don’t have a “standard“ option with 16gb they are rarely discounted and not by nearly as much. So it costs $250-$400 more than the discounted 8gb models.

 

[Just sayin...]

Only the pink one (aka Rose Gold) is that cheap - the “good colors” are $100 more…

 

[npmacuser5]

Well that's interesting. I was debating buying an iPad Pro 11" and this deal would be a little bit cheaper than that or the iPad Air 4th gen with smartfolio keyboard and pencil 2, by a small margin. Different use case tho as I wanted the portability of the tablet over the laptop but dang, makes me question the decision a bit.

If you are a Costco member, same price with two bonuses, a 90 day return policy and two year warranty. I got the 512 gb and must say very nice. The IOS apps work very well so far. If you like the IOS apps, pretty good deal. Did I mention fast.

 

[jgdeschamps]

Only the pink one (aka Rose Gold) is that cheap - the “good colors” are $100 more…

It's not rose gold nor pink. Got one for my daughter and it's gold-gold. Very similar to the iPhone 5s tone... maybe a tad darker.

 

[bd139]

I'm not worried about the RAM issue. I am using ~75Gb of a 512Gb SSD here. That's plenty of room for some wear levelling on the SSD even if there's a fair bit of memory pressure over the expected 3 year ownership of my MBA (until applecare runs out).

After monitoring it though unless you are hammering the crap out of your macbook it's probably not going to suffer with 8Gb of RAM. I'm sitting here with mail, safari, music, messages, photos, calendar, reminders, goodnotes and iTerm and visual studio code open and it's not bitching about memory pressure yet and the SSD has about 2TBW in the 6 months I've had this. I just added pixelmator pro to that and opened a 12M photo and it's still green sitting at 6.79gb used.

 

[brdeveloper]

But only 8GB of RAM ?

Low RAM as always, boring deals...

 

[nilk]

What are you people doing with your MBAs?

Fourier transforms in Mathematica?

My 2012 MBP with a failed upper RAM slot (so limited to 8GB total) still does just fine for any online work (including that resource hog Zoom) plus office applications (MS Office, Libre Office, etc.) though I'm sure switching to a SSD helped.

I run software dev tools, virtual machines, databases, work with in-memory data sets, etc. 64GB RAM in my work MBP; and my personal machines have plenty of RAM as well. I could get by with less, but I'd rather downgrade to 16GB than 8GB.

The M1 MacBook Air is powerful enough that I think I could use it for the same type of work I use my 16" i9 MacBook Pro for, but if I went that route I'm going to get the most RAM I can. Hoping to see at least 32GB RAM option in upcoming machines.

BTW I'd pick the M1 MacBook Air over the M1 MacBook Pro purely because I want regular function keys and I don't ever want a TouchBar again. I'd give up the possibility of more RAM to avoid the TouchBar. Hopefully the TouchBar will be a thing of the past in the next iteration.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Anyone know how these M1 Macbooks perform with Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop?

They run fine for most of my projects. Just don't run other RAM intensive websites or programs at the same time.