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Deals: Get Apple's M1 MacBook Air for Best-Ever Price of $799.99 ($199 Off)

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Apple's 2020 M1 MacBook Air has hit its best-ever price on Amazon today, with the 256GB model on sale for $799.99, down from $999.00. Silver and Gold colors are available at this price, and the former color has a quicker shipping estimate of March 14-15.

M1-MacBook-Air-Deals-Feature-Cool.jpg
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 version of the MacBook Air sports a tapered design and does not have the updated chassis of the newer M2 MacBook Air models. It has the M1 chip and a 13-inch Retina display, and today's sale matches the previous all-time low price seen on Amazon for the computer.



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. Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.

Article Link: Deals: Get Apple's M1 MacBook Air for Best-Ever Price of $799.99 ($199 Off)
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/03/08/deals-apples-m1-macbook-air-4/
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
TigerNike23 said:
Fellow MacRumor folks, I’ve been eyeing this for a while. The issues I have are the small storage and small memory.

Is 256 GB enough for storage, and 8 GB enough for RAM?

But, if I bump up either spec, it no longer becomes a good deal.
Click to expand...

What are you using it for? If it's a basic use computer 8/256 should be plenty. If you're trying to do video editing or major 'work' then no, it might be a bit tight.
 
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Apple should release a Macbook SE using the M1 Air body but with an M3 chip. Sell it for $799 - $850 permanently.

MacBook SE using old M1 body: $850
13" MacBook Air: $1200
15" MacBook Air: $1400
14" Macbook Pro: $2000
16" Macbook Pro: $2500

It'd be a very strong lineup from top to bottom.

A Macbook SE with an M3 at $850 would destroy cheap Windows laptop competition. Today, the average selling price of a Windows laptop is around $700. At $850, a MacBook SE would provide insane value and would entice people to switch to Macs en mass. There are more iPhone + Windows laptop users than iPhone + Mac users today because the base price of a Mac has been so historically high.

Steve Jobs used to say that Apple didn't know how to make a cheap laptop that is also good. Apple knows now. It's with Apple Silicon.

Clearly, Apple's margin for the old Macbook Air is high enough that it can afford to sell it for $799.

Apple already makes the iPhone SE, Watch SE, and iPad 10" (SE in spirit). Macs shouldn't be the exception.

Today, the two most important Macs are the 13" Air and the 16" MBP. In the future, the two most important Macs will be the MacBook SE and the 15" Air.
 
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TigerNike23 said:
Fellow MacRumor folks, I’ve been eyeing this for a while. The issues I have are the small storage and small memory.

Is 256 GB enough for storage, and 8 GB enough for RAM?

But, if I bump up either spec, it no longer becomes a good deal.
Click to expand...
On the M1 8GB is enough RAM for all web browseing, youtube watching and office productivity work. It is also enough for light video editing.

Do not compare the RAM on an M1/M2 to how much RAM you needed on an Intel CPU.

256GB is only enough storage if you place the bulk of your data on some networked device. In my case, I own a Synology NAS and have fast local storage that can be as large as I like. Others might use iCloud which is only as fast as your Internet connection.

There is actually a HUGE advantage to NOT storing data on the notebook. If data is centrally stored then it is available to every computer, iPad and phone you own or use and you never have to copy or move the data. The trick is making it fast enough.
 
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Even though the M1 MBA was introduced over two years ago, it remains a fantastic computer, especially at the price on offer now. Very solid performance and battery life, silent fanless operation, more than powerful enough for most users, and very thin and light.

What you give up when you buy an M1 MBA instead of an M2 MBA is a better webcam, brighter and slightly bigger display, and magsafe charging. (The M2 also has modestly improved performance over the M1, but the M1 is already as much as most non-power-users could ever want.) I think these sacrifices are well worth it for the price difference, especially with this $799 sale.

If I didn't already have one, I'd grab this deal.
 
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GMShadow said:
What are you using it for? If it's a basic use computer 8/256 should be plenty. If you're trying to do video editing or major 'work' then no, it might be a bit tight.
Click to expand...
Right now, my current Dell laptop from 2016, I have 1 Linux virtual machine and my iTunes library. I’ve got 8 GB of memory and 512 GB SSD. I have a little under 200 GB of free space, but Windows takes up a lot of space.

The biggest caveat now is that I have a 256 GB M1 iPad Air, so will that take away a majority of tasks from the laptop? That remains to be seen.
 
ChrisA said:
On the M1 8GB is enough RAM for all web browseing, youtube watching and office productivity work. It is also enough for light video editing.

Do not compare the RAM on an M1/M2 to how much RAM you needed on an Intel CPU.

256GB is only enough storage if you place the bulk of your data on some networked device. In my case, I own a Synology NAS and have fast local storage that can be as large as I like. Others might use iCloud which is only as fast as your Internet connection.

There is actually a HUGE advantage to NOT storing data on the notebook. If data is centrally stored then it is available to every computer, iPad and phone you own or use and you never have to copy or move the data. The trick is making it fast enough.
Click to expand...

Thank you for mentioning the RAM aspect. I wasn’t sure is the memory on Apple Silicon is kind of like the “megahertz myth” with the PowerPC days.
 
TigerNike23 said:
Fellow MacRumor folks, I’ve been eyeing this for a while. The issues I have are the small storage and small memory.

Is 256 GB enough for storage, and 8 GB enough for RAM?

But, if I bump up either spec, it no longer becomes a good deal.
Click to expand...

This applies to every Mac Apple makes. If you have concerns about performance, get the base model MacBook with 512/16. For light use 256/8 is probably fine but it’s expensive for what it is at those specs. This discount price should be the base price for that spec.
 
ChrisA said:
Do not compare the RAM on an M1/M2 to how much RAM you needed on an Intel.
Click to expand...

This is marketing fluff. There is no difference between the two platforms. One only needs to lightly browse the forums here to see that the real world usage bears this out. 8GB on MacOS is a crime for anything more than a disposable product.

You can find nicely loaded 16GB units on swappa and other markets that still have AppleCare in this price range. If you aren’t going to replace it in a year that is far more advisable.
 
This is more than enough for 80%+ of users (and will be for many years to come), and a really good deal for $800. Each of my kids have one of these. They rock.

I'm a pig, so I have the absolute opposite laptop (M2 Max/ 8TB)...yet I'm amazed at the snappiness (and light weight) of the M1 Air...and for only $800.

If anyone is still suffering through Intel MacBook heat & fan noise, check these out.
 
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This is pretty much the best laptop deal in town unless you go used. It's a hell of a computer for most "normal" people who just need to get online, do MS Office work, emails, edit family photos and videos. Unless you're doing computer science, engineering or some other course that needs a heavyweight PC, it's also a great machine for many college students too - I would put money on it still being enough at the end of a 3-4 year degree if you got one today.
 
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anakin44011 said:
This is more than enough for 80%+ of users (and will be for many years to come), and a really good deal for $800. Each of my kids have one of these. They rock.

I'm a pig, so I have the absolute opposite laptop (M2 Max/ 8TB)...yet I'm amazed at the snappiness (and light weight) of the M1 Air...and for only $800.

If anyone is still suffering through Intel MacBook heat & fan noise, check these out.
Click to expand...
Yea this is the first affordable MacBook I've seen, but I need bigger than 13. If they could make bigger screens with the same specs at $100 more an inch, it would be an instant buy.
 
senttoschool said:
Apple should release a Macbook SE using the M1 Air body but with an M3 chip. Sell it for $799 - $850 permanently.
Click to expand...

Hitting the $799-$850 price point for a MacBook would be great, but I really don't think they should make any new MacBooks without Magsafe going forward. Magsafe should be one of those things that is standard across the MacBook line, like it used to be.

I know there are some people who would never use Magsafe, because their always docking to a USB-C/TB dock, but whether or not a MacBook has Magsafe shouldn't be a deciding factor for others.
 
MacRumors said:


Apple's 2020 M1 MacBook Air has hit its best-ever price on Amazon today, with the 256GB model on sale for $799.99, down from $999.00. Silver and Gold colors are available at this price, and the former color has a quicker shipping estimate of March 14-15.

M1-MacBook-Air-Deals-Feature-Cool.jpg
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 version of the MacBook Air sports a tapered design and does not have the updated chassis of the newer M2 MacBook Air models. It has the M1 chip and a 13-inch Retina display, and today's sale matches the previous all-time low price seen on Amazon for the computer.



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. Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.

Article Link: Deals: Get Apple's M1 MacBook Air for Best-Ever Price of $799.99 ($199 Off)
Click to expand...
Not best ever, Ive seen this machine for 750.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
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It would be better if Apple was keeping the tapered MacBook Air updated with new revs of Apple Silicon every year instead of the Touch Bar MacBook Pro.
 
TigerNike23 said:
Is 256 GB enough for storage, and 8 GB enough for RAM?
Click to expand...

For most Mac users, 8 GB is adequate. No problem there.

On the other hand, 256 GB of non-upgradeable storage can be a serious problem, even for people who are considered "light duty" users, especially if they plan to keep the laptop for more than two years. In practice, people with 256 GB drives should aim to keep at least 50 GB free at all times to be able to install Apple software updates and otherwise keep the machine running smoothly.

For example, my girlfriend has a 256 GB M1 Air, and she has had to clear space a few times on her Air to accommodate Apple software updates, even though she thought she was a very small footprint user. In her case, she hadn't realized how quickly the photos she sends and receives using the Messages app accumulate, especially when the photos come from today's high resolution camera phones.

It can be ok for people who use the laptop as a second machine or are disciplined about keeping most of their files elsewhere, but, in general, I do not recommend the 256 GB SSD model in 2023.
 
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