I would agree with you about the price. I'm not so sure about the storage. If Apple made 512gb the base, people might have less need for paying for extra iCloud storage. I doubt they're going to do that. I'd like to see it but I doubt it. I think they'll justify the price with the new processor, stupid color scheme and maybe a 14.2 screen....
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Does anyone else feel like the M1 MBA is now an even better deal?
- Thread starter thadoggfather
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I just bought my MBA M1 yesterday as my second Mac ever. My other one was a 2011 15 inch MacBook Pro which I had for a month before it died. These new m1 MBA I feel like is apple best achievement since the iPhone 4s. There is no better laptop for the common man and is a hell of a deal. im glad apple is back on top and with these new processors I feel like they will continue to be for the foreseeable future
I agree. I bought the base M1 for 799 and it rocks. My first Mac ever. I hope developers will start to make more apps for it like they do for the iPhone.
I have been absolutely in love with my M1 MBA since it landed on my doorstep a little over a week ago and this is by far the best laptop I've ever owned and probably the best computer actually. The power is top notch and everything is so smooth and efficient... Great keyboard, nice screen and build materials and no fan means it's silent in operation.
My only downside is a personal one in that I cannot get AppleCare on mine because it was originally purchased around launch week in Nov 2020 and the person that had it before me did not opt for AC during the one year grace period and so it's no longer eligible. But they took incredible care of it, kept ALL the original packaging including the plastic wrapping that goes around the computer, the piece of paper for the screen, everything else in the box was left untouched so when I got it it was like opening a brand new one and the condition is perfect. Battery only had 23 cycles and still 100% capacity. They were using the computer as a transition tool to move their work flow off of Intel Macs and over to M1 but after a year they decided to stay on Intel for the time being so this computer got very little use. It was a perfect time me to buy it at that point so that's what I did, for about $300 less than what it would have costed new from Apple. But doing so I did give up my right for AppleCare so that makes me uneasy because I really like having insurance on stuff like this just in case.
With that being said, no complaints at all with this machine and I'm thrilled to have it. I might be tempted to trade it for the next gen MBA so I can get AC but we'll see what happens with those when they're unveiled.
My only downside is a personal one in that I cannot get AppleCare on mine because it was originally purchased around launch week in Nov 2020 and the person that had it before me did not opt for AC during the one year grace period and so it's no longer eligible. But they took incredible care of it, kept ALL the original packaging including the plastic wrapping that goes around the computer, the piece of paper for the screen, everything else in the box was left untouched so when I got it it was like opening a brand new one and the condition is perfect. Battery only had 23 cycles and still 100% capacity. They were using the computer as a transition tool to move their work flow off of Intel Macs and over to M1 but after a year they decided to stay on Intel for the time being so this computer got very little use. It was a perfect time me to buy it at that point so that's what I did, for about $300 less than what it would have costed new from Apple. But doing so I did give up my right for AppleCare so that makes me uneasy because I really like having insurance on stuff like this just in case.
With that being said, no complaints at all with this machine and I'm thrilled to have it. I might be tempted to trade it for the next gen MBA so I can get AC but we'll see what happens with those when they're unveiled.
Good idea. Use it as you wish, afterwards you can sell and buy a new version with AC
Agree completely with you about the M1 Air.
What were the circumstances of your 2011 MBP experience? Did you buy it in 2011 and it died after a month? Or was it a recent purchase of a used computer?
If it died in 2011 after a month, I could see why you waited 11 years to buy another Mac.
I do once again think the M1 Air remains an even BETTER deal after M1 Pro MBP's AND M2 Airs 
Maybe they took this perception people had that the value is 'amazing' and cranked up the heat on it.
Not far off in my guess 9 months ago.
$999 base dual NAND M1 Air vs (minimum) $1399 for +512GB SSD to base model for dual NAND parity,
and $1499 for +512GB and 10 core GPU improvements the next pre-configured SKU.
Could always do $999 vs $1199 compare, which is half my estimate, but depends how much the SSD thing bothers you.
Maybe they took this perception people had that the value is 'amazing' and cranked up the heat on it.
Not far off in my guess 9 months ago.
$999 base dual NAND M1 Air vs (minimum) $1399 for +512GB SSD to base model for dual NAND parity,
and $1499 for +512GB and 10 core GPU improvements the next pre-configured SKU.
Could always do $999 vs $1199 compare, which is half my estimate, but depends how much the SSD thing bothers you.
I agree. In 2022, the $999 M1 MBA is still the best deal. It actually goes for alot cheaper from retailers even.
With the M2 MBA, you have to spend $1500 to fix it, which is too expensive for a MacBook Air.
If you want to spend alot of money, better get the 14” MBP in my opinion.
With the M2 MBA, you have to spend $1500 to fix it, which is too expensive for a MacBook Air.
If you want to spend alot of money, better get the 14” MBP in my opinion.
The M2 Air is nice, but it has all the downsides I was predicting. It's not any smaller in footprint and has more depth, the price increased, the performance is just a spec bump and the M1 is pretty close.
I'm still a fan of the wedge, and I'm glad to have one of the best wedge Airs... All the other improvements are nice, but not essential... and I'd easily give them up to save $200 and use that money for upgrades.
It's still good times to get a $999 Mac.
I'm still a fan of the wedge, and I'm glad to have one of the best wedge Airs... All the other improvements are nice, but not essential... and I'd easily give them up to save $200 and use that money for upgrades.
It's still good times to get a $999 Mac.
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Agree with others. M1 Air is just the best deal for most people right now if you buy used or refurb.
For vast majority of people it has plenty of power and runs cooler.
The next die shrink might be more interesting for macbook airs (M3/etc) if they can get them to run cooler again, and the 256gb ssd issue is a real FU from Apple as a worse downgrade.
If you browse ebay sold items you can see M1 16gb/512gb models that have sold from $600-$700!
For vast majority of people it has plenty of power and runs cooler.
The next die shrink might be more interesting for macbook airs (M3/etc) if they can get them to run cooler again, and the 256gb ssd issue is a real FU from Apple as a worse downgrade.
If you browse ebay sold items you can see M1 16gb/512gb models that have sold from $600-$700!
I do have an M1 Air that I was fortunate to get for $749 last year, it's been rock solid.
Considering how often you can get the M1 Air for ~$850, it's probably the best value laptop on the market. Especially for students, enterprise users, or first-time Mac owners.
Regarding spending an extra $400-500 to have a 'fixed' M2 Air, that should be reserved only for tech nerds or forum fiends. Unless someone can explicitly state the nuances of why SSD speeds are impacted by controller and NAND design, and how that impacts their specific workflow, they should stick with base models. So that should be >90% of buyers!
Eh, to me the bigger problem is that 256gb isn't really enough for a lot of people anymore. Modern cameras on phones are taking 12mp images and recording 4k video and that adds up fast, even for grandmas.
The Apple upcharge to go from 256gb -> 512gb or 1tb is just brutal.
I disagree about 256GB, and have 3 of my family members doing just fine with that size SSD. "Optimize Mac Storage" should be the first thing you turn on with a new Mac, assuming you pay for the $2.99 iCloud option or above.
Cloud is the key. I've seen so many people loading up 500+GB with zero backup. I'd rather see someone "limited" by the 256GB which is a forcing function to rely on iCloud/OneDrive/etc. as a robust backup.
It was $849 briefly at Best Buy for total tech members. It's back to $949 now. It'll probably go back to $849 eventually which is an excellent deal.
Strongly disagree with this. First, the $2.99 plan only covers 200gb. I don't see how that solves your 500gb issue. Second, having a single file copy in iCloud storage is not a safe backup plan IMO.
So in reality, if you have > 200gb of data, you need a $9.99 icloud plan + some other backup solution to have 2 true copies.
I think a lot of people were waiting on the M2 expecting a massive performance jump. Now that we know the details of the M2; I think a lot of purchasers (especially businesses who often care less about form than function) will be better served buying a $900 M1 base than a $1400 M2 512. Especially when the performance delta for most things is likely 10 to 20%.
So as buyers scoop these up; I wonder how long the price/availability will last.
In 2022 dollars the ~$900 M1 Air seems like an insanely good deal.
So as buyers scoop these up; I wonder how long the price/availability will last.
In 2022 dollars the ~$900 M1 Air seems like an insanely good deal.
Using your "grandma's got lots of large pictures" example, the extra 200GB absolutely works as incremental storage backup with a 256GB Mac. With "Optimized versions", you can essentially offload the full res versions to the cloud.
iCloud storage is a much safer backup than what the average user doesn't do and/or backup regularly via local storage.
My #2 point still remains though. You're then trusting iCloud with the only full-res version while a thumbnail exists locally. Additionally, you're still limited to a max 200gb of full-storage in the cloud.
Assuming 400gb of photos, I guess it might end up with something like 200gb full res + thumbnails on macbook + 200gb full res on icloud, but that leaves 200gb in full res in only one location.
iCloud is a syncing service, not a backup.
If you really have 500GB of photos, you're probably aware of that, and have a more robust backup system to account for that.
I'm talking about the average grandma who uses ~200GB of docs + media + photos/videos and typically doesn't even know how much they're using. These people really will be fine with 256GB + iCloud.
You're right, iCloud is not a back up. However, average grandmas don't have a proactive backup strategy, and even if they did (for they average user), I'd trust iCloud as a more robust back up strategy vs. trying to get grandma to regularly back up to 3 HDDs and store one offsite. The potential for user error, or forgetfulness is extraordinarily high.
Which is why iCloud has become the behemoth that it is.
It's borderline, I agree. Though for many if you had enough local storage (512gb) they wouldn't need a robust backup plan. You could simply install something like backblaze personal for $5.80/month or Arq premium ($5/month) on their machine and they'd never have to do a thing.
Basically all I'm asking for is reasonable pricing for EITHER:
512gb local + affordable icloud (2 copies)
512gb local if it were more affordable + a $6/mo plan, but the 512gb is expensive
Any way you slice it you kind of get burned on price.
I'd also argue that it's super easy to blow past 200gb of media/photos these days. People constantly fill up their iPhone within a year or 2 and that's 100gb+ right there. 200gb is in no way great long term, and even 400gb prob starts failing this use case after 5-7 years.
Yeah but using your argument that iCloud isn't a backup, then Backblaze in this situation really isn't either
These $1000-$1500 Macs are for the average Joe/Jane. They likely don't have a regular backup plan (much less off-site). I've set dozens of friends/family members with a 200GB/2TB iCloud plan, and they all seem satisfied. Can't recall any time that anyone lost data or got in a bind.
Keep in mind, iCloud has ~4-6 redundant geo-backups for your data. Actually losing it due to Apple's fault is nearly impossible.
Yeah but using your argument that iCloud isn't a backup, then Backblaze in this situation really isn't either
These $1000-$1500 Macs are for the average Joe/Jane. They likely don't have a regular backup plan (much less off-site). I've set dozens of friends/family members with a 200GB/2TB iCloud plan, and they all seem satisfied. Can't recall any time that anyone lost data or got in a bind.
Keep in mind, iCloud has ~4-6 redundant geo-backups for your data. Actually losing it due to Apple's fault is nearly impossible.
Redundant of the same file though. If you accidentally edit/delete a file as part of that sync there is no way to restore a previous version from iCloud. It's not like time machine.
(All that said I'm not in total disagreement - it's a pretty good solution for a lot of people - I just don't consider it a complete solution. I also think it's annoying that you're forced to jump for a $3/mo plan at 200gb to $10/mo at 1tb with nothing in between).