If You Were Buying an M5 MacBook Air…

[Biro]

If you were buying an M5 MacBook Air… and it wasn’t your primary computer… would you buy the 16/512 base model and keep it as cheap as you can? Or would you bother worrying about future-proofing and memory pressure and option it up to 24/1TB?

And would you bother with AppleCare? Part of me finds that AppleCare - despite its uses - completely wipes out the value proposition offered by Apple’s least expensive devices. There’s more than a $400 difference in price between the two spec levels (whether buying on sale or paying MSRP) and Apple Care adds even more to that (assuming one adds it only to the more expensive MBA).

Uses for the MBA would be the usual travel and vacation duty: Web surfing, email, texting, creating documents, some streaming and a good deal of photo editing (personal, not professional).

 

[Corefile]

You can get the M5 MBA base model for 899$ from Costco or Amazon right now. 16/512 is enough for anything I need to do on a Mac such as Virtualization. I don't do Apple Care as I've not had any problems with any Macs in 20 years, but that's me.

 

[Biro]

You can get the M5 MBA base model for 899$ from Costco or Amazon right now. 16/512 is enough for anything I need to do on a Mac such as Virtualization. I don't do Apple Care as I've not had any problems with any Macs in 20 years, but that's me.

That’s exactly the model I’m looking at. If I really decided to go for the $400 more expensive MBA with 24/1TB, I might be tempted to do AppleCare for the first two years. But not on the base version. I’m definitely leaning toward your way of thinking.

 

[1BadManVan]

the base model seems to make the most sense for your use case and will still last year a number of years

 

[FreakinEurekan]

For the uses you list, sounds like 16/512 is plenty.

 

[agregson]

I always buy base model (other than Neo) and change more often. Though since M1 I haven't changed much. Currently have MBA M1, Mini M4 and soon to add MBN (TouchID which I think is invaluable).
I had AC on MBA for first 3 years. Also have AC on mini. Tend to have AC on devices where repair is expensive and damage/loss more of an issue so have it on iPhone Pro Max and iPad Pro. Don't have it on Mini and may not add on MBN as affects value. However AC is super useful when needed for repair and support.
I think 16/512 MBA would be a super computer and ideal. Change later if it becomes an issue - resale on the 16/512 will be strong. AC may be helpful if you value support and damage repair - I think I would add it.

 

[CSAppleFan]

I think for the majority of people the base model is more than enough. you see people using base m1 air's still and they work fine. always nice though to get more machine if you can

 

[Chevyguy2021]

Base model is a steal for $899 on Amazon US.
I do not buy apple care, ever 🙂 That's just me though.

 

[Mrbobb]

more ram/ssd will let you keep the laptop for an extra year or 2, but your usage indicates this is not critical, up to you.

Applecares... there must be 5 thousand tons of posts about the subject. 1/2 of the people swear you must get applecare or else you will regret it, and the other 1/2 tell you they never pay for extended warranty.

Extended warranty for electronics resembles a bit about extended warranty for cars. Ever analyze how much insurance you need for your car? because is a hunt of money. I only pay for liability because that's critical, I can hurt somebody and they will sue me for all I am worth, but I am not paying for collision because my car is old, I did pay for collision when it was newer, I also don't pay for collision now because I have a HONDA, is rare that Hondas break. So you have to ask yourself, are you careless with electronics, taken into consideration applecare is not covering you if they discover neglect, you drop the laptop, or liquid damage, they are on you and not covered. Applecare doesn't cover you bumper-to-bumper.

 

[dizmonk]

If it's not your primary machine then 16/512 is fine and I would not recommend AC. In my case my M5 air is the primary machine. I have 24GB/1TB and will be getting AC shortly.

 

[August West]

My M1 MBA 8/256 is more than adequate for my casual use. I wouldn't mind if it had 16GB but I really haven't had an issue with 8GB except see the memory pressure gets into the yellow at times. 512GB would be a waste since I haven't ever filled up the 256GB. I do go through it every year or two and do some cleanup. But this is only a very light duty machine.

I've never had AC or any other extended warranties and never will. My preference is to self insure since I tend to be pretty careful with my stuff and over the long run I'd rather have the money in my pocket.

 

[Abazigal]

I would buy the base model without AppleCare as well.

 

[RLRabb]

If you were buying an M5 MacBook Air… and it wasn’t your primary computer… would you buy the 16/512 base model and keep it as cheap as you can? Or would you bother worrying about future-proofing and memory pressure and option it up to 24/1TB?

And would you bother with AppleCare? Part of me finds that AppleCare - despite its uses - completely wipes out the value proposition offered by Apple’s least expensive devices. There’s more than a $400 difference in price between the two spec levels (whether buying on sale or paying MSRP) and Apple Care adds even more to that (assuming one adds it only to the more expensive MBA).

Uses for the MBA would be the usual travel and vacation duty: Web surfing, email, texting, creating documents, some streaming and a good deal of photo editing (personal, not professional).

About a month ago I purchased an 13" M5 Air for general computing, nothing heavy, as a second computer to go with a desktop Mini. I went with the base 16/512 model and it has been great. The RAM has been a nonissue, as it has yet to go to swap. Only you can calculate how much internal storage you need, but I'm using only about a third of my 512 (the biggest chunk being an 80 GB music library). With my veterans discount it was only $989. A steal in my opinion for the quality of the machine. And I never pay for AppleCare (and have never needed it).

 

[boswald]

I have a Linux-based desktop that I use for games, but everything else is done on my Mac. I chose 24GB/1TB with AppleCare. I can't afford any risks with it so it's peace of mind. Great machine, you'll love yours.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I bought an Apple Certified Refurbished M4 13-inch MacBook Air with 24GB of RAM and 512GB SSD to function as my secondary (read: travel) Mac. If it's secondary, it doesn't need to be bleeding edge and it's not like M4 is likely to lose support THAT MUCH EARLIER than M5 will. Plus, I'm about to pull the trigger on a brand new M5 15-inch MacBook Air with 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD to be my primary Mac.

And yes, get AppleCare+; unless you can afford to either (a) pay the $600+ for a display replacement; (b) pay the $800 for a logic board replacement; or (c) buy a whole new secondary Mac. It's a no-brainer unless you can afford to spend that kind of money should calamity strike. If it's a 13-inch, do not add it to AppleCare One. If it's a 15-inch, and you either already have two other devices the AppleCare+ to which is more than $7 per month or you already have AppleCare One, add that one in and it'll save you a little.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

If you were buying an M5 MacBook Air… and it wasn’t your primary computer… would you buy the 16/512 base model and keep it as cheap as you can? Or would you bother worrying about future-proofing and memory pressure and option it up to 24/1TB?

And would you bother with AppleCare? Part of me finds that AppleCare - despite its uses - completely wipes out the value proposition offered by Apple’s least expensive devices. There’s more than a $400 difference in price between the two spec levels (whether buying on sale or paying MSRP) and Apple Care adds even more to that (assuming one adds it only to the more expensive MBA).

Uses for the MBA would be the usual travel and vacation duty: Web surfing, email, texting, creating documents, some streaming and a good deal of photo editing (personal, not professional).

IMO 24 GB is not "future proofing," since many of our usages on the first day (which will indeed be in the future) can easily drive a new Mac into taking advantage of in excess of 16 GB of RAM. And 40+ years of Mac have proven that RAM needs increase every year. I recommend getting the max RAM available.

 

[Biro]

IMO 24 GB is not "future proofing," since many of our usages on the first day (which will indeed be in the future) can easily drive a new Mac into taking advantage of in excess of 16 GB of RAM. And 40+ years of Mac have proven that RAM needs increase every year. I recommend getting the max RAM available.

I appreciate what you’re saying here, Allen. But this would hardly be my primary machine. I have a Mac Studio with 64GB of RAM and a MacBook Pro with 48GB of RAM. Besides, my niece has a six-year old M1 8/256 MBA that’s still working fine. My remark about future proofing and memory pressure had more to do with the response by many people posting on this site to similar questions than anything else.

 

[Christopher Kim]

I used to pay to get upgraded configs (more memory, more storage). I (arguably) needed the power more back then. I've recently switched perspectives and rather than paying more (especially the Apple Tax for more memory / storage) and trying to future proof, I like buying the base model, and upgrading more frequently.

The other benefit of getting the base model, if you live in the US, is these go on sale frequently on Amazon (and other 3rd party retailers). If you can get $100, $150 or even $200 off the base model, that is HUGE savings, and makes the value even greater going with this method. You can basically never get custom upgraded configs on sale, since you generally always have to get it directly from Apple (which never go on sale).

 

[BSDnostalgia]

I appreciate what you’re saying here, Allen. But this would hardly be my primary machine. I have a Mac Studio with 64GB of RAM and a MacBook Pro with 48GB of RAM.

Those are your "future proofed" machines already. Go with the base model on sale.

 

[Biro]

Those are your "future proofed" machines already. Go with the base model on sale.

Yup. I did. I went with Costco, which offers a two-year warranty - further negating AppleCare in this price range.

 

[1rottenapple]

I don't know these people who say "future proof" must keep their laptops for ten years.

I tend to change laptops every 4 years if I am being honest and I usually get the base or near base. I have never hit a ceiling with my casual use (work, excel).

 

[BSDnostalgia]

I don't know these people who say "future proof" must keep their laptops for ten years.

MBPs from about 2009-mid2012 were particularly nice. Nice ports, decent cooling and performance on Core 2 Duo and successor chips, and user-upgradeable and repairable to some extent. Sometimes seen to last 8 years, maybe. The Nvidia and then AMD GPU boards all failed eventually. If my GPUs didn't die, I would probably still be using them. None of my plastic PCs has made it past five years.

 

[dmr727]

If it's not your primary computer, I'd go with the base model. That's still a lot of performance for $899.