Hopefully, this is a start for Walmart to sell even new products such as new iPhones full price without the monthly payment.
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Walmart Begins Selling MacBook Air With M1 Chip for $699 in U.S.
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How is this different than what "your dad’s Apple" would do or used to do? Apple and/or third party Apple retailers have been discounting Apple products for over 40 years in order to move inventory, bring new customers to the brand, etc. and profit has been an Apple goal during that entire time as well.
Didn't Steve Jobs once say that Dell sells computer by being Walmart, Apple sells computers by being innovative? How things have changed.
If you don't need more than 8gb of ram and 256gb of SSD, I don't see why the 30% more expensive M3 MBA would be a better buy AT ALL.
What has changed? Apple and/or third party Apple retailers have been discounting Apple products for over 40 years, especially devices that have been out for a while as is the case with the M1 MacBook Air being featured here.
The Mac being sold at Walmart has changed, of course they have had iPods and iPads and such but it hasn't been since at least the Performa days that the Mac has been sold at Walmart.
Ok but your post was "...by BEING Walmart" (not necessarily AT Walmart) which I took to mean as being any kind of discounter/discount retailer. I was pointing out that Apple and/or third party Apple retailers have been discounting Apple products (especially those out for a while) for over 40 years (not unlike how Walmart may sell products at a discount) and I don't think the "Walmart" factor here really changes any of that. Apple was no more or less "innovative" then because their products were being sold at a discount as they are today when their products are being sold at a discount.
Apple almost never discounts their products directly (unless it is a permanent price drop). They want to keep their image of a premium reseller.
That is why you often see discounts on low selling products, like the OG HomePod, only at resellers, like Best Buy and Amazon. Resellers aren't going to see something below cost and Apple is VERY strict about selling below MSRP. To see at a discount, Apple has to give permission AND is probably giving backend dollars to the retailer.
In this case, Apple is probably offloading any remaining "new" stock of the M1 MacBook Air to Walmart.
Yeah, the webcam is essentially unusable in a professional environment. It would have been considered low quality 13 years ago... I was genuinely astonished how bad it was when I bought an M1 when it came out. It was as bad as laptops a decade old already.
Look guys - they had 3 warehouses of old potato cams they still had to work through, ok?
We are running a finance driven and optimized operation here!
😂
30%? An M3 MBA is almost 60% more expensive. $699 vs $1,099.
A fully agree with your sentiment, though.
I think 5 years ago it might, but I don’t think it would today
If the M1 Air had debuted with 512GB of storage and a third USB port (or even a MagSafe port) to save us from dongle hell, as well as a not-crap webcam, it really would have been damn near perfect. Still a fantastic device, those 3 limitations to one side.
This was one of the best computers of 2020 and 2021 and continues to be one of the best budget options out there. It's capable of more than "average" tasks. It's a great starter computer for someone getting into video, photo, or music editing. The M2 was barley a step above the M1, so there is absolutely no need to worry about longevity.
Didn’t find a Vivobook 15 with 24GB/1TB. Found 16/512…which model are you referring to?
Awesome machine, for those concerned about camera quality there's a likely easy improvement. If you have an iPhone you can use its main camera through Continuity Camera, center stage an all. It's really better than most dedicated webcams.
That said, the integrated one is 720p and no different than equivalent laptops'. But it does kinda stick out more in the MBA due to the rest of the components/performance being so good
That said, the integrated one is 720p and no different than equivalent laptops'. But it does kinda stick out more in the MBA due to the rest of the components/performance being so good
From my experience it is considerably worse than PC laptops that cost the same. Maybe $250 Chromebooks or Windows laptops are on a par with the M1 Air? I haven't tested them.
I agree Continuity Camera is a huge leap forward in image quality.
M3 MBA is 57% more expensive.
$699 for a brand new M1 Air w/warranty from an authorized seller is probably the best bang-for-the-buck Mac of all time.
And I fully believe that the M1 Air will get whatever the "new" macOS is in late 2028, and two years of security updates following that. Easy 7 years of good life left in the M1 Air.
US$699 at that configuration? This is even cheaper than what's Apple offering to the educational institution.
13-inch MacBook Air: Apple M1 chip w/8-core CPU and 7-core GPU, 8GB, 128GB - US$699
256GB storage will be US$799.00
13-inch MacBook Air: Apple M1 chip w/8-core CPU and 7-core GPU, 8GB, 128GB - US$699
256GB storage will be US$799.00
So since it seems Walmart and Apple obviously has some sort of partnership….how about Apple Pay in Walmart now?
Apple has had secret Walmart partnerships for a while now.
Even in the keynote one of the things that popped up was “Shop Walmart”
Now if only we can get Apple Pay there.
Not at Apple's desired margin.
While they might get more revenue, they'd still have warehousing, shipping, etc. costs so moving them in bulk was a better option. In addition, they're not competing with their other Macs in store; which they would be if they moved them themselves.
My thoughts as well. Walmart offered a chance to move a lot of old stock at once.
Who. You've been around MR long enough to know the 8/256 isn't enough for anyone. How dare you suggest that, what are you a fan defending the indefensible Apple?
What's the over/under someone will respond even though it's clearly sarcasm?
Lower margins and lost sales of higher margin devices. The M1 is a great computer and would meet many users needs for the foreseeable future; there's not enough differentiation, in terms of meeting a user's needs, between it and the M2 or even M3. As a result, Apple would lose high margin sales to a low margin product; which is not healthy for teh stock or CEO's job.