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Walmart Begins Selling MacBook Air With M1 Chip for $699 in U.S.

jlc1978 said:
My thoughts as well. Walmart offered a chance to move a lot of old stock at once.
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Why does everyone think these are 'old' stock? Apple still makes current products with the M1, and only stopped selling the M1 MBA directly a few weeks ago.

I wouldn't be surprised if Walmart committed to moving 100K units of these. Tim Cook's Apple doesn't just have 100K MacBook Airs sitting around as 'old stock'.
 
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My 2012 MBP is excellent as a movie streamer/web browsing/email machine. We’ve been at “enough power” for many years. The M1 is definitely overkill for anyone else with light needs. The only reason people need to upgrade is Apple throwing you under the bus with OS upgrades (I’m running 10.15). Would love to get that deal where I live.
 
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Good timing, I just bought (and returned, due to malfunctioning keyboard) an Amazon refurb M1 Air for this same price. A new one for only like $20 more is great news.
 
I see this as a really great buy especially if one was considering a iPad Air with a keyboard and doesn't mind a little more size and weight and lack of a touch screen. My M1 Mini still rocks!
 
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ric22 said:
30%? An M3 MBA is almost 60% more expensive. $699 vs $1,099.

A fully agree with your sentiment, though.
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Yeah my maths was bad this morning. Sorry

As I said, if you're a typical light macos user, magsafe or the color of the mba must be a really big selling point as once you start upgrading the M3 MBA to higher specs, it's just too close to the MBP.
 
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EdwardC said:
I see this as a really great buy especially if one was considering a iPad Air with a keyboard and doesn't mind a little more size and weight and lack of a touch screen. My M1 Mini still rocks!
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Way better buy than the ipad air or even ipad pro if you need the keyboard/trackpad all the time. IT's also lighter
 
BeatCrazy said:
Why does everyone think these are 'old' stock? Apple still makes current products with the M1, and only stopped selling the M1 MBA directly a few weeks ago.

I wouldn't be surprised if Walmart committed to moving 100K units of these. Tim Cook's Apple doesn't just have 100K MacBook Airs sitting around as 'old stock'.
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Old Stock is a term used to describe discontinued products. It's probably better to refer it at NOS - New Old Stock; i.e. a product that is discontinued by not used.

I suspect Apple simply finished the production run and then sold all they didn't sell to Walmart. For al the 10s of millions M1s sold, it would not surprise me to have a few 100k unsold despite Apple's best forecast.

It would surprise me if Walmart had these in stock for an extended period. For Apple to continue to make and sell M1s just for Walmart would be a sea change in their strategy.
 
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jlc1978 said:
Old Stock is a term used to describe discontinued products. It's probably better to refer it at NOS - New Old Stock; i.e. a product that is discontinued by not used.

I suspect Apple simply finished the production run and then sold all they didn't sell to Walmart. For al the 10s of millions M1s sold, it would not surprise me to have a few 100k unsold despite Apple's best forecast.
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Neither 'old stock' nor 'new old stock/NOS' is an accurate way to describe the M1 MacBook Air as made available via Walmart. The fact that you can still buy it new via Walmart (with no implied end-date) literally means it's not 'discontinued'.

The world 'old' implies it's no longer a currently-manufactured item - which seems rather unlikely.

The best way to describe it would be "New - available via alternate distribution".

jlc1978 said:
It would surprise me if Walmart had these in stock for an extended period. For Apple to continue to make and sell M1s just for Walmart would be a sea change in their strategy.
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It literally got a press release, indicating a significant strategic move for both companies.
 
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magbarn said:
Yeah my maths was bad this morning. Sorry

As I said, if you're a typical light macos user, magsafe or the color of the mba must be a really big selling point as once you start upgrading the M3 MBA to higher specs, it's just too close to the MBP.
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I agree. Specced up the pricing is way too close to a MBP- the real one with the M3 Pro chip, not the gimped one (that I personally feel shouldn't even exist- a $40 tablet SoC running a £1700 laptop isn't great).
 
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BeatCrazy said:
Neither 'old stock' nor 'new old stock/NOS' is an accurate way to describe the M1 MacBook Air as made available via Walmart. The fact that you can still buy it new via Walmart (with no implied end-date) literally means it's not 'discontinued'.
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Apple no longer sells it, so it is discontinued; it was pulled when the M3 hit the market.


BeatCrazy said:
The world 'old' implies it's no longer a currently-manufactured item - which seems rather unlikely.
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Neither of us knows if Apple is still making them. They may simply be finishing the run. If Apple were too continue making them I would have expected rumors to start, based on parts orders and manufacturing plans, to have circulated before teh announcement.

In addition, since Costco is OOS it makes more sense to me as a stock clearing move.

BeatCrazy said:
The best way to describe it would be "New - available via alternate distribution".
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While the machine may be new, it's not an item Apple currently stocks; hence NOS.

In the end, however, it's just semantics. The buyers are getting a great machine at a great price.

BeatCrazy said:
It literally got a press release, indicating a significant strategic move for both companies.
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I'm not so confident. A press release makes the news, and Walmart didn't announce a new strategic partnership with Apple in the release.

It will be inetersting to see how long this lasts. I suspect Apple's other big channels such as Best Buy would not be related happy with Walmart selling a significantly cheaper MBA; and that they don't have the same deal makes me lean more towards dumping stock rather than a strategic product shift.
 
dmylrea said:
True, if you're not interested in a Windows laptop with 3x the RAM and 4x the storage with an i7 CPU and 15" screen for the same price? (Asus Vivobook 15). Now the measly 8GB RAM and puny 256GB SSD in the MBA M1 don't seem like that great a deal especially when Apple could double both of those and increase their cost about $40 (if that).
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The Macbook would be a better deal for me. Better build quality, has MacOS, better battery life, better speakers, silent and does not even get warm.
 
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apparatchik said:
I didn't "make it up", it's what an M1 Mac Mini goes for now at Amazon through unauthorized resellers, though an authorized channel with 1 year warranty would be preferable.
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I searched and found some refurbished ones for $400. Can you provide links to a new M1 Mac Mini for $300? I'm interested in one at that price.
 
how is it there are still *new* m1 MacBook air's today.. how many of these did apple make/order?? I guess apple overestimated AS adoption?
 
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jlc1978 said:
Apple no longer sells it, so it is discontinued; it was pulled when the M3 hit the market.




Neither of us knows if Apple is still making them. They may simply be finishing the run. If Apple were too continue making them I would have expected rumors to start, based on parts orders and manufacturing plans, to have circulated before teh announcement.

In addition, since Costco is OOS it makes more sense to me as a stock clearing move.



While the machine may be new, it's not an item Apple currently stocks; hence NOS.

In the end, however, it's just semantics. The buyers are getting a great machine at a great price.



I'm not so confident. A press release makes the news, and Walmart didn't announce a new strategic partnership with Apple in the release.

It will be inetersting to see how long this lasts. I suspect Apple's other big channels such as Best Buy would not be related happy with Walmart selling a significantly cheaper MBA; and that they don't have the same deal makes me lean more towards dumping stock rather than a strategic product shift.
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It's not discontinued, you can still buy it "new" (via a now very authorized retailer) and both Apple and Walmart thought it was such a big deal that they made a formal announcement for such.

Again, it's not "old stock". It's a new and current product, just produced for, and sold through an alternate channel. Happens all the time in other industries, i.e. Chevy sells and produces two generations of Silverados simultaneously, referring to the older one as the "Silverado Classic". Still new, still being produced, just not the newest available.

Something isn't discontinued if it's still being made.
 
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I have a new m3, but my favorite is a 13 year old 2011 macbook air running Ubuntu, as OS X is no longer supported. Having a machine like the ones mentioned above, that's even more energy efficient due to Apple silicon, I could easily imagine still using it in 2040. But I can't tell you how many cheap, plastic garbage non Apple, walmart PCs and chromebooks I have broken after months of use. Walmart and Apple are doing a good deed here: The reality is if you are poor like me, you can't afford to NOT use Apple hardware.
 
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MacRumors said:
This is the first time that customers can purchase a Mac that is sold directly by Walmart, the company said in a press release. Some other retailers like Amazon and Best Buy have previously offered this model for as low as $749.99.
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I guess it’s TECHNICALLY correct. Weren’t the last ones called “Performas” and not Macs? :)
 
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It’s an amazing product, probably the best laptop available at Walmart at that price point. Good to see the value of a high quality product that is widely available to general consumers, instead of the typical lowest quality denominator to meet a price point at Walmart. Everybody wins.
 
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