This year’s best Black Friday MacBook deal isn’t what you’d expect
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As we enter the Black Friday deals season, one of the most sought after items year after year is the Apple MacBook Air. Obviously it’s not hard to see why. It’s a beautiful computer with excellent performance, it’s lightweight and ultra-portable, and for most consumers it’s the kind of device that ‘just works’.
It certainly doesn’t hurt that it’s much more affordable than just about every other Apple computer besides the Mac Mini, too. The MacBook Air’s reputation for affordability (relatively speaking) is one of its biggest draws, which is why we weren’t a little disappointed to see the latest MacBook Air model, powered by the Apple M2 chip, see a pretty substantial price hike. saw against the M1 MacBook Air it replaces.
Still, the M2 MacBook Air might just be the best laptop Apple’s ever made for the general consumer market and we’re seeing some really good Black Friday MacBook Air deals on the new M2s, but look past the FOMO in Starlight and you You’ll see that the perfect MacBook Air has been here all along, and it’s getting some very aggressive price cuts right now.
Most people don’t need the M2 chip now
No doubt we love the new MacBook Air (although personally I’m not happy with the way Apple has handled the redesign, but c’est la vie). It’s a powerful computer with a beautiful display and it’s still as portable as ever, making it a great laptop to take around town.
However, the same can be said of the Apple MacBook Air with M1. And while it makes perfect sense to try and buy the most powerful laptop you can while it’s on sale, most users who just want to do some productivity work, video streaming, FaceTiming and the like, the M1 chip is more than capable of snappy performance and excellent battery life at a much lower starting cost.
Low on the types of discounts we’re seeing on Black Friday MacBook deals, and the M1 MacBook Air isn’t just becoming a bargain, it’s increasingly becoming an outright bargain.
If you really need something more powerful than the M1 chip then you really should be looking at a MacBook Pro 13-inch which will be much more in line with your needs and these are also on offer so you can still always saving.
Retailers must move M1 MacBook Air units to make room for M2 MacBooks
Now that the MacBook Air with M2 has been on sale for a few months, there is increasing pressure on retailers to make room for the newer models. That means they have to clear their stock of the M1s, so prices will be even lower on average than last year.
There’s no reason not to pass up a lot for a MacBook Air you’ll be good with year just because Apple put a slightly more powerful chip in their new devices.
Essentially, retailers will price M1 MacBooks more aggressively, and that can mean savings of 20% to 25% on the entry-level configuration, which is more than enough for most users.
Higher tier configurations will see price reductions, mainly because of these configurations that tend to be harder to sell.
The retail price of the M2 MacBook Air is still higher than that of an M1 Air at full sale
Finally, times are tough right now, and the new MacBook Air with M2 is a bit out of step with it. Of course, prices for everything have gone up, and it’s not like Apple and every other manufacturer, big and small, haven’t faced supply chain issues in recent years.
But there’s no denying that the typical sales we see on M2 MacBook Air models are still higher than buying a nearly as powerful M1 MacBook Air from the full retail store.
Right now, the Apple MacBook Air M2 with 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage costs $1,049.99 at both B&H Photo and Best Buy. That’s $50 above MSRP at launch of the M1 MacBook Air with the same memory and storage options, and we haven’t seen a MacBook Air M1 consistently sell for full retail price at a major off-the-shelf retailer in over a year. from Apple.
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals slashing the prices of the two-year-old M1 MacBook Air, you’re likely to make significant savings by going for the M1 model instead. To illustrate it better, I’ve rounded up some of the best Black Friday laptop deals on both Apple MacBook Air models so you can see the difference for yourself.
And keep in mind that it’s not just US buyers who are in luck here, but in the UK we’re seeing a similar story playing out at major outlets like Amazon, Box and Currys.
It’s still important to keep Black Friday prices in perspective
While the Apple MacBook Air with M1 is already aggressively discounted, there’s so little they can go for effectively. Picking up an M1 MacBook Air for $749 is about as good as you’re likely to get for a new unit, so you’re going to pay a decent amount for a MacBook Air either way.
If you’ve got the space in your budget, and you really want the best MacBook out there, there’s an argument that the M2 MacBook deals offer the better value, even if they’re more expensive, because you get a brighter future proofing and of course you get better performance.
But if you’re on a tighter budget this year, like all of us, there’s nothing wrong with an M1 MacBook Air, and it’s an excellent way to save some real cash on a new laptop.