The M1-powered MacBook Air gets a $50 price cut days after release
Save a little bit and still get Apple's latest system-on-chip.
Apple unveiled its first M1-powered devices at an event last week — and while all of the computers with the new system-on-chip are expensive, we’re already starting to see price cuts. Yesterday brought small discounts to the MacBook Pros and the Mac Mini, and now Amazon has the M1-powered MacBook Air for $50 less than launch price. The discount only applies to the gold, 512GB model, bringing it down to $1,199 from $1,249.
Buy MacBook Air at Amazon - $1,199
Out of the few Macs that Apple announced last week, we were able to get our hands on the MacBook Air and it left a strong first impressing. We gave it a score of 94, with Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar praising the thin-and-light laptop for its speedy performance and new fanless design. The exterior design of the MacBook Air hasn’t changed — you’re still getting a 2.8-pound machine with a metal unibody, 13.3-inch Retina display and a comfortable keyboard. Yes, you still have to deal with only two USB-C ports, too, so you’ll still need a dongle or two to connect accessories.
But the big changes are under the hood and they’re immediately noticeable in the Air’s performance. The M1’s octa-core CPU and octa-core GPU, combined with 8GB or 16GB of RAM, run apps quite smoothly, especially those native to macOS, and allow web pages to load almost instantly in Safari. Our benchmark tests show the Air out-performed every PC we’ve reviewed this year when it comes to single-core performance, and it was only beat by some of Intel’s and AMD’s fastest chips on mutli-core performance tests.
All of that is to say that the new MacBook Air is a speedy, silent machine that will be a great option for those looking to upgrade from aging Apple laptops. The decision to get one is a bit more complicated if you have a MacBook Air that’s only a year or so old, but it’s a solid decision if you’re really starting to feel the slow down in an older MacBook.
Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.
