With Apple Intelligence requiring an M1 chip or newer, it’s never been a better time to buy your first MacBook, or upgrade an older MacBook you’re still holding on to. MacBooks are more affordable than ever in the Apple Silicon era, with the cheapest options starting below $700. Holiday deals make it a better time than ever to buy a new MacBook without blowing your bank account.
M1 MacBook Air
Apple has launched 3 MacBook Airs since entering the Apple Silicon era, with the M1, M2, and M3 chips. The M1 MacBook Air still utilizes a more familiar wedge design from the Intel era, although a lot of users might prefer that.
The M1 MacBook Air, despite being four years old, remains an excellent laptop for its price. It boasts blazing fast performance thanks to the M1 chip, a stunning retina display (though with thicker bezels compared to the newer MacBook Airs), a great keyboard, up to 18 hours of battery life, and it doesn’t sound like an airplane that’s about to take off when you open it in public.
Since the M1 MacBook Air is the oldest on this list, it’s also the cheapest. One caveat with the M1 MacBook Air is that it’s harder to find new ones with more than 256GB of storage, so if you need a lot of storage, you’ll have to buy a newer Air. On the bright side, it does remain to be the only Apple Silicon MacBook to come in a proper Gold color.
You can buy the M1 MacBook Air for as low as $649 at Walmart in all 3 colors: Silver, Space Gray, and Gold.
- 13-inch MacBook Air (M1) with 256GB of storage, 8GB of memory: $649 at Walmart
M2 MacBook Air
In 2022, Apple introduced the redesigned MacBook Air with a thinner design, a bigger display with slimmer bezels, and reintroduced MagSafe. It also came in new Starlight and Midnight colors in addition to Silver and Space Gray, although Gold was no longer.
If you’re looking for a modern MacBook but also want to save money, this will be your best bet. Since it’s not the latest model anymore, it goes on sale quite frequently. Other than it being a little slower than the M3 models, it’s practically the latest and greatest. They can also come with double the RAM now, with 16GB of unified memory.
There’s good deals for the M2 MacBook Air, starting at $749 with 256GB of storage and 8GB of Unified Memory from varying retailers – up to $250 off! Models with 16GB are starting at $799.
M3 MacBook Air
Apple refreshed the MacBook Air earlier this year with the M3 chip, and this remains the latest model. It features the same design as the prior MacBook Air, just faster. It won’t see an M4 refresh until sometime next year, although there are still some nice deals to look at here if you want the latest chipset.
Right now, you can secure up to $250 off, and there are configurations available with 512GB of storage. There are also deals available on the 15-inch version of the M3 MacBook Air.
13-inch models with M3 chip:
- 13-inch MacBook Air with 256GB of storage, 16GB of memory: $899 at Amazon (requires on page coupon)
- 13-inch MacBook Air with 512GB of storage, 16GB of memory: $1099 at Amazon (requires on page coupon)
- 13-inch MacBook Air with 512GB of storage, 24GB of memory: $1299 at Amazon (requires on page coupon)
15-inch models with M3 chip:
- 15-inch MacBook Air with 256GB of storage, 16GB of memory: $1099 at Amazon (requires on page coupon)
- 15-inch MacBook Air with 512GB of storage, 16GB of memory: $1299 at Amazon (requires on page coupon)
- 15-inch MacBook Air with 512GB of storage, 24GB of memory: $1499 at Amazon (requires on page coupon)
14-inch MacBook Pro
Apple redesigned the MacBook Pro in 2021 with a brand new 14-inch miniLED display with ProMotion, more ports (most notably an HDMI port and SD card reader), as well as bigger batteries and better thermals. It also gained a 1080p webcam for the first time.
Although the 14-inch MacBook Pro isn’t as affordable as the other MacBooks listed, if you want that amazing display and the extra ports, there are still some good deals to find.
There’s two key versions of the 14-inch MacBook Pro that we’ll be highlighting, one with the M3 chipset, and the other with the M4 family of chips.
The baseline M3 model starts with 8GB of memory, and lacks an extra USB-C port on the right side. While this is a decent compromise, it’s the cheapest way of getting Apple’s incredible miniLED display on a laptop.
M4 models all start with at least 16GB of memory, and come with the full array of ports. They also feature a 12MP ultra wide camera for Center Stage, making FaceTime calls a lot more fun.
Since the M3 model is no longer the latest and greatest, there are some good deals to be found, with up to $300 in savings available. There are also some nice discounts available on new M4 models already.
M3 chip models:
M4 chip models:
While this isn’t a focus of the piece, if you’re interested in a 16-inch MacBook Pro, Best Buy has a nice clearance deal on M3 Pro models, starting at $1999.
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