Jbhifi currently have 10% off apple macs. I went to officeworks this evening and price matched a MacBook Air, M2, 256gb and that brought the price down to $1623.55.
Currently $1899 at Apple.
Receipt
Available nationwide.
MacBook Air 2022 M2, 13-Inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD $1709 + Shipping ($0 C&C) @ JB Hi-Fi
390
dishak on 05/10/2022 - 21:55 jbhifi.com.au (1008 clicks)
Last edited 08/10/2022 - 14:08 by 4 other users
Last edited 08/10/2022 - 14:08 by 4 other users
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funny comment +1
AOC price is $1678
What’s AOC?
Australian Olympic committee… Or Apple education (Apple on campus)
They also make good monitors.
It’s a shame the 256GB / 8GB is the worst of them.
Single 256GB so it’s 40%+ slower until you bump it to 512GB and get two 256GB modules. 8GB RAM may suit some tasks now however it is terrible for longevity.
Processor is fantastic, only let down by RAM & a much slower SSD at 256GB.
Wife has one, it's fine for most users.
There there, you'll be ok
As always, it's important to properly spec out a machine based on what you'll use it for. It's also good to think ahead, eg: someone decided to start videoing editing on an old deal post and complained about performance on an 8gb machine. The other consideration here is buying a new machine with the savings in the future.
I've had an MBA(8gb/256gb) for home use for the past 2 years without any issue. It would be fine for 2 more assuming usage stayed the same.
@ihfree: Imo 8GB will never be enough down the line as web browser and other apps will only take up more and more RAM and there's only so much the CPU can do to keep those usages in check. Long story short it will get bugged down.
@Grey 13: RAM is RAM and future-proofing is worthwhile but I think 8GB will be fine for at least the next 2 - 5 years. As long as you know what you're planning on doing with the machine, you'll probably be fine.
I still think a 4th gen i5 laptop with 4GB ram(ideally FHD and SSD) is fine for light home use and have used such a machine once or twice recently.
My 2012 macbook pro still running on the original hdd, and all my portable drives are still hdd, i never own any ssd in my life, even if upgrade to this M2 Air, speed will be heaven & hell difference to me already!
lol you should try an ssd and see
just ssd makes a huge difference indeed
Are you purely looking at benchmark software's sequential read/write speed? You are aware there are apps and cases where the 256GB M2 Macbook Air run faster than M1 256GB SSD.
This 512GB or above's SSD in M2 is fast isn't very objective. Even that struggles to beat top PCIe gen 3 x4 SSDs. Also, if the 256GB's sequential read/write is completely unacceptable, then we should all throw away SATA3 SSDs.
Unless you can constantly generate 2000MB worth of data on M2 or you have a good Thunderbolt 3 SSD, is that really an issue?
I’m about done with replying here as people seem to lack basic reading comprehension.
This particular model has slower ssd speeds as apple used a single 256GB module vs two 128GB modules in the M1. Performance is around 40% less. 8GB RAM is very light, the OS takes around 5GB and that memory is shared with the graphics chip.
I’ve made no comment on if this suitable for particular use cases. I’m simply providing factual information on this post.
To comment further, this difference is exagerated on the 8gb model, when paging to that SSD is utilised heavily and becomes more of a bottleneck over the higher throughput ones. It was their entire fusion pitch.
@superroach: Despite those
intolerablelimitations of the base model, it still provides a solid user experience for the average user.@fastnet: I appreciate someone taking the time to break down the specs, basically they are saying spend a bit more, it's better value.
Rebutting that it's "fine for most users" isn't really valuable, a 10 year old macbook is also "fine for most users".
If this was a GPU, everyone would agree that buying the crippled base model isn't worth it, but because it's an Apple product talking specs is discouraged?
@greatlamp: Thank you, that is what I was attempting to get across. I looked into buying one recently and wanted to give back to the community a little bit by giving a quick summary.
The cheaper M1 model may be more suitable for people who don't have a use case that is impacted by the M2 base model limitations. If apple had put 16GB in the base model I'd buy it and live with the SSD limitations. Unfortunately they didn't and build to order isn't part of this 10% off deal.
I did my best to avoid saying the machine was good, bad or otherwise. I simply wanted to highlight the limitations of this entire level machine. I'll go out on a limb and say in my opinion anyone who wants to use this machine for any 'real' work will run into issues. Real being development, video editing and other work that requires compute resources.
If apple had put 16GB in the base model I'd buy it
No manufacturer is going to release a base model ultra portable of similar calibre with 16GB Ram. It'll benefit the consumer but not the business.
In fact, none of the other comparable Windows alternatives have 16GB Ram in base config either. Dell XPS 13, Microsoft Surface etc.
@fastnet: I agree, base was the wrong word to use.
Unfortunately they didn't and build to order isn't part of this 10% off deal.
I was referring to 16GB being unavailable outside of a build to order and build to order being excluded from the sales.
Don't be upset. That's just a comment on what it means in the real world. There's room for both benchmarks and discussion of real world impact.
Hey, thanks for sharing.
The heatsink on the M2 is paper thin - thermal performance isn't overly great. Apple cheaped out.
The tests I saw had far less thermal throttling compared to the M1. From memory it was something like 90 seconds to throttle in the M1 vs 7 minutes in this new M2. The processor is top tier for this price point and unmatched. It is let down by 8GB RAM & slower ssd speeds at 256GB.
Are you talking about the MacBook Air? Maybe the new chassis can dissipate more heat.
Apple has done some magic with safari or the memory management. I tested loading up an 256GB M2 machine with 50 or so tabs and couldn't see noticable delay when cycling through the tabs. If you are working on 100GBs of files then you might see the bottleneck.
Browser tabs isn't a good way to test memory.
RAM is still RAM. I have a 16GB RAM Macbook Pro M1 Pro 16 inch, when I do work and open quite a few apps, it can slow down. I can tell when it uses swaps (i.e. virtual memory through SSD). I generally have to close apps otherwise it is very noticeable. 8GB RAM is only good for light usage. If you really do some serious work, you really should get 16GB RAM.
@netsurfer: May I ask what apps you are running when you notice the memory swap lag?
Want to see if I can sort of replicate it in store.
Custom more RAM is not worth it as that brings the price close to the 14". Really don't want to stretch out for the 14"
@Kayk: If you don’t care about the weight, price of14 inches pro is much reasonable, with a much better screen and more performance cores. But next month Apple may release the new 14 inches macbook pro. Maybe better wait?
@sicaboy: Yeah, the base 14” you get the whole lot.
But after some thought I decided to go with the air. It is cheaper and look smart. The 14” looks a bit nerdy.
I’m an M2 MacBook Air user, it doesn’t produce a lot of heat at all. Sometime it reaches 70 degrees when I was doing docker build, within 3 seconds, it come back to 50ish degrees, which has a very good self-cooling behaviour (at least in the winter).
Apple will price match JB in store.
Helpful if you’re keen on the Apple 14d no questions asked return policy.
Really? Since when? I was told with great arrogance by Apple staff that they don't price match.
They always price match by 10% max i think, done that before.
Really? I tried it a couple years ago, my nearest Apple store was only willing to do up to 5%.
@netsurfer: Strange, as far as I know they do 10%. Just did one last year. For MacBook Pro price match 10% with JB during Christmas time period
I wonder how the latest Surface laptop compares.
Surface is overpriced junk. Better go for the XPS or X1 carbon or something
They are quite cheap compared to apple. Had the surface pro 1 & 4 which constantly had issues but not sure if they have improved.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/728678
16GB/256GB only $1259.
Price to performance* wise, I would say apple’s m1 air takes the crown here
Is Macbook Air m1 better value at $1349 and faster ssd?
In many ways yes
Just concerned around the storage
Better screen / speaker / TRACKPAD.
Caveat: macOS and arm processor
So many laptops on OzBargain for under a $1,000 with better specs than this.
You know you are comparing apples to vegetables right?
Please hide your modus operandi from the acolytes.Link one and explain why
Um, no, why?
Generally the recommendation is:
- a chonky gaming machine with more ram/gpu
- low quality screen
- plastic/low quality build
- low battery life
Your statement is:
So many laptops on OzBargain for under a $1,000 with better specs than this.
If you want to make an argument about gaming or what is sufficient, that's a seperate conversation. You'll also find that Windows machines which target this market segment are priced in a similar way.
Sometimes people buy the Macbook not just purely for the specs. Hardly anything on the market can compete with them on battery life and snappiness with sub $1,000 and that is just fact. Not an Apple fanboy as I used both Apple products and Windows products and they have their uses.
But the 8GB RAM and single SSD for 256GB model are really bad for modern computers. Just like the 128GB model that has been axed, Apple should up their game and include at least 16GB RAM moving on forwards as all their RAM is soldered and cannot be upgraded after the purchase.
Not sure if you have used a M1 computer before. 8GB RAM is not *really bad" for M-series Macs. It is more than capable for most of the intended buyers of MacBook Air.
Yeah my partner is using the Macbook Air M1 rn. But my Macbook Pro 2015 has been bugged down so much to the point of unusable now. Not sure how long the M-chip from Apple can last in terms of productivity and performance.
I've been looking for a windows laptop for many years with the same performance, quality, battery life, screen, size and weight, keyboard, and touchpad that MacBook offers. Couldn't find any.
Although, the new macbooks pro got too fat, even compared to some windows laptops. It makes sense to consider only Air.
hahahaha, it looks like you don't even try M1/M2. It's 10 times better than an Intel i9, in terms of performance energy ratio.
apple made this trap , if you want anything like 16gb ram 512gb ssd you have to pay 500 plus
Hi, just pointing it out for the rest of you over here
This price beat will only work on the Space grey model.
OW already dropped it to $1707 to avoid the pricematch
True, happened just a few hours ago…
Thx for posting, ,managed to grab one.
What time did you make that transaction ?
Just then, ordered on jb online
So you didn’t go for the price beat with Officeworks then ?
Any history on what kind of price drop happens when new models come out? Like, will the M1 Air just be $1349 RRP maybe?
On EBay, maybe
On Jb and Apple, highly unlikely.
Only 8GB (not upgradable) [edit: OP added it now] and no touchscreen, FYI. Great otherwise. Even has a 3.5mm audio jack and USB-C!! :-)