Great price, less than education store. Remember to use gift cards to bring the price down further š
Apple MacBook Air 13.6" M2 Chip 8-Core CPU 8/256GB $1349 + Delivery ($0 C&C/ In-Store) @ JB Hi-Fi
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NoHomersClub on 21/06/2024 - 10:19 jbhifi.com.au (3100 clicks)
Last edited 21/06/2024 - 10:45 by 1 other user
Last edited 21/06/2024 - 10:45 by 1 other user
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256GB SSD is also not greatā¦ But hey, for some people it is enough.
For most it's enough.
Keep in mind who the MacBook Air is markteted towards, and what they will be using it for.
Yep 100000000%
All the dorks who comment about 8GB RAM or 256GB SSD don't realise that the Macbook Air is totally fine with 8GB RAM or 256GB SSD for its target audience.
Anyone who wants more power or needs the storage will buy a higher spec'd model or the Macbook Pro.
This model should and will continue to exist because a LOT of people just want an entry level Macbook that they can email/browse the net on and which plays nicely with their phone, watch and ipad
@Randolph Duke: What makes you think Apple is any more of a "working cohesive ecosystem" than other operating systems?
If you prefer MacOS, so be it. That doesn't make Windows or production-ready Linux distributions any less capable.
@jasonxc: Ecosystem being phone, tablet, laptop or desktop, smart speaker system, media streaming device and HomeKit. Apple stuff just works well together.
@Randolph Duke: We don't need to get into Mac/iOS vs Android vs Windows
In today's day and age, all are good. I was in the Apple ecosystem and it was very good with everything being connected. Now being in the Google one, its just as good. In fact, perhaps even better now.
Anyway, both ecosystems are good and gone are the days where you had to be in one to be 'connected' to your other devices.
We don't need to get into Mac/iOS vs Android vs Windows
I'm not actually debating it, just clarifying since ecosystem was interpreted as MacOS only. I'm just bemused at how keen Apple haters are on every deal posted here to tell us how dumb Apple users are, as if we're not able to evaluate all the options and make a rational choice based on how our needs/wants/means. @jasonxc has 16 posts in this thread alone, but everyone else replying is the fanboy.
@Randolph Duke: Fair enough. Yeahhhhh there are fanboys on all sides. Apple fanboys tend to be the most entrenched but their haters are also the most 'passionate' shall we say. LOL.
People should just get what they want. Its that simple. Haha
Apple fanboys tend to be the most entrenched
Oh, so that's why Windows / PC / Android posts are overrun by Apple users complaining about others' informed free market choices
Because that's totally a real thing that definitely happens all the time, isn't it
@GrueHunter: LOL I was just having a discussion with Randolph. Neither of us asked for your thoughts. Your butthurt reply proves the point you responded to anyway. HAHA
What makes you think Apple is any more of a "working cohesive ecosystem" than other operating systems?
Name one that does the same thing so easily?
I personally don't have Apple but know people that do. And when I see a child move seamlessly between laptop, tablet, phone, TV, airtags, car etc I think wow, thats better than anything I can name. Can you name a better solution that does all that so easily? I await your answer.
That doesn't make Windows or production-ready Linux distributions any less capable.
Yeah my Windows TV and Linux phone all work so smoothly together…
I personally don't have Apple but know people that do. And when I see a child move seamlessly between laptop, tablet, phone, TV, airtags, car etc I think wow, thats better than anything I can name. Can you name a better solution that does all that so easily? I await your answer.
Notice how you're only offering a vague idea of seamlessness without explaining anything specific. What do you even expect people to say? There are cross-platform alternatives for all the software Apple offers.
Yeah my Windows TV and Linux phone all work so smoothly togetherā¦
And this is why you're a disingenuous fanboy. You don't actually have any idea about this stuff at all.
Notice how you're only offering…
And what have you offered?
There are cross-platform alternatives for all the software Apple offers.
Yet you are struggling to name one that does all the things I mentioned above as easily…
You don't actually have any idea about this stuff at all.
Cool story. Now back to the part where you tell us which product(s) you believe do(es) it better and easier…
This space left here for you give the answer->
@1st-Amendment: No, you're just arguing in bad faith. You're clearly very bad at this.
I'm telling you literally every single x86-based laptop can do everything a Macbook can using cross-platform software like LocalSend, Spacedesk, Chromecast, WinSCP among others. Again though, you're being vague because all this stuff is well beyond your limited understanding.
You can keep screeching for me to "name one" at your leisure. Go and open the JB Laptop Catalog and take your pick. Literally anything. Alas, a comically uninformed person like yourself will never learn :)
using cross-platform software like LocalSend, Spacedesk, Chromecast, WinSCP among others
Lol so a whole bunch of disparate apps that all need to be setup and configured independently on every single device with multiple accounts that will need to be managed just to manually send files using SFTP, or just simply click Airdrop and you're done. Hilarious…
because all this stuff is well beyond your limited understanding.
What SFTP lol? Too funny…
Lol so a whole bunch of disparate apps that all need to be setup and configured independently on every single device with multiple accounts that will need to be managed
Pretty much this. I canāt be bothered tinkering/maintaining a complex setup at home anymore. Just give me something that works OOTB across all my devices. Iām sure a Google based ecosystem would deliver much the same experience.
For people who want to tinker/control their experience I totally get it, I used to enjoy doing that stuff too, but with a career in IT I appreciate stuff just working.
Lol so a whole bunch of disparate apps that all need to be setup and configured independently
See, this is why you have no clue. You haven't even used any of them, and don't know the setup.
Someone like you is in no position to be giving anyone advice. You are absolutely hopeless on this topic :)
You are absolutely hopeless on this topic
I'm smart because I said I am. We know how the logic works…
@jasonxc: Theres always two sides of the coin šŖ
But i get that apple works , and the others can be sub par .
@jay889344: You are not getting the point. Apple is charging for 16GB/512 GB and giving only 8/256GB.
@John Doh: Why do you think Mac specs need to be the same as Windows specs? Apple owns the hardware and OS, and with minimal configurations to support, gives them far greater opportunity to optimise their OS and software.
The lack of HDD space is admittedly cheap, but Iāve got 256gb in my MacMini and it still has 120gb free. Itās not 10 years ago where you have 100gb of music on your laptop etc, and have seperate NAS or cloud storage for everything else.
@Randolph Duke: Because people buying laptops especially apple products will use it for 5 to 6 years. 8GB aint enough, so the system swaps. More so in upcoming years due to increased app sizes. Swap eats into SSD life. SSD not swappable. Entire thing into the bin once SSD dies. 512GB will give longer swap life with 8GB RAM. I reckon, they should atleast put 12Gigs of RAM if they are giving 256GB SSD.
@John Doh: I know people like to talk about SSD lifetime but do you know anyone whoās had one die that wasnāt a model with known faults? Mineās been going for 11 years in a system thatās basically on 24x7.
I doubt people are doing that much browsing consistently on an Air that paging to the SSD is going to kill it in 5 years.
@Randolph Duke: In my prvious company, my colleague who was in marketing had an m1 pro 8gb. Being in marketing = 100 chrome tabs. He left the company and as a dev, i borrowed the laptop. Checked the SSD life and in 1year 2 monthsr 15 or 18% gone, cant remember. And that was 2 years ago. 5 years down the line mem requirements would be higher. and 1400 Bux is not cheap for a laptop.
I wanted to bench the laptop so installed dev tools and compiled the project - note that 8GB is not for developement, but still tested. It was way faster than intel mac with 16 gigs. After 3 mins project compile - 13GB written to swap. Had I continued with it, it would be a dead machine in no time. But thats not the point. Marketing people can kill it too.
@John Doh: Just checked my laptop, 1.5b write commands with 30tb written, SSD health is 99%. Old mate in marketing must have been doing a lot of web browsing to use 15% in 14 months.
@Randolph Duke: Also look at all EliteX laptops, all 16 Gigs of RAM. Apple is more efficient is not always an argument. 3rd party apps can be heavy.
https://wccftech.com/qualcomm-snapdragon-x-laptops-availableā¦
@John Doh: If I was using heavy apps on a regular basis and/or making money creating content from those apps e.g. Lightroom, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, heavy development workloads etc etc, I wouldn't buy an Air, and I'd likely know my requirements at purchase time. Not to say an Air couldn't do a pretty reasonable job running these applications, but I'd agree you'd want to bump up the memory & HDD specs.
@Randolph Duke: There is no reason why they charge as much and give partly 8GB RAM. Its just Apple greed. If you have enough money to pay them, be my guest. Cheap 200$ tablets posted here have 8GB RAM.
@John Doh: You think cutting edge, high quality hardware with great customer service comes cheap? The latest snapdraggon is barely competitive with the older M series CPU's and its an SOC from a company whose reason for existence is SOC's!
@dealsucker: I think consistently above average gross profit and net profit margin show the price can definitely go lower. Doesnāt mean Apple shouldnāt charge their customers as much as possible, but it Just shows that there is plenty of rooms to reduce price if they want to
@John Doh: correct- chrome is a complete joke on Macs!!
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=chrome+ā¦
@John Doh: Wow, amazing insights clearly backed by real world evidence
This comment posted on my 2017 Macbook with 8gb of DDR3
@John Doh: 12 GB RAM sounds like the next logical step for them, seeing as they're allergic to just throwing in another equal chip. Leaves triple channel 4GB sticks as an option? Can the M1/2/3/4 do that?
@Droz: I have no idea. Jensen gives less VRAM to make people upgrade. Apple give less RAM to increase thier own profits. So whatever makes them save. The worst part was the M3 Pro machine has 8GB option and its not cheap. lol.
@jay889344: I do think the minimum should move up now. i'm not saying entry isn't appropriate, it's just that the bar of what entry is should be raised. theres only so long before the argument for 8gb is fine for a mac will work.
@maverickjohn: Yeah I guess it depends on whether 8GB is no longer enough for people who just want to do some emails, web browsing and watching Youtube videos etc.
I don't know enough technically to know whether 8GB is enough for just that going forward, but I'm assuming 8GB is still enough for that person right? If it is, then I think its actually important that 'entry level' still exists because otherwise, you're just pricing out a chunk of the market.
@jay889344: I was referring to a non price rise entry bump in specs. they raise they price each year but have held on to 8gb for nearly 13 years. They should keep the same price but start from 16gb and jump up for 32gb etc
@jay889344: The 256GB SSD model has half the I/O throughput as well.
Yes this model is enough for the extra light use cases at the moment, but considering how webpages are growing more complex, and Chrome continues to eat up GBs of RAM for every dozen tabs, the true bargin would be to shell out a few hundreds for a 16/512 model that can last you twice as long, and save the earth from one more piece of ewaste.
Once again Apple fanboys want to have their cake and eat it.
If 8GB/256GB is enough for someone, then they don't need to pay a premium for massively overpriced Apple hardware.@jasonxc: I'm not a fanboy nor own any Apple products, but I work in an industry where I am exposed to a plethora of mixed end-user technology.
Whether someone needs to spend X amount of dollars on a MacBook or not is a different discussion. This device with these components are perfectly adequate for their intended customer.
This device with these components are perfectly adequate for their intended customer.
But not good value for money.
@jasonxc: Why are you so concerned what other people want to spend their money on? Are you so precious that a strangerās spending decision somehow invalidates you?
@Icecold5000: Why are you so concerned about a poster providing an alternative point of view you're not capable of debating?
I am posting a comment explaining why I think this laptop is poor value for money. You seem annoyed I am not conforming.
@jasonxc: Pretty sad how you need to neg a deal and carry on for no real reason. People are paying this price and are happy to do so, itās not by luck Apple are worth what they are. You fail to take things like build quality and software/ecosystem into account. Itās so arrogant. Just move along.
@zubzub: No, what's sad is people like you getting cranky just because someone doesn't view overpriced Apple hardware as good value vfor money.
Points like "build quality" and software/ecosystem are already debunked because fanboys like you refuse to argue in good faith. There are plenty of cheaper, more durable laptops out there, and you cannot properly leverage the advantages of the Apple ecosystem with only 8GB ram.
@jasonxc: Feel free to offer an alternative to this so that potential buyers can be educated and decide for themselves.
@magic8ballgag: I actually have multiple times through deals posted.
Of course, that won't stop Apple fanboys getting offended at the mere suggestion their products don't represent good value for money.
I actually have multiple times through deals posted.
So then you'd have no problem doing it again here.
At the end of the day, we all have different tastes and desires, and not every purchase in life has to be the best value.
@jasonxc: Iām far from cranky. Kind of amazed really how upset youāre getting. The Apple silicon outdoes anything in this price range and even in higher price brackets. The new snapdragon chips can compete but the cheapest youāre going to get is something like a surface laptop 7 for like $1900. You really donāt have a clue what youāre talking about. There is no point continuing to talk to someone who gets so upset over dumb things like this. You must be young. Youāll get over it champ, donāt worry.
Kind of amazed really how upset youāre getting
That's just you projecting your own emotions.
I am simply telling it like it is, Apple products are poor value for money, and your arguments have been terrible.
The Apple silicon outdoes anything in this price range
Total nonsense and long-since debunked. Any benchmarking website will conclusively prove you wrong.
The only real advantage Apple silicon has is battery life at low-loads. But being the Apple fanboy that you are, you of course lump this into your blanket statement, claiming it "outdoes anything" in it's price range, which is an outright lie (or just your foolishness).
@jasonxc: Cool. Iām looking for a new laptop. I was considering this or going for the new surface laptop as I prefer windows(oh no, Iām not a fanboy). So Iāll await your recommendations of where I can put my $1300 to better use. Can you give me 3 laptops I can check out oh wise one?
I am simply telling it like it is, Apple products are poor value for money
That is not how it is though. How you think it is does not match reality. For the millions of owners they represent good value for money, hence why they buy them.
The Apple silicon outdoes anything in this price range and even in higher price
This is 100% false information.
Why are you spouting bs?@Cmatthew: Ok Iāll gladly take some knowledge on. Give me 3 windows laptops for $1300 I can buy that are better.
@zubzub: https://nanoreview.net/en/cpu-compare/intel-core-i7-13700h-vā¦
https://nanoreview.net/en/cpu-compare/intel-core-ultra-7-155ā¦You can get several laptops with those chips with 16GB ram for less than this Macbook Air. Both of them absolutely smash this Macbook Air for multicore workloads.
To write a blanket statement like "The Apple silicon outdoes anything in this price range and even in higher price" is simply false information, and demonstrates you do not understand the technology at all. Apple silicon has an advantage in energy efficiency, but not performance.
@Cmatthew: So you canāt recommend any laptops?
I bought the Acer swift go 13th gen i7 a few months back for $1100 I believe and sold it a week later. I had an m1 before that and I would rather the m1 any day. Apart from the oled screen, the much older m1 outdid it in every way. There are synthetic benchmarks and then there are lived experiences and that was mine. I wasnāt kidding when I said I was looking for a new laptop, preferably windows as Iām not a fan of macOS.
@zubzub: Do you expect me to personally buy and benchmark every single x86 laptop for you?
I provided data that shows CPUs in cheaper laptops have far superior performance to the Apple M2 contained in the Macbook Air for this deal.It doesn't matter what you "rather". You spouted false information and demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the technology. You can keep throwing around blanket statements like "outdoes" or "outdid" but at the end of the day, you have no data. Claiming "The Apple silicon outdoes anything in this price range" is false information and shows you are not credible.
Quit embarrassing yourself. Swallow your pride and move on.
@zubzub: No they cannot, The new M4 has already kicked them out and we arent even talking about M4 Pro or M4 Max or gasp M4 Ultra
Absoloutely … if Apple tells your it's enough you gotta hand over that dosh and believe it's enough.
Actually the issue with 256gb on this particular laptop is that it is half the speed of 512gb+ specs, since they only used 1 chip instead of 2. Even the previous gen MBA was faster.
But yep, 256gb is fine for a lot of people.
I donāt believe you can use the upcoming Apple intelligence on Macās with less than 16gb, so thereās potentially a legitimate functional concern now.
If it mattered to youYou can. Only Xcode code completion feature requires 16GB RAM.
so thereās potentially a legitimate functional concern now.
Umm there always were legitimate functional concerns. Sure lots of people can get by with 8/256 if youāre basically using it as a Chromebook (a rock solid one with amazing build quality and performance), but thereās also lots of use cases where this just isnāt good enough.
Sounds like Apple playing the forced obsolescence game once again, I seriously cannot believe that what they are implementing requires an extra 8gb when its running on apple silicon. There is just no way.
Also LTT did a decent video on explaining AI and how we perceive it vs what we are actually dealing with as far as ChatGPT and the rest are concerned, its not as AI as we really think, companies have just taken the ball and ran with it, which is a pretty common occurrence in the fast moving tech sphere.
Sounds like Apple playing the forced obsolescence game once again
This idea is way overplayed. They're not that bad and they're also not that competent.
@atj: They are and they do mate, the apple pencil is a prime example of that, and trust I am balls deep in the apple ecosphere and love it but I am not blind to their practices. time and time again people have disassembled apple products to discover that almost all of the compatibility mismatches is due to software and not hardware. Same goes for their anticonsumer behaviour when it comes to device repairs, thankfully they are taking steps to change that now.
Having said all that, this isn't all that bad, personally I question the usability of apples AI especially on macs operating system.
@doobey1231: Seven years of hardware compatibility isn't a good enough run for the Apple pencil? We seem to have a different idea of what forced obsolesce is about. If the latest versions of iOS and macOS only worked on the last three releases of devices that'd be something to crow about. That's not the general way they do things though.
And yes, their competence is over rated. Apple is still the company that released an iTunes update that wiped disks, a TLS stack that failed open, and a new filesystem with limited bit rot protection because their SSDs are reliable within a year or so of releasing a firmware update that fixed their SSDs from rotting.
@atj: Its just that, good enough, but when apple forces it to no longer be compatible through software alone that's when I start to have an issue. There was literally no reason to phase out the older pencils beyond selling more devices. If devices become redundant as a result of innovation that's fine, but not when its done on purpose for no reason.. The fact that this is heavily documented beyond just the pencils shows that they do have a habit of this practice. They did it with keyboard folios in the past, Cases too, along with device updates that older devices could actually handle fine but apple just chooses to not allow it on a certain aged model.
@doobey1231: Do you have a source for your confidence or are you speculating as to how Apple Pencil is implemented? If support for new Pencils on old devices or vice versa is gated in software alone that's not great, but there's two parts that have to tango and I personally haven't seen anything definitive either way.
@atj: Really? long form "prove it" is the best you could come back with? Do you not have google?
https://www.firstpost.com/world/apple-again-accused-of-plannā¦
https://undergradlawreview.blog.fordham.edu/consumer-protectā¦
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate
https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-investigated-franceā¦
This is just from a quick google, feel free to dive into the rabbit hole if you wish, but I really don't need to prove something that has been documented the world over. There is a point in where the request to provide proof is just being obtuse for little reason. Like I said, love apple stuff, but I am not going to sit here and pretend they don't do this sort of stuff as part of their business practice.
We can also go into their financial coercion to replace your existing device. Look up the price to replace a screen on an iphone 12 outside of apple care, I got a quote a few years back and it was conveniently priced just below the same spec latest iphone.. It wasn't the first time this has occured to me. Admittedly the latest offering is much more repairer friendly, but its still the bare minimum.
Specifically to the pencil - I cannot find the post now as I am kinda busy, but I saw at a glance last week someone connecting a first gen pencil to a new ipad, physically connected up fine, even charged, but the ipad and pencil simply would not talk. Supposedly there are ways to force this, but it still shows apples practices once again.
Specifically to the pencil - I cannot find the post now as I am kinda busy, but I saw at a glance last week someone connecting a first gen pencil to a new ipad, physically connected up fine, even charged, but the ipad and pencil simply would not talk. Supposedly there are ways to force this, but it still shows apples practices once again.
Way to bury the lede. This paragraph answers the question asked, the rest wasn't necessary. Apple Pencil requires a layer in the screen as well as the device itself. It's unclear whether the hardware is compatible. Charging isn't a strong indicator of a software lock out.
Sounds like Apple playing the forced obsolescence game once again
Where's the 'yawn' button on this 2017 Macbook
As an example - my macbook right now is using 12gb of ram. Minimum apps open, mostly a bunch of browser tabs
Browser eats up RAM, doesn't matter how much overall RAM there is.
stop using chrome
which browser is most ideal then?
@ExpressCoffee: none of them are perfect. I mostly use safari, plus a bit of edge/brave/and arc. but avoid chrome- it's a famous ram hog on Macs- it has always been crap on macs, and will never improve
@derdew: Here I am, on my 2015 MacBook Pro, using Chrome with 50+ tabs open and having no issues. Out of 16GB of RAM, the system alone is using 6GB. Wonder how everything would work with only 8GB.
@derdew: Safari is included in the testing. As far as I know, they stopped it on Windows. Which makes me believe the tests were run in a Mac.
And thats eating into SSD life when swapping which is also non-replaceable.
You cannot tell how much ram you need based on how much is currently in use/wired in a Mac.
For example
I have 64GB M1 Max and OS X is caching heaps on RAM currently using 28GBs but I only have browser with handful of tabs, VScode, Slack and few other apps open.These same apps work totally fine on my wifeās M3 Air which only got 8GB of RAM.
Only indicator in OSX to understand if your machine is running low on RAM is something called āmemory pressureā, if thatās above 2 then you probably need more RAM.
OK cool can I play
Macbook 2017, 8gb
Chrome with six tabs, Mail, Spotify, Terminal, Telegram, Finder
4.86gb used
Waiting fanboys whitewash that DRAM labelled more expensive than gold bar in Apple products.
Waiting for 8GB to flood the comments sectionā¦