These prices have been available for a few days now, but thought I may as well post since it's an all-time low.
$1294 @ Officeworks: Midnight, Silver, Space Grey, Starlight
$1294 @ Amazon: Midnight, Silver, Space Grey, Starlight
$1297 @ JB Hi-Fi
$1298 @ Harvey Norman
CamelCamelCamel.
It's an extra $200. Sure, if you're a power user. Computers really have reached the point where gains from one version to the next aren't of material benefit to the average user. Real-world battery life would be the most important thing to everyday users, and there's little difference between the M2 and M3.
The M3 will most likely recieve software support longer.
@Techie4066: My 2017 MBP that I paid $3500 for and stopped recieving updates last year says otherwise.
Lets hope Apple Silcon gets better support going forward.
@pb924: Nah, that's fake news.
Especially once you get into a similar budget as apple. From friends and family, there's still a consumer grade 4th gen i5 laptop in use and a business grade dell core 2 duo.
The refurb laptops posted here are also perfectly fine for many years.
@PainToad: What are you going to do with it?
I remember my last Apple product, an iPod. Hardware wise it was fine, but Apple locked it out of the App store, making it basically useless. Like I get that some apps won't work anymore, and that was already the case before as it's an iPod, not iPhone, but why not let users decide on their own, why lock them out completely. Basically felt like an FU because my iPod wasn't ready to be trash.
@Murkymerv: #capitalism
Hopefully, the windows snapdragon combo works out and gives the apple silicon line up a run for it's money. That may push the price down.
@Techie4066: It has varied considerably over time. 10 years from original launch is a bit of a stretch.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/07/with-macos-sonoma-in…
@Daabido: Key word is "generally". According to that article, all Macs from 1998-2017 received an average of 8.7 years of security updates. That is pretty darn close and there is room for Apple to improve that supporting their in-house chips.
Intel has generally opted to stop providing updates and support for most processors around six or seven years after their initial release
@BillyG687: Sure. I never said it's a hard and fast rule. The last 10 years of Macs in that data (2008-2017) have an average of 9.35 years of support. Is that close enough for you?
@Techie4066: Intel not supporting processors just means no more microcode updates. Not a big deal for most people.
@Aureus: If I were Apple I would not want to be supporting products that no longer have their chips' critical vulnerabilities patched. Nor do most manufacturers for consumer products. That would open them up to a lot of trouble.
People have been saying this for a lot time though.
M3 is better than M2 any way you look at it.
I bought an m3 for my wife while I’m doing work on a 5 year old midrange Lenovo
While I generally agree, the fact that this M3 can run two external screen while the M2 and M1 can only power one is a pretty significant benefit if you’re planning to use this as part of an office desk setup. For many that will be worth the extra cash. Otherwise, yeah, the M2 is fine.
Note for others reading the above comment, M3 can run two external displays IF the macbook is closed/used in clamshell mode, so you can only have two display but at least both of them can be larger than the macbook's display.
It's not that difficult to pick up a displayport dock (plenty of dell etc ones around), but yeah, if it's useful it's worth just paying the extra $200.
IMO I'd pay the extra for the storage speed too. If 8GB RAM does become a limitation at some point down the road then the faster caching will be worth it.
@freefall101: Well, based on your comment apparently it is too difficult - DisplayPort won't help you. You need a DisplayLINK dock, and they're much rarer, and come with their own raft of problems.
I'm stuck with an M1 and this shitty bandaid technology - how Apple thought this was acceptable is beyond me. Get the M3 if you have multiple monitors, and let's forget DisplayLink ever existed.
@aliask: It was just a typo.
Displaylink isn't very rare and works fine, I use a D6000 from Dell - those docks are cheap and everywhere.
I also agree with you, people should get the M3 if it's useful to save the headache. But it's not an impossibility to do and not even very inconvenient - most people wanting dual displays with their macbook will be buying a dock of some sort.
Get a M3 if must have a Mac and have a bit more to spend. Sooner or later you would want dual external screens, the M2 Air can’t do it natively.
The SSD in the M2 is half the speed of the M3. Which will probably make a difference with all the swapping you'll end up doing.
& the main issue is next yr M4 will come, then what would we do?
It’s $200 from what I can see. I think for most users who are happy to get by with 8gb they’ll actually do better buying the M2 over M3 and pocketing the saving. Slower ssd and wifi 6e aren’t going to be a real world issue.
I'd prefer M2 16g for that price than M3 8G
Sorry, where's the M2 16gb on sale?
If spend 200$ more for m3 8g i recommend spend more 50-100$ upgrade M2 16g
AOC apple is only $1641 for m2 16g
AOC apple is only $1641 for m2 16g
I can't find an M2 MBA with 16gb RAM anywhere, including Apple.
Edit: I found it, you have to select the 8gb model and customise the specs, but it comes to A$1,929.40 total, so I'm not sure where you saw it for $1,641.
@magic8ballgag: It's literally right there in the text you quoted, it's the AOC store:
https://www.apple.com/au_edu_5000447/shop/buy-mac/macbook-ai…
AOC is the Apple Education Union store, it generally has cheaper prices than the usual Apple Education discount allows.
It's literally right there in the text you quoted, it's the AOC store:
I searched for the AOC store before commenting, but I accidentally selected the 512gb model earlier today.
Inb4 “I have more RAM in my Motorola G84”.
I have more RAM in my Motorola G84 (I don't have a Motorola G84)
I have more rams in my farm.
BAH….
This one was actually good.
You're always 8GB comments hungry …
They eight them all!
I have more RAMs in my backyard.
You could always trying ramming some more in.
I tried but the RAMs started to JAM.
Can you show the proof of purchase?
@PainToad: That's just 1, we are wasting our time here for 8 so plz bring 7 more or strike your comment :P
My MPB struggles at work.
Well what are you doing for work? And what model mbp? That would be helpful for us to know
Mbp M1 16gb.
Developer. I have many IDEs open at once and many internet browsers open at once.
Sometimes it freezes.
@smartProverble: Sounds underspecced. It might be time to make a case to IT or management… or time to download more ram.
But this is 8GB Apple RAM, it's much sexier ram than the ram in your Motorola G84 12GB.
Apple RAM makes up in quality what it lacks in quantity, so it's better and more stylish RAM.
that's what he was RAiMing for
I recall the M1 when on sale can be around $1k?
How much faster is the M2 compared to M1?
How much faster is the M3 compared to M2?
Not sure you would be able to pick the speed difference (if any) when using Safari.
My 5 yo Intel i9 MBP is perhaps 10-15% slower than a new M3 Air when encoding 4k video using Davinci Resolve, probably not very useful comparison for you.
Most likely single digit improvement from one generation to the next depending on what you do?
Rhetorical question?
1 M
1 M
My m1 mba does more than just fine
Thats really cheep at 1199
Interestingly the post above this one for an iPhone 15 is nearly the same price…crazy world we live in.
Half price of the fold6 1Tb
What's crazy?
The M3 base model which doesn't have the M2's slow 256GB SSD is currently $1,529 on the refurb store. If you could use the Flybuys points deal might be worth a look.
https://www.apple.com/au/shop/refurbished/mac/256gb-2024-13-…
I just bought my Apple Gift Cards today to get my wife an M3 Air refurb with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD. Should be able to stack another 2% cash back with Topcashback.
The M3 base model is $1497 at JB Hi Fi, Amazon, and Officeworks. Why would you buy a refurb?
Fair enough, especially if you got cheap gift cards. Apple Certified Refurb is pretty much new however. And if you want Flybuys points, $1,530 worth of gift cards is $153 worth of Flybuys dollars, which I could use at Coles. So for me it’s equivalent to $1,377.
Free choice.
Would an MBA M1 with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage be faster than a MBA M2 with 8GB/256GB?
No
M2 would be the one to avoid with the slower single NAND SSD. Apple went cheap on this model. Save some money and get the M1 or go for the M3 for a couple of hundred extra. Also be aware if you exceed the 8gb memory usage regularly and utilise the swap file on the SSD, you’ll significantly reduce the life of the SSD.
What's wrong with a single NAND SSD? Why do you need the fastest SSD for average uses?
I download movies use my M2 MBA and I don't notice any difference to my M1 MBA.
That’s kinda the point I’m making, M1 has faster dual NAND setup and slightly slower CPU. Real world performance is going to be similar, save your money and go with the M1.
It's well known that it is slower (by a good amount) than the M1 in its 256gig configuration. That's why most reviews mentioned to either buy the 512 or the M1 version with the same specs.
But I am finding my M2 MBA is superior over my M1 (in terms of screen, battery and etc).
Turns out my last apple computer had a design fault - backlight cable was too short by 3mm. Broke after awhile and so screen would not come on. They refused to take responsibility, instead insisting on charging $850. And they kept producing computers with this flexgate fault for three years until it became public. My last apple product was my last apple product.
My last bf has the same problem. So my last bf is my last bf.
8gb ram though?
Are you sure?
I see there's a 16gb, but its cheaper to by from AOC
Thanks for pointing out the 8gb of ram.
Welcome
It looks like this deal might end tonight.
Probably worth the extra $150 for the M3 model.