I shouldn’t be surprised (and I’m not) but: +$200 to go from 16GB to 24GB. Sigh… lol
16GB is probably fine, but I wish the memory upgrades were a little more reasonable. $200 is 20% of the base model price.
But you do just three free months of Apple TV+ with the purchase of the MacBook Air, so that’s good.
Although I just redeemed three free months of Apple TV+ the other day with no purchase necessary, lol.
Incidentally, I never really gave Apple TV+ a good try before. But when I found out that Ronald D. Moore had a show on it (For All Mankind), I activated the trial and started watching. It’s an amazing show!
Apple TV+ has this great show created my absolute favorite sci-if TV writer… and it’s been on since 2019… and I had no idea.
But anyway… $200 for 8 extra GB and a free Apple TV+ trial with a purchase, lol.
Or you can go from 24 GiB to 16 GiB to save $200.
You need to look at the product category as a whole. Apple is offering the base model at less of a profit specifically to entice new and more buyers. There's a reason why Apple only sells the base model RAM configurations at stores instead of only having the maxed out RAM options available.
The bottom line is whether it works for your needs. I can find a much cheaper Windows notebook but that doesn't work for my personal needs regardless the amount of RAM installed.
Oh, I get it. I understand what you are saying. I’m just commenting about the memory pricing. No matter what though, +$200 for 8 extra GB is tough for me to justify knowing what memory prices actually are. It makes me feel like a stupid-idiot for even thinking about maybe considering the possibility of buying the Air with 24GB, lol.
Just to be clear, I’m not calling anyone else a stupid-idiot. Just me personally. I’m the stupid-idiot. That’s how I feel when I hover over the +$200 configuration box, lol.
(Actually +30,000 yen. I’m in Japan, but I’m typing the prices in USD since not too many in the comments section are from Japan.)
I’m honestly thinking about a Framework laptop. Something that I can literally replace any and every component in it. I do like what Framework (the company) is trying to do. That Framework 12 that the company introduced a week or so ago looks really interesting. “12” for 12 inches. I do prefer small laptops. Man I miss that MacBook Air 11”. What an amazing laptop that was (for its time).
I don’t think a price has been announced yet for the Framework 12, but I’ll be keeping my eyes out for it for its expected April preorder date. It’s annoying that Framework still doesn’t ship to Japan yet, but I can order one and pick it up that next time I’m Stateside.
I have a 16" M1 MBP with 64 GB RAM and M1 Max chip . My significant other has a 16" M1 MBP, but with 32 GB RAM and M1 Pro chip. The only reason they have the MBP is because of screen size, but with the MBA having a 15.3" option that extra expense on the Pro won't be necessary. I'll surely be sticking with the Pro and will probably get 128 GB RAM, which I'm sure won't be the max when I go to upgrade.
I've spent most of my Apple life buying a new kit every year/release, but then it became every 2 years/releases, and now it's really unknown. The M1 Max is still amazing so I feel like I've gotten more value out of this Mac notebook than I have in any year past even when being able to replace the slotted RAM, 2.5" HDD with a bigger HDD and eventually for a 2.5" SSD, or when that 3rd-party option to remove the ODD to replace with another SATA II drive was around. I'm not even sure the M5 will be good enough for me to replace my M1 MBP. At this point it's more about the display so if OLED or µLED appear I probably would upgrade.
I shouldn’t be surprised (and I’m not) but: +$200 to go from 16GB to 24GB. Sigh… lol
16GB is probably fine, but I wish the memory upgrades were a little more reasonable. $200 is 20% of the base model price.
But you do just three free months of Apple TV+ with the purchase of the MacBook Air, so that’s good.
Although I just redeemed three free months of Apple TV+ the other day with no purchase necessary, lol.
Incidentally, I never really gave Apple TV+ a good try before. But when I found out that Ronald D. Moore had a show on it (For All Mankind), I activated the trial and started watching. It’s an amazing show!
Apple TV+ has this great show created my absolute favorite sci-if TV writer… and it’s been on since 2019… and I had no idea.
But anyway… $200 for 8 extra GB and a free Apple TV+ trial with a purchase, lol.
Or you can go from 24 GiB to 16 GiB to save $200.
You need to look at the product category as a whole. Apple is offering the base model at less of a profit specifically to entice new and more buyers. There's a reason why Apple only sells the base model RAM configurations at stores instead of only having the maxed out RAM options available.
The bottom line is whether it works for your needs. I can find a much cheaper Windows notebook but that doesn't work for my personal needs regardless the amount of RAM installed.
Oh, I get it. I understand what you are saying. I’m just commenting about the memory pricing. No matter what though, +$200 for 8 extra GB is tough for me to justify knowing what memory prices actually are. It makes me feel like a stupid-idiot for even thinking about maybe considering the possibility of buying the Air with 24GB, lol.
Just to be clear, I’m not calling anyone else a stupid-idiot. Just me personally. I’m the stupid-idiot. That’s how I feel when I hover over the +$200 configuration box, lol.
(Actually +30,000 yen. I’m in Japan, but I’m typing the prices in USD since not too many in the comments section are from Japan.)
I’m honestly thinking about a Framework laptop. Something that I can literally replace any and every component in it. I do like what Framework (the company) is trying to do. That Framework 12 that the company introduced a week or so ago looks really interesting. “12” for 12 inches. I do prefer small laptops. Man I miss that MacBook Air 11”. What an amazing laptop that was (for its time).
I don’t think a price has been announced yet for the Framework 12, but I’ll be keeping my eyes out for it for its expected April preorder date. It’s annoying that Framework still doesn’t ship to Japan yet, but I can order one and pick it up that next time I’m Stateside.
I've jumped ship from MacOS to Asahi Linux, and I thought about leaving Apple hardware behind. I also love the modularity of Framework's machines. They're just so soul-crushingly ugly.... But it's true that it's the way computers should be built.
As an aside, if I were in the market for a desktop, I'd definitely go for a System76 machine.
I shouldn’t be surprised (and I’m not) but: +$200 to go from 16GB to 24GB. Sigh… lol
16GB is probably fine, but I wish the memory upgrades were a little more reasonable. $200 is 20% of the base model price.
But you do just three free months of Apple TV+ with the purchase of the MacBook Air, so that’s good.
Although I just redeemed three free months of Apple TV+ the other day with no purchase necessary, lol.
Incidentally, I never really gave Apple TV+ a good try before. But when I found out that Ronald D. Moore had a show on it (For All Mankind), I activated the trial and started watching. It’s an amazing show!
Apple TV+ has this great show created my absolute favorite sci-if TV writer… and it’s been on since 2019… and I had no idea.
But anyway… $200 for 8 extra GB and a free Apple TV+ trial with a purchase, lol.
Or you can go from 24 GiB to 16 GiB to save $200.
You need to look at the product category as a whole. Apple is offering the base model at less of a profit specifically to entice new and more buyers. There's a reason why Apple only sells the base model RAM configurations at stores instead of only having the maxed out RAM options available.
The bottom line is whether it works for your needs. I can find a much cheaper Windows notebook but that doesn't work for my personal needs regardless the amount of RAM installed.
Oh, I get it. I understand what you are saying. I’m just commenting about the memory pricing. No matter what though, +$200 for 8 extra GB is tough for me to justify knowing what memory prices actually are. It makes me feel like a stupid-idiot for even thinking about maybe considering the possibility of buying the Air with 24GB, lol.
Just to be clear, I’m not calling anyone else a stupid-idiot. Just me personally. I’m the stupid-idiot. That’s how I feel when I hover over the +$200 configuration box, lol.
(Actually +30,000 yen. I’m in Japan, but I’m typing the prices in USD since not too many in the comments section are from Japan.)
I’m honestly thinking about a Framework laptop. Something that I can literally replace any and every component in it. I do like what Framework (the company) is trying to do. That Framework 12 that the company introduced a week or so ago looks really interesting. “12” for 12 inches. I do prefer small laptops. Man I miss that MacBook Air 11”. What an amazing laptop that was (for its time).
I don’t think a price has been announced yet for the Framework 12, but I’ll be keeping my eyes out for it for its expected April preorder date. It’s annoying that Framework still doesn’t ship to Japan yet, but I can order one and pick it up that next time I’m Stateside.
I've jumped ship from MacOS to Asahi Linux, and I thought about leaving Apple hardware behind. I also love the modularity of Framework's machines. They're just so soul-crushingly ugly.... But it's true that it's the way computers should be built.
As an aside, if I were in the market for a desktop, I'd definitely go for a System76 machine.
I’m not too concerned with the ugliness of the Framework. The ugliness brings with it a certain charm. It gives it character. A wabi-sabi type aspect to it, lol.
Although have you seen the colors of the recently announced Framework 12? Still has that modular-ugliness, but now with fun colors. That pink and teal Framework 12 in their blog post about the announcement… that’s fun.
When was the last time Apple gave us a fun MacBook color? (iMac, yes, fun colors. But MacBook?) With the new Air we have a “Sky Blue” that looks like a gray color. And a silver that looks like a different gray. And a “Starlight” that looks like… a sandy-gray, lol. And then black.
Even the recent iPads… I have the new purple iPad Mini. And it… looks gray, lol. A purple-ish gray. Thankfully I was able to find a clear-purple case for it that makes the iPad look like actual-purple now.
So quick question: I can buy an MBA under the back to school program currently in the Land of Oz, and it means I can get either a set of AirPods 4 with ANC included for free, or for an extra AUD$100 get the APP 2.
Is the AP4 good enough to not spend the extra on the no doubt better APP?
Does the average citizen need the M4 instead of the M3, M2 or M1 MacBook Air?
No they don't. To some extent users pay for a lump of silicon that can't be utilized in full due to the lack of cooling and memory.
It is still a nice computer delivering value. M2 and onwards have the great new design, MagSafe, display, and keyboard. M3+ is available in a very nice black, the 256 GB SSD is much faster, and from November 2024 all have 16 GB. M4 adds a better camera and for some reason a new battery. Anyone with MBA M2 or later are probably happy about their Mac especially if they have 16 GB.
I would like for Apple to lower the upgrade prices. What is the purpose of offering upgrades that are priced not to sell? Resellers would be able to increase sales if 512 GB was $100 and 1 TB for $250. For now Apple is selling loads of the base model. Car manufacturers are better at this.
Once again Apple teases with a low price for a crippled SSD of 256GB. Apple is such a fraud when it comes to their environmentally preaching since they install small SSD that makes their device obsolete too soon and thus enters the landfill. How is that good for the environment?
How is it fraud? The prices and options are listed for all to see. Fraud is advertising 512GB and giving you 256.
Once again Apple teases with a low price for a crippled SSD of 256GB. Apple is such a fraud when it comes to their environmentally preaching since they install small SSD that makes their device obsolete too soon and thus enters the landfill. How is that good for the environment?
How is it fraud? The prices and options are listed for all to see. Fraud is advertising 512GB and giving you 256.
Libertyandfree specifically was talking about Apple’s environmental record. I’m honestly not sure how you missed that unless you started typing immediately after you saw the word “fraud” and didn’t read anything else after. Some might disagree with what libertyandfree said, but what was said was quite concise and clear.
So quick question: I can buy an MBA under the back to school program currently in the Land of Oz, and it means I can get either a set of AirPods 4 with ANC included for free, or for an extra AUD$100 get the APP 2.
Is the AP4 good enough to not spend the extra on the no doubt better APP?
I just clicked through on the Australia site and… yep, it looks fine. Go to the Education Store section, add the preorder MacBook Air to your cart, add the free AirPods to your cart on the next page after that and it all looks fine. I’m guessing (maybe) the Australia store site has some verification requirements for students or facility (not sure), but otherwise it seems okay.
Does the average citizen need the M4 instead of the M3, M2 or M1 MacBook Air?
No.
I have the M1 MBA with 16GB RAM, 2TB SSD and the superior wedge design. I see absolutely no reason to downgrade to the latest model. It will take a physical re-design and higher base SSD to even tempt me. I may never change even if the latest MacOS is no longer supported.
So quick question: I can buy an MBA under the back to school program currently in the Land of Oz, and it means I can get either a set of AirPods 4 with ANC included for free, or for an extra AUD$100 get the APP 2.
Is the AP4 good enough to not spend the extra on the no doubt better APP?
They are certainly "good enough" from an audio standpoint, but they do fit different since one is a hard earbud and the other is a silicon in-ear phone. For me it's the AirPods Pro with 3rd part foam tips since even the silicon ones they come with aren't comfortable enough — and I can't even use the AirPods earbud for more than a few minutes without it hurting. Apple said they researched the snot snot earwax out of ear shapes to get an ideal fit fort the masses so I'm clearly an edge case here.
Ironic. I commented about another user not understanding a user’s reply, but I just realized that I misunderstood entropys’ comment about the Back to School Program sale.
Immediately I did that! Immediately!!! I feel quite silly right now, haha.
(I’m commenting about my mistake now before someone else rightfully calls me out on it, lol.)
Comments
I've spent most of my Apple life buying a new kit every year/release, but then it became every 2 years/releases, and now it's really unknown. The M1 Max is still amazing so I feel like I've gotten more value out of this Mac notebook than I have in any year past even when being able to replace the slotted RAM, 2.5" HDD with a bigger HDD and eventually for a 2.5" SSD, or when that 3rd-party option to remove the ODD to replace with another SATA II drive was around. I'm not even sure the M5 will be good enough for me to replace my M1 MBP. At this point it's more about the display so if OLED or µLED appear I probably would upgrade.
As an aside, if I were in the market for a desktop, I'd definitely go for a System76 machine.
Although have you seen the colors of the recently announced Framework 12? Still has that modular-ugliness, but now with fun colors. That pink and teal Framework 12 in their blog post about the announcement… that’s fun.
When was the last time Apple gave us a fun MacBook color? (iMac, yes, fun colors. But MacBook?) With the new Air we have a “Sky Blue” that looks like a gray color. And a silver that looks like a different gray. And a “Starlight” that looks like… a sandy-gray, lol. And then black.
Even the recent iPads… I have the new purple iPad Mini. And it… looks gray, lol. A purple-ish gray. Thankfully I was able to find a clear-purple case for it that makes the iPad look like actual-purple now.
I can buy an MBA under the back to school program currently in the Land of Oz, and it means I can get either a set of AirPods 4 with ANC included for free, or for an extra AUD$100 get the APP 2.
It is still a nice computer delivering value. M2 and onwards have the great new design, MagSafe, display, and keyboard. M3+ is available in a very nice black, the 256 GB SSD is much faster, and from November 2024 all have 16 GB. M4 adds a better camera and for some reason a new battery.
Anyone with MBA M2 or later are probably happy about their Mac especially if they have 16 GB.
I would like for Apple to lower the upgrade prices. What is the purpose of offering upgrades that are priced not to sell? Resellers would be able to increase sales if 512 GB was $100 and 1 TB for $250. For now Apple is selling loads of the base model. Car manufacturers are better at this.
I just clicked through on the Australia site and… yep, it looks fine. Go to the Education Store section, add the preorder MacBook Air to your cart, add the free AirPods to your cart on the next page after that and it all looks fine. I’m guessing (maybe) the Australia store site has some verification requirements for students or facility (not sure), but otherwise it seems okay.
I have the M1 MBA with 16GB RAM, 2TB SSD and the superior wedge design. I see absolutely no reason to downgrade to the latest model. It will take a physical re-design and higher base SSD to even tempt me. I may never change even if the latest MacOS is no longer supported.
Immediately I did that! Immediately!!! I feel quite silly right now, haha.
(I’m commenting about my mistake now before someone else rightfully calls me out on it, lol.)