Cheap MacBook Air deals are a lot easier to come by these days, as the two most recent generations have brought those costs down considerably for an 8GB / 256GB spec. Not only that, but MacBook Air deals are landing on our shelves far more frequently as well, which means you’ll likely find some cash shaved off a premium luxury laptop if you know where to look.
That’s why we’re bringing you all the latest MacBook Air sales right here, with the lowest prices across a range of retailers on the latest models and some cheaper, older alternatives as well.
The newest entry to the Apple family is the MacBook Air M1 2020. The all-new Macbook Air has a starting price of $999/£999/AU$1,599, the same price as its cheaper predecessor from earlier in the year.
If you’re looking to buy a MacBook Air from the latest generation, we’ve already seen a few sales hitting over Black Friday as well.
And now that the new version is out the box, that means it’s prime time to keep an eye out for cheaper MacBook Air prices on older machines.
These older MacBook Air deals often struggle the beat the new model on price, but we do see higher quality specs in the odd offer that makes them well worth the cash.
If you want to take a look at some other modern Apple laptops, the regular MacBook and MacBook Pro lines are covered and compared in our regular roundup of the best MacBook deals.
List of Affordable MacBook Air Deals
If you’re on the hunt for laptop deals and have your heart set on a Mac, though, then don’t stop reading. We’ve scooped up all of this week’s best cheap MacBook deals right here.
1. MacBook Air M1 (2021) Deals
If you’re after a performance boost, but still need that lightweight form factor, the new MacBook Air M1 might be your best bet.
Don’t worry though, there’s a serious performance boost in this model but you’re not paying as much for it as you may think.
In fact, we even saw some early discounts over Black Friday 2020, so Apple certainly isn’t afraid to drop this price every now and then.
The new M1 chip gives Intel a serious run for its money, and battery life doesn’t even suffer for it.
Plus, you’re getting it all for the same price as the previous model which makes this the go-to for a 2021 release right now.
2. MacBook Air Deals
The MacBook Air 2019 is only marginally different from the 2018 version which it set out to replace.
While it does still only offer 128GB of storage space on its entry level model, making that version far less value for money over the cheaper 2020 release, you’ll still be able to score yourself a bargain on higher specs when MacBook Air deals take off.
If you’re only looking at the baseline specs, however, we wouldn’t recommend that you buy this MacBook Air deal.
The 2019 MacBook Air’s main selling points over the 2018 model is the addition of the MacBook Pro’s True Tone screen that automatically adjusts color temperatures on the screen depending on the ambient light of the room you’re working in.
A new third-generation Butterfly keyboard is less likely to see keys sticking or becoming unresponsive too, which will alleviate some of the loss of the new Magic Keyboard on the 2020 model.
The base model Apple MacBook Pro 2020 starts at $1,299 with 13.3-inch Retina display, 8th Gen Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD.
Design-wise, the latest MacBook Pro 2020 borrows from the latest MacBook Air 2020. Apple fans will be glad to know that the dreadful Butterfly keyboard is gone for good.
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro uses the Magic keyboard with traditional scissor switches.
Another major revamp to the MacBook Pro 2020 is the hardware bump to 10th Gen Intel CPUs.
Interestingly, Apple still offers 8th Gen chips on the lower-end models to keep the starting price ($1,299) down.
If you want the best performance speed and have room to splurge, we recommend you opt for the MacBook Pro with 10th Gen CPU, which starts at $1,799.
3. Macbook Pro 13-Inch Deals (Late 2019 Model)
Need a MacBook Pro with muscle? The 2019 13-inch MacBook Pro is equipped with a snappier Core i5-8279U quad-core CPU and offers 256GB of storage.
And instead of just two Thunderbolt 3 ports, it has an array of four. This base model looks identical to the cheaper 13-inch MacBook Pro, but it’s priced at a steep $1,799.
In our MacBook Pro 13-inch review, we discovered that it delivers better performance than the base model mentioned above.
In our tests, we saw no lag as we juggled between 17 open Chrome tabs while running Skype, Slack, and Pixelmator simultaneously.
Historically, we’ve seen this model drop as low as $1,499 over the holiday season. Outside of the holidays, we’ve seen MacBook Pro deals take $100 to $200 off its regular price.
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4. Macbook Pro 16-Inch Deals
The 16-inch MacBook Pro is a beast. The base 16-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,399, which was the same cost of the 15-inch MacBook Pro it replaces.
This price gets you a Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, and a Radeon 5300M GPU.
The next tier up costs $2,799 and nets you a blazing-fast Core i9 CPU, faster Radeon Pro 5500M graphics, and a massive 1TB SSD.
Besides its obviously larger screen, the 16-inch MacBook Pro boasts a Magic Keyboard. Apple finally ditched the problematic Butterfly keyboard for a scissor mechanism.
It also added a concave to the keycap structure and a rubber dome underneath for support.
This redesign makes for a better typing experience with 1mm of travel compared to less than 0.8mm previously.
Performance-wise, this MacBook Pro didn’t disappoint and took just 8 minutes to transcode a 6.5GB 4K video to 1080p, just like the Dell XPS 15.
Deals on the expensive 16-inch MacBook Pro are easier to find than you would think.
Actually, the deals started trickling in soon after its release and the best markdown we’ve seen so far took $250 off the bast model, dropping it down to $2,149.
Have You Made your Decision Already?
You might come across cheap MacBook Air deals on 2017 and earlier models at some excellent prices. It’s worth double-checking the age of the components inside these laptops, however.
MacBooks don’t lose their value, and they’re incredibly sturdy machines (we run a 2015 MacBook Pro just fine for everyday browsing) but if you’re after the latest Mac OS releases the cheaper Air models can struggle to keep up at a certain age.
MacBook Air deals on the 2018 and 2017 models, for example, don’t feature SSD storage – the industry standard today.
You’re going to have to settle for a slower machine, then, with these cheaper models – but if you’re just looking for an everyday runner that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
Frequently Asked Questions
QUES: Processor, heat, and fans?
ANS: The MacBook Air in all likelihood uses the i5-8210Y processor or a very close derivative. This is an interesting choice, as the processor family is generally used fanless. At Tuesday’s reveal, AppleInsider was told by Apple employees on the demo floor that the new MacBook Air was fanless. However, the X-rayesque graphics that Apple used during the reveal on stage clearly has a fan. It remains to be seen how it will perform from a thermal standpoint versus the fanless installation in other products.
QUES: Which has a more powerful processor, this new air or the base MacBook?
ANS: Hard to tell right now. It looks like the MacBook Air will deliver better speeds because of the more recent generation, plus superior cooling system versus the MacBook. That and the T2 handle HEVC decoding and encoding, so that’s an additional bonus.
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