The 13-inch MacBook Air M2 is a great value at its current sale price of $699
It may be time to bury the M1 MacBook Air for good. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge
Apple might be updating several Macs with M4 chips as early as next week, but it’s looking like the MacBook Air lineup might not join the party until early 2025. That said, if you’re on an older MacBook and can’t wait to upgrade, there have been few better times than now. The base 13-inch M2 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage has fallen to an all-time low of $699.9 ($200 off) at Amazon, while the step-up 512GB model is down to $949.99 ($249 off) thanks to an on-page coupon. You can even grab the M3 MacBook Air 13 at Amazon starting at $899 ($200 off), which is $50 shy of its all-time low.
Although the M1 Air was technically discontinued earlier this year, we still considered its $699 price a great value for routine computing. That being said, you should certainly skip that for the M2 upgrade if that’s all you can afford. The M2 Air offers a thinner design and a notched display that’s a touch brighter at 500 nits. It also features an improved 1080p webcam, a better keyboard, and a resurrected MagSafe port for charging, freeing up the second of its two USB-C / Thunderbolt ports. It’s even slated to receive a number of AI-powered features via Apple Intelligence, which will arrive later in October via a software update.
The M3 MacBook Air from earlier this year isn’t a massive upgrade over the M2. It has a slightly faster processor with Wi-Fi 6E radios, faster SSD transfers, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and AV1 video decoding. If those changes don’t benefit your experience in any meaningful way, you’ll likely get by just fine with the M2 model.
Read our MacBook Air M2 (2022) review.
Other deals, discounts, and ways to save
Google’s 128GB Pixel Tablet is on sale at Amazon in select colors starting at $274.99 ($125 off) — an all-time low. Most Android apps aren’t well-optimized for Google’s slate in the same way most Apple apps are for iPadOS; however, the Pixel Tablet still offers a sharp 11-inch display and Google’s speedy Tensor G2 processor, making it a great option for streaming, gaming, and all the usual tablet things. Just note that the current promo is for the standalone tablet, as opposed to the version with the speaker dock, which allows you to turn the tablet into an ad hoc Nest hub. Read our review.
If you’re rocking a newer iPhone, Anker’s baseball-sized MagGo Wireless Charging Station is available from Amazon and Anker (with promo code WS7DV2F7MENG) for $71.99 ($18 off), matching its best price to date. The foldable 3-in-1 charger covers Apple’s gadget trifecta — meaning it lets you simultaneously juice an Apple Watch and a pair of AirPods, in addition to supplying an iPhone with up to 15W of power via a MagSafe-ready Qi2 pad. It also supports Apple’s terrific StandBy mode when folded, allowing you to turn your phone into a desk-friendly smart display of sorts.
Amazon’s latest Fire TV Stick 4K has once again fallen to $29.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, The Home Depot, and Best Buy, with the latter retailer throwing in a month of FuboTV and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with each purchase. Amazon’s newest 4K streamer isn’t drastically different than the prior model, though it does include a faster processor, support for Wi-Fi 6, and broad HDR support for Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HDR10 Plus. We typically recommend the more capable Max model since it retails for only $10 more, but not everyone needs 16GB of storage and support for Wi-Fi 6E.
It may be time to bury the M1 MacBook Air for good. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge
Apple might be updating several Macs with M4 chips as early as next week, but it’s looking like the MacBook Air lineup might not join the party until early 2025. That said, if you’re on an older MacBook and can’t wait to upgrade, there have been few better times than now. The base 13-inch M2 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage has fallen to an all-time low of $699.9 ($200 off) at Amazon, while the step-up 512GB model is down to $949.99 ($249 off) thanks to an on-page coupon. You can even grab the M3 MacBook Air 13 at Amazon starting at $899 ($200 off), which is $50 shy of its all-time low.
Although the M1 Air was technically discontinued earlier this year, we still considered its $699 price a great value for routine computing. That being said, you should certainly skip that for the M2 upgrade if that’s all you can afford. The M2 Air offers a thinner design and a notched display that’s a touch brighter at 500 nits. It also features an improved 1080p webcam, a better keyboard, and a resurrected MagSafe port for charging, freeing up the second of its two USB-C / Thunderbolt ports. It’s even slated to receive a number of AI-powered features via Apple Intelligence, which will arrive later in October via a software update.
The M3 MacBook Air from earlier this year isn’t a massive upgrade over the M2. It has a slightly faster processor with Wi-Fi 6E radios, faster SSD transfers, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and AV1 video decoding. If those changes don’t benefit your experience in any meaningful way, you’ll likely get by just fine with the M2 model.
Read our MacBook Air M2 (2022) review.
Other deals, discounts, and ways to save
Google’s 128GB Pixel Tablet is on sale at Amazon in select colors starting at $274.99 ($125 off) — an all-time low. Most Android apps aren’t well-optimized for Google’s slate in the same way most Apple apps are for iPadOS; however, the Pixel Tablet still offers a sharp 11-inch display and Google’s speedy Tensor G2 processor, making it a great option for streaming, gaming, and all the usual tablet things. Just note that the current promo is for the standalone tablet, as opposed to the version with the speaker dock, which allows you to turn the tablet into an ad hoc Nest hub. Read our review.
If you’re rocking a newer iPhone, Anker’s baseball-sized MagGo Wireless Charging Station is available from Amazon and Anker (with promo code WS7DV2F7MENG) for $71.99 ($18 off), matching its best price to date. The foldable 3-in-1 charger covers Apple’s gadget trifecta — meaning it lets you simultaneously juice an Apple Watch and a pair of AirPods, in addition to supplying an iPhone with up to 15W of power via a MagSafe-ready Qi2 pad. It also supports Apple’s terrific StandBy mode when folded, allowing you to turn your phone into a desk-friendly smart display of sorts.
Amazon’s latest Fire TV Stick 4K has once again fallen to $29.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, The Home Depot, and Best Buy, with the latter retailer throwing in a month of FuboTV and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with each purchase. Amazon’s newest 4K streamer isn’t drastically different than the prior model, though it does include a faster processor, support for Wi-Fi 6, and broad HDR support for Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HDR10 Plus. We typically recommend the more capable Max model since it retails for only $10 more, but not everyone needs 16GB of storage and support for Wi-Fi 6E.