The 15-Inch MacBook Air Is Sold to Both Casual and Power Users
The 15-inch MacBook Air filled a gap in Apple’s product line: Previously, if you wanted a larger MacBook, you had to opt for the more expensive MacBook Pro line, even if you didn’t need all the other bells and whistles that came with it. This is the nickname “Pro”. Otherwise, you’d be stuck with a 13-inch machine. By offering a 15-inch version of the Air, Apple gives non-pro users the opportunity to expand their screen real estate without spending money on unnecessary upgrades.
However, the 15-inch Air isn’t cheap : Apple still costs $1,299 for 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. If you want to increase the memory or storage, this will increase the price even more. If you’re interested in purchasing one of these larger MacBook Airs, you’re in luck: they’re currently on sale in conjunction with October’s Prime Day holiday on Amazon.
Here I want to highlight two configurations. The first is a 15-inch MacBook Air with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of internal memory . This is an ideal solution for both power users who need more memory and storage space in their laptop, and for anyone who cares about durability. Apple’s base model machines with 8GB of RAM are quite usable in 2024 and may continue to perform well for some time. But it’s likely that at some point, 8GB of memory won’t be enough and you’ll notice more slowdowns and freezes due to a lack of available RAM. If you do a lot of things on your MacBook at once, you may notice these problems today rather than in the future. I definitely tested 16GB of RAM on my M1 iMac with all Chrome and Safari tabs open and background tasks running. Not to mention, if you save a lot of files on your Mac rather than in the cloud, you could run out of that 256GB of storage pretty quickly.
Normally this version of the MacBook Air costs $1,699, but on Amazon it’s on sale for $1,424, which is a 16% discount. From what I can tell, Amazon used to sell it for $1,499, sometimes $1,449, but that’s a new low—at least recently.
However, for many users, 8GB of RAM works fine, as does 256GB of internal storage (especially if you’re strategic about storing your files). Apart from less RAM and storage, this machine is identical to the 16GB/512GB configuration. You get the same 15.3-inch display, 1080p webcam, M3 chip, two USB-4 ports, and a MagSafe charger. And since it’s an Air, it’s fairly light for its form factor at 3.3 pounds. Amazon is offering this machine 20% off , which means it’s reduced from $1,299 to $1,044. That’s a great price for a thin and light 15-inch laptop, let alone a MacBook.
Technically these are not Prime Big Deal Days deals. These cars went on sale at the same time as Amazon’s Prime Day October sale. However, it works well: even if you’re not a Prime member, you can take advantage of any configuration of the discount.