Apple released the new MacBook Air overnight. The updated version has moved away feom intel and has a system on a chip (SOC) M1 Apple silicon.
This is 10% off retail price, which is generally as good as it gets for apple products.
The stats look good and with the 10% off edu pricing for this delivered (for anyone with access to an edu email address) is a good deal for new tech.
Just ordered space grey!
Edit
From Me1stt:
$1,410.20 & $1,753.40 if you have unidays
M2?! Are u crazy?! Anyone jumping in before M7 has lost it /s
I’m willing to bet the 15” MacBook Pro will be out a little bit behind with an M1x once Apple ramps up performance
It'll be 16inch; given up on the 15inch.
But we really want more than 16GB of non-upgradable RAM, and $300 for a 256GB SSD upgrade!!
I'd like to see that too but not sure how that would work. Apple is listing their Unified Memory Architecture as one of the reasons for better performance and efficiency but it means that the RAM is packaged into the SOC instead of discrete modules.
+1. Never buy Apple Gen 1 :)
Gen 1 of a new product, not if the internals are updated. For all you know, they may not update the design for a couple more years.
lol - a CPU architecture change is not an "update" of internals
Unless browsing internet is the only thing you intend to do, I'll wait until M3.
Unfortunately relying on Synthetic benchmarks is not an intelligent move. Wait for 3rd party reviews of real world applications before making a decision.
@shellshocked: iPad does 4k editing without breaking a sweat. Its not a new chip, variations of it have been around for years now so we already have a sense of how it performs. But of course, 3rd party reviews would confirm it for us.
@expatOz: You are talking just about IPAD. I'm looking at the whole ecosystem and how it functions with existing 3rd parfy apps beyond just macOS.
@shellshocked: Agreed. Besides performance, I feel the broader ecosystem is a more relevant discussion. We still don't know how well M1 will support and run existing applications that run on Intel architecture. Anyone remember the first year into Intel processors? Rosetta?
The ARM processor running in the Macbook Air and Pro was demonstrated running 3 x 4k streams of Pro Res in Final cut, also it did many other demos. Nothing synthetic about clicking play on 3 streams and it being butter smooth, most high end desktop class PCs cant do that
Again, I don't care about demonstrations I care about my 3rd party applications. I also care about 3rd party reviews who test the third party applications. If all that matters to you is Final Cut, good for you.
You don't need a EDU email.
Sometimes they need you to verify, so edu is the easiest way to go about it.
Can you provide some detail how to circumvent this?
Call them up, give them a university name and course you're doing.
Does it need to be real or can it be imagined or planned?
@drfuzzy: They randomly audit orders after they are placed.
Its a seperate department, so even if you call they may call you later to check and ask for evidence of education eligibility
(speaking from first hand experience)
@sct911: Yeah, they change your order to non educational or they cancel the order and ask you to re order
Absolutely zero research done here…
And we wonder why Apple feels the need to talk hardware using high level undefined terms and relative performance headlines…
It's not fanboi you literally didn't do any research…
Yes and no. This is more their new chipset they are using to get better performance and spec.
It does make sense since the iPad Pro's raw CPU benchmarks come in pretty high and in line with desktop browsers.
NOTE: Not saying iPad Pro's are replacements to desktops… just talking about benchmark scores.
you've got no idea and it shows
the mobile phone apps are a side benefit to the new architecture, and its not the main highlight benefit/reason on why you actually want to get it (excluding devs)
Hell no! Still 720p webcam!
hard to see every hair on ur nipple with 720p that's for sure.
Gotta get that OnlyFans quality 4k.
Tbh having to be Zoom calls constantly for work i don't think 720p is an issue. People don't need me to look super detailled.
One of those situations where better specs doesn't necessarily mean better experience.
I suppose if you planned on filiming stuff with your webcam would be an issue though.
Given RRP is A$1599 for the 7 core GPU/256gb model and $1949 for the 8 core GPU/512gb model, the Edu store probably is the cheapest way to get these new M1 SOC Macbook Airs at launch.
Agreed. That’s why I posted.
Presumably there is some kind of eligibility requirement to shop at the AOC AU Australian Education Union Store? Honestly I'm not too sure what this is vs. the normal Education store? (this is coming from someone who isn't a student or parent of a university student)
Thanks
What's the catch here? I seemed to get through to the final step of payment A-OK.. $75 cheaper than the regular student discount is sweet
As far as I can see the terms are the same as those for the normal EDU store:
https://www.apple.com/au_edu_5000447/shop/browse/open/salesp…
Did ur order go through and did u need to provide evidence of education ?
@Bargaingeek: Didn't hit the final payment button as I haven't made a decision so sorry I can't provide you with any information further than that!
@covid-20: ok thanks, i think i'll go ahead with this. reviews just come out and the air m1 blows out even the best intel laptop cpus out of the water
@Bargaingeek: I ordered through the AEU link. Macbook air 13" 8gb, 256GB SSD M1. Went through with no questions asked, no proof of eligibility required. Ordered on Sunday 15th, received yesterday 17th!! The laptop is awesome….very fast, excellent screen / speakers..and after two hours of downloads & installs ( office, av, chrome, OS update 4 gb, etc etc)..the battery went from 73% to 68%!!
@Gr8deel: Nice!! I also ordered mine through AEU but with 16GB so delivery is longer for me, fingers crossed no questions asked!!
Can I buy two from the AEU store under the same Apple ID?
The T&C says you can only buy one per calendar year.
Isn't it worth waiting for proper reviews of how it actually performs, or do you take Apple's marketing as absolute truth. PowerPc to Intel wasn't a smooth run in the past, so expecting the same to ARM.
Apple’s support is always (in my experience) is top notch. Any issues, I feel confident they’ll support their customers.
Unfortunately I've had the opposite. Especially with GPU support. Have been given the run around by them in the past.
I think it depends what you are looking for in terms of support. I've found Apple to be very good at supporting/repairing/replacing things (even outside of warranty), but their telephone support to help you work through issues has been a bit hit and miss. That being said I did manage to resolve all open issues I've ever had whether it be my iCloud keychain issues, inconsistent battery life on a smart case AND the iPhone (both about 22-23 months in) or my watch display randomly not working (after I moved countries) to my satisfaction, and they've even been willing to compensate me too for my time (with additional Apple products lol).
@jace88: Have been passed around on the phone for more than a hour and it finally went nowhere. The thing is every single person that get connected to me was super nice and super keen to help, just they couldn't, had to get someone else for me, then after a bit confusion, a bit explanation with a new person of my story, off I went the next round.
@ryu: That's a pity… I guess it comes down to individuals and who you happen to speak with, but all I can really say anecdotally is when I've hit a wall, and then it got escalated, they really did escalate it and get the right people to do things and make it work. I was impressed they were able to even remotely connect to my iPhone/etc as well and work their magic. I've also had reasonably ok service from Dell before when something went wrong with an old Inspiron and they sent someone out to fix it - but other than that, I don't think some of the other well known PC manufacturers which don't have huge support infrastructure here do that well in comparison.
@jace88: What did they do for the smart cases issue? I am facing the same and they replaced it with a new one but more or less the same.
@dealsucker: They refunded me. There was a known issue with the smart cases which came out about a year ago.
@dealsucker: Long story short, I didn't have a need for the smart battery case anymore since I had already upgraded to an iPhone XS Max which had the bigger battery since I thought that was the root cause… and had bought an external battery pack too.
FYI https://support.apple.com/en-au/iphone-xs-xs-max-xr-smart-ba…
Any issues, I feel confident they’ll support their customers
Tell that to a non-"magic" keyboard user
Or the people involved in the class action over the flexgate issue.
The Apple lady in the green jumper on the launch video looked very trustworthy. She said it was good. She also waved her arms around quite a bit and probably voted Biden - so it should all be fine. Anyway my MBP battery only has 15% remaining so I'll probably jump on this. I can turn down my screen brightness while I wait for delivery.
Did you see those graphs they showed? There was literally nothing marked on the x and y axis,vague lines and "nearly 2x power" slogans. There is no way the performance is based in reality. If it was they would have had real performance numbers and actual graphs. Those were graphs to fool the fanboys with no actual substance or actual data.
Those graphs were dodgy AF. They didn't say what actual CPU they were comparing it too on that chart either. Until there's real independent reviews and not just from Apple fanboys like iJustine & crowd then I'd wait before I slap money down.
This is the everyday education price. Where is the bargain?
It's cheaper than RRP, it's also the cheapest price it can be at launch. I think the majority would consider it to be a bargain mate.
I thought normally the educational/EPP stores don't pass on discounts that quickly on newly launched products… and given the retailers probably won't either (although being fully Apple produced, who knows, maybe Apple will encourage discounting) it seems like a bargain to me.
I'm even thinking my parents might enjoy one of these devices given they don't do anything hardcore at all on their Macs, but they just enjoy the interface and perceived 'safety' of it.
Well, these sort of products are aimed squarely at students. Would be silly not to offer education discount.
can you run every app on intel macs on the new arm macs ?
Are you referring to just MacOs or also running Windows apps?? Unfortunately from experience with the Power PC transition , there is no guarantee, especially with 3rd party apps.
no not windows app, just normal macos software like chrome etc
I believe they have an x86 emulation layer so from an end user perspective, everything in Mac OS should just work as per before. Either it's optimised and will run better, or it'll not be optimised and run through the Rosetta emulation layer to simulate an x86 processor. The question is how seamless is the emulation experience vs native Intel x86.
As for Windows apps? I think Boot Camp is gone, but knowing Parallels, it won't be long before they (or someone else) offers some kind of emulation functionality.. or failing that, a cloud service offering with a remote desktop.
x86 & 64 with Rosetta 2 mixed bag results in performance hits apparently.
I don't even need reviews to know running off a emulation layer would make the performance suffer big time. That's aside from the emulation works stably on its first go.
@ryu: We'll have to wait and see I guess.
Also depends what you're emulating, x86-64 CPU instructions down to ARM probably won't be that bad for things like browsers or text editors. Might get iffy when you're using Adobe products (Photoshop etc)
@athk: Wasn't one WWDC demo showing Shadow of the Tomb Raider running on Rosetta. Seemed fine to me.
@lunchbox99: I didn't watch it in all honesty.
If that's the case, I retract my statement RE iffy'ness.
@lunchbox99: Cheers lunchbox99
I saw some pauses during game play with a waiting circle icon and thought damn that would suck, until I realised its my browser buffering the video - face palm.
M1 looks great to me, except that it will only drive one external display.
No idea why people are downvoting you for making a decision.Have an upvote
Thanks. I have no idea either. I'm an Apple fan replacing a 12" MacBook. Where is the LTE / 5G? And how about shaving some weight off the new Air? My new Samsung 13" is 960 gram, LTE, 25 hour battery and cheaper than the Air.
Based on iPad Pro performance, is it safe to assume this would run Lightroom well?
Apparently you've got an inside track on benchmarks that no one else does?
Don't base decisions on the iPad Pro performance, its a different app and OS.
The Mac OS and iOS apps are different, though you'll be able to run iOS apps on the new Macs you shouldn't assume that where an iOS and a Mac OS app exist that everything is going to be flawless. Lightroom, like all other Mac OS apps, needs to be updated to use the new architecture.
They mentioned an update to Lightroom was coming later this year - the first of the Adobe apps to be updated.
Good point. Cheers
Do you mean the new Macs cannot run Lightroom (and other Adobe products) as in the current Macs?
I'd challenge you on what specs and what "snapdragon android phone" you're referring to but in all fairness, your assessment of relative performance is as clear as Apple's own relative performance claims.
Where is your evidence of this? Or are you just writing mumbo jumbo statements for attention.
@earth worm jim: I didn’t neg you FYI. But you seem to be unable to back up your statements with facts.
Better wait and see………..M2 will be better time to get in.