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MacBook 13" Air M1 512 Space Grey $1754 @ The Good Guys or Officeworks

750

A better deal than yesterday's deal which I was so close to buying.
Good guys has 10% off MacBooks and Officeworks can price beat by 5%. I picked up the M1 Air 512GB for $1666.30 click and collect.

[M1 512gb TGG] (https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/apple-macbook-air-13-inches-m…)
[M1 512gb OW] (https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/macbook-ai…)

[TGG M1 search] (https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/SearchDisplay?categoryId=&sto…)
[OW M1 search] (https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/search?q=mac…)

You can also get the M1 Air 256GB for $1439 at TGG (or $1367.05 with officeworks price beat)

Edited as Officeworks has changed pricing and the lower price is not available anymore

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closed Comments

  • +1

    Assume you can't do bootcamp on this?

    • +1

      as far as I know it's not possible yet with the new chipset but could become available in the future

      • +5

        That's a shame. I like the laptops they make, don't really like OSX. :(

        • +9

          It's interesting to read about people disliking OSX. I prefer OSX over Windows and Linux, hands down. What do you dislike about OSX?

          • -8

            @g1: It's a good os for noobs/non-power users but for people brought up on windows, it is a bit limiting.

            • +4

              @ChickenDinner123: You don't find that there is a balance between graphical ease and power of the terminal/underlying bsd for power users?

              I'm genuinely curious. Totally respect not every system is for everyone.

              • +1

                @g1: I've come from a Windows only background and am loving the Macbook Pro M1, MacOS is taking a bit to get used to though.

                While there are similarities in how both OS's behave and the experience in general. It has been a little frustrating to try and work out some other things. Print Screen, snipping shortcuts in general seem like an absolute pain on MacOS in comparison.

                Having to Google a lot ot understand how general things work. I think that's been my hesitation to moving to MacOS. But I'm starting to get heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem now and taking my time to learn how things work.

                • +2

                  @sghetti: Checkout Alfred / launchbar. So much more efficient than windows defaults

                  • @XanderYuan: I'm not really saying either is better or worse. But when you've come from Windows it's a big adjustment in some areas. I'm sure I'll get used to it.

                    And I feel some people who say they dislike MacOS is because of some of these things.

                • +2

                  @sghetti: This is a bit of a out there question but IF you had never used Windows before and you were put in front of OSX and Windows, and had to learn how to use both from scratch which one do you think would be easier to learn?

                  I am finding that some simple things that I used to do on Windows is changing and its somewhat frustrating. Like MS Paint and snipping tool being moved on. The general explorer interface has slightly changed between Win 7 and Win 10. The change away from classic control panel that is occurring right now is annoying, I find the new settings interface more limited. So I find that changing known processes does take new learning but that's also true within a known and supposedly familiar system. It seems that you are making an effort to learn a new system, the question is whether the challenge is in changing systems or the system itself.

                  • +8

                    @g1: shift + command + 4 = the snipping tool on mac, its much easier than Windows imo

                    • +5

                      @lngnnk: win + shift + s = for similar functionality on windows

                    • +1

                      @lngnnk: And adding Control sends it to the clipboard rather than the desktop.

                    • @lngnnk: after that press space, then you select any window and cut it out exactly - including the drop shadow!

                • +1

                  @sghetti: Command + Shift + 4 to select. If you press the spacebar, it allows you to select a window (otherwise you can drag). If you press the spacebar then click to take the screenshot. It saves on the desktop.

                  Command +Shift + 3 to take a screenshot of the whole screen.

            • +5

              @ChickenDinner123: What kinds of "power user" things do you do on Windows?

        • +1

          This used to be me before and I get it. Now I find it hard to tolerate windows though. Whatever suits your needs for the time is good.

        • +1

          Not a huge fan of OSX either, although haven't used it daily since about 2014 when I had retina MBP13". There were certainly things it did better (i.e. Spotlight search shits ALL over Windows Search, restoring the OS from the internet is amazing, Time Machine is super easy to use, Apple trackpads are world class) but overall prefer the multitude of options/customisation and far better file/folder management, Powershell, Task Manager, etc in Windows. Although the M1's look very interesting as I've always wanted a laptop with iPad-like battery life. Might be time to give it a try again

      • Yeah, parrallels is okay but it is a bit slow and murks battery life. Dual-boot with bootcamp was excellent. Oh well…

      • There is also Crossover for those that just need to run some Windows apps but don't need Windows interface or underlying Windows system.

    • Bootcamp is not supported but there are ways to run ARM version of windows via alternate methods.
      https://9to5mac.com/2020/12/22/run-windows-10-arm-m1-mac-app…

  • +1

    Hi Guys,
    These are all limit to 8GB RAM. Can this be replaced with 16GB at the time of ordering or after purchase as a self service?

    • +5

      No, one major flaw with these M1 CPU is the RAM is integrated, cannot be upgraded.

      • +2

        That is what I thought with M1 CPU.

        It make no sense to me, where you have so much of integration available with cloud services for storage, and then you make a device with 512 GB disk space but decide to give 8GB RAM only.

        • +5

          You can get built to order Macbook M1's with 16gb RAM. You won't find these in retail stores on these sorts of promo's though.

          • @sghetti: Yes, we all know that. But we are in OzBargain in the first place looking for sales and discount, and BTO has never been on sale.

            • @edfoo: Heaps review I read and watched are saying with the processor and efficiency 8gb is like 16gb

    • +3

      You have to order the system from Apple if you want 16GB of RAM. It will be built to order. Cant change RAM after the system has been built.

      It's not a M1 limit. It's an Apple choice to solder on the RAM at build time. RAM has not been upgradable on intel MacBooks for some time.

      • +1

        Apple's choice to do this was to keep all of the hardware tight-nit. The performance between the CPU and RAM is significantly better here compared to standard CPU & memory configurations.

        As per a lot of YouTube reviews, the 8gb models appear to perform much better than many expected due to this.

        • No, it is not!
          Anyone with any knowledge of DRAM knows that it has extremely high latency, many, many times (nearly two orders of magnitude) greater than the time it takes for the signal to go between the DRAM chip and the processor in any normal sized system (the signal travels at nearly the speed of light, which is just under 30 Cm a nanosecond!).

          The fact that Anandtech measured the RAM latency and got about 100 nanoseconds (which is middle of the road at best) and the M1 has a very large amount of cache (which ultra fast RAM would make pointless) proves that!

          The real reason the RAM is where it is due to size, cost and possibly signal integrity issues

          • @Namesareapain: I was skeptical but in practice you'd have no idea it has 8gb. It feels as snappy as a 32gb i9.

            • +1

              @[Deactivated]: For certain tasks. Same as with Intel CPU and Windows OS, if you are writing a letter with a word processor, then you probably won't notice much difference between 8GB and 32GB RAM.

              The old saying still stays true to these days: You can never have too much RAM, or hard disk space.

            • @[Deactivated]: What kind of work do you do on your Mac?

          • @Namesareapain:

            The real reason the RAM is where it is due to size, cost and possibly signal integrity issues

            what would be the reason why some laptops have soldered-on RAM, leaving none or just one user-accessible slot?

            • @AlexF: In some ways it's a good business decision. It guarantees RAM compatibility. Thus there is a lighter load on the after sales support. It also leads to people needing to upgrade sooner and ideally purchase the company's newest model. There are counter arguments…

            • @AlexF: So they can make the laptop thinner

          • @Namesareapain: The M1 architecture also has direct memory integration with the GPU so not sure if that’s part of the choice. But like you say, same for x86 MacBooks for some time. Probably combined $ + miniaturisation reasons. It does significantly reduce internal footprint leaving more space for batteries. The logic board in a MacBook is tiny compared to an x86 laptop with replaceable RAM. MacBooks are mostly battery. Although also the Mac Mini had upgradeable RAM up to the M1 and the new M1 logic board takes a silly-tiny amount of space in the chassis. They might shrink in future releases. Also first-Gen M1 is probably borrowing heavily from existing iDevice integrated architecture.

            SURELY by the time M1 gets to Mac Pro there’ll be interchangeable components. But likely a ways-off.

            Are there any new miniaturised memory interfaces on the radar?

      • It's also a good profit maker for Apple. They charge $300 more for the and extra 8GB, which costs $39 on yesterday's Clevo notebook deal.

        The Apple RAM is attached to the M1 CPU package, so they can clock it faster, though.

    • +2

      Pretty sure the only way to get a 16 GB m1 mac right now is to purchase directly from the apple store. With education pricing and the current airpods offer (assuming you manage to sell them for roughly 200), you would be paying $1979 - $200 = $1779. Coughing up the extra $100 isn't too bad for the extra ram if you're keen.

    • Spend your money on RAM instead of SSD. You can easily buy hi speed SSD instead.

      • +1

        Problem now is you can get discount on SSD increase but not RAM increase cuz all retail models are 8GB

      • The SSD is also soldered on, but at least you can easily have a (slower) external SSD.

  • +5

    Seeing a lot of sales for the m1 units every second day. Apple must really want to push the adoption rate.

    • It's in their best interest. They know how hard it can be to not have much market share due to hardware differences. The days of PowerPC…. it's a risky move going onto hardware that doesn't have much market share and doesn't have a lot of developers. If something is technically better or worse is irrelevant for a business if it's not adopted.
      I wonder if they are on a long term pathway of merging everything into an iPad style device, where all that exists is iPads. This is the first step to start merging into common hardware and start merging software compatibility?

  • +3

    if only excel was a bit better on OSX… would be a good machine with a battery that lasts forever.

    • Google sheets?

      • +6

        You misspelled shits. Many business excel files use functions that only work on windows excel.

    • I cannot tell you how much I agree with this statement!

  • Will there be a MBA in a size greater than 13" sometime in the future?

    • +1

      No. MacBook Pro yea.

    • new 14" MBP rumored to be coming out in the next few months.. the next refresh to include next gen chip for the Air is rumored to only be coming out next year but i think they will stick with the same 13"..

  • Officeworks price match online? no stock in SA

  • Sorry to ask,
    What are steps to price beat using click&collect at officeworks?
    Cheers

    • +4

      Call officeworks

  • Officeworks has none in stock in the warehouse or NSW or QLD stores - Just tried to place an order with the 1300 number…. :(

  • HI guys. update

    I just tired Price match at OW in Bundoora VIC. their staff refuse to do PB because their laptop model (MGN93X/A) is different with Good guys.

    if your guys around Bundoora, try another store, do not waste your time

    • 512GB model: OW MGN73X/A , TGG MGN73X/A . MGN93X/A is 256GB model. TGG do have 256GB model on sale if you are after that. But price match/beat only applies to the same model.

      • Yes I don't know why OW has the different model number

        OW staff open Good guys website and find TGG 512GB model is MGN73X/A. However, their laptop model is MGN93X/A (printed on the packing box). So they say its a different model and refuse to do PB

        • Did you ask OW staff to go and pick up 512GB model so they could price beat TGG for 512GB model? If the box had MGN93X/A written on it then they were holding the box for 256GB model and would be doing price beat on TGG 256GB MGN93X/A sale.

          • @g1: yes g1

            its very strange that I ask the staff double check its 512GB model. they confirmed and tell me the model details its shown on the packing box, 512GB Model Space Grey Macbook Air

        • +2

          Must be to avoid price matching

  • Another question that I have with M1 chip, would it be good to just buy Air vs Pro, for people like me who are working in Pro.
    It will be interested to see, apart from better battery life, what else Air with M1 process is giving us back.

    I am inclined to use M1 Air this time over Pro because of the the cost factor.

    • +1

      For 512GB models I think the main differences (in no particular sorting order) are:
      1) Battery
      2) Screen brightness
      3) Function keys
      4) Mechanical cooling (fan)
      5) Disk speed
      6) Physical construction (slightly different shape and slightly different weight)
      7) Price

      • Thank you @g1.

        Main factor I am assessing is, now with this M1 model, will it utilize RAM memory much better way? Is M1 Mac air (16GB) == Current Mac Pro (32GB)

        • Any credible comparison means you have to run your workload on both machines and benchmark. How would @g1 know what your workload is

          • @fafsdfadfabcfbc: Indeed, my question has been around if M1 claims to rearchitected memory allocation and garbage collection process such that applications are given enough resources that they need it. It is very similar to like claiming how they are rearchitected processes to be more affective that has resulted into less fan spinning , and better battery running life.

            In terms of work load, very similar to many of us using PRO - multiple browsers with multiple screens, video stream, and working in Java / C#/ supported IDE, running photoshop :)

            • @ivegan: There are a lot of comparisons of the M1 with 16GB smoking the i9 32 GB 16" Macbook Pros in many workloads.

              Photoshop is currently running in emulated mode, but still doing great - as soon as you get a release for m1 acrhitecture, it's gonna be pretty impressive.

              Air vs Pro is all about sustained workloads - with the fan, the Pro can maintain performance, but even now the throttling isn't really that significant.

              There are a few videos for you to watch on YouTube that compare Air/Pro and why you'd get one over the other. They both seem pretty impressive, but Pro has a lot longer battery life and a better screen.

            • +1

              @ivegan: Personally I would just get the M1 from apple direct and return it after benchmarking. Free returns :D

            • +1

              @ivegan: Also for something like your workload I was given a 64gb 16 inch so will have to wait for M1 with at least 32gb ram, otherwise isn't it still swapping?

  • M1 chip so good that OP put it twice in the title

    • +1

      Lol I didn't even realise! Reviews do reckon the chip is amazing though

  • +2

    Officeworks has dropped their prices - no more pricebeat.. :(

  • +1

    I'm curious how the equivalent PC laptop around this price compares in power and speed?

    • Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i $1649

      Intel Core i5-1135G7 4C / 8T.

      Same amount of RAM, storage, and screen resolution.

      Apple would be better in terms of:

      • ~ 5 hours more battery life
      • Faster CPU single threaded performance
      • Slightly faster CPU multi core performance
      • Probably faster GPU performance (no numbers there for Intel Xe graphics)
      • SSD is probably faster too
      • Brighter screen (400 nits vs 300 nits)
      • Wide colour gamut screen (plus true tone to adjust white balance to match ambient).
  • +1

    I'm convinced that there aren't as many people who comment about it that require 16gb of ram. Obviously there are many usage scenarios but there's like 500 comments on every post.

    • +1

      “BuT i’M a PoWeR uSeR…”

      🤦🏻‍♂️

    • Open chrome…. now I need 32GB

  • I would check stock with the Good Guys before purchasing or you could be in for a long wait. I purchased an iMac online from the Good Guys a few months ago during the 10% off 2020 Black Friday sales, the store i wanted to pick up from was currently "Out of Stock" but stated on their website "stock arriving soon", so I paid in full on the day and waited patiently for my system to show up. A few weeks passed and I followed up on the order only to be told they still had no stock state wide (QLD) and would let me know as soon as they came in. A month later the 2020 Boxing Day Sales rolled around and again the Good Guys had another sale with 10% of all Apple products, despite still not having stock to fill orders they took a month earlier, I chased them up again, and they claimed they were still waiting for stock and didn't even know when stock would be arriving in the future, they couldn't even give me an estimated ETA of when it would be available. I kept waiting until mid January 2021, a full 1.5 months after placing the order before I finally just called up and cancelled it, picked one up the next day from a JB Hifi instead. I wouldnt call 1.5 months and counting as "Stock arriving soon". Macbooks might be a different story regarding stock, I dont know, but if you need it in a hurry i would check they had them in store before ordering.

    TLDR: Bought an iMac from Good Guys in November 2020, waited 1.5 months due to them being completely out of all stock. Last i checked it still wasn't in stock by mid January 2021.

    • I would have thought for an iMac you could have gotten anywhere that had stock and a price match policy to get one straight away?

      Stock shortages only in M1 macs I thought…

  • +1

    OW have price matched all Macbook prices now so same as GG on website.

    • updated the title and description for those who are only looking at the deal now

  • Thanks, picked up the base 256mb MacBook air for $1439 from Good Guys in Brighton after work today

  • Gift card limit at Officeworks? Got half a dozen Coles Myer ones from work been saving them to burn on somthing like this.

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