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Next to Black Friday, is a great time to buy hardware from Amazon and . On the latter brand, we’re seeing some of the best prices to date for the latest models of iPads, AirPods and AirTags, to name a few. And if you’re in the market for a new laptop, it’s also a great time to buy a MacBook, with prices starting at a record low $849 for the latest MacBook Air. It's currently Engadget's top pick on our list.
But I’m here to argue that you should spend instead.
Here’s why: They get you in the door for that sub-$1,000 price, which is an enticing $250 less than you’d spend at the Apple Store. But Apple is notoriously stingy on memory and storage for its devices: The baseline model only has 8GB of RAM and a 256GB drive. That’s fine if you’re only using your laptop for the basics – say, social media, streaming video and light document creation. But even with cloud storage, that SSD will fill up very quickly with photos, audio and video if you’re doing anything creative. (Yes, you can get , but they're slower and ruin the lines of Apple’s sleek laptop.) And while Apple does a great job of managing software resources on the Mac, that 8GB of memory feels like a low ceiling.
So here’s what I did when Amazon ran a version of this same deal a few months ago: I paid to double both specs. For $1,249 (after clipping that same $50 on-screen coupon), you get 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Yes, a terabyte or more would be even better, but you pick your battles. And this configuration still saves you a cool $250 off the Apple Store price for the same configuration, while being a lot more future-proofed. For instance, if you’re laptop shopping for a high school or college student, this stepped-up model will survive a 4-year academic stint with more comfort than that $849 version.
If that’s still too steep, you can split the difference with the . It doesn’t have the extra RAM, but the otherwise identical slightly older model still gets you a very capable, modern Apple laptop with decent storage for just $999. But don’t wait: these end today, and we don’t know if we’ll be seeing them again before Black Friday.
Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for . Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best for your car, garage, and home, and find to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at
Console Bang News!
But I’m here to argue that you should spend instead.
Here’s why: They get you in the door for that sub-$1,000 price, which is an enticing $250 less than you’d spend at the Apple Store. But Apple is notoriously stingy on memory and storage for its devices: The baseline model only has 8GB of RAM and a 256GB drive. That’s fine if you’re only using your laptop for the basics – say, social media, streaming video and light document creation. But even with cloud storage, that SSD will fill up very quickly with photos, audio and video if you’re doing anything creative. (Yes, you can get , but they're slower and ruin the lines of Apple’s sleek laptop.) And while Apple does a great job of managing software resources on the Mac, that 8GB of memory feels like a low ceiling.
So here’s what I did when Amazon ran a version of this same deal a few months ago: I paid to double both specs. For $1,249 (after clipping that same $50 on-screen coupon), you get 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Yes, a terabyte or more would be even better, but you pick your battles. And this configuration still saves you a cool $250 off the Apple Store price for the same configuration, while being a lot more future-proofed. For instance, if you’re laptop shopping for a high school or college student, this stepped-up model will survive a 4-year academic stint with more comfort than that $849 version.
If that’s still too steep, you can split the difference with the . It doesn’t have the extra RAM, but the otherwise identical slightly older model still gets you a very capable, modern Apple laptop with decent storage for just $999. But don’t wait: these end today, and we don’t know if we’ll be seeing them again before Black Friday.
Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for . Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best for your car, garage, and home, and find to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at
Console Bang News!