M3 MacBook Air Deal Slashes $500 Off, Nears MacBook Neo Pricing
The MacBook Neo is the most affordable MacBook ever released and has proven to be surprisingly capable, despite being built around an iPhone chip and a meager amount of RAM at just 8GB. It's a decent option for buyers on a budget. However, if you can swing a few extra bucks, Apple's 2024 model MacBook Air is on sale for an all-time low price ahead of Prime Day.
Score Apple's 13-Inch M3 MacBook Air For $500 Off
Listed as a "Prime Early Deal," the 2024 Apple MacBook Air (13-inch) is on sale for $799 at Amazon (38% off, save $500). Pricing tracking history on CamelCamelCamel shows that this is the first time the M3 MacBook Air has been offered for this low.
It is still not quite as cheap as the MacBook Neo, which is listed for $589.99 at Amazon for the version with 256GB of onboard storage, or $689.99 for the upgraded model with a 512GB SSD and Touch ID added to the mix. However, it's not far off, either—just $109.01 more compared to the higher-end MacBook Neo.
The caveat is that the M3 MacBook Air is now two generations old, with both M4 and M5 models having been released since the M3 version came out in 2024. Even so, it is much more powerful than the MacBook Neo for not a whole lot more.
Apple's M3 chip as configured in this 13-inch MacBook Air sports an 8-core CPU (4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores), 10-core GPU, 16-core neural engine, and 100GB/s of memory bandwidth. In comparison, the MacBook Neo's A18 Pro chip consists of an 8-core CPU (2 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores), 5-core GPU, 16-core neural engine, and 60GB/s of memory bandwidth.
The MacBook Air is also has an ever-so-slightly bigger 13.6-inch display (versus 13-inch) with a 2560x1664 resolution (versus 2408x1506) and 500 nits brightness, four speakers instead of two, a three-mic array instead of a two-mic array, a backlit keyboard, Touch ID support, an ambient light sensor, and two Thunderbolt/USB4 ports.
All that said, if you just bring yourself to buy a laptop from 2024, the newest 13-inch MacBook Air with an M5 chip inside is on sale for $949.99 at Amazon (14% off, save $150).
13-Inch Apple iPad Pro With M4 Is $250 Off
If you prefer the tablet form factor and have a much bigger budget, the 13-inch M4 iPad Pro is another early Prime Day deal, with Amazon making it down to $1,249.99 (17% off, save $250).
This is a single generation behind the newest model and, as configured in this variant, it comes packing an M4 chip with a 9-core CPU (3 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores), 10-core GPU, and 16-core neural engine.
Other specs include 8GB of unified memory, 120GB/s of memory bandwidth, 512GB of onboard storage, a 13-inch Tandem OLED display (2752x2064, up to 1,600 nits brightness), 12-megapixel cameras (one on the front and another on the back), Thunderbolt/USB4 connectivity, a four-speaker audio system, Wi-Fi 6E support, Apple Pencil Pro support, and up to 10 hours of battery life.
