Apple Student Discount: MacBook Air 15" M2 Chip Laptop + $150 Apple eGift Card

HappyDome8591

Jun 05, 2023 09:33 PM

708 Posts

Joined Oct 2022

HappyDome8591Jun 05, 2023 09:33 PM

708 Posts

Quote from ketamine

:

So they always include the $150 GC?

As far as I know, no. Apple adds the GC only through the summer months to drive up sales for back to school. They appear more generous this year because last year the Mac Mini was not included. I think the low sales numbers of Macs during their last financial quarter might have something to do with that.

3

Powza

Jun 05, 2023 09:34 PM

1,035 Posts

Joined Jan 2011

PowzaJun 05, 2023 09:34 PM

1,035 Posts

Quote from MrSkeptic

:

So, I'll be holding on to my mid-2015 MBPro happily running Mojave for quite a while yet.

You could be happily running Ventura if you are ok with tinkering a bit. https://dortania.github.io/OpenCo...y-Patcher/

1

HapShaughnessy

Jun 05, 2023 09:35 PM

14,521 Posts

Joined Sep 2005

HapShaughnessyJun 05, 2023 09:35 PM

14,521 Posts

Quote from ketamine

:

That was trump but whatever.

"Apple CEO Tim Cook has slyly changed his name to 'Tim Apple' on Twitter, an apparent reference to the president of the United States, perhaps mistakenly, messing up his name at a meeting. Technically, it's "Tim ," but only Mac and iOS users can see the Apple logo symbol."
https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/7...-president

4

7

threeclaws

Jun 05, 2023 09:38 PM

1,309 Posts

Joined Jun 2007

threeclawsJun 05, 2023 09:38 PM

1,309 Posts

Quote from MrSkeptic

:

The base Air has mostly been recently the same thing as a Mac Mini in a laptop.

Which Digital Trends says to avoid. 'Nuff said.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/com...ing-guide/

Until reviewers tear it down and see what's in it, we must presume the base Air will be afflicted the same way as its predecessor: "Similar to the MacBook Air M2, Apple went cheap on the SSD for the 256GB [Mini]. It uses a single NAND chip for storage, resulting in up to 50% slower SSD performance. The MacBook Pro M2 Pro has this same issue, which is a big reason why reviewers are saying to avoid the 256GB model."

But Tim Apple fanboys will be fanboys.

That's about storage not ram, most people won't notice the "slow" drive speeds because it's still a fast drive just not as fast. The ram at 8gb is also sufficient for 90% of the people buying these things. The only thing that sucks about the storage is the actual capacity but considering how many machines I come across where people are using <128gb of their current capacity 256 may be fine for those same 90% of people.

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2

ketamine

Jun 05, 2023 09:40 PM

8,140 Posts

Joined Dec 2006

ketamineJun 05, 2023 09:40 PM

8,140 Posts

Quote from HappyDome8591

:

As far as I know, no. Apple adds the GC only through the summer months to drive up sales for back to school. They appear more generous this year because last year the Mac Mini was not included. I think the low sales numbers of Macs during their last financial quarter might have something to do with that.

The question was rhetorical but thanks laugh out loud

.

Quote from MrSkeptic

:

"Apple CEO Tim Cook has slyly changed his name to 'Tim Apple' on Twitter, an apparent reference to the president of the United States, perhaps mistakenly, messing up his name at a meeting. Technically, it's "Tim ," but only Mac and iOS users can see the Apple logo symbol."
https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/7...-president [theverge.com]

And if you read on, even this article says he was probably mocking trump.

4

2

threeclaws

Jun 05, 2023 09:42 PM

1,309 Posts

Joined Jun 2007

threeclawsJun 05, 2023 09:42 PM

1,309 Posts

Quote from hotgrease

:

Why do you keep calling him Tim Apple? Sounds dumb cause his name is Tim Cook.

Also, just let people buy what they want. If everyone bought the "best value" computer then we'd all have the same thing. Why care so much about what people spend their money on?

It's tribalism, they call him Tim Apple because of Trump's gaffe.

It's the same reason they want no one to buy apple because apple is bad??? for some reason, they also hated tesla but of course love it now.

5

2

goibhniu

Jun 05, 2023 09:45 PM

1,748 Posts

Joined Apr 2005

goibhniuJun 05, 2023 09:45 PM

1,748 Posts

Quote from MrSkeptic

:

The base Air has mostly been recently the same thing as a Mac Mini in a laptop.

Which Digital Trends says to avoid. 'Nuff said.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/com...ing-guide/

Until reviewers tear it down and see what's in it, we must presume the base Air will be afflicted the same way as its predecessor: "[I]Similar to the MacBook Air M2, Apple went cheap on the SSD for the 256GB [Mini]. It uses a single NAND chip for storage, resulting in up to 50% slower SSD performance.

While it's 50% slower than the 512GB version (the model that I would recommend), it's still not slow by any stretch and the average user is unlikely to notice. There's lots of sites that happy repeat that it's 30%-50% slower than the 512GB version, but they fail to provide actual performance data. However, 9to5Mac does show their benchmark results and show the "slow" drive still hitting 3000 MB/sec, which are right up there with the fastest PCIe Gen3x4 SSDs in Windows PCs (and comparable to the slower/mainstream Gen4 drives). The "fast" model hits around 4000 MB/sec writes and 5000 MB/sec reads, which puts it up there with the fastest Gen4x4 PCIe drives out there.

The only place the end user is going to notice is in running benchmarks or in doing massive data transfers, and let's be honest if they are transferring massive data sets regularly then they're probably already going to get a 1 TB drive. The largest issue with these by far is how much they charge for getting extra RAM or storage space, since you have to spec it at purchase time and cannot add more later.

Last edited by goibhniu June 5, 2023 at 02:48 PM.

10

hotgrease

Pro

Jun 05, 2023 09:45 PM

543 Posts

Joined Sep 2014

hotgrease

Pro

Jun 05, 2023 09:45 PM

543 Posts

Quote from MrSkeptic

:

He called himself that on Twitter in 2019. Ever hear of a new-fangled thing known as a search engine?

Yeah, but his name is Tim Cook. It just sounds really dumb.

5

dc1225

Jun 05, 2023 09:46 PM

1,535 Posts

Joined Sep 2009

dc1225Jun 05, 2023 09:46 PM

1,535 Posts

So main difference is basically screen size? Then I'll probably go for 16/512 m2

1

hotgrease

Pro

Jun 05, 2023 09:53 PM

543 Posts

Joined Sep 2014

hotgrease

Pro

Jun 05, 2023 09:53 PM

543 Posts

Quote from MrSkeptic

:

OK, I'll change it to Tim Overcharging Wallet Emptier Cook, just for you.

Sounds even smarter.

You're obsessed with what other people buy. I might buy two of these just for you.

Fwiw, I do think 8GB is too low for me but that's for my own use case. But I don't care if other people want to buy one. It's a great machine.

6

1

ScottoDono

Jun 05, 2023 09:54 PM

14,335 Posts

Joined Dec 2005

ScottoDonoJun 05, 2023 09:54 PM

14,335 Posts

Off topic bu I have like $800 Apple Store credit, I want to buy something that I can resell and recoup most of the money. Any ideas?

goibhniu

Jun 05, 2023 09:56 PM

1,748 Posts

Joined Apr 2005

goibhniuJun 05, 2023 09:56 PM

1,748 Posts

Quote from dc1225

:

So main difference is basically screen size? Then I'll probably go for 16/512 m2

Between the 13.6" and 15.3" models, there's a couple differences. They both come in at 224 PPI, though obviously the 15" is bigger. The 15" is also 6/10ths of a pound heavier.(just about 9.5 ounces). The 13" has a 52.6wh battery, while the 15" is 66.5wh, though both are rated at the same "up to 18 hours battery life", probably due to the larger display consuming more power. While the 13" has two different CPU options (one with 8 GPU cores and one with 10 GPU cores), the 15" appears to only be available with the more powerful GPU core chip. The 15" also has 6 speakers instead of the 4 on the 13" model.

6

caveman017

Jun 05, 2023 10:09 PM

4,457 Posts

Joined Feb 2005

caveman017Jun 05, 2023 10:09 PM

4,457 Posts

Quote from Kevmando

:

Not saying Apple product is cheap in general, but to compare Dell XPS 15 for fairness, I guess you also needs to choose higher display option, then the price ($1999) is higher than 16GB/512MB MacBook Air 15 ($1699)
(Of course Dell's screen will be better in resolution with that option but FHD screen vs Mac's 2K screen are similar diff as well.)

EDIT: Seems InifinityEdge allows 4050 as well, so $1999 as lowest price with 3.5K display for XPS 15.

I get that the specs aren't 1:1 -- that said, it's criminal that Apple is charging $200 to go from 8 to 16 and another 200 to go from 256 to 512. Especially give you can get a 1TB Samsung NVME 3.0 that performs faster than the soldered one in the Macbook Air for $55. I'd have to guess that the actual material cost for Apple to go from 256 to 512 is less than $10.

5

SharpHealth899

Jun 05, 2023 10:12 PM

1 Posts

Joined Feb 2022

SharpHealth899Jun 05, 2023 10:12 PM

1 Posts

I get that the size and weight of the air will be a great advantage. But what Have we seen the M1 16" pro model sell for recently. Seems like there are some good deals on it and it should be more powerful. I think I would rather have that.

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2

Apple Student Discount: MacBook Air 15" M2 Chip Laptop + $150 Apple eGift Card

From $1199

$1,349

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