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October Prime Day: MacBook Air price crashes to $799

Apple MacBook Air M1 open, on a table.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

If you’ve been waiting for a sale on the Apple M1 MacBook Air, here’s a great deal you may not have expected. Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale, also known as Prime Day October, has plenty of Prime Day deals. During this special event you buy the M1 MacBook Air today for just $799, down $200 from the usual $999.

Why you should buy the Apple MacBook Air

Amazon’s deal on the M1 MacBook Air is an easy best choice among the several Prime Day MacBook deals. The high-performance processor is the key to the M1 MacBook Air’s appeal.

Our MacBook Air M1 review dubbed it Editors’ Choice saying it “finally fulfills the promise of a small laptop without performance restraints.” The trick is the divided 8-core CPU. Four cores do the heavy lifting for the most demanding tasks while the remaining four cores handle less-intense chores that can hinder rapid execution and eat up battery power. Apple isn’t shy about the M1’s performance, either, stating that it performs up to 3.5 times faster than the earlier generation but preserves battery life

. In addition to the CPU, the M1 integrates a fast graphics processing unit (GPU), a Neural Engine, and more. The GPU handles graphics up to five times faster than previous generations and the Neural Engine rips through apps that use machine learning for tasks such as image retouching and audio filtering.

“Absolutely fantastic,” wrote Digital Trends’ reviewer, continuing praise beyond the vital core CPU performance to give special notice to the M1 MacBook Air’s battery life — up to 18 hours per charge — and top-quality keyboard and touchpad. Put those elements together and you can get a ton of work done, unconcerned about running out of power, and your hands won’t be as fatigued as with lesser laptops.

The M1 MacBook Air’s performance leap is supported by upgrades in all components, from 8GB of unified memory to handle the rapid processing and the laptop’s 13.3-inch screen and 2560-by-1600 resolution Retina Display. The feature list goes on and on with fast Wi-Fi, keyboard backlighting, quiet, fanless operation, advanced privacy and security, and two ultra-high bandwidth Thunderbolt ports.

To top off its performance chops, the M1 MacBook Air is compatible with major apps from primary platforms such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft 365, and Google Drive in addition to Apple’s rich software library. If you can use an iPhone or an iPad, you can start right up with the MacBook Air with no learning curve.

You won’t want to hesitate on this short-term sale because your chance to save $200 on the M1 MacBook Air won’t last beyond Prime Day October 2022. Instead of the regular $999, you can buy this versatile MacBook Air laptop for just $799.

Editors' Recommendations

Bruce Brown
Digital Trends Contributing Editor Bruce Brown is a member of the Smart Homes and Commerce teams. Bruce uses smart devices…
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