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Should you buy a MacBook Air on Black Friday 2021?

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MacBooks are one of the most sought-after products on Black Friday, and this year, Black Friday MacBook deals will be no different. With the updated new MacBook Pros launched, you might be wondering if the more entry-level MacBook Air is going to get some deep discounts leading up to the holiday season.

The answer is yes, though you’ll need to be careful about what model you choose.

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Black Friday is the best time to buy a MacBook Air — but shop early deals

Riley Young/Digital Trends

As the last big shopping event of the year, the best Black Friday deals are usually worth waiting for. But thanks to the supply chain problems, chip shortages, and reliance on online shopping, there’s reason to start doing your holiday shopping a bit early.

Right now, for example, you can get the M1 MacBook Air for $929 on Amazon , which is $70 off its retail price. Alongside the M1 processor, this is the base configuration, which also comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

This is the latest MacBook Air, which originally came out in late 2020, nearly a year ago. But with the final Apple event of 2021 out of the way, you can be assured that we won’t be getting an updated MacBook Air for at least six months. That makes it a safe purchase for the rest of the year, and like we mentioned earlier, now might be a better time than waiting for Black Friday.

Why buy a MacBook Air

You might be tempted by the shiny new MacBook Pros. But despite the number of enhancements and new features, these new MacBook Pros aren’t the best choice for most people. Even the base configuration provides more power than the average person needs, and the starting price of $2,000 is hard to swallow.

The MacBook Air, on the other hand, is a more attractive offer for the average MacBook buyer. It’s plenty powerful, doesn’t have an annoying Touch Bar, has an excellent keyboard, and is completely fanless. That means that regardless of what you’re doing, the MacBook Air will remain completely silent. It’s an excellent laptop for students and those who primarily do their work on the web.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The current reports say that even though the M1 MacBook Air is over a year old, it likely won’t be replaced for a long time. The next version of the MacBook Air is guaranteed to be a significant revamp, with new color options, thinner bezels, and possibly a next-gen M2 processor. But you may end up waiting six months or even up to a year before that update launches. You’re safe buying a MacBook Air today.

That’s only, however, if you get the most recent M1 MacBook Air. Previous versions of the MacBook Air don’t get nearly as glowing a recommendation. Apple’s own M1 chip is what brings this device to life. It’s an important note because you’ll likely see a swath of older MacBook Airs with Intel processors get extravagant price cuts on Black Friday. These aren’t laptops anyone should buy. They may slow you down and can put performance limitations on even fairly basic computing.

If you can’t afford to buy the M1 MacBook Air, even at discount, there are other Black Friday laptop deals to take advantage of, such as a budget Windows laptop or Chromebook. They’ll serve your needs well for the money you pay.

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Luke Larsen
Senior Editor, Computing
Luke Larsen is the Senior editor of computing, managing all content covering laptops, monitors, PC hardware, Macs, and more.
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