While the MacBook Air with M3 may be the latest and greatest, the M1 MacBook Air lives on. Apple stopped selling the M1 Air with its newest release, but now Walmart is carrying the torch, selling new M1 Airs for $699. The systems can be purchased from Walmart.com, though a press release says the discounted Air will be available in "select Walmart stores."
Walmart only has one configuration available: the former base model. This model has an 8-core CPU, 7-core GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD. It's admittedly not the most powerful (it was released in 2020) or the most roomy. While many Mac fans would like to see 16GB of RAM become the standard, it's hard to argue against 8GB at this price.
The M1 MacBook Air served as Apple's entry point to Mac laptops for a while after its 2020 launch and was only just replaced by the M2 MacBook Air in that role. This new $699 price beats plenty of deals we had seen for the M1 Air, like a drop to $749 over the holidays. It's an especially good price considering Apple is still selling the laptop for $759 refurbished, and this one is new in the box.
The M1 is a few years old, but should still be solid for basic productivity tasks. More importantly, the battery life should still be impressive. There are definitely more powerful machines out there from just about every vendor, but if you're set on a Mac and are on a budget, this may be an enticing starting point.
This is the first time that Walmart is selling the Mac directly, but it's unclear exactly how long it will last. Perhaps Walmart bought the last of Apple's stock, or maybe Apple is still quietly making them but letting Walmart take the lead on selling them.
When the MacBook Air M1 slipped off Apple's webpage, some fans said they would miss the iconic wedge design. While Apple has clearly moved on with its most recent, more rectangular MacBook Airs, wedge fans can still get that design a bit longer—and, for a Mac, on the cheap.
