Apple Offering Stripped-Down $999 13" MacBook Air to Educational Institutions Buying in Bulk

Apple has begun offering a stripped-down 13" MacBook Air to educational institutions purchasing in bulk, replacing the two-year old white plastic MacBook offering the company recently discontinued. Apple had ceased sales of the MacBook to consumer customers back in July of 2011.

The new educational-exclusive MacBook Air is a 13" model with the same specs as the entry-level consumer 11" MacBook Air: 1.6GHz i5 processor, 2GB RAM, 64GB flash storage, and the Intel HD Graphics 3000 chipset. The machine is available in a 5-pack for $4,995 or $999 per machine. The standard 13" MacBook Air starts at $1,299.

macbookair13crop
Apple has long offered prepackaged sets of laptops to educational institutions looking to equip teachers or students with MacBooks (and iBooks before that). It has also made available a Learning Lab product that includes 10 or 20 MacBooks along with a preconfigured cart to hold and charge the machines. More recently, Apple has begun offered iPad and iPod Learning Lab carts, too.

After the discontinuation of the white MacBook, Apple reworked the bulk laptop packages it offers educational institutions. As first reported by 9to5Mac, Apple is now selling 5-packs of the 11" and 13" MacBook Airs along with an existing 13" MacBook Pro offering. The MacBook Air Learning Lab packages have been updated as well, with discounted 10- and 20-packs of the stripped-down 13" MacBook Air bundled with the aforementioned charging and storage cart.

The new packages are available on Apple's educational institution online store, though Apple has yet to update its educational web page with the new information.

Popular Stories

space black mbp

Apple Potentially Facing Worst Leak Since iPhone 4 Was Left in a Bar

Monday October 7, 2024 3:03 pm PDT by
Alleged photos and videos of an unannounced 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip continue to surface on social media, in what could be the worst product leak for Apple since an employee accidentally left an iPhone 4 prototype at a bar in California in 2010. The latest video of what could be a next-generation MacBook Pro was shared on YouTube Shorts today by Russian channel Romancev768, just...
Alleged M4 MacBook Pro Leak Video

Alleged M4 MacBook Pro Unboxing Video Reveals These Four Upgrades

Sunday October 6, 2024 6:10 pm PDT by
An alleged unboxing video for an unannounced 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip was uploaded to YouTube today by Russian channel Wylsacom. The video was later linked to on social media platform X by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. It is possible that this is the same MacBook Pro box shown in photos that were shared by leaker ShrimpApplePro in late September, as he claimed that this MacBook Pro...
M4 Real Feature Red

Gurman: Apple to Launch First M4 Macs and Potentially iPad Mini 7 on November 1

Sunday October 6, 2024 6:40 am PDT by
Apple will announce several new M4 Mac models around the end of October, with the company planning to launch at least some of them as soon as Friday, November 1, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman said that Apple will launch a new M4 version of its low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro, as well as higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models...
watchos 11 vitals

Apple Watch Users Report Vitals App Detecting Illness Before Symptoms Appear

Monday October 7, 2024 5:34 am PDT by
Apple's new Vitals app for watchOS 11 appears to be impressing some users with its ability to detect potential illness days before symptoms manifest, according to recent reports on Reddit. The Apple Watch app, which analyzes key health metrics measured during sleep over the last seven days, appears to be providing early warnings of impending sickness for at least some Apple Watch wearers...
Generic iOS 18

Apple Plans to Release iOS 18.1 With Apple Intelligence on October 28

Sunday October 6, 2024 6:18 am PDT by
Apple intends to launch iOS 18.1 with the first set of much-anticipated Apple Intelligence features on October 28, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman says the release date is arriving this month later than initially expected, as Apple is reportedly taking extra time to ensure a smooth rollout and prepare its AI cloud...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.1 Beta 6

Monday October 7, 2024 4:27 pm PDT by
We're nearing the end of the iOS 18.1 beta testing process, but Apple is continuing to make tweaks to refine built-in features ahead of when the software launches. With testing winding down, there are fewer new additions, but Apple has made changes worth noting. The new beta is available for both developers and public beta testers. Control Center In the Control Center, Apple has added new...
iPad mini review thumb

iPad Mini 7 Coming Next Month: What to Expect

Tuesday October 8, 2024 6:16 am PDT by
Rumors strongly suggest Apple will release the seventh-generation iPad mini in November, nearly three years after the last refresh. Here's a roundup of what we're expecting from the next version of Apple's small form factor tablet, based on the latest rumors and reports. Design and Display The new iPad mini is likely to retain its compact 8.3-inch display and overall design introduced with...

Top Rated Comments

brdeveloper Avatar
165 months ago
Only 2GB of ram in a non-upgradeable computer? Targeting schools - which need machines with longer upgrade cycles?

Not really a big deal...
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nutmac Avatar
165 months ago
Only 2GB of ram in a non-upgradeable computer? Targeting schools - which need machines with longer upgrade cycles?
Agreed. And 2 GB is all but unusable on Lion, thanks to its voratious appetite for RAM.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hastings101 Avatar
165 months ago
More recently, Apple has begun offered iPad and iPod Learning Lab carts, too.

Back to English 101 with ye scurvy landlubbers.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kaibelf Avatar
165 months ago
I appreciate the gesture, but these aren't even "big" enough for my 9 and 7 year olds. 4/128 would be quite workable, though.
Perhaps the 7 year old should have something like a ball instead of staring at a screen all day.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jonnysods Avatar
165 months ago
2gb of RAM is so 2010.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Andronicus Avatar
165 months ago
Math, gotta love it

"The machine is available in a 5-pack for $4,995 or $999 per machine." :rolleyes:

If my math is correct $999 x 5 = $4,995. So you could actually say, it's available in a 6-pack for $5,994 or a 7-pack for $6,993.

Just seems funny to me to offer a 5-pack deal when there is actually no price break at all, you're just paying the "per machine" price 5 times. :D

I don't know, made me laugh. :p
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)