A new configuration of the M1 MacBook Air with 128GB of storage and a lower $799 price has today been spotted on Apple's U.S. Education Institution Hardware and Software Price List.
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The M1 MacBook Air is only available with 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage. There is currently no 128GB configuration on the Apple Store.
However, Reddit user "u/dduci97" noticed that Apple has listed "13-inch MacBook Air: Apple M1 chip w/8-core CPU and 7-core GPU, 8GB, 128GB" in Silver, Gold, and Space Gray on its U.S. Education Price List at a price of $799. Apple also has options to purchase this MacBook Air configuration in bulk quantities, as is the case with many other devices on the Education Price List.
Although Apple's U.S. Education Store is not yet displaying a 128GB MacBook Air, another Reddit user shared a screenshot of the education institutions page showing the new configuration.
It is unclear whether this lower-cost MacBook Air configuration will ever be sold to the general public. Factoring in education discount, it seems that a 128GB MacBook Air would come in at $899 for the average consumer, making it the cheapest MacBook option for years.
Alternately, it is possible that the configuration may be reserved for education customers only. Apple has been known to reserve some Mac models for education, such as the Intel Core i3 iMac, as well as older models such as the eMac and "molar" Power Mac G3.
Top Rated Comments
I personally wouldn't pick a machine with less than 500GB these days, but for those that are buying a macbook air as a web browsing/homework appliance? Save the cash.
Choice is good. Simply pay for what you need.
If they aim it at a Teacher the 128GB is too small, once you install Office a few other apps and put say a few videos on there and some other content its full and your updates/patches fail and user complains of disk full message.
If the aim it at students for use in say a laptop trolley the keyboards would get broken and that would be eye watering to repair, so that's a no. Education need cheap, quick repairable devices. iPads work great in this respect as they are easy to manage and less to break compared to a laptop (no hinge, keyboard, trackpad etc)
If its aimed at university students I think they will have the same issue a Teacher would, the 128GB will fill up to quickly.
I just wish Apple would take the Mac and Education a bit more seriously, I love them they are way easier to manage than Windows devices and have other advantages, BUT you cannot order a Mac with a wired keyboard and mouse anymore from Apple, you have to have worse looking 3rd party ones. On what planet do they think wireless keyboards and mice will be a good idea in an IT Lab? I just wish somebody at Apple would actually fully understand Education needs and cater for them properly.