Nobody can resist a good, “Hey, check out this deal on Apple yadda yadda” headline. I should know. I write ’em. I’d be shit at my job if I hyped up all of them without a thought as to whether they’re actually a good deal, though.
And this much-hyped deal on last year’s MacBook Air M3 is most certainly not a good deal, even though you’re seeing the headlines all over the place. Especially not when you can buy the brand-new MacBook Air M4, released on March 12, 2025, for only $50 more right now.
last year’s machine for this year’s price
Deals on outgoing MacBooks have been part of Apple’s playbook for years now. The standard operating procedure is, once a new model is introduced, to continue selling the previous year’s version or previous generation and to phase out the generation prior to that one by discounting it heavily until all the stock is gone.
Retailers did it two weeks ago when they were offloading MacBook Air M2s (introduced in spring 2023) at $750. That was a solid deal for the Apple keyboard puncher who wanted a fast laptop at a hefty discount ($250 off), although they’re all gone now and aren’t coming back.
The MacBook Air M3 is a fine laptop. Fast, evolutionarily perfected; it’s one slickly polished Apple. It’s just that knocking $200 off its base price of $1,100 doesn’t mean much when its successor is $999 and (slightly) better in every conceivable way—slightly faster, with its ability to hold its value better because it’s newer.
Right now, it’s even a bit cheaper at $949. Why would you choose the M3? When the M4’s performance benchmarks were released ahead of its launch, we oohed and ahhed about how powerful it was, perhaps not a revolutionary leap over the M3, but certainly a noticeable improvement.
It’s such a fast, little beast that I argue it makes a more compelling case than the base MacBook Pro M4. For $50 more, or even $100 more if you pay full retail, treat yourself to the M4. It’s a better buy in every way.
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