Walmart starts selling Apple's MacBook Air for the first time, starting at $699

[Shawn Knight]

What just happened? Walmart has partnered with Apple to bring the Mac to the big box retailer for the first time. Apple's 13.3-inch MacBook Air with M1 chip is now available on Walmart's website and will be available in select stores soon. The laptop is offered in your choice of space gray, silver, or gold color schemes, and ships with 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB solid state drive.

Apple introduced the MacBook Air with M1 processor in November 2020 as one of the first Macs to be powered by its custom in-house silicon. The M1 Air packs a 13.3-inch Retina display and up to 18 hours of battery life in a package that weighs just 2.8 pounds. Its successor, the M2-powered MacBook Air, was introduced at WWDC in June 2022.

The M1 Air is well over three years old at this point, and was quietly pulled from Apple's online store earlier this month with the introduction of new Airs featuring the latest M3 chips. Still, you are looking at a very solid deal at $699 on a laptop that still tops our list as one of the best ultraportables around for the price.

There is no clear indication on Walmart's site if the M1 Air it is selling is new or refurbished but if we had to guess, it is probably new considering it comes backed by a one year warranty and is eligible for extended coverage via AppleCare. Best Buy offers the same system for a bit cheaper at $649.99, but theirs is an open box model.

Adding Walmart to the list of retailers that offer Apple's Mac has major mainstream market implications. Walmart is the largest retailer in the US by a significant margin; adding the Mac to its stable will put the brand in front of consumers that might not have otherwise considered an Apple laptop. Today's news also paves the way for newer Macs to eventually find their way to Walmart's shelves, further expanding its potential reach.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/102285-walmart-starts-selling-apple-macbook-air-first-time.html

 

[maxxcool7421]

Vastly underspecced walled garden product, sold to walmart patrons who think 5g is a flavor ... match made in heaven

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I cant imagine a bunch of gimped macbooks sold at bargain price at wal mart is going to improve apple's image much.

 

[toooooot]

2 gen behind, 770 price. Also, base model comes with 256gb storage. This is enough in 2014 not 2024.
It is a very overpriced device that has only one redeeming quality, good battery.

 

[Lew Zealand]

That's a decent price for a basic Mac laptop for everyday home use. My mom's been using an 8GB MacBook for 7 years now and while it has a 512GB SSD, she's not even using half of it. And this machine has a much better CPU and is $100 less than I paid back then. This one is fine and with 8GB will continue to be usable for years but nobody'll be doing any power computing on it.

 

[FaTaL]

Bet we see article about how a customer tried to steal Macbook at walmart by shoving it up their azz

 

[hahahanoobs]

Apple partnering with Walmart?
Next year, Target? Value Village?

I love it.

 

[brucek]

$699 is expensive for a Walmart laptop - IIRC they have an array of options in the $350 and under category, each as unappealing as the next (at least to an enthusiast.)

Say what you want about this option, it's probably really is twice (or more) as useful and pleasant as their other options. M1 may be "two generations ago" but it still brings a lot of power and efficiency to a base tier laptop. And if your needs align with Apple's vision for what is most important to a mainstream customer, you'll be well served by their integrated software & services suite.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

That's a decent price for a basic Mac laptop for everyday home use. My mom's been using an 8GB MacBook for 7 years now and while it has a 512GB SSD, she's not even using half of it. And this machine has a much better CPU and is $100 less than I paid back then. This one is fine and with 8GB will continue to be usable for years but nobody'll be doing any power computing on it.

I see 8GB machines running out of RAM trying to use Chrome for web browsing. I guess if you only ever open up one single tab, never run an ad blocker, and never have any background tasks....effectively using your computer like it had windows 98 installed, then it would be fine.

But Grandma doesnt need a $700 laptop to check Facebook when $300 chromebooks exist. OR the windows laptop she's had for 10 years upgraded to 11.

 

[brucek]

I see 8GB machines running out of RAM trying to use Chrome for web browsing.

I believe you if by "machines" you mean Windows. I am skeptical you've seen this on an Apple silicon MacBook, even more so if it's a problem that can't be solved by using Safari instead of Chrome.

 

[opckieran]

$699 is expensive for a Walmart laptop - IIRC they have an array of options in the $350 and under category, each as unappealing as the next (at least to an enthusiast.)

Say what you want about this option, it's probably really is twice (or more) as useful and pleasant as their other options. M1 may be "two generations ago" but it still brings a lot of power and efficiency to a base tier laptop. And if your needs align with Apple's vision for what is most important to a mainstream customer, you'll be well served by their integrated software & services suite.

Actually, Walmart displays and sells gaming laptops in store for over $1000. $699 is definitely not a high price for one of their offerings.

 

[texasrattler]

$699 is expensive for a Walmart laptop - IIRC they have an array of options in the $350 and under category, each as unappealing as the next (at least to an enthusiast.)

Say what you want about this option, it's probably really is twice (or more) as useful and pleasant as their other options. M1 may be "two generations ago" but it still brings a lot of power and efficiency to a base tier laptop. And if your needs align with Apple's vision for what is most important to a mainstream customer, you'll be well served by their integrated software & services suite.

Nope. They been selling gaming and regular laptops over $600 for a few years now.

 

[Bobbydpue]

That's a decent price for a basic Mac laptop for everyday home use. My mom's been using an 8GB MacBook for 7 years now and while it has a 512GB SSD, she's not even using half of it. And this machine has a much better CPU and is $100 less than I paid back then. This one is fine and with 8GB will continue to be usable for years but nobody'll be doing any power computing on it.

For a basic laptop it's still too high a price, but it does have good build quality. It's a much better deal than a new M3 Macbook Air, but that's terrible value and thus not saying much.