MacBook Air SSD option gets slightly more affordable
While some of the benefits of SSDs may be in question these days, it looks like those still itching to take the plunge on an SSD-equipped Macbook Air can now at least save a few bucks, as the premium add-on has just received a much needed price cut. At $599 for the upgrade option on the 1.6GHz model and $2,598 for the pre-configured 1.8GHz model, however, it still isn't exactly a no-brainer, especially considering some of the prices we're seeing now for larger drives. Slightly more palatable though, is the 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo upgrade option on the base model, which is now $100 cheaper at just $200.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Filed under: Laptops
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kiwi616 @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:03PM
let the price drops begin....iPod Touch next please!
Dave @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:13PM
Since it seems to be a slow day for news, how about mention the story of Steve Jobs and friends getting sued again for backdating their stock options?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9982877-37.html?tag=nefd.pop
DefPo3t @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:21PM
how bout next time just commenting without replyingnto the top poster just so you wouldnt be at the bottom
Steffen Jobbs @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:45PM
The SSD option is so cheap. I'll take two high-end MacBook Airs to go. I hear they're the classiest notebooks you can buy. Please put them on my Platinum MasterCard. Here ya go.
I'll be back when the super-affordable iPhone 3G is for sale. I may pick up a six pack.
Garst @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:40PM
That's never going to happen. Apple is greedy and would rather spend a little more to increase storage than give customers a price drop. Beside, the problem is with SSDs not flash drives, so the reason that they dropped the price for the Air can't be used for the iPod Touch.
Khris @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:04PM
The MB Air price still needs to fall a little more to make it appealing to the masses.
Lein @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:35PM
Even if the price did fall, it still wouldn't make it as a mass-appeal item, and certainly not with the standard Macbook offering more performance, larger capacities, and a built-in optical drive. The premium price is more-than-likely due to limited demand for it.
However, if they DID mark it down to say, $1099 or so, I'd be all over it.
Khris @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:42PM
So didn't you just prove my point that if the price fell, more people would want one?
Keith @ Jul 3rd 2008 3:22PM
Lein: I still wouldn't buy it at that price when products like the Dell M1330 offer so much more at that price point.
wizzle @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:04PM
Would engadget (and other blogs) please stop spreading this stupid idea that SSD's have questionable battery life, those 'tests' were flawed, they used a single process which they set going on both SSD's and HDD's, and because SSD's run faster they were able to run the process more times than the HDD's therefor using MORE battery.
thank you
wizzle @ Jul 3rd 2008 3:00PM
i hadn't heard that, but interesting.
i'm wizzle. how are you also wizzle? engadget, what's going on here?
craig @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:55PM
Actually, people have only theorized that. The tests were not designed to prevent that possibility but no data was presented that showed that the SSD tests actually ran more times. Furthermore, other tests have shown that SSDs are NOT currently faster than hard drives and certainly not faster than the 7200 rpm drive tested. Repeating the same, tired factless argument that you have, wizzle, is worse than what Tom's has done.
We do know that the MBA with SSD has failed to show improved battery life or overall disk performance over the 1.8" HDD version in other tests.
Blaine Oliver @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:08PM
Let me don my flame retardant suit before i say this:
When did the words 'Mac' and 'Affordable' Ever go together in any way possible unless of course you put a not in the middle....
natels @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:13PM
the Big Mac
Craig @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:17PM
Mac Mini?
This is good news, it'd be cool to see maybe a model with a 96 or 128GB SSD for the original price, and make the 64GB SSD option the middle machine.
DefPo3t @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:19PM
The working girl at the corner with the name mac'nretta
ethana2 @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:22PM
MacGyver can fix your blown fuses with a stick of gum. I'd say that's affordable.
DefPo3t @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:25PM
MAC n cheesse too
01 @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:27PM
Probably around the time "PC" and "Virus free" started going together. Besides, "Affordable" means different things to different people...
ethana2 @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:28PM
My PC runs ubuntu, 01. Good job.
Travis @ Jul 3rd 2008 3:11PM
ubuntu rules
El Taco @ Jul 3rd 2008 3:43PM
MacDonalds Dollar menu is affordable
grull27 @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:10PM
It's good that they did this because if you need a Macbook Air, then you need a SSD.
ethana2 @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:23PM
*hunts down apple-free feed*
ethana2 @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:30PM
Gahh! some weird yahoo pipes thing in the apple-free feed borked YARSSR.
Screw that, you mac fans'll just have to put up with me.
yode @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:31PM
haha now that the whole battery saving ssd theory got debunked apple needs to lower prices
ethana2 @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:33PM
When they're on 22nm process, I should be done laughing at you.
MattyG @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:36PM
ready for the spec update next month i should imagine, it's due for one and i'm going to be waiting for that
sinai @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:38PM
still waayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy the fuck overpriced. and still don't want one.
happy_penguin @ Jul 4th 2008 1:23AM
I have stated many times on this forum that I am not a fan of the term "overpriced". If they set a price and they can get it, and make a profit it is not "overpriced".
Now, is it too goddamned expensive for me? Hell yes it is.
digitallysick @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:41PM
When the mac book air reaches 700 dollars or less let me know
Roger Rodrigues @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:41PM
Early adopters always get the shaft
Itchy Pajamas @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:48PM
Sniffle... the snob appeal of my SSD MBA is fading. :-(
simon @ Jul 3rd 2008 3:44PM
Funny I buy my laptops based on the productivity that they facilitate. Your comment only serves to perpetuate a certain Mac stereotype. (Disclaimer: equally at home on both the Vaios and Macs found in our practice)
Itchy Pajamas @ Jul 3rd 2008 4:02PM
simon-
I too buy for function (and a bit for style.) My comment was meant to amuse the Anticupertinites.
mike @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:50PM
it seems like mac early adopters always get the shaft (iphone $200 drop, now this). Does this kind of price drop happen to other company (like dell or HP)? or engadget just like to report "mac users get the shaft"?
I start to feel bad for those mac users
Itchy Pajamas @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:55PM
Sure, it happens with every company's products -- if they survive long enough in the marketplace, rather than being replaced with a new model full of generic parts after a few months.
Reporting on Apple price drops has just become part of the Mac culture, like their cool product designs and the apple stickers on our cars. Doesn't bother me.
Keith @ Jul 3rd 2008 3:29PM
Itchy Pajamas: So what you're saying is that Apple updates their products less frequently than everybody else? That's not something to be proud of. You do realize Apple uses the same "generic" parts everybody else does right?
kal326 @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:53PM
Am I the only one that read "Slightly more palatable" as "Slightly more pathetic"?
roole @ Jul 3rd 2008 4:25PM
Yes.
KilgoreTrout @ Jul 3rd 2008 3:01PM
No way,
for that kind of money you could buy yourself a real computer!
Wicker24 @ Jul 3rd 2008 4:28PM
And this computer would be................?
Kamal @ Jul 3rd 2008 3:20PM
Why the price drop? I guess 'ld Stevo is not selling enough of these paper weights.
Redstripe @ Jul 3rd 2008 3:29PM
I know people have a log of negativity to saw regarding the machine. It's actually a great product. You're not going to be playing Crysis or doing any crazy video editing, but it works fine for web/word processing and even does a great job in photoshop. Unless apple finds a direct replacement for my 12 inch Powerbook, I'm all over the next generation of the Air.
$2K for the 1.8GHz is still a little too much compared with the equivalent priced macbook pro model
proctopus @ Jul 4th 2008 11:23AM
Yeah, but computers meant for web/word processing aren't supposed to cost more than $2,000. That's what the subnotebooks are for; they're secondary notebooks for people who don't heat their house with $100 bills.
torqueo @ Jul 3rd 2008 4:02PM
But does the price drop make the MBA not suck? Probably not.
joueboy @ Jul 3rd 2008 4:52PM
Here we go again Apple dropping prices. Remember iPhone I love when they lower the price don't get me wrong, but I start losing trust to Apple for this inconsistent pricing of their product.
Thomas @ Jul 3rd 2008 5:29PM
So when component prices drop, Apple SHOULDN'T drop the prices of the computers that use them?
JohnPQ @ Jul 3rd 2008 5:28PM
When I think about affordable laptop upgrades, I think Apple. Yeah, right!
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39029450,49297849-1,00.htm
Steve Snobs is greedy, greedy, greedy...
jcwestbrook @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:19PM
Lenovo has some big "sale" prices on their X300 with the SSD option also, now they are $2580 - $2700.