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Comment by eftychis | Hacker News Reader

They are trying to establish the new architecture. Also you still need to shell out $2-3k to get something decent and practically start at $1.5k. I wouldn't call that cheap or even cheaper. What is the past difference you see?

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Starting price for the air is $999, which gets you a very fast computer (albeit one a bit anemic in memory). A couple of years ago, the starting price for the air was still $999, but you got a... much less fast computer.

> still need to shell out $2-3k to get something decent and practically start at $1.5k

They're all using the exact same CPU, in fact you can make the air perform (almost) just as well as the pro/mini by opening it up and adding a thermal pad: https://www.cultofmac.com/759693/thermal-mod-m1-macbook-air/

Current MacBook Pro 14"/16" use the M1 Pro/M1 Max instead of the M1 that the Air and 13" MacBook Pro have, so definitely a different (and later iteration) CPU: https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/

It's the same CPU with a different core distribution.

No, that's incorrect. Here's an image that illustrates the physical differences between the M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max, including their vastly different die sizes: https://images.anandtech.com/doci/17019/Die-Sizes.jpg

Let's call it an oversimplification, the SoCs are definitely different. OP sounded like they were thinking about MacBook Air and the 13" MacBook Pro, and not taking the newer models into account.

> you still need to shell out $2-3k to get something decent

Honestly 16GB Air is pretty epic for $1200, though you probably want to spend the extra $200 for a storage bump as well. I'm very happy with the performance for dev tasks, and with my (displaylink) dock it runs multiple screens just fine too.

I bought the 16GB air for 1000 and it's easily the best laptop I've ever owned. Fantastic value

Picked up a refurb 16GB air just last week. I'm astounded at the battery life. It's my dream laptop. I wanted to buy a framework for the repairability, but I make some iOS apps and also really wanted the battery life. I've been floored by how long it lasts, even running npm installs and compiling Angular applications, things that used to burn my lap and drain the battery in 4-6 hours on my Intel air.

The macbooks are starting to become somewhat more repairable. The latest one has pull strip adhesive for the batteries which makes user replacement massively easier.

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