Retailers Knock $200 Off the M5 MacBook Air, Undoing Apple's Hike

The 13-inch model is $1,099.99 and the 15-inch is $1,299.99 at Amazon, Best Buy and B&H Photo, matching Apple's pre-June prices.

A new 13-inch M5 MacBook Air is $1,099.99 at Amazon, Best Buy and B&H Photo. That's 99 cents more than Apple charged before its $200 June hike.

On Sunday, The Verge reported that the 13-inch hasn't been this cheap since July. By The Verge's count, it's also only the second time the $200 cut has shown up since the summer increase. The 15-inch model is $200 off too, at $1,299.99. The discount comes from the stores. When it ran in October, Apple's own store didn't match it, Tom's Hardware noted.

What buyers should know before checking out:

1. The hike. Apple added $200 to every MacBook Air model on June 25, Macworld reported. The base 13-inch went from $1,099 to $1,299, and the base 15-inch went from $1,299 to $1,499.
2. What's on sale. The Verge says the discounted 13-inch has 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage, and all three stores are honoring the price in every color. The $1,299.99 15-inch has the same memory and storage and is discounted in most colors.
3. It's a reset, not a record. Before the hike, Macworld tracked the 13-inch as low as $899.99. In its first weeks on shelves, the base model regularly went for roughly $950 to $1,000, according to The Verge.
4. The cheap one has fewer graphics cores. Apple's store lists the 16GB, 512GB 13-inch with a 10-core CPU and an 8-core GPU. Every 15-inch configuration Apple lists has a 10-core GPU. The Verge notes the bigger model also gets six speakers instead of four. That's what the extra $200 buys.
5. Refurbished barely wins right now. On Monday, Apple's Certified Refurbished store listed a refurbished 15-inch M5 Air with a 10-core GPU at $1,269, down from a $1,499 new price. That's just $30.99 under a new 15-inch at the sale price. Macworld says Apple's refurbished Macs carry a one-year warranty.
6. Check the chip name. Macworld's advice for third-party stores is to confirm the processor generation, memory and storage on the listing so an older model doesn't pass for the current one.
7. Black Friday may not beat it by much. In October, Macworld said Black Friday MacBook prices might come in only $50 to $100 below the deals already out, and that popular configurations tend to sell out fast. It also said a refreshed Air isn't likely before 2027.
8. The cheaper Mac laptop. Apple's MacBook Neo costs less than the Air. But The Verge points out that the Air has twice the memory and storage, plus a backlit keyboard, better speakers and a bigger, sharper screen.

The Verge called the sale a temporary break from the summer hike. When it ends, the same 13-inch laptop goes back to Apple's $1,299 sticker.

Source: The Verge, retrieved November 9, 2026. Other sources: tomshardware.com, macworld.com, Apple, Apple (2).