This tiny, affordable 1TB flash drive could save you up to $300 on your next MacBook Air – here's how

• SanDisk's Extreme Fit is a tiny new thumb drive offering a 1TB capacity
• It's a compact 'plug and stay' drive designed to be a (more or less) permanent fixture in your laptop
• With Apple's pricing on storage pushing up the price of a MacBook Air massively if you boost SSD capacity, this SanDisk thumb drive could be a good compromise

SanDisk has a new USB-C thumb drive out called the Extreme Fit, and it's compact, affordable, and yet offers a 1TB capacity in the top model – and it could be the perfect complement to a MacBook Air purchase this Black Friday.

Why? Because this new drive is part of SanDisk's new 'plug and stay' range (plug and play and stay, technically), meaning it's a product designed to be stuck in the USB-C port of your laptop and remain there as a fixture (at least much of the time).

To that end, we have those large storage capacities of 512GB and 1TB (as well as smaller models of 128GB and 256GB), and these USB-C drives (USB 3.2 Gen 1 to be precise) offer read speeds of up to 400MB/s.

On top of that, the drive has an L-shaped design to keep it as flush to the side of the laptop chassis as possible.

As for the MacBook Air side of the equation here, in case you didn't notice – and you almost certainly did – Apple charges a heck of a lot for storage, and buying its most budget-friendly laptop can soon turn rather more wallet-hostile if you crank up the drive space and get a big SSD.

So, with SanDisk's Extreme Fit costing $118 (that's the recommended price) for the 1TB model, you could get a MacBook Air with the minimum of storage, and use this USB-C drive as an extension of that system drive.

Currently at SanDisk, the Extreme Fit is actually $110 (at the time of writing), though it isn't in stock yet direct from the maker, plus I can't see it available anywhere else yet either – but presumably it's imminent.

Analysis: cheapness and compromises

Obviously, this solution applies to any laptop as a cheap way of getting 1TB of storage, when going for a 1TB SSD will doubtless push up the price considerably – it's just that Apple's storage tax is particularly eye-watering.

Remember that the MacBook Air is supposed to be nicely affordable, and the base current-gen 13-inch model is certainly palatable at $999 in the US (and its equivalent pricing elsewhere), but you really don't get much in the way of storage. 256GB is enough to get by with, certainly, but it's rather thin on the ground these days.

If you want to expand that SSD size, you'll quickly pay a lot more, and for a new MacBook Air 13-inch with 1TB of storage, you're looking at $1,399, a 40% leap in price. Compare that to the MacBook Air 256GB with a SanDisk Extreme Fit 1TB drive, and you're spending a total outlay of $1,109, only just over a 10% bump (with a quarter more storage space in total, of course, at 1.25TB). That's a saving of almost $300.

All that sounds well and good, but there are compromises in this SanDisk solution. Firstly, the USB drive's read speeds of 400MB/s aren't exactly quick, and certainly nowhere as speedy as Apple's built-in SSD, of course, but this is a solid enough level of transfer speed to be fine for many use cases.

What worries me a bit more is that while SanDisk has designed this accessory to be flush with the laptop, as you can see from the images, it still sticks out a bit – and there's a concern about the possibility of the drive snapping (and maybe damaging the USB port in the process, too).

For that reason, if you're going to be keeping your MacBook Air on your desk a lot – and let's face it, many folks do – a "plug and stay" philosophy with a thumb drive is obviously fine. But I wouldn't chuck a laptop in a backpack with this drive still plugged in, despite what the promotional imagery suggests, as in my opinion, that's just asking for trouble.

Still, the Extreme Fit is tiny for a 1TB USB-C drive with palatable read speeds, and it comes with a five-year warranty from SanDisk. It's worth considering as an alternative way to afford a MacBook Air with plenty of storage, with the above caveats in mind (MacBook Pro owners can, of course, use an SD card – but that slot isn't on the Air). Considering we may see some great deals on Apple's laptops for Black Friday, this could be a way of getting a high-quality notebook with plentiful storage at a seriously bargain basement price.

The drive should be available by the time Black Friday week rolls around, with any luck, though you could always buy it as a later addition to the MacBook Air bargain you might secure at the end of this month. And yes, there are already some good MacBook Air deals around even now, in case you were wondering.

The best MacBooks and Macs for all budgets

➡️ Read our full guide to the best MacBooks and Macs
1. Best MacBook overall:
MacBook Air 13-inch M4
2. Best budget MacBook:
MacBook Air 13-inch M3
3. Best Mac:
Mac mini (M4)
4. Best MacBook Pro
MacBook Pro 14-inch M4
5. Best Mac for professionals
Mac Studio M4 Max

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