The Apple 2024 MacBook Air 13-inch with M3 chip is still a solid laptop that's down to a record low price, and perfect if you're looking for a cheap Apple laptop

Apple MacBook Air 2024 — (Image credit: Future)

If you're looking to get a new MacBook that's capable of running the latest macOS Golden Gate and Siri AI as part of Amazon Prime Day this week, then you can now get the Apple 2024 MacBook Air 13-inch with M3 chip at Amazon for $799 (was ~~$1,299~~). It's an early deal that's already gone live.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

While the 2024 MacBook Air doesn't have the latest M5 processor, which you'll find in the very latest 2026 version of the laptop, it's still a solid workhorse of a Mac. It comes with a healthy 16GB of RAM — more than the new MacBook Neo, which is limited to 8GB.

That extra RAM can really help if you're doing some memory intensive tasks like editing video, working with large photo libraries, running multiple apps at once, or using AI tools that need plenty of memory to perform at their best.

Older MacBooks still perform well

When my colleague Matt Hanson reviewed the M3 MacBook Air, back in July 2024, he said, "In day-to-day use, the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) performs brilliantly". He also praised how quiet it was to run: "The efficiency of Apple’s M-series chips is that they produce less heat, and thanks to Apple’s thermal design of the modern MacBook Airs, it means the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) is completely fanless. So, even when it’s working hard, you’re not getting annoying fan noise in the background."

That's what I particularly like about the MacBook Air range — they feel like the right balance of processing power, with quiet, efficient operation in a package that is small and light enough to be genuinely portable. They fit perfectly into a bag and you also get enough battery life to keep you going all day.

While it would be nice to have the latest M5 chip that the latest model offers, there's really not that much difference between that and this older model in terms of processing speed. You're also getting 512GB SSD storage here, which is a decent amount. And in these RAM-hungy times it's really worth going back to that healthy 16GB of RAM.

I'd say this is the laptop bargain I've been waiting for.