It's carried by the power of the M1 chip, which still gives the latest hardware a run for its money in terms of performance and the battery life is mightily impressive. Given all the older MacBook Air models are discontinued – and going refurbished or second-hand might not be the preferred option for some – this is the device to go for today if you don't want to pay the premium for the M2 version. And these discounts could be even higher soon now the new M2 MacBook Air is out. Outside of these sales, there's usually at least $50 / £50 off the normal price, though it tends to be as high as $100 / £100. Just last year you could pick up this model for $749 in the US or £849 in the UK. If that high price does put you off, the good news is we've seen more discounts than ever before over recent months and some of the lowest prices ever during big sales events such as Black Friday. The recommended price of $999 / £999 is definitely high compared to many other laptops, but you do get a lot for the money - including the device that TechRadar's computing experts say is one of the best laptops you can buy today.

The MacBook Air M1 is your best bet if you need a powerful laptop in a well-designed and lightweight form factor. There's also our guide to the best laptop deals and the latest Chromebook deals for those who prefer Windows or Chrome OS. If you want to take a look at some other modern Apple laptops – including the most recent MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) and MacBook Pro 16-inch (2021) – these are covered and compared in our regular roundup of the best MacBook deals and MacBook Pro deals. However, deals like this aren't likely until some of the bigger sales events later in the year. There were some small savings during Black Friday so look out for discounts of around $200 / £200 to match the previous record lows.

It may not be as good value-for-money considering it costs $1,199 / £1,249 / AU$1,899 for the standard model but it is a solid upgrade over the current version thanks to the larger and brighter new display, thinner design and upgraded M2 chip. The price cuts have been even greater now that the MacBook Air M2 is available to buy.

Outside of this, it's regularly reduced by up to $100 / £100 / AU$200 in most stores.

It has a starting price of $999 / £999 / AU$1,499, but we've already seen it fall to as low as $749 / £899 during large sales events. Now that the MacBook Air M1 (2020) is two years old we've seen some bigger and better discounts over the last few months.

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