I’ve tested every MacBook, but I still recommend this $600 one on sale today

I don’t normally recommend four-year-old laptops — especially as someone who’s reviewed every MacBook, up to and including the latest M4 MacBook Pros. But look — finding a laptop for $600 that doesn’t suck isn’t easy, and the M1 MacBook Air is still startlingly good despite its age.

It’s $100 off for Black Friday over at Walmart, bringing it to its lowest price ever. Without a doubt, this is one of the best laptops to ever be sold for $600, and in terms of Black Friday MacBook deals, look no further.

While it’s a few generations back in terms of Apple Silicon, it’s the perfect option for a high school or college student, or even a remote worker who doesn’t need anything too powerful. If you’re coming from an older laptop, you’ll be surprised by how fast the chip is and how long-lasting the battery life is.

In my own testing, the laptop lasted 15 and a half hours in web browsing and over 18 hours in video playback. While your mileage may vary in terms of what applications you’re running, you’re likely to get through the majority of a work or school day without having to charge. While it’s true that’s become more commonplace in 2024 across MacBooks and modern Windows laptops, that can’t be said about other laptops in this price range right now.

This is the entry-level configuration, so it comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. You do get the option of any of the three color options though: Gold, Silver, or Space Gray.

This 13.3-inch MacBook Air debuted the M1 chip back in the fall of 2020, and while the chassis wasn’t anything new at the time, the performance was out of this world compared to its predecessors. It kicked off the entire Apple Silicon revolution, and it still holds up today a lot better than you might expect.

Don’t get me wrong — the newer M2 MacBook Air and M3 MacBook Air models do provide some meaningful updates, such as faster GPU performance, a higher-resolution webcam, slimmer bezels, and an overall thinner profile. But even on Black Friday, the M2 MacBook Air will cost you an extra $150. $750 for the M2 MacBook Air is also a solid deal, and I do think those improvements are worth the extra cash. But sometimes you just need the rock-bottom pricing, and there’s nothing out there quite like the M1 MacBook Air right now.

Speaking of rock-bottom pricing, you can even get this same M1 MacBook Air for even less if you’re willing to get a refurbished model. The lowest price I could find was also at Walmart, which is selling a refurbished model for $488. It’s absolutely bonkers that a laptop this good can be purchased for under $500, even if it’s not new. It’s a huge step up over the Chromebooks and low-end Windows laptops that typically sell at this price.

You may see some MacBooks on sale for even less on Black Friday, but I would strongly encourage you not to buy anything older than the M1 MacBook Air. The Intel-based MacBook Airs from 2019 or earlier weren’t even very impressive at the time of releasing. Five years later, they’re bound to be a disappointment in terms of performance — no matter how low the prices get.

If you do happen to be someone who’s looking for something more powerful, I’d recommend checking out the M4 MacBook Pro. It has the better screen, performance, and extra ports that MacBook Airs are missing. It’s on sale on Amazon for $200 off, for a total of $1,399. For a new MacBook Pro, that’s pretty unprecedented, especially since the base model now comes with 16GB of RAM.