Benchmarks, reviews, and several opinions prove that Apple’s latest M1 devices are some of the most powerful laptops in the market. Apple’s new M1 lineup includes a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, a MacBook Air, and a Mac mini. You can get one of these new products starting at $699 for the Mac mini, $999 for the Air, and $1,299 for the Pro. However, a new MacBook Air with 128GB storage for just $799 has appeared, but it may not be for everyone.

The latest M1 MacBook Air has been spotted with 128GB storage at Apple’s US Education Institute Hardware and Software Price List. Now, what’s curious about this is that the M1 MacBook Air is only available with 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB storage options on the Apple Store. Less storage also means a lower price, that’s why its price tag reads $799, but who is this variant meant for?

Reddit user “u/dduci97” was the one who found the new Air listed with an M1 chip, with an 8-core CPU, a 7-core GPU, 8GB RAM, and 128GB. However, Apple hasn’t made this variant available on its US Education Store, which makes us believe that it will not be available for the general public. Now, Apple is giving options to purchase the MacBook Air in bulk quantities, which could mean that it will target schools or universities as possible buyers, and if it does become available for everyone, this MacBook Air could arrive with an $899 price tag, meaning it would be the cheapest option in years.

On another note, Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak were recently interviewed by Ars Technica. They were asked about the possibility of using Microsoft and Windows on the M1 Macs since there is currently no Boot Camp feature for them. They were very clear to say that it’s “up to Microsoft.”

“As for Windows running natively on the machine, “that’s really up to Microsoft,” he said. “We have the core technologies for them to do that, to run their ARM version of Windows, which in turn of course supports x86 user mode applications. But that’s a decision Microsoft has to make, to bring to license that technology for users to run on these Macs. But the Macs are certainly very capable of it.”

He also suggested that one of the best possibilities in the future would be to have Windows in the cloud, making reference to CrossOver, which allows x86 Windows apps to run on Apple M1 Macs, using Rosetta 2. Further, Ars Technica did a series of tests of the latest M1 Chrome, showing that it’s up to 80 percent faster than the Rosetta 2 version. Just in case you were planning on downloading Chrome on your new M1 MacBook Air.

“Across all tests, the native M1 version of Chrome performed between 66 and 81 percent better than the version of Chrome running through Rosetta 2. Safari was the fastest browser of all, of course, having been designed by Apple, and it came out on top across all of the tests.”

You can easily download the new M1 version of Google Chrome for your Apple Silicon Mac by going to the Chrome website. You just have to select the “Mac with Apple Chip” option after clicking the download button.

Source MacRumors

Via MacRumors