Grab a MacBook Air, ideal for coders and students, in the after-Christmas sales

New year, new laptop? Act quick and you can pick up a powerful and portable MacBook Air 15 in the after-Christmas sales with a huge discount of $250 at Best Buy.

There's not a huge overlap when it comes to the best laptops for students and those for coders, but in that Venn diagram is the M2 MacBook Air. Despite being a little pricier than many laptops, we dubbed it the "ultimate student laptop" back in July, and nothing comes close, even this close to 2024.

With that in mind, we're happy to see Best Buy slashing $250 off the MSRP of the base 15-inch MacBook Air, bringing the very capable laptop down to just $1,049.

MacBook Air 15-inch: Was $1,299, now $1,049 at Best Buy
Save $250

MacBook Air 15-inch: Was $1,299, now $1,049 at Best Buy
Save $250
on Apple's latest lightweight laptop with the M2 chip and an excellent redesign.

We'll be the first to admit that 256GB is a little on the slim side, but the same discount applies to the 512GB version, too, bringing it down to $1,249.

Whichever model you opt for, this MacBook Air model comes with the M2 chip. While Apple has rolled the M3 family out to MacBook Pro models as of late this year, the M2 remains the pinnacle when it comes to the Air lineup, and for the vast majority of tasks, you won't notice the difference.

In fact, the M2 is remarkably energy efficient, so you'll get plenty of battery life out of the MacBook Air, even when working on more complex projects. All that in a laptop that weighs just 3.3 pounds and features a 15-inch display for multitasking.

In our review, we awarded it 4.5 stars out of 5, and said "aside from a larger display, there’s not a lot new here, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The MacBook Air M2 is stylish, lightweight, and powerful, making it easily one of the best student laptops on the market, especially if you want a large screen."

Lloyd Coombes

Lloyd Coombes freelance tech and fitness writer for Live Science. He's an expert in all things Apple as well as in computer and gaming tech, with previous works published on TopTenReviews, Space.com, Dexerto and TechRadar. You'll find him regularly testing the latest MacBook or iPhone, but he spends most of his time writing about video games as Editor in Chief at GGRecon.com. He also covers board games and virtual reality, just to round out the nerdy pursuits.