Apple cuts price of MacBook Air with SSD by $500
About six months after launching the MacBook Air at Macworld San Francisco in January, Apple has now cut the price of the top-of-the-line edition of its thin and light notebook by $500.
The deluxe model of the MacBook Air -- which comes with a miniaturized version of the 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 64 GB solid state drive (SSD) -- has now been reduced in price from $3,098 to $2,598. Meanwhile, the price of the base model -- which uses a 1.6 GHz flavor of the same processor -- is still $1,799.
Apple has also lowered pricing from $300 to $200 on 1.8 GHz processor upgrades and from $999 to $599 on the SSD, an optional feature. The Air ships standard with an 80 GB hard drive.
Apple's price drops on the Air coincide with price reductions by Intel of $100 on the 1.8 GHz processor and $400 on the SSD.
But could demand for the high-end Air be a factor, too? Some users have been complaining vocally online about a price tag of $3,098 for a notebook that includes no optical drive and only one USB port. As some see it, the Air turns in only mediocre performance.
Weighing in at under 3 pounds, the MacBook Air includes a full-sized keyboard and a 13.3-inch LED display. It also ships standard with 2 GB RAM.