It is no secret that Apple took a lead in computing with the introduction of the M1 processor. A "non gaming" fan-less laptop either almost matching or leaving many bulky gaming laptops in dust in benchmarks. This put Intel under so much pressure they were on full blown panic. The resulting advertisements and media releases attest to how magnificent the M1 is regardless of what their loyal media friends would say.

My HP Envy battery, after a year and half gave in completely. If there is even a brief power outage off goes the laptop. I hate HP for their garbage batteries. While I was planning to wait for second generation M series MacBooks, this hiccup made me start my shopping a little early.

Intel Lineup

The introduction of the M1 lineup in late 2020 has left the Intel lineup of devices obsolete. The situation is such that even robbers are no longer interested in the Intel Lineup of MacBooks - checkout this story.

If you want to save some money and don't mind settling for a little less, Abans has the Intel Core i3 variant for about LKR 200,000/=. Given the M1 baseline will only offset you another 65,000/= I can't recommend this to you. For it in-my-opinion a 150,000/= price would be appropriate.

If you want a CTO (customised to order) item (ex: with upgraded storage and RAM) etc it will not be available as this product is discontinued. They are just clearing their stocks.

Main Configurations

Apple usually has 2 or 3 primary configurations of each Mac with different CPU options. The MacBook Air 2020 with the M1 processor has 2 primary configurations.

The base model has a 8 core CPU, 7 core GPU and 16 core neural engine with 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD storage. The other has a 8 core CPU, 8 core GPU and 16 core neural engine with 8GB of RAM and 512GB SSD. I like the latter because the 256 to 512 SSD upgrade itself cost $200. So the CPU upgrade is only $55.00. But the thing is if you are interested in an MacBook Air, you will hardly notice a difference. The base model is plenty good, and keeps up even with their MacBook Pro M1 configuration.

These 2 configurations are what you will find out of the box. But you can customise the configuration of what you buy. But this happens in Singapore so it will take like 5 weeks to get to Sri Lanka.

A jump from 8 GB RAM to 16 will offset you $200. The SSD jump from 256GB to 512 to 1TB to 2TB each will cost you an additional $200. So like if you are going to get a MacBook Air with 1TB SSD and 16GB RAM you will have a bill of $1599.00.

Local Prices

I only had time to land by 3 stores.

I was disappointed to see that Abans are out of stock in MacBook Air. If they had I would probably already bought one. I wasn't clear on if and when they will get stocks but it sounded like it will take time.

Between the options Laptop-LK (Technocity) and MacXeon I think I will probably go for Technocity. As a shop I trust them more as I have purchased more than 15 laptops over the last 15 years fro either me, friends or family. On top of that their base line price is also low. Need to sleep on that idea for a few days.

Conclusion

There seems to be a stock issue in the country. I heard from many that there was a scarcity of phones in the country too. I personally experienced this end of last year when I tried to get my iPhone 12. While I thought this might push up the price, it seems that it hasn't been an issue. Technocity offering at LKR 232,000/= (with a dollar exchange rate of about LKR 205 for imports) is a decent price. I don't mind at all. Abans at LKR 270,000/= is not a comfortable price. If it was not the pandemic I would go to Singapore and buy one my self and may be drop by Thailand for a massage.

Then there is the issue that M1 lineup was released almost 5 months ago. In terms of device lifecycle, that is a long time. Apples WWDC will be held June 7^th to 11^th. There is also the possibility they might introduce some products, but probably be limited to iMacs running M-series chips and high end MacBook Pro. Part of me wants to wait and see. May be we might get a higher powered M1X. Fingers crossed.

I think I will go for Technocity. I have the advantage of saving petrol. I can give my HP for a battery replacement and buy a new MacBook Air on my way out.