Question about buying from Apple vs Amazon

Hardware
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1

I have an M1 Air that’s been great, 16GB/512GB. I want to upgrade to the M4 w the same specs. Looking at the Apple site and it’s $1199, and they’ll give me $340 for my trade-in. ( Buy MacBook Air - Apple )

But when I look at the Apple Store on Amazon (which I think is indeed still buying from Apple, just via Amazon?) I see a price of $1049 for what I think is the same machine? ( Amazon.com: Apple 2025 MacBook Air 13-inch Laptop with M4 chip: Built for Apple Intelligence, 13.6-inch Liquid Retina Display, 16GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD Storage, 12MP Center Stage Camera, Touch ID; Sky Blue : Electronics )

A few questions:

  1. Am I missing something? I can still buy from Apple as the seller and save $150?
  2. Would I still be able to trade-in my M1 Air to Apple if I buy from Amazon? If not, other best options?
  3. Something else to consider I’m not thinking of?

Thanks in advance!!

2

That’s a legitimate listing on Amazon. You can trade in without buying–check the value here. Apple Trade In - Apple

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3

You can do the trade-in with Apple without buying from them. You’ll get an Apple gift card that you can then apply to your Apple (iCloud) Account, which can then be used for other Apple purchases, including App Store and subscriptions (including your iCloud subscription).

I would take the savings and put it toward upgrading the RAM to 24GB. With the way AI (Apple Intelligence and/or “Artificial Intelligence”) is being shoved into everything, it’ll probably be worthwhile.

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