It looks like Apple is keeping its promise of pricing incoming MacBooks similar to the previous-gen hardware. That means you can get a 2021 piece of Mac for more-or-less the same price as the 2020 variants that run on Intel hardware. This time, you get the full Apple experience with the new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air iterations, powered by Apple’s own M1 silicon.

Here are the MacBooks

Apple’s just released official South African pricing for its new hardware and pre-orders are open on the local iStore website. Here, you’ll see that the new M1 MacBook Air enters at just R20,000 — the same price you’ll pay for the Intel Core i3-powered 2020 MacBook Air.

On the more powerful end, the M1-touting MacBook Pro starts at R25,000 — that’s exactly what a 2020 Intel Core i5-powered 2020 MacBook Pro costs. It’s impressive, considering hardware entering South Africa generally come in at a higher price. This means Apple’s local distributor has gone out of its way to bring us the hardware at the same price as before.

Don’t expect something completely new, however. Especially if you look at the exterior. The 2021 MacBooks will be pretty much indistinguishable from the previous-gen. It’s really what’s on the inside that counts, as the cliche goes.

Apple’s new M1 chip is a big change for the company. Not in terms of just marrying all of its tech in-house and streamlining how it works together. The biggest change here is that it’ll save Apple heaps of money it would have handed over to Intel. This should, in theory, bring down production costs and make hardware cheaper.

Not that these 2021 MacBooks are cheap. We’re just sayin’. Future MacBooks may come in at more affordable prices. These certainly surprised us. So if you’re keen on one, pre-orders are open on the local iStore chat. Also, there are some choice M1 Mac Minis up for pre-order.