Everyone loves a deal, but nobody loves a fake deal. And Apple, more often than not, has worse deals than other major retailers selling their own products. Their latest back-to-school sale, aimed mainly at college students, is such a sale.

Apple will knock $100 off the $999 base price of the MacBook Air M4, plus throw in a free pair of AirPods 4. Sounds good, right? I wish I knew how to spell out the noise of “obnoxious buzzer sound.” There’s a better way to save on a MacBook, student or not.

a raw deal

As long as you jump through the hoop of providing a student ID, Apple will swat $100 off the MacBook Air M4’s $999 starting price, plus throw in the free pair of AirPods 4. With the AirPods 4 selling for $89, you’re out the door with $1,088 worth of stuff for $899. Should be good news, right?

Here’s why this deal isn’t so great. Ever since Memorial Day (that’s in May, folks), a particular, peculiar deal on the MacBook Air M4 has been lingering. With scant exception since then, it’s been selling for $849 on Amazon and, a bit more sporadically, other retailers consistently. There are no AirPods 4 thrown in for free, though.

And yeah, if you really need the AirPods 4 (and are a student), it’d be cheaper to grab the back-to-school sale from Apple and pay $899 rather than buy the regular-deal MacBook for $849 and the regular-deal AirPods 4 for $89. You save $39.

But I’m not so hot on the AirPods 4. The base-level ones don’t have active noise cancellation (ANC), which is a godsend on flights, on trains, and in noisy cafés. For $119, you can get the ANC-equipped AirPods 4 or, my favorite, the fantastic ANC-equipped AirPods Pro 2 for $169.

Leave your student ID in your wallet, take the regular MacBook Air M4 deal, and use your savings toward one of those options. Or if you’re happy with your current earbuds or don’t need earbuds at all, pocket the savings.