The best cheap MacBook deals of January offer solid discounts on Apple's pricey notebooks. Whether you're looking for a discount on the entry level MacBook Air or the latest MacBook Pro with M1 chip, you've come to the right place.
We're currently seeing solid deals on various configurations of Apple's stylish, premium notebooks. Last year, following the release of the 2020 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, Apple unveiled its latest M1 chip-powered MacBooks. All throughout 2021, we expect to see aggressive deals on previous-gen MacBooks especially.
So if you're due for an upgrade or buying a MacBook for someone special, you don't have to spend a small fortune. We're rounding up the best MacBook deals below to ensure you never pay full price for a laptop from the Apple Store ever again.
Here are the best MacBook deals available right now.
Best MacBook deals right now
- New Apple MacBook Pro 13" 2020 (M1/8GB/256GB): was $1,299 now $1,239 @ Amazon
- Apple MacBook Air 13" 2020 (i3/8GB/256GB): was $949 now $869 @ B&H
- Apple MacBook Pro 13" 2020 (i5/8GB/512GB): was $1,499 now $1,249 @ Amazon
- Apple MacBook Pro 13" 2020 (i5/16GB/1TB): was $1,999 now $1,895 @ Amazon
- Apple MacBook Pro 16" 2020 (i7/16GB/512TB): was $2,399 now $2,199 @ Amazon
Apple's most powerful laptop, the 2020 MacBook Pro M1 has starting price of $1,299. The base model packs a 13.3-inch (2560 x 1600) IPS Retina display, 8GB of RAM, Apple M1 CPU, 8-core GPU, and 256GB SSD.
As we note in our MacBook Pro M1 2020 review, we were floored by its stellar overall and gaming performance. We were also astonished by its long battery life which lasted an a16 hour and 32 minutes our Laptop Mag Battery Test. The MacBook Pro M1 earned a 5 out of 5 star rating and our Editor's Choice award stamp of approval.
Not only is the new MacBook Pro the longest lasting Apple laptop, it's also the brawniest. In one test, we had 50 tabs open in Google Chrome — some running Tweetdeck, Slack, YouTube, Tidal, Gmail, Google Sheets and Twitch. The MacBook Pro showed no signs of lag whatsoever.
Pricing on the MacBook Air M1 2020 starts at $999. Besides a new 8-core CPU, the base packs a 13.3-inch (2560 x 1600) IPS Retina display, 7-core GPU 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD.
In our MacBook Air with M1 review, we loved the laptop's breathtaking Apple M1 chip performance. We were also impressed by its outstanding battery life which went the distance of 14 hours and 41 minutes in our Laptop Mag Battery test. It lasted longer than the previous-gen MacBook Air which conked out at 9 hours and 31 minutes.
Designwise, the MacBook Air sports the same familiar and practical design. Under the hood, there's a Magic Keyboard with large trackpad for a comfortable typing experience.
The base model Apple MacBook Pro 2020 starts at $1,299 with 13.3-inch Retina display, 8th Gen Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD.
Design-wise, the latest MacBook Pro 2020 borrows from the latest MacBook Air 2020. Apple fans will be glad to know that the dreadful Butterfly keyboard is gone for good. The new 13-inch MacBook Pro uses the Magic keyboard with traditional scissor switches.
Another major revamp to the MacBook Pro 2020 is the hardware bump to 10th Gen Intel CPUs. Interestingly, Apple still offers 8th Gen chips on the lower-end models to keep the starting price ($1,299) down. If you want the best performance speed and have room to splurge, we recommend you opt for the MacBook Pro with 10th Gen CPU, which starts at $1,799.
Need a MacBook Pro with muscle? The 2019 13-inch MacBook Pro is equipped with a snappier Core i5-8279U quad-core CPU and offers 256GB of storage. And instead of just two Thunderbolt 3 ports, it has an array of four. This base model looks identical to the cheaper 13-inch MacBook Pro, but it's priced at a steep $1,799.
In our MacBook Pro 13-inch review, we discovered that it delivers better performance than the base model mentioned above. In our tests, we saw no lag as we juggled between 17 open Chrome tabs while running Skype, Slack, and Pixelmator simultaneously.
Historically, we've seen this model drop as low as $1,499 over the holiday season. Outside of the holidays, we've seen MacBook Pro deals take $100 to $200 off its regular price.
The 13.3-inch MacBook Pro comes in a variety of flavors and configurations for power users to choose from. The $1,299 base model packs a 1.4GHz Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD. The highest configuration is fitted with a 1.7GHz Core i7 CPU.
In our Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch 2019 review, we found that it performs better than the 2019 MacBook Air. That's because it's powered by either a Core i5-8257U or Core i7-8557U CPU. Both processors are noticeably faster than the dual-core Y-series CPU found in the MacBook Air.
To gauge its performance, we transcoded a 4K clip to 1080p in a video-editing test. The MacBook Pro took just 14 minutes and 42 seconds versus 36 minutes on the Air.
It's also worth noting that Apple fitted the 13-inch MacBook Pro with its quieter and slightly more comfortable 4th-gen Butterfly keyboard. More importantly, a material upgrade to its mechanism prevents inadvertent double presses.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro is a beast. The base 16-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,399, which was the same cost of the 15-inch MacBook Pro it replaces. This price gets you a Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, and a Radeon 5300M GPU. The next tier up costs $2,799 and nets you a blazing-fast Core i9 CPU, faster Radeon Pro 5500M graphics, and a massive 1TB SSD.
Besides its obviously larger screen, the 16-inch MacBook Pro boasts a Magic Keyboard. Apple finally ditched the problematic Butterfly keyboard for a scissor mechanism. It also added a concave to the keycap structure and a rubber dome underneath for support. This redesign makes for a better typing experience with 1mm of travel compared to less than 0.8mm previously.
Performance-wise, this MacBook Pro didn't disappoint and took just 8 minutes to transcode a 6.5GB 4K video to 1080p, just like the Dell XPS 15.
Deals on the expensive 16-inch MacBook Pro are easier to find than you would think. Actually, the deals started trickling in soon after its release and the best markdown we've seen so far took $250 off the bast model, dropping it down to $2,149.
Apple no longer sells the 15-inch MacBook Pro which was released in June 2019 starting at $2,399. The base model includes a 9th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of memory, 256GB of SSD storage and a Radeon Pro 555X graphics card with 4GB of GDDR5 memory.
In our MacBook Pro 15-inch review, we liked its superior speed, sharp, colorful display, and powerful sound. Although it has no USB Type-A ports, its quartet of Thunderbolt 3 ports enabled fast file transfer speeds.
There's also a maxed-out version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro 2019, which costs $6,549. It packs a 9th Gen Intel Core i9-9980HK processor (the 2.4-GHz version), 32GB of memory, a 4TB SSD and a Radeon Pro Vega 20 graphics card with 4GB of HBM2 memory.
Best MacBook Air deals
Pricing for the new 2020 MacBook Air starts at $999 which is $100 cheaper than the previous-gen model's entry price. This year's base model packs a 13.3-inch (2560 x 1600) Retina Display, a 1.1 GHz 10th Gen Intel Core i3 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB solid state drive.
In our MacBook Air 2020 review of the Core i5 variant, the laptop showed no signs of lag in our real worl performance test. Even while juggling 30 open Google Chrome tabs, Adobe Photoshop image resizing, Apple's new laptop held its own.
Pricing for the base 2019 MacBook Air starts at $1,099. It packs a 13.3-inch Retina display, 1.6GHz Core i5-8210Y CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD. Yeah, we know that price tag is a tough pill to swallow; however, cheap MacBook Air deals are fairly easy to find.
Oftentimes, Amazon and Best Buy have the base MacBook Air on sale for $899 or $999. During the holidays, the cheapest MacBook Air price we saw was $799. If the 128GB of storage is too paltry for you, the 256GB MacBook Air is also regularly on sale and normally dips to down to $1,099, which is the cheapest it's ever been.
In terms of performance, in our Apple MacBook Air 2019 review, the Core i5-8210Y dual-core CPU offers just enough oomph for your day-to-day tasks. We opened up a dozen Chrome tabs and streamed a YouTube video at 1080p simultaneously. The MacBook Air didn't lag at all.
Apple discontinued the 2017 MacBook Air, however, you can still buy it from Amazon and Best Buy. You may be raising an eyebrow at us for bringing up the 3-year old Apple notebook with a dated 5th-gen Intel CPU, but that's because the 2017 MacBook Air has aged well.
First of all, it's the last Mac of its kind with a keyboard that we like and recommend. Unlike the shallow keys found on Apple's current MacBooks, the 2017 MacBook Air's keyboard offers a pleasant typing experience. Secondly, it has two USB ports, a Thunderbolt 2 port, and an SDXC card slot. Battery-wise, a single charge will get you roughly 10.5 hours of use.
The only drawbacks are the non-Retina display and dated design, but it's still an excellent machine for basic, everyday computing. In our MacBook Air 2017 review, we liked its long battery life and solid performance. It streamed a 1080p YouTube video while browsing through 12 Safari tabs without even a stutter.
On the deals front, this model hit an all-time price low of $649 on Black Friday 2019. It will be a long while before we see it priced that low again. However, it's frequently on sale and east to find at $749.