Apple announced two new Mac processors and two new MacBook Pro models at its October event on Monday. The new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips can be found inside the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. The new machines feature high-resolution Liquid Retina XDR displays with an iPhone-like notch for a 1080p FaceTime camera. The Touch Bar is gone, but MagSafe charging, an HDMI port and an SD card slot are back.
The new machines are not even shipping yet, and Amazon is already offering discounts. The baseline 14-inch MacBook Pro is $49 off at Amazon right now, and you can also save $49 on the 16-inch MacBook Pro with a 1TB SSD on Amazon.
Pricing for Apple’s MacBooks
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,999, and the new 16-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,499. If you don’t need the power of these high-end MacBooks nor the budget, you can spend less on the M1-powered MacBook Air or 13-inch MacBook Pro. The MacBook Air starts at $999, and the 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,299. There are a couple of ways to grab either at a discount.
Want to buy new? In addition to the aforementioned $49 discount on the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, you can save up to $100 on a MacBook Air on Amazon and up to $150 on a13-inch MacBook Pro. One benefit of paying full price and buying from Apple, however, is you can customize the machine and add more RAM or a higher-capacity solid-state drive, whereas the models sold on Amazon and other retailers are fixed configurations.
Want to go the refurb route? You can now find refurbished M1 MacBooks on Apple’s Certified Refurbished Mac page. Refurb inventory changes rapidly so you may not always see an M1 MacBook Air or Pro listed. It’s worth keeping an eye out, however, because you can lock in substantial savings, up to $200. Rick Broida, CNET’s Cheapskate emeritus, is a big fan of refurbs, particularly Apple’s — which are often as good as new.
It’s also worth noting that the Apple Store offers students an educational discount, which can trim hundreds of dollars from the price of a new laptop or tablet.
Keep reading to see the best MacBook laptop deals currently available for Apple’s current and previous-generation MacBooks. We update this list periodically.
Read more: Testing out the new Apple Mac M1 lineup
MacBook discounts, compared
| Model w/ CPU (and storage capacity) | List price | Best price (current) | Best price (all-time) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13.3-inch MacBook Air w/ M1 chip (256GB) | $999 | $929 | $750 |
| 13.3-inch MacBook Air w/ M1 chip (512GB) | $1,249 | $1,149 | $1,000 |
| 13-inch MacBook Pro w/ M1 chip (256GB) | $1,299 | $1,169 | $1,050 |
| 13-inch MacBook Pro w/ M1 chip (512GB) | $1,499 | $1,349 | $1,250 |
| 14-inch MacBook Pro w/ M1 Pro chip (512GB) | $1,999 | $1,950 | $1,950 |
| 14-inch MacBook Pro w/ M1 Pro chip (1TB) | $2,499 | $2,499 | $2,499 |
| 16-inch MacBook Pro w/ M1 Pro chip (512GB) | $2,499 | $2,499 | $2,499 |
| 16-inch MacBook Pro w/ M1 Pro chip (1TB) | $2,699 | $2,650 | $2,650 |
| 16-inch MacBook Pro w/ M1 Max chip (1TB) | $3,499 | $3,499 | $3,499 |
*Note that “all-time” means the best price that we’ve seen at an Apple-authorized retailer in the product’s lifetime.
Apple
The baseline model of the new 14-inch MacBook Pro costs $1,999 and features an 8-core M1 Pro chip, a 14-core GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. The $2,499 step-up model features a 10-core M1 Pro chip, a 16-core GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. The 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display features a 3,024×1,964-pixel resolution. The baseline model just received its first discount — it’s currently $49 off at Amazon.
Apple
The baseline model of the new 16-inch MacBook Pro costs $2,499 and features a 10-core M1 Pro chip, a 16-core GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512B SSD. There are two step-up models. The $2,699 model upgrades the storage to a 1TB SSD, and the $3,499 model features the M1 Max chip, a 32-core GPU, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. The 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display features a 3,456×2,234-pixel resolution. No discounts exist for the baseline model, but you can save $49 on the 1TB model on Amazon.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
The new, fanless MacBook Air starts at $999 and features Apple’s M1 processor, which has an eight‑core CPU, a seven‑core GPU and a 16‑core Neural Engine. The system also supplies 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. It lacks the Touch Bar (which could be viewed as a net positive) but features a 13.3-inch Retina display, Touch ID and the Magic keyboard. The $150 discount we saw earlier this month at Amazon is gone, but you can still save $70 on Apple’s lowest-cost MacBook.
Read our MacBook Air (M1) review.
Apple
The step-up MacBook Air model has a list price of $1,249 and delivers the M1 processor with a slight difference from the baseline model — it has an eight-core GPU versus the seven cores you get in the model above. More significantly, it doubles the storage capacity with a 512GB SSD. You can save $100 on this model in gold or space gray at Amazon. Most people will benefit from the added storage space; a 256GB drive fills up fast.
Read our MacBook Air (M1) review.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro uses Apple’s new M1 processor, which is an eight-core CPU with four performance cores and four efficiency cores, an eight-core GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine. The baseline model also features 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, a Retina display, the Magic Keyboard and the Touch Bar with Touch ID. The baseline config in silver is currently $130 off at Amazon — down from the $149 discount we saw earlier this month.
Apple
The step-up MacBook Pro model doubles the storage capacity with a 512GB SSD and costs $1,499 from Apple, but you get it for $150 less at Amazon. Nearly every MacBook Pro user will appreciate the larger SSD; 256GB of storage is criminally small on a Pro-level laptop designed for creative work.
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