The best MacBook deals for April 2020

Finding a deal on a MacBook is rarely a quick and easy task. These MacOS laptops are still among the most expensive computers money can buy, and Apple keeps a short leash on MacBook pricing across the major online retailers. On top of that, there is a wide selection of different models available including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and standard MacBook, not to mention the various sizes, model years, and hardware configurations floating around.

Add in the confusing way these products are often named on different websites, along with the countless used and refurbished units on the money, and you can quickly find yourself succumbing to decision paralysis. That’s not even considering the many cheap iPhone and iPad deals you’ll also be tempted by during your search — but worry not. If you’re hunting around for a new Apple laptop, we’ve already done the heavy lifting for you, rounding up the best MacBook deals available right now. Read on:

The best MacBook deals

• MacBook Air 13-inch (2017) — $800, was $1,000
• MacBook Air 13-inch (2019) — $900, was $1,100
• MacBook 12-inch (2015, refurbished) — $629, was $799
• MacBook Pro 16-inch (2019) — $2,219, was $2,399
• MacBook Pro 13-inch no Touch Bar (2017) — $1,019, was 1,199
• MacBook Pro 13-inch with Touch Bar (2019) — $1,199, was $1,299
• MacBook Pro 15-inch with Touch Bar (2019) — $2,249, was $2,599

MacBook Air deals

Before 2018, the MacBook Air hadn’t received a serious update for many years. The iconic silver look may have been revolutionary in 2012, but its thick bezels and lower-resolution screen had become outdated over the years. Even though Apple still sells this version, we only recommend it to people with fairly basic computing needs. The fifth-generation Intel processor and DDR3 RAM in the 2017 model will make any kind of significant multitasking or heavy software difficult. Still, it is the cheapest way into the Mac ecosystem, and that’ll be enough to attract some buyers.

If you’re in the market for an older model so you can save some cash, the 2017 MacBook Air below is going for $800, saving you $200.

Fortunately, toward the middle of 2019, Apple finally gave the MacBook Air a complete makeover, bringing it up to speed with the rest of its MacBooks. This new version has a new look — thinner bezels, a smaller chassis, higher-resolution display, USB-C, and kept the new 2019 color options like gold and space gray. It also has some of the mainstays of modern Apple laptops such as the low-travel keyboard, oversized trackpad, and Touch ID fingerprint scanner.

Since this isn’t too old in 2020, the 2019 Air has pretty solid specs, which include an 8th-gen Core i5 dual-core processor. We found it more than capable of handling day-to-day tasks, just don’t expect to be editing 4K video on it. It has the best battery life of all the MacBooks, and also comes with the lowest starting price of around $1,099 right now.

If you’re in the market for the latest MacBook Air from 2019, it’s on sale for $900, which is a nice $200 discount off the usual price. This deal gets you an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD.

MacBook deals

In July 2019, Apple stopped selling the 12-inch MacBook on its website and in its stores, but you can still get it from third-party resellers. There are plenty of reasons to opt for it, too. Compared to the Air, not only is the MacBook’s screen smaller, but the device is also extremely thin and light. It hasn’t been updated since 2017, but it has the modern Mac look, including the large trackpad, butterfly-style keyboard, Retina display, and simplified port selection. Aside from a headphone jack, the laptop comes with just a single Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port. That means you can’t plug in a wired mouse and power at the same time, for example, unless you have an adapter.

The most recent version from 2017 received a bump to dual-core, seventh-generation Kaby Lake Intel processors. Like the MacBook Air, we found it to be fast enough to get through a normal day of productivity and web browsing. We’d recommend the 2018 MacBook Air to most people, but for those who want the absolute smallest, most portable MacBook, this is your best option.

Amazon is currently selling the 2015 12-inch MacBook professionally renewed for $629 — which is roughly 50% off Apple’s MSRP and gets you an Intel Core M processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD.

MacBook Pro (16-inch) deals

It had been rumored for months, but there was still a sense of excitement when Apple finally unveiled the 16-inch MacBook Pro in mid-November 2019. Many of the rumored features — the higher-resolution display, the new keyboard, and the Navi graphics — proved to be correct.

That means this is the biggest upgrade to the MacBook Pro line since it was redesigned in 2016. It takes features that had become standard in the MacBook Pro 15, like the Touch Bar and USB-C ports, and adds all-new features. For example, you can give it an 8TB SSD, the largest SSD available in any laptop, or if you need a huge amount of memory, there’s a 64GB RAM option. If you’re a pro and need power, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is the one to get.

The deals have started already. Adorama is offering $180 off a new 16-inch MacBook Pro, bringing its price down to $2,219. You get a 9th-generation 6-core Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and an AMD Radeon Pro 5300M graphics card.

MacBook Pro (13-inch) deals

With its more powerful specs, the MacBook Pro represents the top of the MacBook lineup. These are laptops for people who want to run heavy applications such as Photoshop or Lightroom — or even just for people who want to multitask like nobody’s business. However, there are several important distinctions you should be aware of, even concerning the 13-inch models.

Apple has now added the Touch Bar to all of its 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro models. The Touch Bar is a slim OLED touchscreen that takes the place of the function keys and is purpose-built for navigating MacOS and its software. That addition means your main decision now comes down to internal specs and ports, as well as the size of the chassis. Apple updated almost the entire MacBook Pro range in 2019, bringing 8th- and 9th-generation Intel processors, including eight-core chips to the 15-inch Pro for the first time.

Right now, Apple has this professionally refurbished 13-inch non-Touch Bar MacBook Pro from 2017. This unit looks and works like new and is backed by an Apple warranty, making it by far the best way to buy a refurbished Apple computer. For $1,019 ($180 off) you get a 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of memory, a 128GB SSD, and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. It’s a great deal if you want to save yourself some cash by going without the Touch Bar.

Apple updated the 13-inch MacBook Pro in 2019 to come with the latest-generation Intel processors, with slight speed bumps to both the base clock and Turbo Boost speeds. With the MacBook Pro 16 coming out, prices of last-gen and smaller-sized MacBook Pro models have been slashed.

You can now save a tasty $100 on the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro (complete with Touch Bar) from mid-2019 by buying this brand new unit from Best Buy, bringing its price down to $1,199. That gives you a quad-core Intel i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD.

MacBook Pro (15-inch) deals

Now that the 16-inch MacBook Pro has all but replaced its 15-inch sibling, we should start to see some excellent deals appearing for the MacBook Pro 15 as retailers sell off their stock. That’s great news because this is still an excellent laptop to get if you want a good helping of power and portability. The 15-inch MacBook Pro not only has the fastest processors, but it also includes discrete graphics. You can pair up an eight-core Core i9 processor and an AMD Vega 20 GPU, which should handily push through high-resolution video renders and graphics modeling with ease. All versions of the 15-inch MacBook Pro also come with the Touch Bar and four Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports.

In May 2019, it was updated with new processors and a tweaked keyboard. The 2019 model now comes with ninth-generation processors up to the whopping eight-core Core i9 for some serious power. And the deals have started rolling in for the latest version, including the corker we’ve found below.

The price of the 15-inch MacBook Pro normally makes it a tough sell, so a good deal is always welcome. The price of 2019’s high-end model has been slashed by $350, bringing it down to $2,249. What do you get with this configuration? A quad-core 2.6GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of memory, a 512GB SSD and a Radeon Pro 555X discrete graphics card.

Looking for more tech deals? Find laptop deals, iPad deals, Chromebook deals, and much more on our curated deals page.

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