Best Black Friday MacBook deals: MacBook Air and MacBook Pro

Pining for a MacOS laptop? Here’s what you need to know about the 2021 MacBook Black Friday deals and sales.

Best Black Friday MacBook deals: MacBook Air and MacBook Pro
Best Black Friday MacBook Deals

Although the official sales are still a couple of days away, there are already tons of great Black Friday deals available as retailers are locked in a competition to draw in bargain-hunters who have already begun their holiday shopping. That’s good news if you’re in need of a new MacBook, now’s the time to shop, as there are already a ton of great Black Friday laptop deals on tap (and if you need a new computer, you probably don’t want to wait much longer). There are quite a few models to choose from, though, as well as plenty of MacBook Black Friday deals to sort through, but if you’re looking for the absolute best MacBook for your needs and budget, we’ve got you covered.

2015 Apple MacBook Pro (Amazon Renewed) — $444

Some 2015 MacBook Pro models use a butterfly keyboard.Digital Trends

If you’re after a cheap MacBook, the surest bet is to buy refurbished — provided you’re getting it from a reliable source. Amazon Renewed laptops like this 2015 Apple MacBook Pro are not only refurbished by professionals, they’re also backed by a 90-day Amazon Renewed Guarantee. Better still, this one is graded as “excellent” condition, meaning that it looks almost new with no major cosmetic blemishes. Under the hood, this 2015 model packs an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, giving you solid specs for work and everyday tasks along with some extra local storage for your apps and files. The 13.3-inch IPS display is also one of Apple’s excellent Retina screens, boasting a QHD+ resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. MacBook Black Friday deals let you score this machine for less than 500 bucks.

2020 Apple MacBook Air M1 — $799, was $999

The M1-powered Macbook Air, open on a table.M1 MacBook Air Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The 2020 Apple MacBook Air M1 has been on sale a lot, so it’s no surprise to see it among this year’s Apple Black Friday deals. It’s one of the best MacBook deals of the bunch, too, with this discount dropping it down to one of the lowest prices we’ve seen. With Apple’s superbly fast and cool-running M1 CPU (so cool, in fact, that the MacBook Air doesn’t even need any cooling fans), you’re getting a lot of performance for your money here. The 13-inch 1600p Retina display looks gorgeous, too, complementing the laptop’s sleek featherweight frame. The M1 CPU’s integrated graphics processor also lets you do some light gaming if you’re so inclined. If you’re looking for the cheapest new MacBook that still ranks among the best laptops you can buy, the 2020 MacBook Air M1 is it.

2022 Apple MacBook Air M2 — $1,049, was $1,199

The screen of the MacBook Air M2.

This year, the MacBook Air got a nice refresh with a facelift and Apple’s new M2 CPU. The chunky bezels surrounding the 13-inch screen were finally trimmed down a bit and the webcam and speakers were both upgraded, but of course, the star of the show here is Apple’s M2 chipset. Although the thermal performance isn’t quite as good as the M1, there’s no denying that the MacBook Air M2 is blazing fast, with an eight-core CPU and GPU which provide enough horsepower to handle just about any laptop tasks you can throw at it (including some gaming, which is not usually Apple’s strong suit). It’s super thin and light, as well — it’s a MacBook Air, after all — yet features excellent build quality with a fantastic keyboard and gorgeous Retina display.

2021 Apple MacBook Pro M1 (14-Inch) — $1,859, was $1,999

An Apple MacBook Pro 14 sits open on a table.Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

It’s no secret that if you’re a power MacOS user, you need to get your mitts on a MacBook Pro. Apple has kept its MacBook Pro lineup nicely updated in recent years, with 2021 seeing the launch of new 14-inch and 16-inch models packed with the M1 Pro chip. With this release, Apple addressed some long-standing complaints with the Pro line, fixing many of our own gripes that we’ve had with its high-end laptops and making the best MacBook Pro we’ve seen since 2015. It’s a joy to use and work on, it looks gorgeous with the Liquid Retina display, and the M1 Pro chip (which features eight CPU cores and 14 GPU cores) is paired with 16GB of RAM to deliver more than enough muscle and multi-tasking capability for whatever you’d need a MacOS laptop to do.

2021 Apple MacBook Pro M1 (16-Inch) — $2,199, was $2,499

The new MacBook Pro seen from the side.

Apple discontinued the 15-inch MacBook Pro awhile ago, but filled that gap in 2021 when it rolled out the new 16-inch MacBook Pro M1 alongside its 14-inch sibling. This one packs the M1 Pro chip with a whopping 10 CPU cores and 16 GPU cores, and with that kind of hardware, it’s safe to say that this will be the last laptop you’ll have to buy for a long, long time. No worries about longevity, either, thanks to the MacBook Pro’s fantastic build quality, excellent keyboard and touchpad, and lovely 16-inch mini-LED Liquid Retina XDR display that offers up to 1,600 nits of peak brightness. Despite its power, the 16-inch MacBook Pro still manages to offer up to 21 hours of battery life before needing an outlet, which is simply incredible. It’s pricey, but MacBook Black Friday deals let you save a wad of cash on one of the latest and greatest MacOS machines.

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