Amazon is holding out on us — kind of.
The retail giant isn't offering a ton of great deals on Windows laptops, gaming laptops, or Chromebooks ahead of its Black Friday Week sale, which is set to run for nine days from Thursday, Nov. 21 through Friday, Nov. 29 (aka Black Friday proper). And as someone who's covered Amazon's Prime and holiday events since 2019, I can tell you that they probably won't start popping up there until the sale officially starts. (Look for deep discounts on Acer, Asus, LG, and Microsoft models when it does.)
In other words, early bird shoppers should cool their heels — except for those in need of a new MacBook.
Amazon is currently offering some deep discounts across Apple's laptop lineup that are worth considering before the holidays get underway. Select configurations from its all-new M4 MacBook Pro series are already on sale for up to $150 off (having just launched last week), and the base configuration of the M2 MacBook Air — now with 16GB of RAM — has hit a new all-time low of $749. It's tough to see that one getting any cheaper on Black Friday, in particular.
Stay tuned to see if Amazon revives its MacBook Air x AppleCare+ bundles from last Black Friday.
In the meantime, read on for my rundown of the best laptop (MacBook) deals available on Amazon ahead of Black Friday Week. I'll continue to update the list in the lead-up to the sale as more offers trickle out, so check back often. Note: Any deal marked with a ?has dropped to a record-low price.
The best early Black Friday MacBook deal at Amazon
Why we like it:
Read Mashable's full review of the 13-inch Apple MacBook Air (M2).
The 13-inch M2 Air is Mashable's favorite budget MacBook, combining a "dreamy" keyboard and an all-day battery life with "enough horsepower to handle everyday tasks with ease," wrote Tech and Games reporter Alex Perry. (He gave it a 4.6/5 rating in his review, which got it a Mashable Choice Award.) As mentioned up top, Apple just upgraded the base configuration from 8GB of memory to 16GB, solidifying its status as a fantastic value — especially right now.
Amazon has it on sale for just $749 ahead of Black Friday, or $250 off its $999 MSRP. That's a 25% savings and a new record-low, matching the cheapest price the 8GB version saw. (The same deal was live at Best Buy for the paid tiers of its membership program on Thursday, Nov. 14; it'll be open to everyone there on Friday, Nov. 15.)
More MacBook deals at Amazon:
Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M3, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $899 $1,099 (save $200) ?
Apple MacBook Air, 15-inch (M3, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $1,099 $1,299 (save $200) ?
Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,474 $1,599 (save $125) ?
Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M4 Pro, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,949 $1,999 (save $50)
Apple MacBook Pro, 16-inch (M4 Pro, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $2,349 $2,499 (save $150 with on-page coupon) ?
Amazon MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M4 Max, 36GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $3,049 $3,199 (save $150 with on-page coupon) ?
