Deals: Get the Year's Best Prices on Apple's MacBook Pro at Up to $499 Off

[MacRumors]

We've been keeping an eye on all of the Apple products that have major discounts and are still in stock with guaranteed Christmas delivery. As expected, the cross section of products that fall under these categories is low, but now includes Apple's 2021 MacBook Pro notebooks on Amazon at up to $499 off.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Starting with the 1TB 14-inch MacBook Pro, you can get the Space Gray model for its all-time low price of $1,999.99, down from $2,499.00. Free delivery options set the arrival window for December 21 as of writing, and only Space Gray is available.

14-inch MacBook Pro (1TB) for $1,999.99 ($499 OFF)​

Moving to the 512GB 16-inch MacBook Pro, this one is on sale for $1,999.99, down from $2,499.00. It's again only available in Space Gray, and has a delivery estimate of December 21 for most residences in the United States.

16-inch MacBook Pro (512GB) for $1,999.99 ($499 OFF)​

Additionally, you can get the 1TB M1 Pro 16-inch MacBook Pro for $2,199.99 ($499 off) and the 1TB M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro for $3,049.00 ($450 off). Both of these sales are also all-time low prices and have delivery dates before December 25.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

Article Link: Deals: Get the Year's Best Prices on Apple's MacBook Pro at Up to $499 Off

 

[CalMin]

Killer deal. I bought my 14" 1TB at full retail $2499 when it was released and it was (is) worth every penny. Best laptop I have owned.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Its like there was an over production of these models and Amazon took a lot and is now trying to get rid of them as fast as possible. Those M2 Pro/Max models might not show up until late summer 2023.

 

[Realityck]

Wish they had these prices a year ago. Oh well I got close with USA EDU pricing. Both the 2021 14"/16" MBP's IMHO are the best laptops Apple has ever made. Performance, battery life, mini-LED HDR displays, 6 speaker spatial audio.

 

[nick42983]

Killer deal. I bought my 14" 1TB at full retail $2499 when it was released and it was (is) worth every penny. Best laptop I have owned.

Have you made good use of the 1TB? I'm considering the 512GB model if it drops to $1599 again, but paying an extra $400 for just 1/2 TB more and the slightly faster CPU/GPU seems like a stretch.

 

[CalMin]

Have you made good use of the 1TB? I'm considering the 512GB model if it drops to $1599 again, but paying an extra $400 for just 1/2 TB more and the slightly faster CPU/GPU seems like a stretch.

I think the short answer is it depends where you are today. Take a look at what's on your drive and assume you will need double in 2-3 years time. If that doubling takes you close to, or above 512GB, then consider the 1TB machine. That is, of course, you plan to keep the machine that long.

--

As for me, I keep mine at around 650GB, but there's stuff on there that I don't need day to day, it's just convenient to have. I am a bit of a data hoarder, but a big space hog is a Windows 11 VM (which I need) and a couple of games on it (which I don't). I have all the Logic Pro sounds on the machine and a huge photo library, 200gigs of email and documents since 2000 (I never delete email). (I also have a 40TB NAS that's about half-full, so there's that!!)

I could cope with a less but my last two Macs were forced upgrades because of disk space. The CPU, RAM and overall performance was fine, but I kept running low on storage, and it got annoying having to juggle external drives when I wanted to edit some video (esp. on the 256GB 2015 15" MBP because drives kept disconnecting.)

It ultimately depends on software and MacOS, but I think the M1Pro CPU's are going to have a long life-span, like 3-5 years before they start to feel old, and 5-7 years before they get annoying to use. A year into ownership, and I have a ton of background apps, foreground apps, 3 screens and too many windows, then I open up a Windows 11 VM and then switch to another user account via fast user switching - and it just doesn't slow down. And that's with "just" 16GB RAM. Amazing.

 

[BroTim52]

We've been keeping an eye on all of the Apple products that have major discounts and are still in stock with guaranteed Christmas delivery. As expected, the cross section of products that fall under these categories is low, but now includes Apple's 2021 MacBook Pro notebooks on Amazon at up to $499 off.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Starting with the 1TB 14-inch MacBook Pro, you can get the Space Gray model for its all-time low price of $1,999.99, down from $2,499.00. Free delivery options set the arrival window for December 21 as of writing, and only Space Gray is available.

14-inch MacBook Pro (1TB) for $1,999.99 ($499 OFF)​

Moving to the 512GB 16-inch MacBook Pro, this one is on sale for $1,999.99, down from $2,499.00. It's again only available in Space Gray, and has a delivery estimate of December 21 for most residences in the United States.

16-inch MacBook Pro (512GB) for $1,999.99 ($499 OFF)​

Additionally, you can get the 1TB M1 Pro 16-inch MacBook Pro for $2,199.99 ($499 off) and the 1TB M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro for $3,049.00 ($450 off). Both of these sales are also all-time low prices and have delivery dates before December 25.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

Article Link: Deals: Get the Year's Best Prices on Apple's MacBook Pro at Up to $499 Off

I checked this evening on Amazon and I am not seeing these prices?? Just wondering if this is an old article?

 

[Nicole1980]

I checked this evening on Amazon and I am not seeing these prices?? Just wondering if this is an old article?

Same. The 14" model is at $2199 on Amazon when you click the link in the Article. Perhaps the editors of this news story need to be a little more diligent about this stuff.

 

[mccaffertee]

Same. The 14" model is at $2199 on Amazon

 

[BroTim52]

I do know they were running at that price last week on Amazon and Best Buy but not now

 

[svish]

Good discounts for the higher end MacBook Pro models!!

 

[transphasic]

My purchase...

 

[agmfan3]

Just curious I've never bought an Apple product from anyone but Apple, any drawbacks? Are they new or refurb?

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Killer deal. I bought my 14" 1TB at full retail $2499 when it was released and it was (is) worth every penny. Best laptop I have owned.

Yup. And now you have had a year's usage of the world's best laptop (IMO) at the time. But now M1 is last year's tech, at least a year behind what Apple will gives us in the next 1-3 months. Anyone buying M1 today is choosing to spend the next 3-6 years a year behind on the tech curve.

That is OK, I did it in 2017 to save >$1K on a 2016 MBP; the only question is how badly one needs a new box and whether or not the discounting is enough. Personally I will wait to at least see M2 MBPs before making the upgrade decision (unless my 2016 box dies).

Edit: And $500 will not be enough discount to incentivize me (YMMV) to spend the next 5 years using a year older tech than necessary. E.g. Although 2017 MBPs support Ventura, my 2016 MBP does not support Ventura, which the rest of my setup would now find very convenient. The inconvenience was worth the >$1K that I saved, but is a more than a $500 PITA.

The other issue is that all the better deals I have found are on base model MBPs, which are nonstarters for me. Most buyers who do not optimize at more than base RAM and SSD probably would be OK with an M2 MBA or 13" MBP M2 anyway and really be saving some money, still using the more current M2 tech. Just my $0.02.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Its like there was an over production of these models and Amazon took a lot and is now trying to get rid of them as fast as possible. Those M2 Pro/Max models might not show up until late summer 2023.

No way "Those M2 Pro/Max models might not show up until late summer 2023" because they are already overdue and Apple has been missing out on lots of MBP sales. Only an extraordinarily serious supply disruption could force Apple to keep leaving all that much money on the table for a year.

 

[Mr. Dee]

No way "Those M2 Pro/Max models might not show up until late summer 2023" because they are already overdue and Apple has been missing out on lots of MBP sales. Only an extraordinarily serious supply disruption could force Apple to keep leaving all that much money on the table for a year.

Its possible at the same time due to the state of the economy, nobody is really buying MacBook Pros. Everyone in some ways is working with what they already have. Also, whoever wanted a powerful MacBook Pro already bought one and has no plans to upgrade for years.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Its possible at the same time due to the state of the economy, nobody is really buying MacBook Pros. Everyone in some ways is working with what they already have. Also, whoever wanted a powerful MacBook Pro already bought one and has no plans to upgrade for years.

Following various fora like this one I get the impression (just a guess) that there are a large number of folks like me who have been ready to spend their ~$4k for a solid M2 MBP upgrade for months now.

The boxes being discussed comprise the high end pro level, not basic consumer level. Folks like us upgrade every 3-6 years, not impulse purchases unless a box dies. E.g. my partner upgrading from her top 2017 MBP bought a 13" M2 MBP and she probably would have bought a much pricier 14" M2 MBP if they were available. I bought a top MBP in 2011, 2017 and would be 2022 if announced.

 

[CalMin]

Yup. And now you have had a year's usage of the world's best laptop (IMO) at the time. But now M1 is last year's tech, at least a year behind what Apple will gives us in the next 1-3 months. Anyone buying M1 today is choosing to spend the next 3-6 years a year behind on the tech curve.

Interesting, but M2Pro is likely going to be minor speed bump of 15-20%. Put it this way, I don't think that many M1Pro owners are even close so to the limits of their machines, so despite being a year old this is still a solid purchase for many, vs. $500 extra on M2Pro with power that most don't need.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Just curious I've never bought an Apple product from anyone but Apple, any drawbacks? Are they new or refurb?

Generally such boxes are new, no issues except discounts are usually only available with base RAM and base SSD, which is a deal killer for most pro users. Most pros will find that they take advantage of more RAM and more SSD in the next 5 years than they did in the last 5 years, a solid truism since 1984. In my experience Apple supports everything equally no matter where purchased.

All that said, personally I prefer buying from Apple unless the savings are quite significant.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Interesting, but M2Pro is likely going to be minor speed bump of 15-20%. Put it this way, I don't think that many M1Pro owners are even close so to the limits of their machines, so despite being a year old this is still a solid purchase for many, vs. $500 extra on M2Pro with power that most don't need.

I disagree with that comment. My commentary is not about existing M1 Pro users upgrading. It is about folks upgrading from their 3-5 year-old existing high end boxes to some new high end box.

1) 15-20% is not minor. Choosing to have 15-20% less power available for the unknowns of the next 3-6 years is a big value-loss to folks upgrading their existing high end $4k computers.

2) Other potentially huge architectural issues may present that are not simply characterized by a simplistic speed bump estimate. WiFi 6E?, Bluetooth 5.3?, HDMI, etc. We will not know until we see an M2 spec announcement.

3) This is tech, where application demands and hardware competence change very quickly and inexorably. Making that every 5 years purchase decison based on last year's computer running last year's app demands is very poor decision making when still we have not seen tech or pricing on the imminent new M2 hardware.

4) M2 boxes have thousands of hours of engineering expertise spent improving over M1. Over the 5 years of usage of a new box the impact of all that engineering expertise will be felt, even if not readily documented.

That said, of course some buyers will optimize financially by buying discounted now-old-tech M1 (like my 2016 purchase in 2017). But IMO doing so without even see M2 is poor decision making.

 

[CalMin]

I disagree with that comment. My commentary is not about existing M1 Pro users upgrading. It is about folks upgrading from their 3-5 year-old existing high end boxes to some new high end box.

1) 15-20% is not minor. Choosing to have 15-20% less power available for the unknowns of the next 3-6 years is a big value-loss to folks upgrading their existing high end $4k computers.

2) Other potentially huge architectural issues may present that are not simply characterized by a simplistic speed bump estimate. WiFi 6E?, Bluetooth 5.3?, HDMI, etc. We will not know until we see an M2 spec announcement.

3) This is tech, where application demands and hardware competence change very quickly and inexorably. Making that every 5 years purchase decison based on last year's computer running last year's app demands is very poor decision making when still we have not seen tech or pricing on the imminent new M2 hardware.

4) M2 boxes have thousands of hours of engineering expertise spent improving over M1. Over the 5 years of usage of a new box the impact of all that engineering expertise will be felt, even if not readily documented.

That said, of course some buyers will optimize financially by buying discounted now-old-tech M1 (like my 2016 purchase in 2017). But IMO doing so without even see M2 is poor decision making.

All good points.

But... it doesn't change the fact that this is a killer deal right now if you need a new MacBook Pro today and can't wait for whenever Apple chooses to release M2. Plus the new M2Pro's won't be discounted for a few months and $500 is quite a savings.

Before the M1, I always got the discounted version before the new one came out, except when a major redesign was expected. I don't think the M2Pro's will be much different to the M1Pro. But... I've been wrong before. Many times in fact!!

 

[transphasic]

Following various fora like this one I get the impression (just a guess) that there are a large number of folks like me who have been ready to spend their ~$4k for a solid M2 MBP upgrade for months now.

The boxes being discussed comprise the high end pro level, not basic consumer level. Folks like us upgrade every 3-6 years, not impulse purchases unless a box dies. E.g. my partner upgrading from her top 2017 MBP bought a 13" M2 MBP and she probably would have bought a much pricier 14" M2 MBP if they were available. I bought a top MBP in 2011, 2017 and would be 2022 if announced.

Are you aware that the M2 MBP will only be at most - an incremental improvement over the M1? We are talking iPhone 13 to 14 here, and will not put people "behind the tech curve for the next 3-5 years".

 

[transphasic]

Generally such boxes are new, no issues except discounts are usually only available with base RAM and base SSD, which is a deal killer for most pro users. Most pros will find that they take advantage of more RAM and more SSD in the next 5 years than they did in the last 5 years, a solid truism since 1984. In my experience Apple supports everything equally no matter where purchased.

All that said, personally I prefer buying from Apple unless the savings are quite significant.

Again, you are making statements that are patently false. In late Oct and early Nov, with a handful of sales currently, the higher end models have also been heavily discounted.

I personally saved over $1,000 on mine (sale posted above) compared to Apple's pricing, and I have a 32 core/64GB unit.

As for waiting, that argument was addressed in about 20 other threads in this and other MR forums.

 

[nick42983]

I think the short answer is it depends where you are today. Take a look at what's on your drive and assume you will need double in 2-3 years time. If that doubling takes you close to, or above 512GB, then consider the 1TB machine. That is, of course, you plan to keep the machine that long.

--

As for me, I keep mine at around 650GB, but there's stuff on there that I don't need day to day, it's just convenient to have. I am a bit of a data hoarder, but a big space hog is a Windows 11 VM (which I need) and a couple of games on it (which I don't). I have all the Logic Pro sounds on the machine and a huge photo library, 200gigs of email and documents since 2000 (I never delete email). (I also have a 40TB NAS that's about half-full, so there's that!!)

I could cope with a less but my last two Macs were forced upgrades because of disk space. The CPU, RAM and overall performance was fine, but I kept running low on storage, and it got annoying having to juggle external drives when I wanted to edit some video (esp. on the 256GB 2015 15" MBP because drives kept disconnecting.)

It ultimately depends on software and MacOS, but I think the M1Pro CPU's are going to have a long life-span, like 3-5 years before they start to feel old, and 5-7 years before they get annoying to use. A year into ownership, and I have a ton of background apps, foreground apps, 3 screens and too many windows, then I open up a Windows 11 VM and then switch to another user account via fast user switching - and it just doesn't slow down. And that's with "just" 16GB RAM. Amazing.

Thanks for the detailed answer. I've only ever had 256GB Macs so even a 512GB would afford a lot of breathing room. I am starting to do more video editing but once I finish a project I'd have no need to have the files sitting on my drive and I've even been able to edit off of an external SSD on my 2015 MBP just fine so I don't think I'd even really need more space. I'd love to have a 4TB drive so I could finally organize all my photos in one place, but I can also do this on an external drive at a much lower cost. I'll keep my eyes peeled and if that $1599 deal pops up again I'll probably go for it.