Apple discounts follow patterns as predictable as the tides, and approximately as exciting. Here's the calendar, mapped month by month, so you can time your purchase with mechanical precision.
Picture buying a MacBook Pro at full price on a Tuesday in October, only for Apple to announce a new model three days later and the previous generation to drop in price. This article exists so that does not happen to you.
MacBook pricing follows seasonal patterns. These patterns are documented nowhere in their entirety. They are now documented here.
Expected discount: modest, but real
Retailers clear holiday inventory. Best Buy and Amazon typically offer a modest discount off current-generation MacBooks throughout January. Refurbished stock from holiday returns hits Apple's refurbished store around January 15-20. This is not the best time to buy, but it is not the worst. It is, in the parlance of our analysis, "acceptable."
Expected discount: essentially none
February is the least interesting month for MacBook deals. Prices return to near-MSRP. Retailers are between promotional cycles. The Editorial Staff recommends patience. Patience costs nothing and frequently pays dividends. We are aware this sounds like a fortune cookie. We stand by it.
Expected discount: the year's most reliable markdown, on outgoing models
Apple has announced new MacBook Air models in March in three of the past four years (2022, 2024, 2025). When a new model is announced, the previous generation immediately drops at third-party retailers. Apple's own store discontinues the old model, but Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H sell remaining stock at significant discounts. In March 2025, the outgoing MacBook Air dropped within 48 hours of the new model's announcement. This is the single most predictable deal of the year.
Strategy: If you do not need the newest model — and the Editorial Staff gently submits that you probably do not — March is an excellent time to buy the previous generation.
Expected discount: minor, opportunistic
Prices stabilize. Occasional Amazon lightning deals appear for 4-8 hours, typically a modest amount off. These are worth catching but not worth planning your life around.
Expected discount: small early deals, building toward Prime Day
Amazon begins pre-Prime Day pricing in late June. MacBook discounts appear as "early deals." Best Buy and Walmart match selectively. The Editorial Staff recommends waiting for the actual Prime Day event unless the pre-event price matches historical Prime Day lows, which it occasionally does.
Expected discount: the second-best window of the year
Amazon Prime Day (typically mid-July) consistently delivers meaningful discounts off current-generation MacBooks. In July 2025, the MacBook Air M4 13-inch base model saw one of its steeper markdowns of the year; the 15-inch followed the same pattern. Best Buy matches Amazon's Prime Day pricing in real-time, a practice they call "competitive pricing" and we call "copying Amazon's homework."
Every year since 2023, Prime Day pricing on the MacBook Air has landed meaningfully below where it had been selling — check the deal cards below for the current numbers.
Prime Day is the second-best buying window of the year.
Expected discount: gift card promotion + education pricing
Apple's Back to School promotion runs from approximately mid-June through late September. The current offer bundles an Apple Gift Card with any MacBook purchase through Apple's education store. Combined with the education pricing discount, the effective savings are meaningful.
You must be a student, educator, parent of a student, or someone who falls into one of Apple's other eligible categories. The verification process is... let us say, less rigorous than one might expect. We make no recommendation regarding the verification process. We merely observe that it exists.
Expected discount: mirrors March, for the Pro line
Apple typically announces new MacBook Pro models in October or November. The pattern mirrors March: outgoing models drop immediately. If you are shopping for a MacBook Pro specifically, October is your month. MacBook Air pricing is largely unaffected.
Expected discount: the best of the year
Black Friday is the best single day for MacBook deals. Period.
Every recent Black Friday has delivered the MacBook Air's lowest price of that entire model year, with the major retailers converging within hours of each other. The MacBook Air M4's Black Friday 2025 price was the lowest verified price for that model to date. Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart all converged on it within hours of each other. B&H matched by end of day. It was the closest thing to retailer solidarity we have ever witnessed.
Black Friday deals typically begin on the Monday before Thanksgiving and extend through Cyber Monday. The best prices appear on Thanksgiving Day itself and Black Friday morning.
Expected discount: fading, then gone
Deals persist through early December but weaken. By December 15, prices return to near-MSRP. Last-minute holiday shoppers pay a premium. The Editorial Staff does not shop last-minute. We shop according to the calendar. This calendar.
If you can wait: Buy on Black Friday. Meaningful savings on current-generation models are close to guaranteed.
If you need one now: Check Amazon and B&H daily. Set a CamelCamelCamel price alert at whatever price makes sense to you.
If you are flexible on generation: Buy in March when the new model launches and the previous generation drops significantly.
If you are a student: Buy during Back to School (June-September) and stack the education discount with the gift card promotion.
The retail calendar effectively keeps its own spreadsheet, written in the price-history charts anyone can pull up on CamelCamelCamel or Keepa. We have looked at enough of them that certain patterns start to feel less like data and more like personality flaws — Walmart's, mostly.
Our deals page shows current, time-stamped Amazon prices. They are, we believe, correct.
-- The BuyGetRewards Editorial Staff
Every price on our deal pages comes from Amazon and shows when it was last checked. Browse today's deals →
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