Weekly Mac Deals: Amazon has some amazing discounts

Look, I don't usually get excited about Amazon Mac deals because the discounts are typically five bucks off something nobody wanted. But right now there's a run on the whole current Mac lineup that's actually worth talking about. The MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and the M4 iMac are all sitting at prices that meaningfully beat what Apple charges direct. Here's what each one is, who it's for, and whether the deal is worth your money.

MacBook Neo at $589

Buy the MacBook Neo on Amazon

The Neo is Apple's newest and cheapest laptop, and the first Mac to ship with an A series chip instead of an M series. This base config gets you:

• 13 inch Liquid Retina display, 500 nits
• Apple A18 Pro chip (6 core CPU, 5 core GPU)
• 8GB unified memory
• 256GB SSD
• 1080p FaceTime HD camera
• Magic Keyboard, Force Touch trackpad
• 2.7 pounds

The Neo launched in March at $599 for the base model, so this isn't a massive discount, but it's a brand new product so any movement is notable.

Who this is for: students, kids getting their first Mac, anyone who wants a real macOS machine without spending Air money. If your computing day is Safari, Pages, email, and the occasional Zoom, the Neo handles it. Honestly, I think this is going to be the laptop Apple sells the most of this year.

The catch is the 8GB of RAM. It's fine for what most Neo buyers will do with it, but if you're juggling thirty tabs and want headroom for years, the Air is worth the jump.

MacBook Air 13 inch at $999

Buy the MacBook Air on Amazon

This is the sweet spot in the lineup, and the Amazon price is a $200 discount on what Apple charges for this exact configuration. The specs:

• 13.6 inch Liquid Retina display, 500 nits, P3 wide color
• Apple M4 chip (10 core CPU, 10 core GPU)
• 16GB unified memory
• 512GB SSD
• Up to 18 hours battery life
• Two Thunderbolt 4 ports, MagSafe 3
• 12MP Center Stage camera, four speaker system with Spatial Audio
• Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3

Personally, this is the Mac I recommend to almost everyone. 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage at a thousand dollars is the configuration that ages well. The base 256GB Air saves you money up front and then frustrates you in eighteen months.

Who this is for: anyone who wants one computer that handles work, school, photo editing, light video work, and lasts a full day on battery. Most people. If you've been waiting for an M4 Air at a real discount, this is it.

MacBook Pro 14 inch at $1,499

Buy the MacBook Pro on Amazon

The 14 inch Pro at $300 off is the deal in this list that's most worth thinking about, because Pro discounts are rare. Specs on this config:

• 14.2 inch Liquid Retina XDR display, 1000 nits sustained, 1600 nits peak HDR
• Apple M4 chip (10 core CPU, 10 core GPU)
• 16GB unified memory
• 1TB SSD
• Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, SDXC card slot, MagSafe 3
• Six speaker sound system with force cancelling woofers
• Up to 24 hours battery life
• Space Black or Silver

Here's the deal: the base M4 Pro at $1,499 with 1TB of storage is the most reasonable case for buying a Pro over the Air I've seen in a while. You get the XDR display, real HDR, three Thunderbolt ports, the SD card slot, double the storage of the Air deal above, and battery life that's almost comically long.

Who this is for: photo and video people, developers, anyone running real workloads who wants ports and a better screen. If the Air feels like a stretch for what you do, this is the upgrade.

One honest note: this is the base M4, not the M4 Pro chip. If you need real GPU horsepower for ProRes editing or heavy 3D, you want to step up to an M4 Pro configuration. For everything else, the M4 is plenty.

iMac M4 at $1,186

Buy the iMac M4 on Amazon

The iMac doesn't get talked about enough. It's the only Mac most people would actually want as their main desk setup, and this deal knocks the base 16GB / 256GB model down from $1,299. Specs:

• 24 inch 4.5K Retina display, 500 nits, P3 wide color, True Tone
• Apple M4 chip (8 core CPU, 8 core GPU)
• 16GB unified memory
• 256GB SSD
• Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
• 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View
• Three mic array, six speaker system with Spatial Audio
• Color matched Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse included
• Seven colors: blue, green, pink, yellow, orange, purple, silver

Who this is for: anyone who works from a desk and would rather have one beautiful all in one than a laptop hooked up to a separate monitor. The 4.5K display alone would cost a few hundred dollars on its own, and you get the computer attached to it. The peripherals come color matched in the box, which is the kind of detail that still makes me smile.

The tradeoff with this base model is the 256GB storage and the two port limit. If you store a lot of local files or need more than a couple of Thunderbolt devices, the four port version is worth considering at full price. For most desktop users, 256GB plus iCloud handles it fine.

Which one should you actually buy

If I had to rank the deals by how much value you get for the discount: the MacBook Pro at $1,499 is the standout, the MacBook Air at $999 is the easiest recommendation for most people, the iMac is the right call if you want a desk setup, and the MacBook Neo is the right call only if you specifically need to spend the least amount possible.

Trust me on this one: don't buy a Mac with 8GB of RAM if you can stretch to 16GB. The Neo is the exception because it's priced for that specific job. Every other Mac on this list comes with 16GB standard, and you'll be glad they do in three years.

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