Early Black Friday discounts are live on Macs, and a few of them are the lowest prices since Apple raised its list prices this summer. Black Friday is on 27 November, which leaves 23 days from today (4 November 2026) if you’d rather gamble on a better offer.
Prices below are US dollars, because the deal and list figures I could verify are all US. I couldn’t confirm current EU prices after the summer increases; for reference, GSMArena reported the MacBook Neo at €699 when it launched in March.
The five Macs worth considering
The current line-up is wide, but five machines cover almost every sensible purchase: the MacBook Neo, the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air with M5, the Mac mini with M6 and the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6. List prices come from Macworld, MacRumors and 9to5Mac. Deal prices are Amazon’s, as tracked by MacRumors and 9to5Mac on 1 to 3 November 2026.
| Model | Chip | Memory / SSD (GB) | Weight (kg) | List price (USD) | Deal price (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MacBook Neo | A18 Pro | 8 / 256 | 1.23 | 699 | 669.22 |
| MacBook Air 13-inch | M5 | 16 / 512 | 1.23 | 1,299 | 1,099.99 |
| MacBook Air 15-inch | M5 | 16 / 512 | 1.51 | 1,499 | 1,299 |
| Mac mini | M6 | 16 / 256 | desktop | 899 | 779 |
| MacBook Pro 14-inch | M6 | 16 / 1,000 | n/a | 1,999 | none found |
The weights come from GSMArena for the Neo and Wccftech for the Airs. I found no verified weight for the MacBook Pro, and the Mac mini has no screen to carry around. The Pro’s 1,000GB is the 1TB base SSD.
Source: Macworld, MacRumors and 9to5Mac, US list prices for base configurations as of 4 November 2026
The chart shows the list price of each model as of 4 November 2026: $699 for the Neo, $899 for the Mac mini, $1,299 and $1,499 for the two Airs, $1,999 for the Pro. The Air’s list price is $200 above its March launch price of $1,099, and the Mac mini’s base price is $100 above the model it replaces. That is why the early deals matter more than usual.
The specs that decide this purchase
Memory
Memory is soldered in, so what you buy is what you keep; Wikipedia’s Mac mini entry lists non-upgradeable RAM and storage among the usual criticisms. The Neo has 8GB, which TapSmart calls its main ceiling. Every other model in the table starts at 16GB, and the Mac mini M6 tops out at 32GB.
Our calculation: at list price the Neo costs $699 / 8GB = $87.38 per GB of memory, while the 13-inch Air costs $1,299 / 16GB = $81.19. The Air also doubles the storage, 512GB against 256GB. If memory is your yardstick, the Neo is cheaper in total but not cheaper per gigabyte.
Storage
The Air starts at 512GB, double its old base. The Mac mini M6 is the odd one: its $899 base has only 256GB, and the 512GB version has a deal price of $949 as of 3 November 2026. The 24GB/512GB mini is $1,149 on the same list. On the Neo, Touch ID comes only with the 512GB version, GSMArena notes.
Chip and cooling
The Neo runs an A18 Pro, an iPhone-class chip with a 6-core CPU and 5-core GPU, which is plenty for browsing, office work and light photo editing. Apple says the Air’s SSD is up to 2x faster than the previous Air’s. Neither has a fan, so sustained loads such as long video exports or heavy games will throttle sooner than on the Pro or the mini.
The Mac mini M6 is Apple’s first 2nm Mac chip, with a 12-core CPU and 170GB/s of memory bandwidth, up from 153GB/s on M5 and 120GB/s on M4. TechRepublic’s cheat sheet adds support for three external displays. The Neo handles one external display at 4K and 60Hz, according to AppleInsider.
Screen, battery and ports
The Neo has a 13-inch, 2,408 x 1,506 IPS panel at 60Hz and 500 nits. Its keyboard has no backlight, and its two USB-C ports differ: one is USB 3, the other USB 2. Apple rates battery life at up to 16 hours of video or 11 hours of web use.
The 13-inch Air has a 13.6-inch, 2,560 x 1,664 panel and the 15-inch a 15.3-inch, 2,880 x 1,864 one. Both top out at 500 nits with no ProMotion, per Wccftech, and carry 55.8Wh and 66.5Wh batteries respectively. Apple rates the M6 MacBook Pro at up to 24 hours of video or 16 hours of web browsing, according to Macworld, and it keeps the M5 model’s display.
The Mac mini M6 brings three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI and Ethernet on the back, plus two USB-C ports and a headphone jack on the front. Gigabit-class networking is standard at 2.5Gb, with 10Gb as an upgrade, and Wi-Fi 7 is built in.
Model by model
MacBook Neo. Apple’s cheapest laptop launched at $599 and now lists at $699 for the 256GB model. Amazon has it at $669.22 as of 2 November 2026, which MacRumors says is the best price since the summer increases. 9to5Mac points out that Apple’s own refurbished Neos run $100 to $120 below retail, with the same one-year warranty.
13-inch MacBook Air (M5). The M5 Air arrived in March at $1,099, and Apple later moved the same configuration to $1,299. Amazon is back at $1,099.99 for the 16GB/512GB model, with the 1TB version at $1,399.99. A 24GB/1TB configuration is $1,599 on Amazon.
15-inch MacBook Air (M5). The larger Air weighs 1.51kg against 1.23kg and has the bigger battery. Its 16GB/512GB configuration lists at $1,499 and sits at $1,299 on Amazon.
Mac mini (M6). It shipped on 22 September from $899, and 9to5Mac describes the base price as $100 above the M4 version’s. Amazon has taken $120 to $150 off most configurations, so the 16GB/256GB model is $779 and 16GB/512GB is $949. The M5 Pro mini, with 24GB and 512GB, lists at $1,699 and has dropped to $1,549.99.
14-inch MacBook Pro (M6). It starts at $1,999 and goes on sale on 6 November. The M5 model it replaces had 16GB and 1TB at the same price, per 9to5Mac, and MacRumors says everything else is unchanged. I found no discounts yet.
Best for… picks by budget and use
- Tightest budget: MacBook Neo. Students and second-Mac buyers get a proper macOS laptop for $669.22 at Amazon’s current price. Check the Neo’s 8GB if you keep dozens of browser tabs open, and note the single-display limit.
- Most people: 13-inch MacBook Air M5. At $1,099.99 you get 16GB, 512GB, a fanless body and the same 1.23kg as the Neo. This is where a deal changes the maths most, because it undoes nearly all of the $200 summer increase.
- Bigger screen: 15-inch MacBook Air M5. At $1,299 it is the cheapest route to a 15.3-inch Mac laptop in this line-up, since the Pro starts $700 higher at list.
- Desktop: Mac mini M6, 16GB/512GB. $949 gets you a machine that drives three displays. You supply the monitor, keyboard and mouse. Step up to the M5 Pro model at $1,549.99 only if you need the extra CPU and GPU cores. A Mac Studio with an M5 Max, 36GB and 512GB is on sale at $2,299 against a $2,499 list if even that is short.
- Portable power: 14-inch MacBook Pro M6. The $1,999 price buys 1TB, a fan, more ports and 24 hours of rated video playback. Apple also announced touchscreen OLED MacBook Pro models at $2,899 for the 14-inch and $3,399 for the 16-inch, with the same 6 November launch, according to MacRumors.
Buy now or wait
The one credible replacement on the horizon is a MacBook Air with M6. This is a rumour: MacRumors expects it around March 2027 with the current design, little else changed, and a good chance of a higher starting price. An OLED Air is rumoured for 2028 or 2029 at the earliest.
For the Mac mini, MacBook Pro 14-inch and Neo, nothing is rumoured to replace them soon. They are fresh or new-chip designs, so waiting buys you only a possible Black Friday discount. The Air is the one worth a decision: buy at $1,099.99 now, or wait for a likely pricier M6 model and an older-stock clearance in spring.
What this means for you
If you want a laptop and have about $1,100, buy the 13-inch M5 MacBook Air at Amazon’s current price.
If $700 is the ceiling, take the MacBook Neo or an Apple refurbished one. If you already own a monitor, the $949 Mac mini M6 with 512GB is the better value than a laptop of the same price. Note that the $779 base model’s 256GB fills quickly if you work with video or large photo libraries.
If you’re buying a MacBook Pro, the $1,999 M6 model suits most people; the touchscreen OLED versions start $900 higher for the 14-inch. Set a price alert on your exact configuration, and compare it against 27 November and Cyber Monday on 30 November before you click buy.
Sources
- MacRumors: Best Early Black Friday Mac Deals: Save Hundreds on MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and More
- MacRumors: Apple Announces New 14-Inch MacBook Pro With M6 Chip
- MacRumors: Apple Announces OLED MacBook Pro With Touch Display
- MacRumors: M6 MacBook Air: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect
- 9to5Mac: These are the best MacBook deals right now: November 2026 Buyer’s Guide
- 9to5Mac: Apple announces new Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro chips
- 9to5Mac: Touchscreen OLED MacBook Pro launches this week, here’s how the lineup will look
- Macworld: M5 MacBook Air guide: Price, specs, performance and buying advice
- Macworld: M6 MacBook Pro: Release date, price, specs and buying advice
- GSMArena: MacBook Neo arrives with A18 Pro chip, $599 starting price
- AppleInsider: MacBook Neo
- Wccftech: M5 MacBook Air Specifications, Features, Price Roundup
- TechRepublic: Mac Mini M6 Cheat Sheet: Price, Specs, Ports and Configurations
- TapSmart: Mac Buyer’s Guide 2026: which Mac is right for you?
- Wikipedia: Mac Mini
Header image: illustration, AI-generated.