How to get the best Mac for your Black Friday budget
The Black Friday sales have begun, with retailers across the country slashing prices and offering discounts on all the best Macs. You may have decided that now is the time to buy a new Apple computer, but with so many choices and so many aspects to consider, it can be difficult to make the right choices.
That’s where our guide to finding the best Mac for this Black Friday comes in. Here, we’ve looked at all the key decisions you’ll need to make when buying a Mac and explained the pros, cons, and pitfalls of each. By the end, you should have a better idea of what you need and feel ready to pull the trigger on that irresistible deal you’re considering.
Laptop vs. Desktop
The most fundamental decision you’ll have to make when buying a new Mac this Black Friday is whether you want a laptop or a desktop, because that choice will set the template for everything that follows.
The best starting point is to determine your priority: mobility or office work? Although a Mac like the Mac mini is small enough to easily fit in a bag, it’s not designed for mobile use. If you travel a lot and want a computer for those trips, get a laptop. Laptops offer good processing power and connectivity for on-the-go situations.
Foundry
On the other hand, if you want the most powerful option for a desktop, a desktop Mac will serve you well: they have more internal space to support the more powerful chips. The best chip you get in a MacBook is the M4 Max; In a desktop Mac, things go even higher with the high-end M3 Ultra. And desktops also offer more connectivity in terms of number of ports, so if you frequently connect a multitude of devices, that may play a role in your decision.
Speaking of peripherals, you get an extra element of flexibility here with a desktop Mac, because in most cases you can connect whatever monitor, mouse, and keyboard you want (rather than relying on a MacBook’s built-in screen and keyboard, for example). That said, the need to provide your own extras usually comes at an additional cost, so you’ll need to consider this before purchasing.
Our sale selections
Laptop: MacBook Air M4 15-inch with 512GB and 16GB RAM: $1,149 ($250 off)
Desk : Mac mini M4 Pro with 24GB RAM and 512GB storage: $1,199 ($200 off)
Air vs. Pro
If you have decided to go with an Apple laptop, the next decision you will face will be between the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro. The former focuses on lightweight portability, while the latter is where you’ll find Apple’s more powerful options.
Opting for the MacBook Pro unlocks a range of extras that aren’t available with the MacBook Air. This includes a premium Liquid Retina XDR display, longer battery life of up to 24 hours, more generous storage (both in terms of maximum and starting quantity), and more ports. These features will come in handy if you need a machine for demanding tasks or professional work.
The MacBook Air is a great choice for general consumers who also need to do occasional multimedia work.
Foundry
Additionally, the two laptop lines come in different sizes, although the differences are minimal: the MacBook Air is available with 13- and 15-inch screens, while the MacBook Pro comes in 14- and 16-inch versions. The MacBook Air is also much lighter, with the 13-inch model weighing 2.7 pounds compared to 3.4 pounds for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, for example.
Finally, there is the price. The MacBook Air is the more affordable of the two, with its price starting at $999 (and frequently being on sale for less at places like Amazon and Best Buy). The MacBook Pro, on the other hand, will cost you a minimum of $1,599. All that extra power comes at a cost.
Apple doesn’t use the Air and Pro brands for its desktop Macs, so it’s not as obvious how to differentiate between the separate models. Generally speaking, you have consumer machines like the iMac and Mac mini on one side, and professional computers like the Mac Studio and Mac Pro on the other. And then you and the M4 Pro Mac mini, which falls in between. We will return to these details later in this guide.
Our sale selections
MacBook Air: MacBook Air M4 15-inch with 512GB and 24GB RAM: $1,349 ($250 off)
MacBook Pro: 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 Pro with 1TB storage and 24GB RAM: $1,699 ($300 off)
Display
If you spend a lot of time looking at content on-screen, especially if it’s critical to your work or if accuracy is essential, it may pay to get a Mac with a higher-quality screen. In the case of MacBook laptops, this is found in the MacBook Pro’s Liquid Retina XDR display.
This offers a resolution of 3024 × 1964 pixels compared to the 2880 × 1864 resolution of the standard Liquid Retina display on the MacBook Air. And there’s the addition of ProMotion adaptive refresh rate technology that can reach up to 120Hz, which is great for smoother scrolling and more enjoyable gaming experiences.
The iMac has a 24-inch built-in display.
Foundry
It also brings a lot more brightness to the table: 1,000 nits of sustained brightness and 1,600 nits of peak brightness for HDR content. This should be especially useful for working outdoors or in other bright conditions. On the other hand, the MacBook Air only reaches 500 nits.
On the office side, things are a little more complex. That’s because most desktop Macs don’t come with their own display (except for the iMac, which has a 24-inch screen with 4.5K resolution and 500 nits brightness), so you’ll need to provide your own.
There’s a wide range to choose from, but some of the best Mac monitors include high resolutions and refresh rates, plenty of ergonomic adjustments, and a screen size large enough for you to work comfortably. If you’re going for a desktop this Black Friday, be sure to factor in the cost of a monitor if you don’t already have yours.
The chip: M4 versus M5
You might think that choosing a chip is as simple as opting for Apple’s latest M5, but things aren’t that simple right now. Right now, in fact, Apple offers three generations of chips in its Mac lineup, with chips from the M3, M4, and M5 generations all available in current Macs. Which should you choose?
The M3 Ultra Mac Studio is Apple’s fastest Mac.
Foundry
Since the M4 and M5 are part of the largest selection of recent Macs, we’ll start there. Both chips are fantastic options that provide more than enough power for most people. However, the M5 is only available on the MacBook Pro at the moment; the MacBook Air is still on M4 but should migrate to the M5 chip in early 2026. If you opt for a MacBook Air, the choice of an M4 chip has already been made for you.
Then there are the different tiers, like M4 Pro, M4 Max, etc. Delving deeper here, much of your choice depends on your workload. The M4 Max is the most powerful M4 chip available, while the M3 line is rounded out with the M3 Ultra (which is also Apple’s highest performance option across all chip generations). The M5 range currently only extends to the base M5.
If you need something for professional workloads or high-end gaming, you’ll probably want to look at the M4 Max or M3 Ultra. These chips are available in MacBook Pro, Mac Studio and Mac Pro.
Our sales selection
MacBook Pro M5: 14-inch MacBook Pro M5 with 24GB RAM and 1TB storage: $1,799 ($200 off)
Memory
Memory (Apple calls it “unified memory,” usually called RAM and not to be confused with storage) is important for multitasking and helping demanding applications run quickly and efficiently. You can’t change it once you buy a Mac, so it’s important to get it right the first time.
The Mac mini, like most of Apple’s consumer Mac models, starts with 16 GB of unified memory.
IDG
The amount you need depends on your workload. If you just browse the internet and send emails, the base 16GB will be enough. But if you’re training AI models, processing large data sets, or editing huge videos, you’ll need at least 24GB – buy as much as you can afford.
Make sure you think carefully about what you actually need, because you can’t change the memory once you buy your Mac.
Storage
Storage is very important, because (like memory) you can’t change it once you’ve made your decision – although the situation is a little less drastic than with memory, because you can buy external SSDs and hard drives to supplement your Mac’s internal storage.
If you start to run out of storage, you can always get an external storage device and connect it via Thunderbolt or USB-C.
Thiago Trévisan/Foundry
Storage space can run out quickly, especially as your needs change. Think carefully about the things you’ll use your Mac for, both now and as a rough estimate of what might happen in the future. Apple charges $200 for each upgrade level on its Macs, and most start at 256GB of storage, so you need to think about everything you want to use the Mac for before deciding what to buy.
For example, are you likely to install heavy apps that eat up your available storage space? Are you going to store tons of large photos and videos? Are you going to use your machine to play big AAA games? These are the kinds of things that can quickly eat up your available space.
There are ways to save internal disk space, however. Use cloud storage and you’ll be able to download files from your Mac, freeing up space for other things. And if you make sure to regularly uninstall large apps you no longer need or use Apple’s Optimize Storage feature in the System Settings app, which periodically deletes TV shows and email attachments you’re done with, you can reclaim space and save storage.
Our sales selection
Thunderbolt 4 SSD: OWC 1TB Express 1M2 40Gbps Portable NVMe SSD: $200 ($30 off)
Ready to shop?
Once you’ve determined your Mac needs, check out our coverage of the best Black Friday Mac deals. We also have a guide to the best Apple deals if you’re looking for iPhones, iPads, AirPods and more.
