The weekend’s best deals: MacBook Pros, “buy 2, get 1 free” sales, and more

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

It's the weekend, which means the time has come for another Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the best tech deals from around the web includes a couple of discounts on Apple's 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, with the former down to $1,799 at Amazon and Best Buy and the latter available for $2,299 at the same retailers.

Both laptops are still expensive, clearly, but each offer represents a $200 drop from Apple's MSRP and a roughly $130-150 drop from the notebooks' usual street prices online. Both deals are only $50 more than the lowest prices we've tracked, too. These discounts apply to the 512GB versions of the laptops, but if you need more storage space, the 1TB variants of each model are currently $200 off MSRP as well.

We gave this MacBook Pro a glowing review when it launched last October, calling it "the best laptop you can buy" for heavier-duty tasks like software development and content creation. The M1 Pro chip found in these discounted models is still a powerful and efficient performer—though, of the options below, the 16-inch version carries a couple more CPU and GPU cores—and the battery life on each laptop is still exceptional, typically lasting around 12-15 hours per charge. These notebooks are on the heavier side (3.5 lbs. for the 14-inch, 4.7 lbs. for the 16-inch), and the iPhone-inspired "notch" above each display may not sit right with everyone. But generally speaking, each device has a premium feel, with a reliable keyboard and trackpad underneath a bright and accurate Mini LED display. For a modern Apple laptop, the port selection here is relatively diverse as well, covering three Thunderbolt ports, an HDMI port, and an SD card slot.