The best MacBook deals for students

When it comes to buying a MacBook for school, students are usually in a situation where personal budgets are tight and money needs to be spent wisely. It’s not enough to say that students need the right amount of processing power for the job at hand: they also need to get a good deal and get a machine that will last for many years.

Finding a good deal is a chore, but we’re here to help. Our automatically updated price comparison tool helps you make sure you’re getting the best deal, and on top of that, we personally handpick the deals we think you should consider. Below, you’ll find our MacBook recommendations for students, along with the best deals. Beyond that, we’ve got you covered with tips and information you need to know about buying as a student, so you can save money. Read on or click the links in the table of contents to jump to the section that interests you.

Read our guide to the best Macs for students if you’re interested in a desktop or laptop.

The best MacBook Air deals right now

Here are some of the best deals we’re seeing right now.

Best MacBook Air deals in the US for students

• Walmart, 13-inch MacBook Air (M1, 256GB SSD): $649 ($350 off, MSRP was $999)
• Amazon, 13-inch MacBook Air (M2, 256GB SSD): $889 ($100 off, MSRP $999)
• Amazon: MacBook Air 13-inch (M4, 256GB SSD): $999 ($100 off MSRP, $1,099)

Best MacBook Air deals in the UK for students

• KRCS, MacBook Air 13-inch, M3 (10-core GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB) £1,424 (£75 off, RRP £1,499)
• KRCS, MacBook Air 15-inch, M3 (10-core GPU, 256GB) £1,234 (£65 off, RRP £1,299)
• KRCS, MacBook Air 15-inch, M3 (10-core GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB) £1,614 (£85 off, RRP £1,699)

For more deals, take a look at this month’s best MacBook Air deals.

The best MacBook Pro deals right now

Here are some of the best deals we’re seeing right now.

Best MacBook Pro Deals in the US for students

• Amazon, 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3, 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 512GB): $1,399 ($200 off, MSRP $1,599)
• Amazon, 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3 Pro, 12-core GPU, 18-core GPU, 1TB): $2,200 ($199 off, MSRP $2,399)
• Amazon, MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Pro, 12-core CPU, 18-core GPU, 512GB): $2,349 ($150 off, MSRP $2,499)

Best MacBook Pro deals in the UK for students

• Amazon, MacBook Pro 14-inch (M3 Pro, 10-core GPU, 14-core GPU, 512GB): £1,540 (£159 off, MSRP £1,699)
• Amazon, 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU), 8GB RAM, 1TB SSD: £1,700 (£199 off, MSRP £1,899)
• Amazon, 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro (11-core CPU, 14-core GPU), 18GB RAM, 512GB SSD: £1,880 (£219 off, MSRP £2,099)
• Amazon, 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro (12-core CPU, 18-core GPU), 18GB RAM, 1TB SSD: £2,230 (£269 off, MSRP £2,499)

For up-to-date deals, check out: The best MacBook Pro deals this month.

Best MacBook for High School: M2 MacBook Air

The MacBook Air is Apple’s most popular laptop, and for good reason: It’s the perfect combination of processing power, portability, and price. Its M-series processor handles everything from writing documents and presentations to searching the internet and even editing videos and audio. And when your homework is done, kick back and watch an Apple TV show or escape with a video game. Best of all, you can get one for under $1,000.

The MacBook Air M2 features a 13.3-inch Retina display, and inside its 2.7-pound (1.24 kg) body is an M2 processor with 8 CPU cores, 8 GPU cores, 8GB of memory, and a 256GB SSD. It has built-in Wi-Fi for connecting to the internet and two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports for connecting devices. And if you check Amazon or Best Buy, you can usually find it for $900 or less.

Best MacBook for College: MacBook Air M3

In college, you’re stepping up your academic game, so you need to upgrade your laptop to Apple’s MacBook Air M3. It handles everything the MacBook Air M2 does, but its M3 processor is about 20 percent faster. You’ll appreciate that faster speed when you’re creating complex presentations and videos. The display is also a bit bigger and brighter.

The $1,099 13-inch MacBook Air M3 features a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display and an M3 processor with 8 CPU cores, 8 GPU cores, 8GB of memory, and a 256GB SSD. It weighs 2.7 pounds (1.24 kilograms), is Wi-Fi enabled, and has two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports.

Best MacBook for Graduate School: 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 Pro

Apple’s 14-inch MacBook Pro features an M3 Pro processor, which is 18 percent faster than the M3 in the MacBook Air. If you’re in a field that involves processing a lot of data—multimedia, arts, engineering, or computer science, to name a few—you’ll want a MacBook that can minimize the amount of time you have to wait to process data. The MacBook Pro M3 Pro is made for that.

The $1,999 14-inch MacBook Pro features an M3 Pro with 11 CPU cores, 14 GPU cores, 18GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD. It has a Liquid Retina XDR display, three Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, an HDMI port, and an SDXC card slot.

How to use Apple’s Education Store

For students, teachers, professors, and homeschoolers of all levels, Apple is offering discounted pricing in its Education Store. Discounts range from $100/£100 to $200/£200, depending on the MacBook model. You can visit your country’s Education Store by clicking one of the links below.

Students must show proof of school enrollment to make purchases from the Apple Education Store. UK students must register with UNiDAYS. We have a separate article with details on how to get an Apple student discount from the Apple Education Store.

Other Ways to Find MacBook Deals

The Apple Education Store discount is great, but you’ll often find similar discounts at third-party resellers. You can use our price comparison tool to see what resellers are offering, and we also personally select deals in the section at the top of this page.

Here are some other ways to get a good price on a MacBook.

Buy a refurbished MacBook. Apple Certified Refurbished Stores often offer great prices on current and older laptops. Refurbished products are fully refurbished and are like new. Right out of the box, you can’t tell the difference between a refurbished MacBook and a new MacBook. The price savings can be great, better than the Education Store. The only problem is that your choices are limited to what’s in stock, which changes often.

Buy an older model. With Apple’s M-series chips, MacBook performance has reached new heights, so much so that many users aren’t about to push their limits. Apple is currently using the M3 series of chips, which typically offer around 20% more performance than the previous M2 series. But this M2 series (or even the M1) is certainly no slouch, offering a significant advantage over the Intel processors they replaced.

Not only is the MacBook Pro M2 worth considering for its performance, it also comes at attractive prices, often much lower than those in education stores. For example, the 12-inch MacBook Pro M2, which originally sold for $1,299, can be found online for $999.