• So far in June, we've seen $300 knocked off of the latest Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro in a variety of configurations, even the most powerful model that runs on Intel's Core i9 chip.
• The 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro also has a $200 discount, which means you can get the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro with Intel's latest 10-generation chips for $1,100 — that's the same price as a MacBook Air, but the MacBook Pro is more powerful.
• We've spotted other deals on Apple computers, headphones, and iPhone cases. We'll inevitably spot more soon, and we'll update this list when we find them.

The elusive Apple deal — it's not every day you come across a decent discount on some of the most coveted gadgets in the world. 

Indeed, Apple devices tend to be expensive, so we've included the best Apple deals we've seen so far below, and we continuously update this list with new top deals as we find them.

These are the best Apple deals right now:

Apple headphones

• Apple AirPods Pro — $233.00 on Amazon (originally $249.00)[You save $17.00]
• Apple AirPods (2nd-gen) Standard — $135 at B&H Photo (originally $159)[You save $25]
• Apple AirPods (2nd-gen) Wireless Charging — $140 at Micro Center (originally $199), in-store only, contactless pickup [You save $60]
• Apple AirPods (2nd-gen) Wireless Charging — $169 on Amazon (originally $199)You save $30]
• Powerbeats 3 Wireless — $90 at Best Buy (originally $200) [You save $110] (Author's note: Apple has a newer model of its Powerbeats earphones called the Powerbeats Pro.The Powerbeats 3 are still great, especially with such a big discount.)

Latest MacBook Air with 10th-gen Intel CPU starting at $899.99 from Amazon

• 2020 MacBook Air, 256GB, 10th-gen Intel Core i3 1.1GHz, 8GB RAM: $900 [$49 off, save an extra $50 at checkout]
• 2020 MacBook Air, 512GB, 10th-gen Intel Core i5 1.1GHz, 8GB RAM: $1,200 [$100 off]

Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro

• Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro 2.6GHz Core i7 six-core CPU; 16GB RAM; 512GB storage; AMD Radeon Pro 5300M 4GB GPU: $2,200 from B&H [You save $200]
• Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro; 2.3GHz Core i9 eight-core CPU; 16GB RAM; 1TB storage; AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 4GB GPU: $2,500 from B&H [You save $300]
• Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro; 2.4GHz Core i9 eight-core CPU; 32GB RAM; 2TB storage; AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 4GB GPU: $3,600 from B&H [You save $300]

Apple iPhone XS Max

• Apple iPhone XS Max, 64GB (Originally $1,000)— $700 at Woot [You save $300]
• Apple iPhone XS Max, 256GB (Originally $1,150)— $800 at Woot [You save $345]
• Apple iPhone XS Max, 512GB— $900 at Woot

40mm Apple Watch Series 5

• 40mm Apple Watch Series 5 GPS (originally $399) — $379 from Amazon [You save $20]
• 40mm Apple Watch Series 5 GPS + Cellular in (originally $499) — $484 from Amazon [You save $15]

44mm Apple Watch Series 5

• 44mm Apple Watch Series 5 (originally $429) — $414 from Amazon [You save $15]

Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max cases

• Apple Clear Case for iPhone 11 Pro Max — $34 at Amazon (originally $39) [You save $5]
• Apple Silicone Case for iPhone 11 Pro Max — starting at $30 at Amazon (originally $39) [You save $9]
• Apple Leather Case for iPhone 11 Pro Max — starting at $36 at Amazon (originally $49) [You save $14]

Apple iPhone 11 Pro cases

• Apple Silicone Case for iPhone 11 Pro — starting at $29 at Amazon (originally $39.99) [You save $10]

• Apple Leather Case for iPhone 11 Pro — starting at $35 at Amazon (originally $49) [You save $14]

Apple iPhone 11 cases

• Apple Silicone Case for iPhone 11 — starting at $27 at Amazon (originally $39) [You save $12]

Apple iPhone XS, XS Max, and Xr cases

iPhone XS Max

• Apple Silicone Case for iPhone XS Max — starting at $30 at Amazon (originally $39) [You save $9]
• Apple Leather Case for iPhone XS Max — starting at $37 at Amazon (originally $49) [You save $12]

iPhone XS

• Apple Leather Case for iPhone XS (black only) — $40 at Best Buy (originally $50) [You save $10]
• Apple Silicone Case for iPhone XS — starting from $31 at Amazon (originally $39) [You save $8]
• Apple Smart Battery Case for iPhone XS — starting from $102 (originally $129) [You save $27]

iPhone Xr

• Apple Smart Battery Case for iPhone Xr — starting at $102 (originally $129) [You save $27]

Apple's refurbished iMacs are good deals, too, and they're refurbished by Apple itself.

One of Apple's best kept secrets is its Refurbished Store where you can find a variety of pre-owned Apple products that have been refurbished by Apple itself. That means the refurbished devices are in perfect shape and working condition. When I bought my refurbished 2016 MacBook Pro from Apple's Refurbished Store, it felt like a brand new laptop with nothing to indicate that it had been previously owned. 

21.5-inch iMac

• Refurbished 2019 21.5-inch Core i5 3.0GHz (six-core) iMac with 8GB of RAM and 1TB Fusion drive storage —  $1,269.99 at Apple (originally $1,499) [You save $230]

27-inch iMac

• Refurbished 2019 27-inch Core i5 3.0GHz (six-core) iMac with 8GB of RAM and 1TB fusion drive storage — available at Apple $1,529.99 (originally $1,799) [You save $249.01]
• 2019 27-inch Core i5 3.1GHz (six-core) iMac with 8GB of RAM and 1TB fusion drive storage — available at Apple for $1,699.99 (originally $1,999) [You save $300]
• 2019 27-inch Core i5 3.7GHz (six-core) iMac with 8GB of RAM and 2TB fusion drive storage — available at Apple $1,949.99 (originally $2,299) [You save $349.01]

Apple on Monday sent out invitations to another product event, its third in three months. 

The invitation, titled "One More Thing," is a nod to Apple's famous habit of announcing one last product — often its most anticipated — at the end of its hardware events. The presentation will take place on November 10 at 10 a.m. PT.

This will be Apple's third product-launch event since September. The company first hosted an event to unveil its new Apple Watches and iPads and a second presentation in October to launch its new array of iPhones and a new HomePod. This event is expected to focus on Apple's new chips and the latest Mac lineup. 

Apple announced during its Worldwide Developers Conference in June that it would start putting its own chips in Mac computers instead of Intel's. The company previously said the first Apple silicon-based Mac would launch before the end of 2020 but didn't provide any additional details.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who frequently reports accurate details on upcoming Apple product launches, previously said the first Apple silicon-based MacBook would launch in November.

The shift is a critical one for Apple that will give the company more control over the product-development process for the Mac lineup, since it will no longer have to rely on Intel's release schedule. Apple develops custom processors for all of its other major products like the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, and doing so for the Mac could allow Apple to maintain more consistency across all of its products.

"When we look ahead, we envision some amazing new products," Apple CEO Tim Cook said during a presentation at WWDC in June. "And transitioning to our own custom silicon is what will enable us to bring them to life."

The switch also means iPhone apps will be able to run natively on the Mac because the product lines would be powered by one common architecture, significantly expanding the number of apps available for the Mac. 

Apple expects the transition to take two years, but the company also said it would continue supporting Intel-based Macs.

A new Mac computer running on Apple's chip is just one of several new products the company is developing, according to reports from Bloomberg, 9to5Mac, and MacRumors. Apple is also said to be working on its first pair of over-ear headphones, an accessory for finding lost items with your iPhone that could be called AirTags, and a faster Apple TV.

SEE ALSO: The most exciting new tech gadgets of 2020 are designed for the future, not today

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Apple has yet to introduce the first Mac laptop that will run on the new homemade chip it announced back in June, but an early report suggests the company is expecting demand to be strong.

Apple has ordered 2.5 million units of its first MacBooks running on Apple silicon for early 2021, according to Nikkei Asian Review. That's equivalent to almost 20% of Apple's total MacBook shipments for the year 2019, says the report.

Apple did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Apple doesn't report unit sales for specific product segments like Mac computers or the iPhone. But its Mac business generated $28.6 billion in revenue during the company's fiscal year that ended on September 26.

Apple is widely expected to unveil the first MacBook laptop running on Apple silicon during an event on November 10. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Debby Wu have reported that the company is indeed expected to unveil Apple silicon devices next week.

The company is also gearing up to introduce another new Apple silicon computer in the second quarter of 2021, according to Nikkei Asian Review. That would seemingly line up with the details reported by Bloomberg, which indicate that Apple may unveil 13-inch Apple silicon-powered MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops next week and later debut a 16-inch MacBook Pro running on the new chip. 

Apple is ramping up production of its upcoming Apple silicon products as it's faced shortages for its new iPhone 12 line, according to reports from Bloomberg and Nikkei Asian Review. The launch also comes after Apple reported strong fiscal-fourth-quarter performance for the Mac product line as remote work and education because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The move to create its own Mac chips gives Apple more control over the launch cycle for its laptops and desktops as well as the features that go into them. Until this point, the Mac has been the only major Apple product that doesn't run on the tech giant's own chips. The iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV all run on the company's own processors. 

The switch also means Mac laptops will be able to run iPhone apps, significantly expanding the selection of available programs for Apple's notebooks and desktops and making the experience more consistent with its mobile products. 

Still, that doesn't mean Apple is completely moving away from Intel just yet. The company said it expects the transition to take two years and it will continue supporting Intel-based Macs.

As is typically the case with Apple, the company has been vague about what to expect from its upcoming event.

But Apple CEO Tim Cook teased that there are more product announcements to come in 2020 during the company's recent fourth quarter earnings call on October 29.

"Without giving away too much," he said. "I can tell you that this year has a few more exciting things in store."

SEE ALSO: Here are all of the new products Apple is still expected to launch this year

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Apple announced its plan to start making its own computer chips for its line of Mac products, instead of using Intel's, in June. Now, the company is holding another event where it's expected to reveal more details about that shift — including the first laptop that will run on its new homemade processor.

The move is expected to mark the biggest change coming to Apple's Mac computers in years, signaling a departure that will give the tech giant even more control over its laptops and desktops. It will also make the Mac experience more consistent with that of the iPhone and iPad since all of Apple's apps will run on the same architecture. That means iPhone apps will be compatible with the Mac.

The chips, called Apple silicon, are based on the A14 Bionic processors found in the iPhone 12 lineup and are expected to bring better power efficiency as well as machine learning improvements to Apple's laptops. 

Apple's event — it's third product launch keynote in the last three months — will take place at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 10.

Apple hasn't revealed any details about what to expect, but the company previously said that it planned to announce its first computers powered by Apple silicon before the end of the year. Reports from Bloomberg also suggest that Apple's November event will focus on new Apple silicon devices.

The reveal would also come at a critical time for Apple's Mac line, which has been one of Apple's strongest sectors in recent quarters as people have been working from home because of the pandemic. Apple reported record-high revenue for its Mac unit in the company's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings last month.

Here's a closer look at what to expect on Tuesday.

SEE ALSO: The new iPad Air is a more budget-friendly iPad Pro, making Apple's top-of-the-line tablet a tougher sell than ever

The biggest focus of the event will likely be the introduction of new Apple silicon MacBooks.

Apple is said to be working on three new laptops running on Apple silicon, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Debby Wu.

These include a 13-inch MacBook Pro, 13-inch MacBook Air, and 16-inch MacBook Pro.

The two smaller-sized laptops will likely be shown during the November 10 event since they're further along in production, the report says. 

The company is also reportedly working on a redesigned new iMac and an updated Mac Pro, but these are unlikely to be discussed during the keynote. 

Apple will probably reveal more details about the processor itself and app compatibility.

Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies, Johny Srouji, said in June that Apple silicon would bring performance enhancements to Mac computers.

But the company didn't get too specific about performance gains and new features at the Worldwide Developers Conference, where it was unveiled. Instead, it demonstrated how the processors could handle demanding tasks in apps like Adobe Photoshop and Final Cut Pro.

If Apple does reveal the first laptops running on Apple silicon, it'll also likely provide more details about the improvements the chip will bring and the upgrades users can expect.

It may also provide some details about how app makers have been embracing the transition since Apple began providing developer kits in June to kickstart the transition. Apple also discussed how it planned to support current Mac apps during WWDC.

Apple is also rumored to have a few other devices in its pipeline. Any of them could make an appearance at the event.

Apple-silicon-based Macs aren't the only products we're expecting to see from Apple in the near future.

Apple is also rumored to be working on its first pair of premium over-ear headphones, as well as a Tile-like location-tracking accessory called AirTags, according to reports from Bloomberg,9to5Mac, MacRumors, and others.

There's a chance Apple could use its November 10 event as an opportunity to unveil these products as well. But the event is expected to focus on the new Mac lineup. 

The event will give us a peek at Apple's vision for the Mac's future.

The launch of its own computer chip is a milestone for the Mac. Apple's laptops and desktops are its only major products that haven't run on the company's own chips — the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV are all powered by Apple processors.

That will give Apple much more flexibility in terms of launch timing since it won't have to update or release new Mac laptops based on Intel's release schedule.

It also means Apple will have more freedom to develop Mac-specific features that more closely integrate the device's hardware and software — an approach it's taken with the iPhone, Apple Watch, and other products.

The shift to Apple silicon could ultimately define Apple's direction for its line of laptops and desktops, and Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted at this during WWDC. 

"When we look ahead, we envision some amazing new products," Cook said during the presentation. "And transitioning to our own custom silicon is what will enable us to bring them to life."

Apple will likely provide a closer glimpse at what the direction looks like on November 10.

Apple just unveiled the first computers that will run on its new homemade Apple silicon chip, kickstarting a new era for the Mac that will make the company's laptops and desktops a lot more like the iPhone.

Apple revealed that a new MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini desktop will be the first Apple silicon-powered computers. It also unveiled the chip itself: M1, which joins the family of processors Apple has made for other key products like the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. 

It also showcased how iPhone and iPad apps will be able to run on laptops powered by its new M1 chip.

Developing its own chips for the Mac is a crucial step that will give Apple more control and flexibility over both the launch cycle and the features it develops for its laptops and desktops. It also represents a departure from Apple's long-running relationship with Intel.

The shift has enabled Apple to make the Mac software experience more consistent with that of the iPhone and iPad since all apps will run on the same architecture. That means iPhone apps will be capable of running on Apple silicon-powered Macs. 

Apple made the announcements during a virtual event on Tuesday, marking its third such event in the past three months.

Here's a look at the biggest announcements Apple made.

Apple started by announcing its M1 chip, its first processor for the Mac.

Apple took the wraps off its M1 chip on Tuesday, which the company claims is its most powerful chip ever and its first processor designed specifically for the Mac. 

With M1, Apple was able to bring multiple technologies together on a single chip, rather than using multiple chips for things like computing power, security, and graphics. That includes an eight-core CPU that consists of four high performance cores and four high efficiency cores. One of the biggest benefits users can expect to see from M1-powered Macs, according to Apple, is longer battery life.

Like the iPhone's A-series chips, the M1 also has Apple's neural engine built into it, which should improve performance in machine learning-based tasks. 

It also announced a new MacBook Air that will run on the M1.

Among the first products that will be powered by the M1 is a new MacBook Air. One of the big draws behind the new MacBook Air, according to Apple, is its fanless design — which should keep the device completely silent.

Apple is also making a lot of claims when it comes to improvements in battery life and performance, saying it can export a project for the web from iMovie three times faster than the previous generation and export photos from Lightroom up to twice as fast. It also has the longest battery life of any MacBook Air, says Apple.

Because the M1 chip has Apple's image signal processor, we should also see enhancements to the webcam, which is a big deal considering many people are working remotely because of the pandemic.

It'll start at $999 and launches next week.

Apple is also launching a 13-inch MacBook Pro powered by its M1 chip.

The new MacBook Pro should be almost three times faster the previous generation in terms of computing power, according to Apple, and is said to offer five times faster graphics performance. 

As is the case with the MacBook Air, battery life is one of the biggest improvements coming to the M1-based MacBook Pro. Apple says it should last for up to 17 hours when browsing the web and 20 hours when playing video, meaning it has more battery life than any other Mac ever.

The Pro also has studio-quality microphones like its predecessor and Apple's image signal processor for better video conferencing. 

It starts at $1,299 and also launches next week.

The Mac Mini is also getting a refresh with Apple's M1 chip.

The new M1-powered Mac Mini is three times faster than the previous generation model, says Apple, and offers 15 times better performance when it comes to machine learning workloads.

Apple offered a few examples of areas where you'll experience better performance compared to the older Mac Mini, such as compiling code in Xcode three times faster, rendering timelines in Final Cut Pro six times as fast, and increasing the resolution of images in Pixelmator Pro up to 15 times faster.

It'll be available for $700 and also launches next week. 

Apple also revealed that macOS Big Sur, its next major software update for the Mac, is launching on Thursday.

Apple's macOS Big Sur update, which was announced in June, is launching on Thursday. The update brings several design changes that generally make the Mac software feel more consistent with that of the iPhone and iPad, especially across apps like Safari and Messages.

You can, for example, pin conversations to the top of the Messages app like you can in the iPhone's iOS 14 software. Safari is also getting upgrades like a customizable start page and a translation feature that's similar to the one offered in Google Chrome.

Big Sur is compatible with the MacBook Air 2013 and later, iMac 2014 and later, iMac Pro 2017 and later, MacBook Pro late 2013 and later, Mac Pro 2013 and later, MacBook 2015 and later, and the Mac Mini 2014 and later. 

Overall, Apple laid out its vision for the future of the Mac, and it follows a similar trajectory as the iPhone.

Apple dropped a few hints throughout the presentation that suggest the future of the Mac looks a lot like the iPhone.

Macs running on its M1 chip, for example, can wake their screen similarly to the way the iPhone does. It also showed how iPhone apps like the popular game "Among Us" and HBO Max will be able to run on M1-powered computers. 

But those are only small examples that contribute to the bigger picture. Apple's secret sauce is its custom system-on-a-chip processors that have given the iPhone praise-worthy performance and have allowed Apple to design features that require hardware and software elements to work together.

Now, it's finally bringing that to the Mac.

• The newest MacBook Air from Apple has been announced and made available for order starting at $999 — the same price as before.
• This version of the laptop contains Apple's first-ever main processor for a computer: the M1, a complete system-on-a-chip (SoC) design very similar to (but more powerful than) the chips inside iPhones and iPads.
• Apple's new silicon brings with it more power, more efficiency, and longer battery life into the same MacBook Air frame as before.
• However, we would suggest waiting for full reviews of the latest MacBook Air before buying, as much of the upgrades rely on brand-new, unproven technology.
• In addition to the new MacBook Air, Apple also recently detailed its new MacBook Pro with M1.

Apple has officially pulled the curtain back on the M1, the company's first main processor for Mac computers, and with it the first MacBook laptops that are powered by it. The most exciting of those models is the most approachable in terms of price: the newest MacBook Air.

Using Apple's new M1 processor, the company says that this MacBook Air is up to 3.5 times faster overall and produces five times faster graphics than before. The company also promises seamless app support for Mac apps developed for Intel-based Mac computers, as well as support for all iPhone and iPad apps — again, seamlessly.

This is the next phase for Apple computers in more ways than one, so here's how you can get in on that.

MacBook Air 2020 price

Apple has set the starting price for its latest MacBook Air at $999, which is exactly what the current model sells for. Upgraders aren't paying any extra for this change in technology, which is a welcome bit of news.

Education customers will only pay $899, just like the current model as well. This is a considerable upgrade in terms of performance and features for the same pricing.

MacBook Air 2020 release date

The latest MacBook Air with the M1 processor inside is available for purchase right now at the time of writing, and orders will begin delivering to homes on November 17.

Apple also gives itself some leeway, mentioning in the fine print that your order could be delivered on November 18. However, at least Apple offers free shipping, especially since Apple Store Pickup is not currently available at most, if not all, Apple Store locations.  

MacBook Air 2020 specs and features

The newest 2020 MacBook Air is another 13-inch laptop that looks practically identical to the previous generation model that was released earlier this year. That's because, short of the major changes going on inside, that is largely the case.

• Display: 13.3-inch, 2,560 x 1,600 LED screen with IPS
• Processor: Apple M1 processor (8-core CPU; 7~8-core GPU)
• Memory: 8GB ~ 16GB unified memory
• Storage: 256GB ~ 2TB SSD
• Camera: 720p FaceTime HD webcam
• Size: 11.97 x 8.36 x 0.63 inches (W x D x H)
• Weight: 2.8 pounds

This latest MacBook Air uses Apple's silicon to — as Apple claims — vastly improve the MacBook experience. For one, the processor is far more power efficient than previous Intel-based MacBooks, making this MacBook Air the longest lasting yet at 18 hours on a single charge.

The laptop's webcam also uses the new processor's Neural Engine for improved visualization and optics, much like an iPhone does. Also like the iPhone, the new processor allows for the laptop to instantly turn on and back to what you're doing upon opening its lid.

Finally, Apple claims that all iPhone and iPad apps are compatible with Macs running on the M1 processor, and that apps still tailored to Intel-based Macs will work seamlessly through an emulation tool.

Why you shouldn't buy a MacBook Air 2020 right away

However, regardless of how exciting some of these enhancements and features are, we strongly recommend that you wait for reviews of the MacBook Air before you buy. This is especially important for this generation during which Apple is transitioning processor platforms.

There are bound to be hiccups along the way in this transition, if Microsoft's experience with Windows on ARM processors has been any indication. And, Apple is by no means immune to fumbles and stumbles – just look at its Butterfly keyboards.

We expect to be publishing our review of the newest MacBook Air shortly, so stay tuned for our in-depth insights before you drop this considerable amount of cash on an untested product.

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It's been over a decade since the last "Get a Mac" commercial aired, but Apple brought back its iconic "and I'm a PC" character in its product event Tuesday. Comedian John Hodgman donned a suit and tie once again to provide some commentary on Apple's announcements, which included a new M1 chip, Macbook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini.

"Hi I'm a PC. Is there a time for questions? Because I have one," said Hodgman in the video clip shown during the event. "Why? Why? Why make all these advancements?"

During the event, Apple touted that the new 13-inch MacBook Pro has the longest battery life ever on a Mac, with 17 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 20 hours of video playback.

"Longer battery life? Plug it in. Where are you going? Just plug it in," Hodgman said.

Notably missing from the clip was PC's usual counterpart: Mac, played by actor Justin Long.

In the original commercials, Long played the young, hip "Mac," a representation of the Apple Macintosh, while Hodgman plays a fuddy-duddy "PC," a representation of the Microsoft personal computer. The ads helped Apple project a reputation for being cool and easy to use, with an emphasis on Mac's capabilities like creating home movies and working straight out of the box. Meanwhile, the commercials took swipes at other personal computers, claiming that they were glitchy and virus-prone.

The commercials even inspired a response from Microsoft, which ran an "I'm a PC" campaign in 2008 to refute Apple's negative marketing.  

Read more:Apple's announcement of its third virtual event in the last 3 months has completely changed the way companies unveil new products — possibly forever

On Tuesday, Apple also said that the MacBook Pro would have quieter "active cooling systems," rather than fans, and that the Mac Mini has an "advance thermal design" to keep it "cool and quiet." 

"Oh you're so quiet now," Hodgman said. "Look, I'm a machine. I'm proud of it."

And Apple announced that its new M1 chip, which can be found within the new MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook, and Mac Mini, is the "most powerful chip Apple has ever made," delivering specs like 3.5 faster CPU. 

"Fast? I'm fast. I'm still fast. Check it out," Hodgman declared in response, rapidly waving his arms in a running motion, and quickly becoming out of breath. "My battery's drained. I gotta go plug in." 

Take a look at the clip here:

SEE ALSO: Apple just unveiled a new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini — the first Macs to run on its own Apple silicon chip

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Apple laid out its vision for the future of computing on Tuesday with the introduction of the M1, its first Mac chip designed in-house, and the new devices it will power: a new version of the MacBook Air, a 13-inch MacBook Pro, and a Mac Mini.

The shift allows Apple to break away from Intel and exercise more freedom over the design, development, and launch cycle of its Mac computers. With its own chips, Apple can finally bring the "secret sauce" long since incorporated into the iPhone — homemade chips that allow it to fine-tune performance and features — to the Mac.

But it's also a major gamble. Apple isn't the first tech giant to release laptops with chips based on the Arm standard, the same basic architecture as those found in mobile devices. But Apple is taking a decidedly different approach.

Arm-based Windows PCs, like Microsoft's Surface Pro X, boast long battery life and lightweight designs but often fall short of their more traditional Intel-based brethren when it comes to the raw computing power necessary to do real work.

Apple has said the new devices running on its M1 chip are the best of all possible worlds: The new MacBook Air doesn't have any fans, promising to be the quietest MacBook yet, while the updated MacBook Pro is said to show big gains in battery life over the previous model. Even with all of that, Apple says the M1 chip gives these machines, including that new Mac Mini, better performance than its own Intel-based line or most Windows PCs.

If Apple is correct, then it points to an exciting future for the whole Mac lineup. But if these machines, and the chip that powers them, fall short of expectations, the future of Apple's computer business is at risk.

Windows has already been moving this direction

In recent years, tech companies like Lenovo, Microsoft, and Samsung have introduced laptops powered by chips that use the Arm architecture: a chip design licensed from the British company of the same name. Known for their balance of energy efficiency and processing power, Arm chips are best known for their role in the smartphone revolution, though they can more recently be found in everything from drones to data centers.

In laptops, those processors have helped Windows devices like Samsung's Galaxy Book S, Lenovo's Yoga 5G, and Microsoft's Surface Pro X offer ultrathin devices that are intended to bring the convenience of a phone or tablet together with the versatility of a more traditional laptop. In fact, all three of those devices offer cellular connectivity, and Microsoft's and Lenovo's do double duty as a full-fledged Windows 10-based tablet.

Still, the history of Windows on Arm is rocky: Microsoft launched an Arm-powered Surface tablet back in 2012 powered by a specially designed Windows RT operating system, based on Windows 8. That device, and Windows RT itself, were flops largely because of issues with app compatibility and performance. Most Windows apps were built for Intel processors; Windows RT couldn't run all of them, and even when it could they rarely ran as well.

No doubt, things have improved on that front. Microsoft has invested in the technology necessary to run most Intel-based apps on an Arm-based Windows machine, making them a much more reasonable proposition.

But it's also worth flagging The Verge's review of this year's Surface Pro X refresh, which praised Microsoft's app compatibility work and the design of the hardware but also flagged some headaches arising from the fact that it's not based on Intel.

Apple's big bet is that the M1 is as good or better than Intel's chips

Apple's M1 chips are based on the Arm architecture, just like those found in Windows PCs. That, however, is where the similarities largely end. The M1 was custom-designed by Apple based on a decade spent building highly acclaimed iPhone and iPad processors. Those processors are a big part of Apple's smartphone success.

That may be why Apple is so confident in declaring the M1 the future of the Mac, full-stop. Where the Windows PC industry is still exploring the possibilities of using Arm rather than Intel's x86 processor architecture, Apple says it hopes to have the Mac line entirely on its own chips within two years, starting with the devices announced Tuesday.

That's an important distinction, because it means it's banking that M1-powered Macs will be as good as or better than their Intel-based predecessors for video editing, photo processing, music creation, coding, or any other computing-heavy creative tasks. In fact, Apple's presentation showcased the potential for these new Macs to do all of those things.

By comparison, it would be hard to recommend an Arm-based Windows 10 PC for anything other than light web browsing, document editing, or Netflix.

The payoff for Apple could be huge

The decision to move away from Intel is a dramatic one, but it could pay off.

Without relying on Intel and its release schedule, Apple gets the flexibility to design updated processors alongside the Macs they will go on to power. That, in turn, means Apple can offer new features in the Mac that might not have been possible before.

For example, on Tuesday, Apple showcased how quickly an M1-powered Mac could wake from sleep, similarly to an iPhone. Macs can also benefit from Apple's image signal processor, used to make camera images crisper and cleaner on the iPhone. In fact, M1-based Macs can actually run iPhone and iPad apps, thanks to the similarity of the chips.

There are still lingering questions over how well the devices actually live up to Apple's lofty promises, and we may not get answers until the devices officially start shipping next week. For starters, it will be interesting to see how well older Mac apps run on the new silicon, especially in light of Windows' difficulties there.

After all, Apple's initial rollout of Catalyst, its program for enabling developers to port iPad apps over to the Mac, encountered some road bumps in its early days, as Bloomberg previously reported.

Still, the commitment to bring its new M1 chip to powerful computers like the MacBook Pro suggests Apple is confident it will work — and views this risk as being a necessary one for the Mac's future.

SEE ALSO: Apple's iPhone 12 Mini is the small phone everyone has been waiting for after years of giant screens

NOW READ: How Intel went 'off the rails,' as rivals like AMD and Nvidia take advantage of its stumbles to chip away at the juggernaut's dominance

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• Apple's new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini look the same on the outside as the previous models, but the company's M1 "system-on-a-chip" (SoC) processor marks a huge change in how those laptops and computers work under the hood. 
• Apple's M1-based laptops and computers are claimed to have better performance and longer battery life than other laptops that run on more traditional processors from Intel or AMD. 
• The performance and battery gains come from the M1's integration of several different components into one single chip, making for better efficiency, whereas the traditional setup included several different components spread out individually. 
• Reviewers have yet to validate Apple's claims about the M1's supposed capabilities, but the biggest question is whether the apps and software you use will work on Apple computers running on its M1 chip. 

Apple kicked down the door and laid down some big claims with its new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini computers during an event that took place on November 10.

The star of the show was the M1 system-on-a-chip (SoC) — Apple's own home-gown SoC that supposedly comes with big performance while exceeding battery life numbers beyond Windows-based laptops, and even Apple's own laptops. 

The M1 marks Apple's departure from Intel and the way that laptops typically and traditionally work under the hood. Here's what you need to know about Apple's new M1 chip and how it's different.

Apple's latest MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini are available to preorder now, and they'll be fully released starting on November 18. 

Apple's M1 is more similar to processors in smartphones than it is to a computer chip

Apple's new M1 is a "system-on-a-chip" (SoC) which is to say that the majority of the components that a computer needs to run are integrated into one chip rather than having several individual chips spread throughout a  logic board (basically a circuit board that hosts all the chips).

So, the processors (CPU), memory (RAM), graphics processor (GPU), as well as Apple's Neural Engine machine learning cores, are all included and built into a single chip. It's nearly identical to the SoCs that are also used in smartphones, including the iPhone.

With that said, typical modern systems with individual components have some level of integration, mostly in the CPU. But, the integration isn't as extensive as it is on a true SoC system. 

What are the benefits of an SoC like the M1?

The main benefits of an SoC includes power efficiency, which primarily leads to better battery life. Having all the components bunched up into a single chip means power has less distance to travel. With typical laptops being so small, the distance that power has to travel between components may seem irrelevant, but it makes a surprisingly big difference in how much overall power draw they need.

With all the major components integrated into a single chip, taking up less space in a device than a typical laptop, you also get more space for batteries. Below is Apple's visual of how extra battery capacity can fit in an M1-powered laptop. The battery in the center, especially, is larger than previous generations of Mac laptops:

All this leads to Apple's big claims for the new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 SoC. Indeed, the new laptops have supposedly hours more battery life than their predecessors than ran on more typical processors. 

Another supposed benefit of the M1 chip is stronger and faster performance. One example given by Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies, Johny Srouji, showed that incorporating RAM into an SoC's single pool, "all of technologies in the SoC can access the same data without copying it between multiple pools of memory."

Essentially, each component with the M1 SoC can pull data from a single source, rather than each individual components pulling data from a chain of different components. 

The result, Srouji claims, is "improved performance and power efficiency." 

If SoCs are so great, why aren't they used more often?

Almost all mainstream phone SoCs are based on the ARM processor architecture, which is more power efficient and tailored to ultra-portable devices compared to Intel's (or the other CPU maker, AMD's) architecture that's rooted in — and potentially hamstrung by — decades of mobile computer processor design.

The problem with ARM architecture has always been the lack of support for third-party computer apps, as those are usually designed to run on Intel's or AMD's architecture (and have been for decades). Hence, laptops and computers running on an ARM-based SoC weren't suitable for people who often use third-party apps and software, no matter how much better the battery life.

Lacking app support was a major issue with Microsoft's Surface Pro X from 2019, which was otherwise an excellent laptop/tablet hybrid with good performance and excellent battery life — if a little overpriced. Since then, we haven't seen any massive shifts from laptop or computer makers to ARM-based SoCs.

What could make the difference is whether Apple can get third-party app developers on board to build ARM-based versions of their apps — usually a costly process that app developers don't really want to undertake. But, then again, Apple is now shifting to ARM-based SoCs, and app developers often go where Apple goes. 

Plus, it doesn't hurt that Apple launched a new tool called Rosetta 2 that should help developers translate their apps to support the ARM-based M1 SoC in a way that's apparently quick and easy for developers. Only time will tell whether Apple's effort to convince app developers to make ARM-based versions of their apps will work. 

One thing that developers and users can benefit from is that iOS and iPadOS apps can run natively on a laptop running on the M1 SoC without any simulation or emulation. That gives users the option to use an iOS or iPadOS version of an app should the full computer version not be available yet for the ARM-based SoC. It's not ideal, as mobile apps aren't always as featured or capable as full-fat computer apps, but it's at least an option until, hopefully, the computer version is released. 

The M1 SoC sounds great, but don't rush to buy a new Apple laptop yet

There's a lot we need to discover about the new Apple laptops that run on the M1 SoC. Apple made some big claims with the battery life and performance of its new laptops, and reviewers like ourselves need to validate those claims.

Plus, we have yet to see if the ARM-based M1 SoC will pose any obstacles to using common and uncommon third-party apps. The M1 represents the very first in Apple's home-grown SoC for laptops — it's rarely a good idea to buy something that's absolutely brand new and has barely been proven in the real world.

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• Apple's M1-powered MacBook Air brings benefits like speedier performance and longer battery life to the company's flagship lightweight laptop.
• The M1 is Apple's first processor for the Mac, and the new MacBook Air is one of the first devices to run on it.
• In addition to faster performance and longer battery life, the addition of Apple's chip also means that iPhone and iPad apps can run on the Mac for the first time.
• But, without a touch screen, it may be hard to experience the benefits of using mobile apps on the desktop. 
• The MacBook Air also lacks modern Apple features, like Face ID and a nearly borderless screen.
• Here's what the newest MacBook Air is up against in our guide for the best laptops.

It's no secret that laptops have started to more closely resemble tablets and smartphones in recent years. Tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, and many others have been chasing what has become the Holy Grail of computing: blending the benefits of mobile devices with the processing power that comes with desktop-class machines.

Apple's ambitions here are coming into full focus with the debut of the M1: its first homemade processor designed to power its line of Mac computers.

The launch of its M1 chip means a few promising things for Apple loyalists. For one, the processors powering Apple's laptops and desktops will run on the same basic architecture as those inside the iPhone and iPad, enabling mobile apps from the iOS App Store to run on the Mac for the first time.

But, most important of all, Apple is guaranteeing that its M1 chip will introduce major gains in performance and power efficiency. That's already become evident after using the new $1,000 M1-powered MacBook Air for just a few days, which is leagues ahead of Apple's Intel-powered MacBook Air when it comes to areas like performance and webcam quality.

Plus, the MacBook Air's newer fanless internal design means you'll no longer need to worry about your laptop sounding like a jet engine when it's enduring a particularly heavy workload.

Yet, it's going to take some time before we understand whether making iPhone apps compatible with the Mac brings anything new to the experience. And, even though Apple's M1 chip delivers noticeable improvements in power and efficiency, Apple's laptops still lack some of the benefits of Windows devices, like facial recognition for a more seamless login experience, borderless screens, and most importantly: touch support.

But overall, the M1-powered MacBook Air is a step up from its Intel-powered predecessor. It offers faster performance for the same price with virtually no compromises even when running apps that are not yet optimized for Apple's new silicon.

Apple MacBook Air (Late 2020, M1) specifications

• Display: 13.3-inch Retina display (2,560 x 1,600) with True Tone
• Processor: 8-core Apple M1 SoC (7~8-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine)
• Estimated battery life: Up to 15 hours of web browsing
• Memory: 8GB to 16GB 
• Storage: 256GB or 512GB SSD configurable up to 2TB
• Ports: Two Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, one headphone jack
• Camera: 720p FaceTime camera
• Authentication: Touch ID fingerprint sensor

Performance

Let's start with performance, since it's one of the biggest ways in which Apple's new MacBook Air stands out from its Intel-powered predecessor.

The Apple silicon MacBook Air I've been using has eight processor cores and 8GB of RAM, while the Intel-powered version I've been testing it against has a 1.1GHz quad-core Intel core i5 processor with 8GB of RAM.

The Intel edition replaced by this model topped out at four cores, and the base model came with a dual-core Intel Core i3, which as I noted in my previous review felt underpowered. A processor with more cores usually means it's better at multitasking, since it has additional cores to drive multiple processes at once.

Apple claims the M1-equipped MacBook Air model offers 3.5 times the computing power, five times the graphics performance, and up to nine times the machine learning capabilities compared to the previous-generation Intel version. In other words: it should be faster when it comes to everything from gaming to editing high-resolution photos and more. 

In my experience, the performance gains are most noticeable in photo editing apps and video games. When exporting 50 photos from Adobe Lightroom in full size at 100% quality, the M1-powered MacBook Air performed the task in 16.5 seconds, while the Intel version took 46.3 seconds. It was also faster at stitching together five images to create a panoramic shot: the M1 MacBook Air did so in 11.2 seconds, while the Intel edition took 19.3 seconds.

Exporting a complex image that was 1GB in size and 15,000 x 12,000 pixels — the biggest file in my Lightroom library by a long shot — only took about 30 seconds on the first try when using the M1 MacBook Air and 17 seconds on the second test. The Intel MacBook Air, by comparison, took over three minutes to export the same image file both times.

The MacBook Air isn't meant to be a gaming laptop, but the M1 version is certainly more capable than its Intel-powered counterpart. Don't expect to play games at the highest resolution on the M1 MacBook Air, but I was able to comfortably play "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" at a resolution of 1,900 x 1,200 without much compromise.

The Intel-equipped MacBook Air can also run the game at that same resolution, but performance is a bit stuttery in comparison, especially when panning the camera across busy scenes. The M1 MacBook Air also loaded my save slot about 13 seconds faster than the Intel version when starting the game.

Not to mention, "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" sent the Intel-based MacBook Air's fans whirring after less than an hour of gameplay, an issue I didn't have to worry about with the fanless M1 MacBook Air.

Apps

Apple's decision to put its own silicon in devices like the MacBook Air combined with its most recent desktop software makes the Mac feel a bit more like the iPhone.

Big Sur, the name of Apple's most recent macOS update, introduces redesigned app icons that more closely resemble those found on the iPhone, for example, in addition to other iPhone-like features. And, the keyboard on the M1 MacBook Air features new shortcuts in the function row for features like Do Not Disturb and dictation.

But, the most significant way Apple is bridging the Mac and iPhone experience is through apps. Since the Mac's processor is now based on the same basic architecture as that of the iPhone and iPad, iOS apps are capable of running on the Mac natively. Some of the iOS apps currently available on macOS ahead of launch include games like "Among Us" and "Crossy Road" as well as Facebook, Zillow, and Kitchen Stories.

These apps run just fine on the Mac. But, it'll probably take some time for developers to make changes that elevate their apps beyond what you'd experience when using the web-based version of the app.

That's especially true considering Mac laptops don't support touch input like many Windows devices do. Apple has always maintained that its desktop and mobile ecosystems should remain separate. But, I've never wanted a touch screen on the Mac more than I have in recent years after using the iPad Pro.

Apple's top-of-the-line tablet is the best argument yet for how good a touch-centric productivity device made by Apple could be. The MacBook Air offers some of the features I loved about working on the iPad Pro — namely its fanless design, long battery life, and fast performance — but feels a bit incomplete without a touch screen. That also makes it tougher to be excited about the prospect of iPhone apps on the Mac.

Still, there are ways for mobile apps to shine on the Mac. The Kitchen Stories app is a bit sleeker than the website and dives right into the featured recipes with compelling visuals as soon as you launch the app. The website, on the other hand, prominently features articles and blog posts in addition to recipes, which is great if you're looking for stories to read but perhaps is less ideal while you're in the middle of preparing a meal.

However, most people don't buy a laptop specifically to use mobile apps. Since the M1 chip is based on a different architecture than Intel's processors, desktop programs need to be optimized for Apple's new computers. Apple is addressing this by enabling Intel-based apps to run in its Rosetta 2 emulator, which essentially means apps should be able to run normally on M1 Macs regardless of whether they've been tweaked for Apple's new chip.

During my time using the M1 MacBook Air, I could barely tell the difference between apps that were optimized for Apple's chip and those that weren't. All of the third-party apps I've been using on the new MacBook Air — Slack, Google Chrome, Microsoft Word, Cisco WebEx, Adobe Lightroom, and Skitch — have not yet been updated to be optimized for Apple silicon.

But, they ran so flawlessly on the MacBook Air that the only way I could tell they weren't optimized for the M1 chip was by looking at the Mac's Activity Monitor.

Battery life and webcam

While the improvements in performance are certainly appreciated, it's the upgrade to the MacBook Air's battery life that I appreciated the most.

The MacBook Air had 10% of its battery left after 12 hours of usage that involved a mix of photo editing in Lightroom, browsing the web in both Safari and Chrome, streaming video on YouTube, and a little bit of gaming. Apple claims the new Air should last for 15 hours when browsing the web and 18 hours when playing video in Apple TV Plus.

Those results may not align precisely with Apple's claims, especially since my usage circumstances differed from Apple's tests. But, it certainly outperformed the Intel-based MacBook Air, which lasted for roughly seven hours on a single charge when I reviewed it earlier this year.

It's important to remember that factors like screen brightness and the specific apps you're running will always impact battery life, so your results may differ from mine.

The M1-powered MacBook Air is also getting another desperately-needed upgrade: its webcam. Apple isn't alone; built-in webcams on most laptops are nowhere near the quality of those found on our smartphones. Until 2020, that probably didn't matter much. But, now that many people have been relying on webcams for office meetings, socializing, and most likely holiday gatherings in the near future, the cameras in our laptops have taken on a new importance.

The M1 MacBook Air still has a 720p camera, but because it runs on Apple's processor it also has the company's iPhone-grade image signal processor technology. That means it should offer better noise reduction and white balance, and in my experience it lived up to these claims.

Take a look at the difference below.

M1 MacBook Air

Intel MacBook Air

It's still not as crisp as your smartphone's camera, but it's a major leap ahead of Apple's Intel-based Mac.

Design, display, and keyboard

In other critical areas, like the design, display, and keyboard, the MacBook Air hasn't changed much compared to the previous Intel-powered iteration. One difference, however, is that Apple has added support for wide color into the display rather than just standard color.

That means the screen should be able to display a broader spectrum of colors compared to the earlier version of the MacBook Air, although I didn't notice this too much in daily use. It's probably more important for photo and video editors that need precise color representation in a laptop.

Unfortunately, Apple's new M1-powered laptops haven't gotten the same makeover that other products like the iPad and iPhone have received in recent years. As such, they still have thicker borders framing their display, occupying space that could have been used to expand the screen without making the laptop itself more cumbersome. It makes the design feel a bit dated compared to Windows laptops, like the Dell XPS 13.

Apple also hasn't built Face ID into the Mac yet, despite the fact that dozens of Windows laptops support Microsoft's Windows Hello feature. The new MacBook Air does have Touch ID, as does its predecessor, but facial recognition would have provided a slightly more seamless experience. And if the MacBook Air's internals are similar to those of the Intel MacBook Air from earlier this year, the RAM and SSD are probably soldered, meaning they'll be tough to upgrade after the fact. 

Like the other laptops Apple has released this year, the M1-powered MacBook Air has the company's new Magic Keyboard. If you've used any of the earlier laptops Apple released between 2015 and 2019, you'll definitely notice the difference.

The Magic Keyboard is less flat and offers more feedback when typing, resulting in an experience that's generally more comfortable than its previous butterfly keyboard. Those older keyboards were also more prone to damage and malfunctions than the Magic Keyboard.

The bottom line

With its longer battery life and faster performance for the same price, it's clear that Apple's new M1 chip delivers big improvements. Popular apps like Microsoft Word and Slack that haven't yet been optimized for the chip still work flawlessly on the system, meaning the laptop's viability doesn't hinge on whether or not developers update their apps.

The addition of the M1 chip is a particularly useful upgrade for a laptop like the MacBook Air, which primarily appeals to students and professionals in need of a laptop for basic work that primarily involves web browsing and word processing. The fact that it can hold its own when it comes to gaming and photo editing make it that much better.

But, Apple's approach of shying away from touch screens and flexible 2-in-1 designs make me wonder how much better the experience could be if the company were to embrace those choices, especially now that iPhone apps can run on the Mac.

The new MacBook Air is certainly a step forward, but it also would have been nice to see some of the enhancements that have arrived on the iPad and iPhone translate to the Mac — like a bigger screen and Face ID.

All told, the M1 MacBook Air is Apple's first major attempt to bring the perks of mobile devices — like all-day battery life, fanless designs, and a wider selection of apps — to its desktop operating system. The full benefits of having the iPhone and Mac run on the same architecture may not be fully realized just yet, but so far the M1 is a success in the areas that matter most like performance and battery life.

Pros: Fast performance; Super-long battery life; Much improved camera
Cons: Lacks some features of similarly-priced Windows devices like facial recognition and a borderless screen; iPhone apps don't add much to the experience yet especially without touch screens

SEE ALSO: The iPhone 12 Pro Max is the biggest iPhone ever made with Apple's best camera to date — but it's no major leap over the other 2020 iPhones

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• Black Friday is fast approaching, and retailers like Amazon,Target, Best Buy, and Walmart are offering noteworthy deals on Apple products.
• Some of the best discounts include price drops on the Apple Watch Series 6, AirPods Pro, and iPad among others.
• Read Insider Reviews' Black Friday 2020 deals and Cyber Monday 2020 deals coverage for more savings.
• Sign up for Insider Reviews' weekly newsletter for more buying advice and great deals

Black Friday is right around the corner, which means the official start to the holiday shopping season is almost here. Whether you're looking to upgrade your own iPad or are planning to gift a pair of AirPods this holiday season, there are plenty of deals worth paying attention to. 

Apple rarely drops its own prices, but retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart are offering some compelling discounts leading up to Black Friday.

Here are the best early Black Friday deals on Apple products that we've come across so far.

The best early Black Friday iPhone deals

If you've been holding off on upgrading to Apple's new iPhone in anticipation of Black Friday deals, you've made the right choice. All of Apple's new iPhones, from the iPhone 12 Mini to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, are available at a discounted monthly installment rate through Walmart compared to what the major carriers are charging. The iPhone 12's refreshed design and improved camera make it a notable leap forward, especially if you're upgrading from an older model that you've had for three years or longer. Every 2020 iPhone supports 5G, which will keep your phone relevant for years to come as 5G networks evolve.

Read our review of the iPhone 12 Mini.

Read our review of the iPhone 12.

Read our review of the iPhone 12 Pro.

Read our review of the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Carriers have also been offering compelling deals on the iPhone 12 lineup since launch, just ahead of the Black Friday shopping season. Many of those deals require you to sign up for a new line or have other similar stipulations, like trading in your old device.

• T-Mobile is offering a free iPhone 12 or 12  Mini when you join and trade in an eligible device.
• Verizon is offering a buy one get one for $800 off deal on the whole iPhone 12 lineup when you buy one on a 24 month payment plan and add another line.
• AT&T is offering a $700 discount on iPhones when you add a new line, upgrade an existing line, and trade-in a smartphone valued at $95 or more.  

The best early Black Friday iPad deals

Apple iPad 

Apple's least expensive iPad is even more affordable leading up to Black Friday. Walmart is selling the 8th-generation iPad, which Apple just announced in September, for $299 instead of its usual price of $329. It runs on the same A12 Bionic processor that powers the iPhone XS, which means it should be plenty powerful for casual tasks like web browsing and streaming Netflix as well as light productivity and gaming. This deal has been available at Walmart since September, and it's still a great option for those in need of a general-purpose tablet.

Check out our iPad buyers guide.

Apple iPad Air

Apple's new iPad Air comes with the same powerful processor as the latest iPhones, a sleek and colorful new design, and a larger screen compared to its predecessor. If you want an iPad with speedy performance for doing light work in addition to watching movies and web browsing, the Air is an ideal choice. Apple's starting price is $599, but you can get it for $559 at Walmart.

Apple iPad Pro

Apple's most powerful iPad is on sale for $50 off this holiday season. The iPad Pro's sleek look, long battery life, and excellent screen make it an ideal option for those who want a portable work device, especially now that iPads support mouse and trackpad input. Those savings are especially important for a device like the iPad Pro since you may want to put the extra cash towards the premium accessories Apple sells to make the most out of its super-sized tablet, like the $349 Magic Keyboard.

Read our full review of the iPad Pro.

The best early Black Friday MacBook deals 

MacBook Air 

If you're shopping for a new laptop for schoolwork and light productivity, Amazon is offering a compelling deal on Apple's Intel-powered Macbook Air. This model comes with Apple's new and improved Magic keyboard that offers a more durable and comfortable design. It also has several of the other features Apple introduced on other recent MacBook models, like Touch ID for signing in with your fingerprint and True Tone, which enables the display's color temperature to adapt to the lighting in your surroundings. Since this model runs on an Intel Core i3 processor, it's best suited for casual work and web browsing rather than intense workflows.

See our review of the 2020 Intel-based MacBook Air.

MacBook Pro 

13-inch MacBook Pro

If you want a machine that's speedier than the MacBook Air but nearly as portable, check out the 13-inch MacBook Pro.This model lacks the 16-inch version's booming speakers, but still comes with an Intel processor that packs more power than the Air. And yes, it has the same Magic Keyboard as the 16-inch Pro and MacBook Air. It's an ideal choice for those seeking a work laptop that isn't quite as big as the 16-inch model. 

Read our 13-inch MacBook Pro review. 

16-inch MacBook Pro

Looking for a laptop that's bigger and more powerful? With its massive screen, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is a great middle ground between the laptop and desktop experience. Not only does it pack powerful performance and a crisp, giant screen, but its six-speaker audio system is so boisterous it puts the sound system on many other laptops to shame. Like Apple's other newer laptops, it also comes with the much-improved Magic Keyboard for better comfort and durability.

Read our 16-inch MacBook Pro review.

The best early Black Friday Apple Watch deals

Apple Watch Series 6 

Apple's top-of-the-line smartwatch is available at a $49 discount at both Amazon and Walmart. The Series 6 comes with improvements like a new blood oxygen sensor, faster charging, and a brighter always-on display. It's the Apple Watch to get if you really want everything Apple has to offer in terms of health and wellness tracking. However, if you're OK with just the basics, it's worth eyeing the cheaper Apple Watch SE or Series 3.

Read our Apple Watch Series 6 review.

Apple Watch SE 

The Apple Watch SE is already a great deal, and it's even cheaper ahead of the holiday season. Apple's mid-tier watch still comes with many of the most important features found on the Series 6, like Apple's latest processor, a larger screen than the Series 3, and activity and fitness tracking features. If you don't mind sacrificing an always-on display, the ability to take an ECG from your wrist, and blood oxygen level measurements, the less expensive Apple Watch SE is the right model for you.

Read our Apple Watch SE review.

Apple Watch Series 3 

It may be a little old, but the Apple Watch Series 3 is still a perfectly capable smartwatch for those in search of a bargain. It runs the latest Apple Watch software, meaning you'll get many of the basic features available on the SE and Series 6. If you want a smartwatch for little else than tracking workouts and checking notifications from your phone on the wrist, check out the Series 3.

The best early Black Friday Apple AirPods deals

AirPods Pro 

With its noise cancellation, rich sound, and more customizable fit, the Airpods Pro are a great choice for iPhone owners looking for a pair of general purpose wireless earbuds. Even though they're a couple of dollars more expensive than their previous price of $194, the AirPods Pro are still a steal at $199. But, unless you need them right now, it might be best to wait until the AirPods Pro drop down to their all-time-low price of $169 at Walmart on November 25.

AirPods (second-generation)  

If you just want the basic AirPods experience, Apple's second-generation AirPods are available at a discount at Amazon, Best buy, and Target. This version offers some improvements over the original, like the ability to summon Siri hands-free, but lacks wireless charging and noise cancellation like its more expensive siblings. Regardless, it's a notable drop from the AirPods' original price of $159.

Those who want to splurge on the wireless charging version can do so for $159 at Amazon and Target, a drop from Apple's usual price of $199.

The best early Black Friday Beats headphones deals

Beats Studio3

The Beats Studio3 are a worthwhile option for those who want the easy pairing functionality of AirPods in an over-the-ear design. Complete with noise cancellation and long battery life, these headphones are a compelling option at their discounted price of $174.99 this holiday season.

Beats Solo Pro

Beats's popular on-ear Solo Pro headphones are also getting a massive discount this holiday season. Unlike the Studio3, the Solo Pro comes with Apple's newer H1 chip, which should offer faster switching between devices. Compared to their predecessor, the Solo Pro offers improvements when it comes to battery life, noise cancelling, and audio quality.

PowerBeats Pro

The PowerBeats Pro are the headphones to get if you want a pair of wireless earbuds that offer a more snug and secure fit than Apple's AirPods. The PowerBeats Pro wrap around your ears for a tighter grip and offer longer battery life than the AirPods Pro. They also come with similar features, like quick pairing with Apple products, since the earbuds have Apple's H1 chip. But, unlike the AirPods Pro, they offer noise isolation rather than noise cancellation, which means they use the ear tips to block out sound rather than actually canceling out surrounding noises.

Apple Black Friday FAQ

Does Apple offer deals on Black Friday?

Apple rarely offers its own deals on Black Friday, but in years past it's offered gift cards when purchasing select products. Last year, for example, Apple's promotion included gift cards up to $200 on select purchases. Apple has not yet said whether it plans to offer a similar deal in 2020. But, last year it made the announcement on November 25, so we may hear more about upcoming gift card promotions in the coming days.

Should I buy from Amazon, Target, Best Buy, or Walmart?

Many of these retailers offer very similar deals on products like the AirPods and the Apple Watch, which means you'll have a couple of options should one retailer go out of stock. In instances where multiple retailers offer the same product at the same price, consider which retailer is most convenient for you in terms of shipping options. If you have an Amazon Prime membership and want to get the product as fast as possible, it might make more sense to purchase through Amazon. But, if you'd rather pick up the item at your nearby Target or Best Buy, you should consider ordering from your preferred brick-and-mortar retailer. 

Do these stores offer curbside pickup?

Yes, Target, Best Buy, and Walmart all offer curbside pickup. But, you should check with your local retailer since the rules may vary by location and items purchased. Walmart, for example, says that not all stores offer curbside pickup for Black Friday deals.

How do we choose the best Apple deals?

We select products that meet our high standard of coverage based on testing and research. This includes testing Apple's products as well similar devices from its main competitors.

We also research prices across retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy and compare them against Apple's prices to find the deals that are worth paying attention to.

Join the conversation about this story »

• Thanksgiving is just around the corner, which means a lot of upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are already underway.
• Apple products like the AirPods, Apple Watch, and iPhone are already on sale ahead of the shopping holiday at retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. 
• Read Insider Reviews' Black Friday 2020 deals and Cyber Monday 2020 deals coverage for more savings.

Black Friday may get most the attention when it comes to holiday shopping, but Cyber Monday has grown to be just as important. In fact, it even eclipsed Black Friday last year in terms of online sales. Cyber Monday online spending in the United States reached $9.4 billion in 2019, compared to the $7.4 billion spent online on Black Friday.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are usually both filled with tech deals, and this year we're seeing bargains appear even earlier in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. That holds true for Apple products, too; deals on the Apple Watch, AirPods, and other devices are already live. But, we're expecting discounts to continue through the weekend on Cyber Monday as well. 

Here are the best deals on Apple tech right now. We'll be updating this post as more deals appear throughout the Black Friday and Cyber Monday events.

The best early Cyber Monday deals on Apple Watches

Apple Watch Series 6

Apple's most advanced new smartwatch is on sale ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The Series 6 is the first watch to come with the ability to read blood oxygen levels, although that feature alone isn't what makes it a worthwhile smartwatch. Its brighter always-on display, faster charging, and wellness features such as the ability to take an ECG from the wrist make it a great choice for those looking for robust health tracking in a smartwatch.

Read our Apple Watch Series 6 review.

Apple Watch SE

If you're looking to spend a little less, consider the Apple Watch SE. Apple's lower-priced watch comes with all of the basic functionality of the Series 6, but without blood oxygen monitoring, an always-on display, and ECG monitoring. But, it still has other more modern features like a compass and the ability to detect hard falls.

Read our Apple Watch SE review.

Apple Watch Series 3

The Apple Watch Series 3 came out in 2017, but it's still a solid smartwatch for those who just want the basic Apple Watch experience. It lacks an always-on display, has a slightly smaller screen compared to the SE and Series 6, and doesn't come with a built-in compass or fall detection like its pricier siblings. But, it still works great for those who just want an Apple Watch for monitoring activity and delivering smartphone notifications to the wrist.

The best early Cyber Monday deals on AirPods

Apple AirPods Pro

Apple's top-of-the-line AirPods are available at a discount this holiday season. Compared to Apple's standard AirPods, the Pro model offers active noise cancellation, improved audio, and customizable ear tips. They may not be our top pick overall when it comes to wireless earbuds, but the AirPods Pro are the best choice for Apple fans, especially now that they're been updated with new features like spatial audio. They're a bargain at $199.99, but they'll get even cheaper on November 25 when they drop to $169 at Walmart. 

Apple AirPods (second generation)

Looking to spend a little less? Apple's standard AirPods are on sale leading up to Cyber Monday, too. These AirPods still offer convenient features like quick pairing, hands-free Siri access, and automatic playing and pausing, but without the Pro's more advanced features and higher price tag. 

The best early Cyber Monday deals on iPads

Apple iPad

Apple's least expensive iPad, which just launched in September, is already on sale ahead of the holiday season. The latest iPad is much faster than its predecessor since it runs on Apple's newer A12 Bionic processor, and it also supports the first-generation Apple Pencil. It's an ideal choice for those who just want a basic iPad for browsing the web, online shopping, watching Netflix, and checking social media.

Check out our iPad buyers guide.

Apple iPad Air

Apple's new iPad Air comes with the same powerful processor as the latest iPhones, a sleek and colorful new design, and a larger screen compared to its predecessor. If you want an iPad with speedy performance for doing light work in addition to watching movies and web browsing, the Air is an ideal choice. Apple's starting price is $599, but you can get it for $559 at Walmart.

Apple iPad Pro

If you want an iPad that packs powerful performance, the iPad Pro is available at a discount. The iPad Pro's slim design, long battery life, and excellent screen make it a stronger choice for those who plan to get serious work done on their iPad — like photographers, video editors, and interior designers. The latter may also benefit from the Pro's LiDAR sensor, which makes it much better at detecting depth and measuring nearby surfaces.

Read our full review of the iPad Pro.

The best early Cyber Monday deals on iPhone 12

Carriers have been offering deals since the iPhone 12 launched, but more discounts are surfacing now that we're getting closer to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The iPhone 12 lineup are Apple's first smartphones to come with 5G, but that's not the main characteristic that makes them worthwhile. The phones also offer a boost in camera quality that makes them better at taking photos in dark circumstances, and come with a refreshed design with a more durable screen.

If you are interested in what carriers have to offer, take a look at these discounts below. Just be sure to note that these bargains come with stipulations, like opening a new line or trading in an old device.

• T-Mobile is offering a free iPhone 12 or 12 Mini when you join and trade in an eligible device.
• Verizon is offering a buy one get one for $800 off deal on the whole iPhone 12 lineup when you buy one on a 24 month payment plan and add another line.
• AT&T is offering a $700 discount on iPhones when you add a new line, upgrade an existing line, and trade-in a smartphone valued at $95 or more.

The best early Cyber Monday deals on MacBooks

MacBook Air

Apple's thin-and-light MacBook Pro is available at a discount this holiday season. It's not the newest version that runs on Apple's new M1 chip, but it's still powerful enough for students and those looking for a laptop for casual work. Like Apple's other recent laptops, it comes with the company's improved Magic Keyboard, which is much more comfortable and durable than the keyboards on older models released from 2015 onward.

See our review of the 2020 Intel-based MacBook Air.

MacBook Pro

Looking for something more powerful? Discounts on Apple's 16-inch and 13-inch MacBook Pros are already popping up ahead of Cyber Monday. With its larger screen and booming speakers, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is ideal for those looking for a more desktop-like experience in a laptop. The 13-inch model may lack the 16-inch version's impressive speakers, but it still offers more powerful performance than the Air in a more compact design than the 16-inch variant.

Read our 16-inch MacBook Pro review.

Read our 13-inch MacBook Pro review.

The best early Cyber Monday deals on Beats headphones

Beats Studio3

If you want the ease-of-use of AirPods but in an over-the-ear format, check out the Beats Studio3. They offer long battery life and noise cancellation at a more affordable price of $174.99, making them an ideal choice if blocking out distractions is a priority for you.

Beats Solo Pro

At $179.99, the Beats Solo Pro are a compelling choice for those looking for a solid pair of on-ear headphones. They come with Apple's newer H1 chip unlike the Studio3, which means they should be able to connect to Apple devices more quickly than headphones powered by Apple's older chip. They also offer long battery life and useful noise cancelling technology.

PowerBeats Pro

If you're interested in AirPods but aren't wild about their fit, consider the PowerBeats Pro. These truly wireless earbuds have a lot of the same technology as AirPods — like quick pairing and auto play and pause — but come with a different design that wraps around the ear for a more secure fit. They also offer impressively long battery life and are sweat resistant, making them worth checking out if you're after a pair of workout headphones.

Apple Cyber Monday deals FAQs

Does Apple offer deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

Apple rarely offers its own deals for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend. But, in years past, it's offered gift cards when purchasing select products. Last year, for example, Apple's promotion included gift cards of up to $200 on select purchases. Apple has not yet said whether it plans to offer a similar deal in 2020. But, last year it made the announcement on November 25, so we may hear more about upcoming gift card promotions in the coming days.

Should I buy from Amazon, Target, Best Buy, or Walmart?

Many of these retailers offer very similar deals on products like the AirPods and the Apple Watch, which means you'll have a couple of options should one retailer go out of stock. In instances where multiple retailers offer the same product at the same price, consider which retailer is most convenient for you in terms of shipping options. If you have an Amazon Prime membership and want to get the product as fast as possible, it might make more sense to purchase through Amazon. But, if you'd rather pick up the item at your nearby Target or Best Buy, you should consider ordering from your preferred brick-and-mortar retailer. 

Do these stores offer curbside pickup?

Yes, Target, Best Buy, and Walmart all offer curbside pickup. But, you should check with your local retailer since the rules may vary by location and items purchased. Walmart, for example, says that not all stores offer curbside pickup for Black Friday deals.

How do we choose the best Apple deals?

We select products that meet our high standard of coverage based on testing and research. This includes testing Apple's products as well similar devices from its main competitors.

We also research prices across retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy and compare them against Apple's prices to find the deals that are worth paying attention to.

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• Cyber Monday is just a few hours away, and retailers like Amazon,Target, Best Buy, and Walmart are offering big deals on Apple products.
• Highlights include price drops on the Apple Watch Series 6and MacBook Pro among others.
• Some of the best discounts on products like the iPad Pro and AirPods Pro have already passed, but there are still other available deals that are worth your attention.
• For more savings, check out all the best Cyber Monday 2020 tech deals here.
• Sign up for Insider Reviews' weekly newsletter for more buying advice and great deals

Cyber Monday 2020 is nearly here, and that means there are plenty of discounts to be found on Apple products. Whether you need a new MacBook laptop or are planning to gift a pair of AirPods this holiday season, there are several deals worth paying attention to.

Apple's lineup of Apple Watches are also on sale this Cyber Monday, from the Series 3 to the brand-new Series 6. Apple rarely drops prices through its own store, but retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart have been offering compelling discounts as early as the days leading up to Thanksgiving.

AirPods Cyber Monday deals

AirPods Pro 

With its noise cancellation, rich sound, and more customizable fit, the Airpods Pro are a great choice for iPhone owners looking for a pair of general purpose wireless earbuds. Even though they're no longer available at the super low price of $169, they're still a great bargain at just under $200.

iPhone Cyber Monday deals

Most of Apple's new iPhones are available at a discounted monthly installment rate through Walmart compared to what the major carriers are charging. Keep in mind that these deals only apply if you buy the phones through the carrier's monthly installment plan. 

The iPhone 12's refreshed design and improved camera make it a notable leap forward, especially if you're upgrading from an older model that you've had for three years or longer. Every 2020 iPhone supports 5G, which will keep your phone relevant for years to come as 5G networks evolve.

iPad Cyber Monday deals

2020 iPad Air (4th generation)

Apple's new iPad Air comes with the same powerful processor as the latest iPhones, a sleek and colorful new design, and a larger screen compared to its predecessor. If you want an iPad with speedy performance for doing light work in addition to watching movies and web browsing, the Air is an ideal choice. Apple's starting price is $599, but you can get it for $569 at Amazon.

Apple iPad Mini

Apple's smallest tablet is an ideal option for Apple fans that prioritize portability above all else in a tablet. The latest model comes with support for Apple Pencil and runs on Apple's A12 Bionic processor, the same chip that powers the latest entry-level iPad. But unlike its cheaper sibling, the iPad Mini comes with a fully laminated anti-reflective display, more storage space, and a camera that can capture wide color and Live Photos, making it a solid choice for those looking for a compact tablet with a quality screen and camera. 

Check out our iPad buyers guide

Mac computer Cyber Monday deals

Apple MacBook Pro 

Apple fans in need of a new laptop for getting serious work done should consider these discounts on Apple's 13-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. The 13-inch model is ideal for those who want a machine that's more powerful than the Air but still portable, while the 16-inch is a great middle ground between a laptop and desktop-like setup. 

Read our 13-inch MacBook Pro (early 2020) review

MacBook Air (early 2020)

If you're shopping for a new laptop for schoolwork and light productivity, Best Buy is offering a compelling deal on Apple's Intel-powered Macbook Air. This model comes with Apple's new and improved Magic keyboard that offers a more durable and comfortable design. It also has several of the other features Apple introduced on other recent MacBook models, like Touch ID for signing in with your fingerprint and True Tone, which enables the display's color temperature to adapt to the lighting in your surroundings. Since this model runs on an Intel Core i3 processor, it's best suited for casual work and web browsing rather than intense workflows.

See our review of the MacBook Air (early 2020)

Apple Mac Mini (M1)

Apple just launched the updated Mac Mini with its M1 chip earlier this month, and it's already available at a discount heading into Cyber Monday. Apple's new processor brings serious performance gains to the Mac Mini compared to its Intel-powered predecessor, making it an ideal choice for those who want a fast new Apple desktop at a decent price. One important factor to remember, however, is that since it runs on Apple's M1 chip, its processor is based on a different architecture than Intel-powered computers. Most apps should run just fine despite this change, but it's still important to keep in mind.

Apple Watch Cyber Monday deals

Apple Watch Series 6 

Apple's top-of-the-line smartwatch is available at a $69 discount at both Amazon and Walmart. The Series 6 comes with improvements like a new blood oxygen sensor, faster charging, and a brighter always-on display. It's the Apple Watch to get if you really want everything Apple has to offer in terms of health and wellness tracking. However, if you're OK with just the basics, it's worth eyeing the cheaper Apple Watch SE or Series 3.

Read our Apple Watch Series 6 review

Apple Watch SE 

The Apple Watch SE is already a great deal, and it's even cheaper ahead of the holiday season. Apple's mid-tier watch still comes with many of the most important features found on the Series 6, like Apple's latest processor, a larger screen than the Series 3, and activity and fitness tracking features. If you don't mind sacrificing an always-on display, the ability to take an ECG from your wrist, and blood oxygen level measurements, the less expensive Apple Watch SE is the right model for you.

Read our Apple Watch SE review

Apple Watch Series 3 

It may be a little old, but the Apple Watch Series 3 is still a perfectly capable smartwatch for those in search of a bargain. It runs the latest Apple Watch software, meaning you'll get many of the basic features available on the SE and Series 6. If you want a smartwatch for little else than tracking workouts and checking notifications from your phone on the wrist, check out the Series 3.

Beats headphones Cyber Monday deals

Beats Studio3

The Beats Studio3 are a worthwhile option for those who want the easy pairing functionality of AirPods in an over-ear design. Complete with noise cancellation and long battery life, these headphones are a compelling buy at their discounted price of $175 this holiday season.

Beats Solo Pro

Beats's popular on-ear Solo Pro headphones are also getting a massive discount this holiday season. Unlike the Studio3, the Solo Pro comes with Apple's newer H1 chip, which should offer faster switching between devices. Compared to their predecessor, the Solo Pro offers improvements when it comes to battery life, noise cancelling, and audio quality.

PowerBeats Pro

The PowerBeats Pro are the headphones to get if you want a pair of wireless earbuds that offer a more snug and secure fit than Apple's AirPods. The PowerBeats Pro wrap around your ears for a tighter grip and offer longer battery life than the AirPods Pro. They also come with similar features, like quick pairing with Apple products, since the earbuds have Apple's H1 chip. But, unlike the AirPods Pro, they offer noise isolation rather than noise cancellation, which means they use the ear tips to block out sound rather than actually canceling out surrounding noises.

You can also find this price on the Powerbeats Pro at Target.

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• Apple's newest MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro both offer similarly fast performance, long battery life, and almost identical configuration options.
• These similarities can make it difficult to decide which brand-new Apple laptop is right for you.
• Overall, the MacBook Air is a better value since it offers almost the same experience for $300 less.
• The Pro is only worth considering if you need a bit more performance than the Air can manage and still want a lightweight laptop.
• Read our best laptops guide for more buying advice.

It's never been harder to decide between the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Both laptops run on Apple's all-new M1 chip, making them the first of the company's notebooks to do so. The new chip introduces big gains in performance and battery life to Apple's most portable laptops, signaling a big step forward for the Mac. It's the beginning of what Apple expects to be a two-year transition period during which it will move its entire Mac line over to its own silicon.

Choosing between the new $1,299 MacBook Pro and $999 MacBook Air can be difficult since they both run on Apple's M1 processor and come in very similar configurations in terms of memory and storage. But, there are a few important differences to keep in mind when deciding between the two, particularly when it comes to battery life and performance. 

MacBook Air M1 vs. MacBook Pro M1: Which is best?

The M1-powered MacBook Airis generally a better value than the Pro since it offers similar features, performance, and configuration options at a starting price that's $300 lower.

But, that doesn't necessarily mean the MacBook Air is the right pick for everyone. The MacBook Pro comes with a few extras that could make it the better choice for professionals with specific needs, such as slightly longer battery life, higher-quality microphones, and most importantly, internal cooling fans. Not to mention, the Pro model has Apple's Touch Bar, which is a thin touch-sensitive strip that replaces the function key row. But, that's not enough of a reason on its own to recommend buying the Pro over the Air.

Still, for those seeking a general-purpose laptop that's equipped for browsing the web, writing papers, watching videos, and some photo and video editing, the MacBook Air is the best choice.

Specifications

Performance 

The MacBook Pro and MacBook Air both run on Apple's M1 system-on-a-chip, which features an 8-core central processing unit (CPU) and a 16-core Neural Engine.

One of the only differences when it comes to the processor is that with the MacBook Air, the base model comes with a 7-core graphics processing unit (GPU), while the MacBook Pro has an 8-core GPU in its entry-level configuration. That should give the base MacBook Pro a bit more of a kick when running games and other graphics-heavy programs.

Another important characteristic found on the MacBook Pro that the MacBook Air lacks is a cooling fan. The MacBook Air's fanless design is a godsend for anyone who's dealt with noisy, whirring fans that make your laptop sound like a jet engine once it's under a little bit of stress. We haven't tested the M1-based MacBook Pro yet, but the inclusion of a fan likely means it's capable of sustaining high performance for longer periods of time since it won't have to throttle performance to cool off.

As such, the MacBook Pro might be a better choice for those in need of a machine that can process heavy workloads for long stretches of the day.

Still, the M1 chip brings a big performance boost to the MacBook Air that makes it much more capable than its Intel-powered predecessor. Apple says the M1-equipped MacBook Air can has 3.5 times as much computing power, five times the graphics performance, and nine times the machine learning capabilities compared to the Intel-powered Air. Our own anecdotal performance tests show that the M1 processor is much speedier than its latest Intel counterpart, which you can read more about in our full review. 

Battery life and features

Both machines should offer excellent battery life — I was able to get more than 12 hours out of the MacBook Air during my testing, and reviews of the MacBook Pro also suggest it provides impressive battery life that's similarly long. However, Apple claims that the Pro should last slightly longer, offering 17 hours of battery life when browsing the web compared to the MacBook Air's 15 hours.

Still, perhaps the biggest difference between the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro is that the latter includes the Touch Bar. Apple launched the Touch Bar in 2016 as a way to expand the Mac's user interface by providing useful, touch-friendly shortcuts above the keyboard. In addition to replacing the function key row, the controls shown in the Touch Bar can change depending on the app or program you're using. When running Safari, for example, you may see controls that let you scrub through your open tabs.

It's a novel idea, but the Touch Bar doesn't bring enough to the experience to justify buying the MacBook Pro over the Air. If you do decide on the Pro, do so because of the other benefits it brings in more important areas, like performance or battery life.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Airotherwise have a lot in common. Both come with two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, Apple's new and improved Magic Keyboard, a 720p webcam that uses the image signal processor in Apple's chipset, storage options that start 256GB and top out at 2TB, and Touch ID.

But, there are some subtle differences when it comes to the speakers and microphones. The MacBook Pro's speakers support high dynamic range, unlike the MacBook Air's, which should enable the Pro to maintain clear audio at its loudest and lowest levels. That should put the 13-inch Pro in a middle ground between the Air and the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which offers superb, boisterous audio for a laptop of its size, thanks to its six-speaker sound system.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro also has microphones that are slightly better than the Air's. Apple describes them as studio quality microphones with high-signal-to-noise ratio, which the Air lacks.

Design and display

If you're familiar with the MacBook Air, you probably know that it has a distinguished, wedge-shaped design that separates it from the MacBook Pro.

That hasn't changed with the M1-powered MacBook Air; the base on Apple's thin-and-light laptop still has that familiar teardrop-like look. The MacBook Air is also available in a gold color option in addition to silver and space gray, while the MacBook Pro only comes in those latter two colors.

True to its name, the MacBook Air is also slightly lighter than the MacBook Pro, weighing 2.8 pounds compared to the 3-pound MacBook Pro.  

Like the Air, the MacBook Pro also looks just like its predecessors, which is to say that it has a sightly thicker build that's uniform at its base compared to its cheaper and lighter sibling.

When it comes to display quality, the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are once again very similar. Both laptops have screens measuring 13.3 inches in size with resolutions of 2,560 by 1,600 pixels, and they both support P3 wide color and Apple's True Tone technology. That feature allows the screen to adjust the display's color to match the lighting in your surroundings, often making the screen look less blue.

The MacBook Pro's display, however, is slightly brighter than that of the MacBook Air (500 nits brightness compared to the MacBook Air's 400 nits.)

 The bottom line

Overall, the MacBook Air is a better value, especially for those looking for a general purpose laptop. Even though it's $300 cheaper, it doesn't make big scarifies when it comes to performance or configuration options. That's significant because the previous entry-level version of Apple's Intel-powered MacBook Air felt underpowered since it came with just a dual-core Intel Core i3 chip. 

But, there are still some reasons why the MacBook Pro may be the right fit. Since it has a fan-based cooling system and an extra core in its GPU at the base level, it might be a better choice for those who need to execute strenuous tasks for long periods of time and still want a lightweight laptop. The Pro also has slightly longer battery life and other quality perks, like higher-quality microphones and speakers.

All told, the MacBook Air is probably the right choice for most people, offering performance that isn't much different than Apple's professional-grade laptop at a lower price. The MacBook Pro is better suited for those who need a bit more performance, slightly longer battery life, and better microphones and speakers in a portable laptop. 

SEE ALSO: Apple's new iPad strikes the right balance of power and affordability, making it the best value for most people

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• Apple's latest MacBook Air that launched in March 2020 is down $150, with prices starting at $850 for Amazon Prime Day 2020. 
• You get the full $150 discount on the two available models at checkout. 
• The base 256GB model with a dual-core processor typically retails for $1,000, and the 512GB model with a faster quad-core processor usually goes for $1,300.
• Getting $150 off on a MacBook Air is a good deal by Apple device standards, and it's the best we've seen for these laptops on Amazon so far. 
• The MacBook Air is an ultra-slim and portable laptop that's also the most affordable in Apple's laptop lineup, and it's the best MacBook for the vast majority of people who need laptops.

Apple's latest MacBook Air that launched in March 2020 is $150 off for an early Amazon Prime Day 2020 treat. This discount is a good deal by Apple device standards.

That brings the typical $1,000 price of the base MacBook Air with 256GB of storage, 8GB of RAM, and a 10th-gen Intel Core i3 dual-core processor down to $850. 

The pricier model with a 10th-gen Intel Core i5 quad-core processor, 512GB of storage, and 8GB of RAM is also getting a $150 discount, bringing its usual $1,300 price down to $1,150. These are the best prices we've seen for Apple's 2020 MacBook Air.

The Core i3 model is incredibly affordable for an Apple laptop, and it'll work just fine for the majority of people who mostly use a web browser for light and basic tasks. Still, the base MacBook Air's Core i3's dual-core chip is under-powered by today's standards, especially for a laptop that costs more than $800 with a deal. 

If it were me, I'd strongly consider the pricier MacBook Air model with the Core i5 for its extra power and potential longevity. That's because the Core i5 chip has four cores that make it faster now and for the coming years, and it gives you some wiggle room for more power-intensive tasks and generally faster operation. 

Check out our review for the 2020 MacBook Air and our buying guide to the best MacBooks for more advice. We also expect to see many more great tech deals and laptop sales this Prime Day, so be sure to follow us for more deals.

• Check out other Amazon Prime Day 2020 laptop deals
• Check out other tech deal discounts on Amazon Prime Day 2020

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In November 2020, Apple unveiled a slate of new computers that were powered by the company's first-ever in-house silicon: The Apple M1 chip.

By early 2021, it looks like Apple's line of new computers has already been breached by a malicious set of software nicknamed "Silver Sparrow." Just shy of 30,000 of Apple's new computers have already been infected, according to the security firm Red Canary, primarily in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Germany.

The infected machines range from the Mac Mini desktop to the latest version of Apple's laptops. Both the latest MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro are powered by M1 chips.

Notably, security researchers have yet to observe the Silver Sparrow malware actually doing anything harmful. 

"Though we haven't observed Silver Sparrow delivering additional malicious payloads yet," Tony Lambert, an analyst at Red Canary intelligence, wrote in a blog post."Its forward-looking M1 chip compatibility, global reach, relatively high infection rate, and operational maturity suggest Silver Sparrow is a reasonably serious threat, uniquely positioned to deliver a potentially impactful payload at a moment's notice."

Though viruses are uncommon on Apple's computers, a variety of other malicious software impacts Macs. The best way to protect yourself is to use free software from companies like Malwarebytes, which scans your computer and quarantines harmful software.

Got a tip? Contact Insider senior correspondent Ben Gilbert via email (bgilbert@insider.com), or Twitter DM (@realbengilbert). We can keep sources anonymous. Use a non-work device to reach out. PR pitches by email only, please.

SEE ALSO: Apple just unveiled a new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini — the first Macs to run on its own Apple silicon chip

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Apple's iPad Pro has always seemed like an alternative to the laptop. After all, it has a laptop-sized screen, it's designed to work best with a keyboard, and it now supports trackpad input.

But the company took that idea a step further on Tuesday with the introduction of its newest iPad Pro. The updated model comes with Apple's powerful M1 chip — the same processor that drives its latest MacBook laptops — new mini-LED display technology with improved brightness and contrast on the larger model, 5G support, and Thunderbolt connectivity. 

The announcement served as yet another sign that the iPad Pro is indeed Apple's answer to the 2-in-1 Windows laptops that have dominated the PC industry over the last decade. It reinforces the idea that we'll probably never see a touchscreen Mac, because that's exactly what the iPad Pro has become.

The iPad Pro is following a similar path as new Windows laptops

Many of the upgrades we've been seeing on Windows laptops in recent months are also present on the new iPad Pro. These include better microphones and cameras for conference calls, thinner and lighter designs that run on processors based on the same basic architecture as those in our phones, and 5G integration. 

Just look back to some of the most interesting laptop announcements from this year's CES conference for evidence. Lenovo's new IdeaPad 5G laptop, for example, comes with 5G and runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8cx processor. That chip is built on the ARM architecture that's commonly found in the processors that power smartphones and tablets, similar to Apple's M1 chip.

HP's Elite Dragonfly Max, meanwhile, comes with a 5-megapixel camera and four wide-range microphones that use artificial intelligence to optimize audio — an upgrade that was clearly intended for the work-from-home era.

Apple now has its own take on how to improve video conferencing as it relates to the iPad Pro. The tablet comes with a new feature called Center Stage, which leverages the iPad Pro's new wide-angle front camera and machine learning to automatically keep you in the shot as you move.  Since it runs on M1, it also uses Apple's image signal processor, which greatly improves color and brightness as I found when reviewing the MacBook Air. 

Of course, some of the additions on the newest model address the iPad Pro's shortcomings when compared to laptops. The 2021 model comes with Thunderbolt support, for example, which enables support for more powerful accessories like faster storage devices. 

And now that the iPad Pro runs on M1, there's a chance that app compatibility between Mac and iPad will become easier to manage since they're powered by the same chip architecture. 

The iPad Pro is Apple's vision for the future of computing

It's unclear whether the iPad Pro has been a hit for Apple in terms of sales because the company doesn't specify those details in its earnings reports. But what has become clear is that the iPad Pro is Apple's vision for the future of the personal computer, despite the fact that it's not technically a laptop.

It's the iPad Pro, not the MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, that includes new sensors like Apple's Lidar scanner, a new 12.9-inch display that's brighter and packs in more pixels per inch, and features such as Center Stage. The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro were among the first computers to launch with Apple's M1 chip, but the iPad Pro feels like the first computer that was really designed to take advantage of it. 

The MacBook Air and Pro are excellent laptops, but they feel antiquated in some respects. Unlike modern Windows machines, they lack qualities like flexibility, touchscreens, nearly borderless displays, and facial recognition technology, just to name a few. The iPad Pro, however, has all of those features and more. 

I don't know that most people will be willing to give up their MacBooks for an iPad Pro just yet. And Apple doesn't want you to; it's clearly very invested in its Mac lineup. But I do think the iPad Pro is the device to keep an eye on if you really want to understand Apple's perspective as it relates to the future of computing. 

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Apple's computers, from its iconic iMac to the latest MacBook, are getting slammed by malware and viruses.

That's according to Apple senior VP Craig Federighi's sworn testimony given on Wednesday in a California court room. "Today, we have a level of malware on the Mac that we don't find acceptable," he said.

For every virus or piece of malware that Apple is able to stop or block, another several pop up. "It's an endless game of whack-a-mole," he said.

Federighi appeared as a witness for the defense in an ongoing lawsuit brought against Apple by "Fortnite" maker Epic Games.

During questioning, Federighi compared the differences in security of Apple's computing platforms.

Apple's computers are "like a car," he said, and that means users can take it off-road or wherever they'd like — for better or worse — whereas the iPhone and iPad operating system, iOS, needs to be usable by children and even babies.

In the lawsuit, Epic is attempting to force Apple to open its iOS platform to alternate app stores.

Epic argues that iOS is a computer operating system and should be open to competition. Apple argues that allowing alternative app stores introduces major security issues. 

The Mac operating system, Federighi said, is less secure than iOS specifically because of its open nature. If you were able to download iPhone and iPad apps outside of Apple's App Store, Federighi said, you'd be open to a variety of security issues that Apple couldn't review before use. 

This is due to the App Store's review process, he said, which offers a standard of safety across all iPhone and iPad apps. 

Read more: Bill Gates and Warren Buffett got 211 billionaires to pledge half their wealth to charity. Now some are falling short — and still getting massive tax breaks.

Epic Games filed suit against Apple last summer after its hit game, "Fortnite," was pulled from Apple's App Store.

Apple says it pulled the game because Epic violated the terms of its developer agreement when Epic implemented a payment system in the game that enabled players to circumvent Apple's App Store. Epic says the App Store is a monopoly, and argues that iPhones and iPads are no different from computers.

The in-person trial began in early May at the US District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland, California, and is expected to conclude next Monday. Apple CEO Tim Cook is scheduled to take the stand as a witness for Apple on Friday morning.

Got a tip? Contact Insider senior correspondent Ben Gilbert via email (bgilbert@insider.com), or Twitter DM (@realbengilbert). We can keep sources anonymous. Use a non-work device to reach out. PR pitches by email only, please.

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Thinking about buying a new MacBook? It's probably in your best interest to hold off.

Unless you're in immediate need of a new laptop, there are a few reasons why it's a good idea to wait before purchasing a new Apple laptop. For one, Apple is expected to announce redesigned MacBook Pro models in the coming months that will come with more powerful processors among other improvements, according to Bloomberg.

Even if you're eyeballing a MacBook Air or are fine with the current generation MacBook Pro, there are a few reasons why it's worth waiting.

New MacBook Pros may be coming soon.

The biggest reason to wait on upgrading is simply because newer MacBook Pro laptops may be launching in the coming months.

Here's a look at what's in Apple's pipeline according to Bloomberg. 

• New high-end MacBook Pro (14-inch and 16-inch): Redesigned versions of the MacBook Pro with faster new chips, more ports, and MagSafe charging could debut as early as the summer, the report says. These new MacBook Pros would come in 14-inch and 16-inch variants, making it the first time since 2019 that Apple has introduced a new size option and updated its larger-sized MacBook Pro. The new Apple processor in these laptops is also expected to bring noteworthy gains in performance. The upgraded processor will reportedly come with a new 10-core design with the option for 16 or 32 graphics cores, the report says. That's compared to today's Apple M1, which includes eight computing cores and eight graphics cores. 
• New MacBook Air: The MacBook Air could get an upgrade toward the end of 2021, according to Bloomberg. This laptop will reportedly come with a different new Apple processor that's meant to be a direct successor to the M1. It's also said to come with a refreshed design that's likely similar to the new look we're expecting to see on the updated MacBook Pro.
• New MacBook Pro (13-inch): There's also another smaller new MacBook Pro in the works that will be powered by the same processor as the MacBook Air, says Bloomberg. It's unclear when this model could launch. 

There might be deals on Amazon Prime Day.

Amazon's Prime Day sale is expected to kick off soon, and that usually means big discounts on electronics — including Apple's MacBooks.

Last year, for example, the early 2020 MacBook Air was available at a $150 discount on Amazon Prime Day. So, even if you're content with buying a current generation MacBook rather than waiting for the next update, it's still best to hold off and see what deals might be available. 

Amazon hasn't announced when Prime Day will take place in 2021, but it's expected to happen sometime in June. Prime Day typically happens in July, with 2020 (and now possibly 2021) being the exception.

Back-to-school season usually means laptop sales, too.

Apple offers discounted pricing for students and teachers year-round, but it usually runs a special back-to-school promotion in the summer.

Product pricing doesn't usually change, but Apple will typically throw in a free pair of headphones with your Mac purchase during the promotional period. For last year's promotion, which started in mid-June, Apple threw in a free pair of AirPods with a Mac purchase for qualifying customers. 

Although it's not technically a new discount, waiting a bit longer before upgrading your Mac could mean you'll get freebies that wouldn't otherwise be available if you're a student.

Regardless, other retailers like Best Buy typically offer back-to-school discounts on laptops over the summer, so it's worth waiting to see if any MacBooks go on sale. 

Looking for a lightweight computer for the back-to-school season? You might find yourself deciding between Apple's MacBook Air and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, both of which pack a lot of processing power into sleek design. They also share some similarities when it comes to specifications: both have a screen that's around 13 inches in size, and both computers run on Apple's M1 processor. 

But there are important differences between the two that you should consider before making a decision — the biggest being the software that powers each computer. They each have specific strengths and weaknesses, but the MacBook Air generally excels in most of the circumstances that matter most to students. 

Here's a closer look at how they compare and which is best for schoolwork.

Apple iPad Pro vs. MacBook Air: Which is best?

While they both have their advantages, the MacBook Air is still the better option for most students. It may not have as much cutting-edge technology as the iPad Pro, but it offers a superior typing experience, more storage in the base model, an extra USB-C port, and most importantly: software that's more ideal for multitasking. These advantages make it a better choice for general work and productivity. The MacBook Air is also noticeably cheaper than what you can expect to pay for an iPad Pro with Apple's Magic Keyboard, or even a reasonably priced, third-party keyboard case. 

That being said, the iPad Pro does have an edge over the MacBook Air in several areas, just not the ones that are typically most important for school work. The iPad Pro has a much better selfie camera that can keep you in frame during video calls, a high-quality rear camera for shooting photos and videos, a dazzling touchscreen, and Face ID. It's also much more flexible since it's a tablet first and a laptop replacement second. 

Specifications and dimensions

Design and portability

Both the MacBook Air and iPad Pro are designed with portability in mind. The MacBook Air is 2.8 pounds, making it one of the lightest laptops around, while the iPad Pro weighs just 1.5 pounds. 

However, it's important to remember that the iPad Pro's weight only refers to the tablet itself without the keyboard. And if you're planning to use the iPad Pro for school, you probably want to pair it with the best keyboard you can buy. 

Apple hasn't said how much its $349 Magic Keyboard for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro weighs. But a customer weighed the keyboard with what appears to be a food scale and shared the results in a MacRumors forum last year, indicating that the case weighs 1.57 pounds. That makes the iPad Pro combined with the Magic Keyboard 3 pounds, which is just slightly heavier than the MacBook Air. 

Of course, there are plenty of other options besides Apple's pricey keyboard. But our favorite iPad keyboard case, the $200 Logitech Combo Touch, weighs about 1.7 pounds, which would still make the iPad Pro heavier than the MacBook Air.

If you've used a MacBook Air in the past, the newest model will feel very familiar. It has the same wedge-shaped design that distinguishes it from the MacBook Pro, and is available in space gray, gold, and silver. This traditional clamshell laptop through and through, unlike the iPad Pro and many Windows rivals which offer touchscreens and 2-in-1 designs.

The iPad Pro generally has a more modern and versatile design. It has slimmer borders framing the display, making the screen appear larger, and it can serve as both a tablet and a laptop-like device when paired with a keyboard. That could make the iPad Pro better for entertainment since you can use it as a standalone tablet, but the MacBook Air still generally offers a better combination of portability and productivity. 

Software and productivity

Software is the most important difference between the iPad Pro and MacBook Air. The iPad Pro runs on iPadOS, while the MacBook Air is powered by macOS. The former is a mobile operating system designed specifically for the iPad that's based on Apple's iPhone software, while macOS is Apple's desktop operating system.

Overall, macOS is still superior to iPadOS when it comes to work and productivity. Since it was designed for laptops from the start, it has a traditional windowed interface that makes it easy to switch between apps, web browser tabs, and additional desktops. If you've used a Mac in the past, or even a Windows laptop, the experience will largely feel very similar.

The iPad has come a long way in recent years when it comes to work-related features, but it still has limitations. Apple's iPad software allows you to use apps in split screen mode and pin an app in a sidebar alongside the main app you're working in. 

There's also a proper file manager for accessing documents stored on your iPad and in cloud-based apps, and the newest iPad Pro now supports Thunderbolt 4 for improved compatibility with peripherals. Not to mention, Apple added mouse and touchpad support for the iPad back in 2020.

However, there's a learning curve that comes with switching to the iPad Pro as your primary computer. Apple's multitasking gestures require some getting used to and still don't feel quite as natural as the standard mouse and keyboard experience. Opening multiple apps at once is really only easy on an iPad when you're using apps that are specifically pinned to the dock at the bottom of the screen. 

On a laptop, you can simply click on any program you want to open whether it's on the dock or not while using another app, and have it open in a different window. It's also easier to resize and move windows to your liking on a MacBook versus an iPad. To make the most out of your iPad as a work device, you also have to remember Apple's specific multitasking gestures, such as swiping left or right with four or five fingers to cycle between apps. 

Another major difference to consider is that programs designed for the iPad won't always work the same way that they do on a Mac device. Yes, there are plenty of productivity and creative apps available on the iPad, but some of the most popular ones are missing some features on the iPad. 

Take Microsoft Word, for example. Although the iPad version supports many features, you'll be missing out on some capabilities like adding and updating citations, which is only available on Word for Mac and Windows. That might be particularly important for writing research papers. The version of Adobe Photoshop for the iPad has also lagged behind its desktop companion in the past, plus it has a different interface. 

Creatives may benefit from the iPad Pro's Apple Pencil support when it comes to sketching or touching up photos. But overall, the MacBook Air has more consistency when it comes to apps and a more familiar operating system that makes it much easier to use multiple programs at once. 

The MacBook Air's keyboard also feels more sturdy than those found on most keyboard cases. Plus, it comes with a second USB-C port so that you can use an accessory and charge your device at the same time. 

The bottom line here is that the MacBook Air is still better at most productivity-oriented tasks. But if you are going to choose the iPad Pro, make sure the programs and apps you need for schoolwork offer all of the features you need to get your assignments done.

Performance and battery life

The iPad Pro and MacBook Air both have a lot to offer when it comes to performance, which is why it can be difficult to decide between the two. They both run on Apple's M1 processor and come with 8GB of memory (RAM) at the base level. However, the iPad Pro has an extra core in its graphics processing unit (GPU) compared to the base level MacBook Air. 

According to benchmark tests, the iPad Pro outshines the MacBook Air when it comes to graphics processing power, but they perform similarly during general computing tasks. 

The iPad Pro earned higher scores than the MacBook Air in the 3DMark Wild Life Stress Extreme benchmark, a test that evaluates how a device performs under long periods of heavy load. Anecdotally, I've also noticed that the iPad Pro exports large image files from Adobe Lightroom faster than the MacBook Air by several seconds. 

The MacBook Air and iPad Pro both achieved similar scores in Geekbench 5's processor (CPU) test, which assess general computing performance.

We ran these tests using an M1-powered MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and  11-inch M1-powered iPad Pro, which runs on the same processor as the 12.9-inch model.

Both devices offer impressive battery life, but the MacBook Air reigns supreme on this front. Apple estimates that the MacBook Air should last for 15 hours on a single charge, while the iPad Pro should last for 10 hours. In my experience, I've found that the MacBook Air comes close to these claims, delivering more than 12 hours of use. 

Display and camera

The display and camera are two areas where the iPad Pro truly shines over the MacBook Air. 

Not only does the iPad Pro have a sharper touchscreen with slimmer bezels, but the 12.9-inch version comes with a mini LED panel that brings significantly improved brightness and contrast. There are more than 10,000 mini LEDs in the 12.9-inch iPad Pro's screen, resulting in a big boost in contrast and overall image quality. The MacBook Air, by comparison, has a standard Retina display that's sharp enough to enjoyably watch movies and view photos, but isn't necessarily noteworthy.

Laptops aren't known for having good cameras, which is part of what makes the iPad Pro stand out as a work machine. The iPad Pro has a 12-megapixel (MP) rear camera, 10MP main camera, and a LiDAR scanner for depth sensing, giving it photography capabilities that are similar to what you can expect from the iPhone 12 lineup. 

The MacBook Air, of course, doesn't have a rear camera because true laptops can't take photos that aren't selfies. But Apple has always positioned the iPad Pro as a more versatile computer rather than just a standard laptop replacement.  

The front-facing camera also features some extra smarts compared to the MacBook Air. Most notably, it has a feature called Center Stage that keeps the subject in frame during video calls, a nice perk for those who frequently FaceTime or Zoom loved ones back home from their dorm room. The MacBook Air lacks this feature, but still benefits from improved image quality that comes from Apple's image signal processor in the M1.

The bottom line

The MacBook Air's more productivity-friendly software, sturdier keyboard, long battery life, and portability make it the best choice for those in search of a college computer. The iPad Pro has the MacBook Air beat when it comes to display and camera quality, and it has a much more versatile design that allows it to serve as a laptop or tablet. But the areas in which the MacBook Air excels over the iPad Pro are much more important for students. 

Plus, you'll have to spend a lot of money to turn the iPad Pro into a viable MacBook Air competitor. The cheapest configuration for the 12.9-inch model comes with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM and starts at $1,099. Add on Apple's Magic Keyboard, and you're spending at least $1,448. With Apple's student discount, you'd still end up paying $1,328. A MacBook Air with twice the storage costs just $899 for students and $999 with Apple's regular pricing.

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