Tong Family

Well there are some decent Memorial Day sales, but when you are buying electronics, you also have to pay attention to obsolesce because sometimes the reason for the sale is that they are going to get rid of the product. So with that said, what are some pretty good deals here, so using the MacRumors Buying Guide, here are products that you can get (because they are not about to be upgraded):

1. Macs. The product line here is pretty mixed, basically, you can feel free to get a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro 13″ as well as the updated Mac Mini (although I’m not quite sure why you would want one) and the Mac Pro (if you can afford it). But be careful about getting an iMac as they are long in the tooth. And the MacBook Pro 16″ is in mid-cycle right now.
2. iPhones and iPads. We are in mid-cycle now, but for the phones, the new ones are coming in the fall, so hold off if you can. On the other hand the iPad Pro’s are brand new, so get those. Be careful about the iPad Air, Mini, and regular iPad because they are getting long in the tooth.
3. Watches, AirPods, Etc. This one where the main message is don’t buy now. The AirPod Pros are Ok as they won’t get updated until next year, but the HomePod, AirPod, Apple Watch are all in mid-cycle (that is more than 18 months old) and the Apple TV is about to get an update. They still make iPod Touches which I didn’t even know 🙂

What you can net out of this is that there are not too many deals that you should take right now, but the ones that seem good are. The best source is the Apple Insider Price Guide

1. iPad Pro Magic Keyboard. These have a touchpad and make your iPad Pro much more like a Mac. At $349, it is ridiculously expensive, but you do get a backlit keyboard, a touchpad and the screen is not on a tiltable stand.
2. AirPod Pros. Yes, they are expensive, but at $230-$230, that’s not bad compared with their $249 list price. And once you try them, you will see how great they are. Both Adorama and Amazon have the best deals right now.
3. HomePod. Ok, these are $100 off from their $300 price at Best Buy, so a pretty good deal, but they are two years old. They are supposed to sound great though and the new ones are supposed to be smaller and cheaper. A pair at $400 isn’t bad and it will give you decent stereo, so good for the true Apple aficionado with the white ones less likely to attract dust, but they don’t look as cool with a sleek stereo 🙂
4. MacBook Pro 13″. Probably the perfect blend of small and fast. This thing is a miracle. I would get one probably during the fall sale if you can wait. They normally have an educational sale at least. Or if you are small business, sign up for a small business account. For longevity, I would pop for the higher end one with 32GB of memory and at least 1GB of disk with the 10th generation Intel processor. The main reason to wait is the 14″ is probably coming as is the mini-LED panel which is going to be great. And of course, they are supposed to do an ARM-based laptop soon for those truly on the bleeding edge. It is expensive and you should get AppleCare, but I would say the lowest you should go is the 2020 13″ MacBook Pro with 2.3GHz, 16GB memory and 512GB SSD at $1900, but personally, the one with the longest life would be the 2.3GHz, 32GB RAM, 1TB disk at $2.5K

The next set of sales will likely come in the fall, some expectations are:

1. iPhone 12 with an AirPod promo. Not a bad time to get both if you can wait that long.
2. AirPod Pro 2021. There is some confusion here, but that is probably coming.