Don't Buy An $1,800 MacBook Pro, The Deals Will Come (Eventually)

Can you afford a $1,500 or $1,800 MacBook? I didn't think so.

My advice: wait. Unless you're also in the market for a $1,400 Apple Watch 2 with Stainless Steel Case and Fauve Barenia Leather.

Retailers will eventually offer discounts on the new MacBook Pros. Take the 12-inch MacBook. Roughly six months after it was introduced in March of 2015 at $1,299 (1.1GHz/256GB) and $1,599 (1.2GHz/512GB), Best Buy began to regularly discount it. Sometimes it was just $100 but other times Best Buy slashed the price by $300.

I waited (like many other consumers) and got it for $999 at Best Buy at the beginning of this year. When/if I upgrade to the newest 12-inch MacBook (upgraded from the Intel "Broadwell" chip to the faster "Skylake" processor), I will wait for the 1.2GHz version to come down to $1,299. Which it will. That's still a lot of money but it's a lot less painful than $1,600 -- which seems beyond the pale to me. Even for Apple's stellar build quality.

The question is how long will it take for substantial MacBook Pro discounts to surface? The MacBook Pro seems more resistant to deep price cuts than other MacBooks. (Note that I'm talking about the "lower-tier" $1,499 and $1,799 models.) But Apple could eventually step in and cut the price itself, as it did in October of 2013 when it lowered the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro price to $1,299 from $1,499.

Most MacBook Pro reviews are positive but the focus isn't on the price: Reviews of the $1,500 MacBook Pro and $1,800 Touch Bar MacBook Pro have generally been positive (with some exceptions). But a key focus for a review should be price when a 13-inch laptop starts at $1,500. Remember, the $1,500 MacBook Pro is meant as a replacement for the 13-inch MacBook Air. There's a very small sliver of the MacBook-buying population that has that kind of disposable income.

The $1,800 ($1,799) price for a Touch Bar MacBook Pro is absurd (opinion). I say that (as I said above) despite Apple's stellar build quality, technology, and design aesthetic. Yes, I know you can't argue with success and Apple is already selling a lot of new MacBook Pros but that doesn't mean you have to run out and buy one. And any deal that's not at least $200 off the lower-tier $1,499 and $1,799 models isn't worth it (you can already find deals off the high-end $2,000-plus models).

Like most Apple fans, I really like the new MacBook Pros. But the asking price is...can I say elitist? Or at least something pretty close to that.

Note: current MacMall deals on new MacBook Pro. And AppleInsider deals here.