Apple’s New M3 Macs Discounted Just Days After Launch

Apple M3 MacBook Pro
(Image credit: Apple)

Apple launched its first M3 Macs on Monday. A week has yet to pass, but we see that many of these machines are already on sale at Adorama. Are these truly Black Friday bargains for Adorama VIPs*, as they are billed, or is this a sign of a tepid reaction to Apple’s high MSRPs?

On Monday, Apple held its Scary Fast event, during which it took the wraps of its latest M3 processors and a handful of laptops and desktops featuring these slices of 3nm silicon. Despite this being a Halloween event for Apple, the most frightening thing was the pricing, particularly for those who don’t want to settle for base specs (8 GB RAM in 2023, anyone?).

The following offers are live today for people who have signed up for Adorama’s free VIP loyalty membership:

*Adorama’s special prices, delivering up to $200 off the new M3 Macs, are only unlocked and viewable by VIP-tier customers. Becoming a VIP doesn’t cost anything, though; it is just a simple registration for discount prices like these, plus a way to earn and spend points – a very ordinary loyalty scheme. Sign in to get the VIP prices listed above.

It will be interesting to see if any other large US retailers follow in Adorama’s footsteps by discounting their factory-fresh new M3 Macs. Earlier today, we reported that Mac sales had been hit hard. Sales of Apple’s Mac computers were down a hefty 34% YoY, according to the FY23 earnings call.

One good way to shift more numbers is through keener pricing. However, Apple also has to step back from trotting out entry-level models with low RAM and storage configurations and prohibitive higher-spec prices. Even the most myopic Apple-focused fans will grow aware that similarly priced Windows laptops and desktops now come with at least double the RAM and SSD storage as the shiny new M3 Macs.

Mark Tyson
Freelance News Writer

Mark Tyson is a Freelance News Writer at Tom's Hardware US. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

  • bit_user
    Can the author attest that the lone reseller cited doesn't routinely do this? The title gives the impression that the M3 was discounted due to poor initial uptake, but there's no information presented which really supports such a conclusion. Perhaps that's just how I interpreted it, but it would be nice to know if this is "normal" or not, since that might tell us something about the M3.

    Also, having gotten burned by one, I don't trust these NYC / NJ camera/electronics stores. I'm not sure I've ever bought anything from Adorama, but about the only one I'd trust is B&H.
    Reply
  • watzupken
    I don't see how the title suggested poor demand, but I have doubts demand will be good. Looking the 3 M3 variants, the M3 Max is probably getting the biggest performance boost. The vanilla M3 also got a decent bump in performance, but also a significant bump in price now that you can only find it in a the MacBook Pro 14 setup. So to me, there is little reason for anyone using a M1/M2 based Mac to want to upgrade. I was considering a MacBook Pro 14 with the M3 Pro, but looking at the specs again, I may just skip it. I should thank Apple for making it an easy decision for me to not buy it.
    Reply