The cheapest countries to buy a MacBook Pro

In our review of the 2023 MacBook Pro, we described it in the headline as rapidly approaching perfection. It’s undoubtedly a state-of-the-art laptop, but it has an eye-watering price tag compared to alternative laptops. At $1,999 for even the cheapest variant, you may feel it’s beyond your budget. But what if you could get it for significantly less in another part of the world? We’ve looked into the cheapest place to buy a MacBook Pro.

We’ll only be looking at the base model prices of the most recent MacBook Pro for the purposes of this comparison. That means the 14- and 16-inch devices with the M2 Pro chip, 512GB storage, and 16- or 19-core GPU. To perform the comparison on other variants of this device and even other MacBook models would be very taxing on your valuable time. And, in any event, the general trend is that the cheaper countries for one model of the MacBook Pro are similarly ranked on the price scale for the others.

The other point of order is that we’re talking about how much a US resident will be shelling out on the MacBook Pro in a country they are visiting. This is important because some countries tack on a sales tax to the MacBook’s price. US residents can’t dodge that bullet at home, but you can probably get a refund on that tax in another country before heading back to the States. So, for Americans, it means a heftier price tag domestically but a chance for a cheaper one while overseas.

With those clarifications made, let’s get into the numbers.

What are the cheapest countries in which to buy a MacBook Pro?

Here’s a rundown of the retail price of the 2023 MacBook Pro in the biggest markets around the world.

Tip of the hat to The Mac Index website, which has compiled the prices of every MacBook Pro variant in each country. Sales tax has been deducted so that it is from the perspective of a US resident visiting, and the prices have been converted to the equivalent in dollars, making them easy to compare. You can also head over to the site to check out the prices of the other models. The one outlier from the tables on that site is Turkey, which represents the country as being extremely cheap for the devices when this is no longer the case. We have adjusted the table above to reflect the current retail price.

Note also that the sales tax that you would pay in the US for the MacBook Pro varies from state to state. An approximate 10% tax has been added in the table above for the purpose of the comparison.

Whether considering the 14-inch or 16-inch model, Malaysia the cheapest place to buy the MacBook Pro. At $1,949 for the smaller MacBook and $2,391 for the larger model, Americans are savings up to $350 compared to the full retail price plus sales tax at home. Thailand, Australia, and Taiwan are the next most affordable places for a US resident on the road. You’ll note that there isn’t much change in ranking for each country when you compare the two devices.

Brazil is the most expensive country to buy both of the devices, at least with the US currency. Turkey and Poland aren’t cheap either, but Brazil is over double the US retail price when you convert to dollars.

But I heard you could buy it much cheaper than that in Asia?

We are comparing the retail price from official Apple vendors in each country. That’s not to say you couldn’t find some third party on a market stall with a better offer. That wouldn’t be possible to factor into our comparison, and we’d also advise caution against purchasing from any non-official source.

We also can’t speak to deals you may find from official vendors in other countries that may be very reliable. It could be a holiday sale in that country, some sort of carrier offer, or any other reason. Indeed, the US already has its own sales happening on the devices, with the 14-inch MacBook Pro available for $1,799 on Amazon at the time of writing and the 16-inch device on offer for $2,299. Just be aware of any strings that might be attached if you see an incredible offer on a brand-new Apple device. If a deal seems too good to be true, it usually is.

Should I buy the MacBook Pro from another country?

If you happen to find yourself in any of the eight countries on the list that are cheaper to buy the MacBook Pro than the US and you’re in the market for a new laptop, then it’s worth considering. You would stand to save between $100 and $350, depending on the country you’re in and the size variant of the laptop that you want. That’s not a trifling amount to save, but you should bear in mind whenever you buy any tech from abroad that the software configuration may be different, and any guarantee on your device may not be usable once you’re back in the States.

The calculation changes if you’re thinking about traveling solely for the purposes of buying a MacBook Pro. Even with a $350 discount compared to buying at home, you’re almost certainly going to spend significantly more than that on a roundtrip to Malaysia. The flights from the US alone could easily run you five times that amount. It should be apparent to you that it isn’t worth the trip.

Besides, we’ve already mentioned that you won’t necessarily be paying the full retail price at home. The $200 Amazon markdowns referenced above on each model are almost as good as any savings you can make abroad. If you can sit on your hands for a few more months, you might well get even better deals in the Black Friday sales.

Each major economy around the world is as different from each other as they are complex. There are all kinds of factors regarding how Apple prices the MacBook Pro in each country, including shipping costs of putting the devices on the shelf, local taxation laws, and so on. The manufacturer will have to factor all of that in before setting the price in each region.

Currency exchange rates are also in play in this comparison, as the prices in each country are converted back into the equivalent value in US dollars in the table above. Exchange rates can fluctuate significantly, and performing the same comparison in another three months might show certain countries moving up or down the rankings for this reason alone. For example, a glance at the table suggests that Brazilians are being overcharged for the MacBook Pro. Maybe they are, but the value of the US dollar has fallen against that of the Brazilian Real since the price in each country was set. This at least partly explains why it costs more of your American dollars to buy the device, or anything else, in Brazil right now.