Black Friday 2026 is Friday 27 November, and this page tracks UK deals on the machines that run AI at home: the Mac mini, Mac Studio, MacBook Pro and the AMD AI mini PCs, plus the AI tools worth paying for. Apple's own store rarely cuts its prices; the discounts come from retailers. Below are the full UK list prices to judge every offer against, the memory to insist on, and the deals as they appear.
Key facts
- Black Friday 2026: Friday 27 November. Cyber Monday is Monday 30 November
- Best Mac mini for AI: Mac mini M6 with 32 GB, list price £1,299. Any discount on this configuration is the deal to take
- The rule: buy memory before speed. A cheap 16 GB Mac mini is not a bargain for AI
- Where Mac discounts come from: UK retailers, not Apple. Apple's store usually offers a gift card instead of a price cut
- Live deals: none verified yet. This page is updated as offers appear
On this page
- Live Black Friday deals
- Mac mini Black Friday deals: what to look for
- Mac Studio and MacBook Pro
- AI mini PCs: GMKtec, Minisforum, Beelink, Framework and HP
- AI tools and subscriptions
- UK list prices to compare against
- How to tell a real deal
- Frequently asked questions
Live Black Friday deals
Deals go live here from 27 November 2026, or earlier if retailers start their sales ahead of the day. Every deal listed is checked against the list prices below, and the price and retailer are shown with the date it was verified. Until then, the sections that follow tell you which configurations are worth waiting for and which to ignore.
| Machine | Configuration | List price | Deal price | Retailer | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mac mini M6 | 32 GB | £1,299 | No deal yet | ||
| Mac mini M5 Pro | 64 GB | £2,699 | No deal yet | ||
| Mac Studio M5 Max | 128 GB | £5,099 | No deal yet | ||
| GMKtec EVO-X2 | 128 GB | £2,829.99 | No deal yet |
Mac mini Black Friday deals: what to look for
The Mac mini is the machine most people should buy for local AI, and the one most likely to be discounted, because retailers stock the standard configurations. The trap is that the configuration they discount most is the £899 base model with 16 GB of memory, which runs only small models. For AI you want the 32 GB version, which lists at £1,299 and is often built to order rather than kept on the shelf.
- Take it: Mac mini M6 with 32 GB below £1,299. Runs 27B models such as Qwen3.8 27B. Read the Mac mini M6 for local AI review
- Take it: Mac mini M5 Pro with 64 GB below £2,699. Runs 70B models. Read the Mac mini M5 Pro for local AI review
- Think twice: Mac mini M6 with 16 GB, however cheap. 8B models and 14B at a squeeze, and you cannot add memory later
- Previous generation: an M4 Mac mini with 32 GB is still a good AI machine if the discount is deep, since memory matters more than the chip
How much memory each model needs, and why 32 GB is the sweet spot, is explained in which Mac or mini PC to buy for local AI.
Mac Studio and MacBook Pro
The Mac Studio M5 Max with 128 GB (£5,099) is the no-compromise local AI machine, and the one where a Black Friday cut saves the most money in pounds. Watch the memory: the £2,499 entry Mac Studio has only 36 GB, which will not hold a 70B model, so a discount on that configuration is not an AI deal. The Mac Studio M5 Max and Mac Studio M5 Ultra reviews list the configurations worth having.
For a laptop, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 Pro or M5 Max chip is the one to watch. The MacBook Air tops out at 32 GB. Details are on the MacBook Pro M5 Pro and M5 Max page.
AI mini PCs: GMKtec, Minisforum, Beelink, Framework and HP
The AMD Ryzen AI Max mini PCs are where 128 GB gets cheap, and their makers run their own Black Friday sales on their UK stores. Three things to check before paying: whether the price includes VAT, whether the machine ships from the UK or from China, and the warranty. Each review covers this.
- GMKtec EVO-X2: the cheapest 128 GB machine in the UK at £2,829.99, shipped from China
- Minisforum MS-S1 MAX: UK warehouse, 128 GB at £3,519
- Beelink GTR9 Pro: 128 GB at £3,999 with a three-year warranty, VAT and duty included
- Framework Desktop: a quiet 128 GB box with UK support, from £1,959 for 64 GB
- HP Z2 Mini G1a: Windows and an on-site warranty, from £3,467.98
- ASUS Ascent GX10 and NVIDIA DGX Spark: for people who need Nvidia's CUDA software
AI tools and subscriptions
The software that runs AI on your own machine is free: Ollama, LM Studio and Jan cost nothing, and so do the open models. The paid tools are the cloud assistants and agents, and the big ones (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) rarely discount their subscriptions. Smaller AI tools often run Black Friday offers on yearly plans; those are listed here once verified. For the normal prices, see how much AI agents cost in the UK.
UK list prices to compare against
A deal is only a deal against the real list price. These are the prices from Apple's UK store and each maker's UK store, checked in October 2026, for the configurations that make sense for AI.
| Machine | Memory | UK list price | Runs well at 4-bit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mac mini M6 | 16 GB | £899 | 8B models, 14B at a squeeze |
| Mac mini M6 | 32 GB | £1,299 | 27B models |
| Mac mini M5 Pro | 48 GB | £2,299 | 32B models |
| Mac mini M5 Pro | 64 GB | £2,699 | 70B models |
| Mac Studio M5 Max | 128 GB | £5,099 | 70B at 8-bit, models up to about 120B |
| Mac Studio M5 Ultra | 256 GB | £9,499 | 235B mixture-of-experts models |
| MacBook Pro 14-inch M5 Max | 128 GB | £6,699 | The cheapest 128 GB laptop |
| GMKtec EVO-X2 | 128 GB | £2,829.99 | 70B models, the cheapest 128 GB box |
| Minisforum MS-S1 MAX | 128 GB | £3,519 | 70B models, UK warehouse |
| Beelink GTR9 Pro | 128 GB | £3,999 | 70B models, three-year warranty |
Prices from Apple's UK store for the Mac mini and Mac Studio, and from GMKtec UK, Minisforum UK and Beelink UK, checked 16 and 17 October 2026. The full comparison of all 12 machines is in which Mac or mini PC to buy for local AI.
How to tell a real deal
- Check the memory before the price. A Mac mini at a bargain price with 16 GB is a bargain for someone else. For AI, 32 GB is the floor and 64 GB opens up 70B models
- Compare with the list price above, not the retailer's "was" price. Some "was" prices are launch prices that nobody has paid for months
- Apple's own offer is usually a gift card. That is worth having if you were going to buy accessories anyway, but a retailer's straight price cut on the same configuration is simpler
- For the mini PCs, check VAT, shipping origin and returns. A Chinese store price that excludes VAT and import charges can end up dearer than a UK retailer's
- Do not wait for Cyber Monday to buy a built-to-order Mac. Configured machines sell out and delivery slips into December
Frequently asked questions
When is Black Friday 2026 in the UK?
Friday 27 November 2026, with Cyber Monday on Monday 30 November. Many UK retailers start their sales in the week before and run them through the weekend.
Does Apple do Black Friday deals on the Mac mini?
Apple's own store usually offers a gift card with selected purchases rather than cutting prices. The price cuts on the Mac mini come from UK retailers that stock the standard configurations. Built-to-order configurations, such as the 32 GB Mac mini M6, are less often discounted, so a cut on one of those is worth taking.
Should I wait for Black Friday to buy a Mac for local AI?
If you can wait five weeks, yes: the Mac mini is one of the most commonly discounted Macs. If the deal only covers the 16 GB model, skip it. The 32 GB Mac mini M6 at £1,299 is the configuration to hold out for, and the 64 GB Mac mini M5 Pro at £2,699 if you want 70B models.
Which Mac mini configuration is the best Black Friday buy for AI?
The Mac mini M6 with 32 GB of memory. It runs 27B models such as Qwen3.8 27B with the wifi off, it is silent, and at its £1,299 list price it is already the cheapest way into proper local AI. The 16 GB model is not worth buying for AI at any discount.
Are the Chinese AI mini PCs discounted on Black Friday?
GMKtec, Minisforum and Beelink all run sales on their UK stores around Black Friday. Check that the price shown includes VAT, where the machine ships from and the warranty length before you pay. Any verified offers appear in the live deals table on this page.
