14-inch MacBook Pro to M2 MacBook Air?

[souko]

Hi All. I am looking into either a refurb MBA M2, 16GB, 1TB, OR, I keep thinking about the M1 MBP.

The issue I have is that I understand the MBA it can only drive 1 external monitor natively. Now having done a bit of searching here, I found there are enough docks/hubs that can address that issue (i believe). I am coming from my Late 2013 MBP i7 16gb. It's a fantastic laptop and handles everything I throw at it, but software shelf life is becoming limited and things like trackpad has stopped working.

I would rather have a more portable laptop now, that I can dock to my office hub with the monitors. My usage is mainly IT tasks, loads of terminal sessions, web pages, some light photoshop (nothing hardcore). And I use vmware a lot.

I dont really care for benchmarks, as in my view, this doesnt give me a real feeling of how a laptop would work for me. So I figure coming from the Core i7 (2013) to at least an M1 would be a considerable upgrade, right?

I have played with both the MBP and MBA2, and I just love the smaller package of the MBA. I heard various people complain about thermal throttling on the MBA2, but again, maybe for the way I use it, it wont be a problem.

So, I guess after that somewhat boring description above. I am thinking of anyone here that bought the MBA 2, that might use the laptop in a simlar way, but now wishes they simply compromised with the slightly heavier MBP M1. ?

Thanks.
Colin.

I am fortunate enough to be able to use both. I see them as great laptops in their categories. MBP14" is probably best laptop ever done. MBA M2 is best ultrabook ever done.

For photo editing in Lightroom I prefer MBP for better display, colder bottom during exports. (But doing regularly like 20-100 photo exports, HDR and so on.) For web pages and youtube I even prefer MBA M2 for it's lightness that makes it more comfortable to use... (It is more comfortable on couch and chair,...)

I would say for normal image editing is M2 MBA sufficient. I would say it is even for heavier, only compromise I see, is that, it can get hot. (And yes, better display on MBP14" is nice.)

 

[jm31828]

Display on M2 MBA is 8+2bit (8bit + frc). Display M1 MBA is 8 bit.
And of course it is not same panel. Maybe similar difference as iMac 27” vs Studio display.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I am interested in what you had to say here about the M2 MBA is 8 bit + 2 bit (with FRC), while the M1 MBA is simply 8 bit.

Does that mean, most likely there is no FRC (temporal dithering) on the M1 MBA- even though it still advertises the wide P3 color gamut?

Just curious, as it is listed that way on Apple's website and others, but Notebookcheck doesn't mention it being a P3 display, and their testing finds no temporal dithering- which would support what you said, though I would like to understand that P3 support in this scenario.

 

[souko]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I am interested in what you had to say here about the M2 MBA is 8 bit + 2 bit (with FRC), while the M1 MBA is simply 8 bit.

Does that mean, most likely there is no FRC (temporal dithering) on the M1 MBA- even though it still advertises the wide P3 color gamut?

Just curious, as it is listed that way on Apple's website and others, but Notebookcheck doesn't mention it being a P3 display, and their testing finds no temporal dithering- which would support what you said, though I would like to understand that P3 support in this scenario.

P3 vs sRGB is not about number of colors. 8 bit vs 10 bit is about number of colors. P3 vs sRGB vs AdobeRGB is about how wide color gamut is. Into how big color space the number of colors is displayed.

You can display 16.7 million (8 bit) of collor into smaller or bigger space. sRGB or P3. You can display 10 bit (1 billion) collors into smaller or bigger space.

 

[Chancha]

P3 vs sRGB is not about number of colors. 8 bit vs 10 bit is about number of colors. P3 vs sRGB vs AdobeRGB is about how wide color gamut is. Into how big color space the number of colors is displayed.

You can display 16.7 million (8 bit) of collor into smaller or bigger space. sRGB or P3. You can display 10 bit (1 billion) collors into smaller or bigger space.

The real difference in true 10-bit vs 8-bit display is in gradients of very similar hues, say a photo of a blue sky, the 8-bit display will probably introduce obvious banding effects much easier than the (true) 10-bit. Then with 8-bit FRC which of course is some where in the middle, you will almost see the same (lack of) banding as a true 10-bit display, with the difference being how color-accurate the differing / aliasing is, and by extension the sharpness of images if fine details of close colors are presence in a small patch of area.