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Air vs PRO (considering non MRSP prices)

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caioferrari

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Original poster
Oct 14, 2012
82
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Hi,
I’m a teacher and I’m totally sure that a MBA has enough performance for me. If I were in USA, I’d buy a 13” model with 16/256 for 1299 or 16/512 for 1499.

But I live in Brazil and here, Apple oficial prices are crazy and we usually buy from unofficial stores who independently import the products. Those people gets reasonably lower prices for base configs and not so good prices on other configs.

The MBA 8/256 is U$1600
MBA 16/512 is U$2400
MBP 18/512 is U$2700

Does worth buying the AIR model instead of PRO?
 
If you are happy with the 8GB MBA for your use case, $1600 is far cheaper. But if you are going to go for the 16GB MBA, then it would seem more logical to me to pay an extra $300 for the Pro. But do you need the Pro? Only you can answer that. Compare the feature differences and decide based on what is important to you.
 
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LeeW said:
If you are happy with the 8GB MBA for your use case, $1600 is far cheaper. But if you are going to go for the 16GB MBA, then it would seem more logical to me to pay an extra $300 for the Pro. But do you need the Pro? Only you can answer that. Compare the feature differences and decide based on what is important to you.
Click to expand...
I totally don’t need the pro. Is just don’t think is reasonable to buy a 8gb machine. So, the MBA is amost the pro price :(
 
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Question about the other stores. Are those prices pre or post tax? I ask because it seems Apple gives both a pre and post-tax price on their Brasil store (I think).

Looking at the Brasil education store, it's 13800 / 15360 real for the Air w/ 16/512. Which is $2750 / $3050 USD.
If the other site price is pre-tax, then Apple price is really just $350 more, not the $650 more the post tax implies. While still higher, you should get full warranty and support when buying through official means.
 
DaveEcc said:
Question about the other stores. Are those prices pre or post tax? I ask because it seems Apple gives both a pre and post-tax price on their Brasil store (I think).

Looking at the Brasil education store, it's 13800 / 15360 real for the Air w/ 16/512. Which is $2750 / $3050 USD.
If the other site price is pre-tax, then Apple price is really just $350 more, not the $650 more the post tax implies. While still higher, you should get full warranty and support when buying through official means.
Click to expand...
All post tax. Here in Brazil we always publish post tax prices.

Since Apple warranty is international, we still get all support through non official stores.
 
I wouldn't recommend the 8GB if you're going to have more than a handful of tabs open in Chrome.

w/ the M3 Pro MBP, you'll gain:
Better screen, speakers, mic, camera, 2GB RAM, a few more CPU and GPU cores, SD Card reader, HDMI, and 2 more USB-C ports, support for an extra display.

If you were already considering 16/512GB, the for the percentage difference in price, it's probably worth the increase to get the M3 Pro... but if it would be a financial burden, don't sweat it... They're both great machines.

Out of curiosity, what's the price for M3 non-pro 16/512 MBP? That should get many the improvements of the MBP over the MBA, but perhaps at a cheaper price.
 
DaveEcc said:
Out of curiosity, what's the price for M3 non-pro 16/512 MBP? That should get many the improvements of the MBP over the MBA, but perhaps at a cheaper price.
Click to expand...

U$2600
Just U$100 less than M3 PRO.

The problem is those non official stores buy machines with lower prices at non-Apple stores. For the special configs, they must buy at Apple with MRSP prices.
 
Then my previous suggestion stands. I don't think a worse CPU and fewer USB ports is worth $100 savings, so rule out the M3 MBP. For the M3 Pro MBP, you'd be getting quite a few improvements over the 16/512 Air. Up to you if that's worth the price difference.

Over the weekend I was trying to help someone in the UK make a similar choice. I noticed Amazon.co.uk had the 18/512 M3 Pro MBP for just 97 pence more than Apple charged for the M3 non-Pro 16/512 MBP! That was a much simpler upgrade suggestion. :)
 
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Paying U$400 to go from 8 GB → 16 GB is insane, and another U$400 to go from 256 GB to 512 GB storage is equally painful.

This is exactly why we implored Apple to make 16/512 a retail SKU, so that those models can be given sale prices just as they are given to base model 8/256. Are you able to wait for sale prices to come into effect?

What exactly do you do on your Mac?

In any case, it just may be worth it to suck it up and pay the high price, assuming you're getting a high return-on-investment, and that you're able to insure the thing so as not to feel as nervous using and traveling with the thing.
 
caioferrari said:
Hi,
I’m a teacher and I’m totally sure that a MBA has enough performance for me. If I were in USA, I’d buy a 13” model with 16/256 for 1299 or 16/512 for 1499.

But I live in Brazil and here, Apple oficial prices are crazy and we usually buy from unofficial stores who independently import the products. Those people gets reasonably lower prices for base configs and not so good prices on other configs.

The MBA 8/256 is U$1600
MBA 16/512 is U$2400
MBP 18/512 is U$2700

Does worth buying the AIR model instead of PRO?
Click to expand...
First and foremost (and it sounds like you agree with me here), don't do the 8/256GB option. I don't care what the use case is; just don't.

Second, with specific regards to your other choices, you have a lot of other factors that might make the choice easier:

- The MBP you're mentioning has an M3 Pro. It's not a slouch, but it's arguably a crossgrade from the M2 Pro; whereas standard M3 IS an upgrade over standard M2.

- Unless the MBP configuration you're looking at is a 16-inch MacBook Pro, you're going to sacrifice battery life going with an Mx Pro 14-inch MacBook Pro over a standard Mx 13-inch MacBook Air

- You have fewer ports on the MacBook Air compared to the MacBook Pro. This may or may not matter to your use cases.

- The point you seem to be more stressing (and, mind you, it's a perfectly valid point) is that bang for buck is higher on the MacBook Pro than the MacBook Air

Weigh these options out and depending on what's more important, buy the better machine for you.
 
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caioferrari said:
Hi,
I’m a teacher and I’m totally sure that a MBA has enough performance for me. If I were in USA, I’d buy a 13” model with 16/256 for 1299 or 16/512 for 1499.

But I live in Brazil and here, Apple oficial prices are crazy and we usually buy from unofficial stores who independently import the products. Those people gets reasonably lower prices for base configs and not so good prices on other configs.

The MBA 8/256 is U$1600
MBA 16/512 is U$2400
MBP 18/512 is U$2700

Does worth buying the AIR model instead of PRO?
Click to expand...

For your needs I would say go with the Air 16 GB of Ram and 512 SSD. You will not benefit much from the Pro other than the extra thunderbolt ports.
 
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I wish people would consider the 8gb model! It is FINE for most! I am very picky and had the m2 Air, base - its was so fine, no worries about leaving it, breaking it, etc. did the jobs perfectly (maybe a tad slower than pro) but honestly not bad, I ordered a new M3 15" version.
 
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caioferrari said:
Hi,
I’m a teacher and I’m totally sure that a MBA has enough performance for me. If I were in USA, I’d buy a 13” model with 16/256 for 1299 or 16/512 for 1499.

But I live in Brazil and here, Apple oficial prices are crazy and we usually buy from unofficial stores who independently import the products. Those people gets reasonably lower prices for base configs and not so good prices on other configs.

The MBA 8/256 is U$1600
MBA 16/512 is U$2400
MBP 18/512 is U$2700

Does worth buying the AIR model instead of PRO?
Click to expand...
You are correct an MBA is strong enough, but buying a new box with 8 GB RAM in 2024 is a mostly bad choice. Pretty much every part of the MBP (display, speakers, ports, etc.; read the specs) is better. Most importantly the MBP has fans to kick in if a hard workload presents, while an MBA throttles instead. The value add of MBP over MBA is much more than U$300.

Or (not my choice) you can let the MBA run sub-optimally with 8 GB RAM, and the OS will force it to work while you save U$1100. You would have a much shorter life cycle and poorer specs every time you look at the display or listen to the speakers. U$1600 and U$2700 are two reasonable choices but the middle U$2400 choice is just a bad choice.
 
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Ctrlos said:
Surely this is nonsense?

In my experience the 8gb M2 can happily run a plethora of apps at once without skipping a beat.
Click to expand...
I used an M1 Air base 8/256 for work with Parsec, multiple messenger apps, multiple browsers with a bunch of tabs (not Chrome, though, because I will not use that browser), and sometimes office stuff and yeah, it was absolutely fine.

I wouldn’t get that config again now - but only because in the future it might no longer be fine because stuff only ever gets more resource hungry.

So, I agree with you, but I also kind of see what others might mean when they advise not to buy a machine with 8 GB of RAM.
 
I’ll try to answer you all:

- I’m pretty sure that an Air is good enough for me. Even a 8 Gb is. I’m just thinking forward. As you guys saw, Apple products are expensive here. Therefore buying a future proof machine it’s the way to go stead of buying twice.

- Yes, the MBP 18/512 Gb was the 14”. I’m sure that adicional ports or the sustained performance because fans are worthless for me. My problem was the 16/512 was almost the MBP pro price as you guys could see in my first message.

- I found a store selling the 16/512 MBA for U$2k. I think it’s the most reasonable choice for me.
 
BanjoDudeAhoy said:
I used an M1 Air base 8/256 for work with Parsec, multiple messenger apps, multiple browsers with a bunch of tabs (not Chrome, though, because I will not use that browser), and sometimes office stuff and yeah, it was absolutely fine.

I wouldn’t get that config again now - but only because in the future it might no longer be fine because stuff only ever gets more resource hungry.

So, I agree with you, but I also kind of see what others might mean when they advise not to buy a machine with 8 GB of RAM.
Click to expand...
The OP did say 6 Chrome tabs though. Thats the problem right there!
 
OP, can you travel? Maybe getting across a border or two and buying outside of Brazil might be a better option for you? Can you visit the U.S.? Buy here and take it back with you? Or buy in an economically more friendly country during a visit there?

And do NOT listen to these suggestions of minimal specs being "good enough." Even if they are good enough now, the question they can't answer- and certainly do not guarantee- is will they be good enough for life of a device? When you buy Silicon Mac today, you are not buying only for 2024 but quite probably for about 2031+ use too. Who wants to argue minimum spec Macs are 'certainly' good enough for 2031 uses? And if anybody, who wants to guarantee it?

Silicon Macs have ZERO upgrade options inside. If RAM needs grow above 8GB, those Macs are obsolete because you can't upgrade RAM. All of the rest of those Macs could be perfectly fine but that one thing could basically 'leave them behind'.

Buyers in 2024 are probably buying for usage up and into the early 2030s or so... unless they want to face having to regularly replace minimally-specced Macs as demands on them (may) go up over that period of time. What will these people say when some bump into that situation in 2027 or 2029? They'll push replacing them with whatever Macs Apple are pushing then.

Caveat Emptor!
 
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I really don't consider buying a Mac with 8GB of RAM, either. I agree that for my current usage, this configuration is good enough. However, when you spend around 2 thousand dollars on a computer, you don't expect to have to replace the whole thing when the memory isn't big enough.

I see that some of you are suggesting that I go to the US to buy the computer... Guys, a 12-hour flight and the cost of staying in the US are still not cheap enough to be worth it. Besides, the Brazilian government taxes any amount over $1000 at 100%. In other words, if I try to enter Brazil with a purchase of $2000, it will cost me $3000.

We Brazilians are already used to trying to circumvent Apple's crazy pricing policy here. We know that our government applies heavy taxes on products, however, there are companies (like Dell or Samsung) that sell products with prices closer to those practiced in the US. A top-of-the-line Samsung cell phone costs about half the price of an official iPhone in Brazil, even though they have the same price in the US. In general, Apple products here cost twice as much in dollars as they do in the US. Unofficial importers bring the products with slightly cheaper prices because they buy them either in the US or in Paraguay.
 
Ctrlos said:
Surely this is nonsense?

In my experience the 8gb M2 can happily run a plethora of apps at once without skipping a beat.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't have just upgraded my daughter's base M1 if it was nonsense for her. A mix of Chrome being a pig, the sites she visits being wasteful, and her need to keep a whole pile of open tabs make the 8GB M1 choke a bit. It seems like insanity to me too, but I can't change the wastefulness on the web.
 
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