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Anyone move from 16” down to 14” MacBook Pro?

DMG35

DMG35

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Original poster
I’ve really been contemplating over moving from a 16” to a 14” MacBook Pro. I take my 16” everywhere I go with me every day. While I love it, it is a pain carrying it around and its also not the best when it comes to putting it in a backpack underneath an airplane seat, and forget about using it on the airplane.

Has anyone done this and regretting losing the 2” of screen real estate? Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Thanks!
 
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I was on a 4am flight a few weeks ago, this lady next to me pulled out her 16' pro and used it in economy, AT 4AM.
I was shocked at literally how massive it was and even more shocked that she would use it, IN THE MIDDLE SEAT. haha if you travel with it often, the 14' would make more sense likely. or heck depending on your work flow, maybe a 13' Air 🙂
 
I currently have a 14" + a nice external monitor plugged in via USB-C. 16 inch was just too unwieldy, not only for traveling, but also using it in couch or bed. Maybe I'd upgrade to a larger model if they'd make it thinner and smaller like the the 2016 era 15" ones, but that'd probably introduce a bunch of other compromises.
 
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had this exact debate when the M3 Maxes launched. ended up keeping the 16" mostly because of how I work - motion graphics means a lot of panels open simultaneously, and the extra vertical height matters more than I expected when you're stacking a viewer, timeline, and tool panels. the 14" screen isn't small by any means, but the layout gets cramped fast in that kind of workflow.

that said, if you're not doing layout-heavy creative work, i'd guess you'd adapt to the 14" within a week and love how much lighter the bag is. the 16" on a plane in economy is genuinely annoying - i keep it in the overhead or just don't use it. if portability is the main issue and the work allows for it, go 14".
 
My wife's 16" MBP just got "upgraded" to a 13" Neo!

Her mother's day gift was the best on record - she was so sick of the hot, fans spinning, pitiful battery life, and spinning beach balls.
IMG_4958 2.JPG
 
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Unless you want a desktop-class replacement in terms of display size, or the higher-tier Max chip and more memory without thermal throttling on the larger chassis, the 14-inch will be sufficient for most people.
 
I have both (and a Neo) because the 16" is just too heavy to lug around. You will not lose anything but screen real estate by moving to the 14" from the 16". Everything else is identical except the weight which is a substantial saving for the 14" MBPro. For comparison purposes a 14" MBPro is about the same weight as the 15" MBA but has all the advantages of the Pro (much better screen, ports, SD card slot and a fan for those heavy workloads).

I am perfectly happy with the smaller screen, even though I initially thought it would be a problem and have not regretted it. My 14" MBPro and Neo get far more use than my 16" MBPro. I do have an M4 Pro Mini with two 27" 5K display when I need the screen real estate (And the 15TB of storage I have on that machine), which is not as often as I thought. The 14" MBPro is the best travel and portable companion on the market in my opinion. The 16" is just too heavy and 15" MBA is lacking a lot of features I want/need.
 
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4sallypat said:
Her mother's day gift was the best on record - she was so sick of the hot, fans spinning, pitiful battery life, and spinning beach balls.
Click to expand...
The 2019 16" Intel MacBook Pros can run very hot, but they also weren't quite as terrible as you make them out to be at every opportunity. I had one, it was quite a beast and could get a lot done. What software is your wife running on hers that brings it to its knees? Are there any "system optimization" applications, or anything else constantly running in the background? How does it behave after installing the operating system from scratch?
 
I'm team 16" all day and I'll explain why. When I'm fixed in some place it doesn't matter that it's larger and heavier. When I'm using it on the move it's usually without an external display and nothing beats screen real estate for productivity. If I only need light web browsing and YouTube on a trip I'll bring the iPad. And as mentioned before, I remember when 3Kg was considered normal for a laptop.
 
I had a 16, then went down to 14 with M2 purchase. My M5 pro is back to 16. I missed the larger screen and I primarily use it while sitting at a desk. If I was traveling frequently, I would have stayed with the 14" sizing.
 
Basic75 said:
The 2019 16" Intel MacBook Pros can run very hot, but they also weren't quite as terrible as you make them out to be at every opportunity. I had one, it was quite a beast and could get a lot done. What software is your wife running on hers that brings it to its knees? Are there any "system optimization" applications, or anything else constantly running in the background? How does it behave after installing the operating system from scratch?
Click to expand...
She runs multiple design craft apps for cutting devices, YT, streaming TV, etc....

The OS that really brought it down was Tahoe.

Fans won't stop spinning even when the lid is closed, CPU throttling, battery life is about half an hour, and apps take forever to open.

She also complained that it got so hot that her knees were on fire.

It was overdue to change her over and now she is in heaven with all day battery life, very cool - never warms up, lighter & thinner which doubles as now her travel laptop.
IMG_4956 2.JPG
 
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I previously downsized from a 17, to a 15.4, and then down to a 13 inch, and didn't regret if for a minute. If I needed a bigger screen, I'd hook it up to a desktop monitor, but for all the use cases you described, it's a perfect size.

I know own a 14 MBP
 
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DMG35 said:
I’ve really been contemplating over moving from a 16” to a 14” MacBook Pro. I take my 16” everywhere I go with me every day. While I love it, it is a pain carrying it around and its also not the best when it comes to putting it in a backpack underneath an airplane seat, and forget about using it on the airplane.

Has anyone done this and regretting losing the 2” of screen real estate? Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I had the 16 when they first released it with an Intel chip. I've since upgraded to the 14 M2 Pro and I've never regretted it. I spend my time looking through code reviews and such. Granted, it will depend on the kind of work you're doing. I think anything visual like Adobe would benefit from the larger screen but this 14 is magnificent. I still even get most of a days use out of the battery.
 
I had a M1 Pro 16 inch that I was using for work until late last year, switched to an M5 14 inch and gave my old computer to my wife. Haven't looked back since I got the 14 inch. The screen on the 16 is unbeatable, but it is not portable. I use mostly office suite and web apps for work -- and the 14 inch is a way better product for me. Would never go back to the 16 inch. That said, if you're a heavy computer user and need a ton of space to work, you might feel screen constrained.
 
I had a 16" from work, and own a 14" personally. The 14" is so much nicer and easier to transport, and while the screen real estate is better on the 16", the difference between 14" or 16", and 32" is so massive that in practice it isn't even worth mentioning.

Once upon a time I had a 17" Macbook Pro, and that screen was good enough where you could start to get some actual work done. The fact that most LCD screens at the time were in the 21-24" range helped a lot too.
 
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Basic75 said:
The 2019 16" Intel MacBook Pros can run very hot, but they also weren't quite as terrible as you make them out to be at every opportunity. I had one, it was quite a beast and could get a lot done. What software is your wife running on hers that brings it to its knees? Are there any "system optimization" applications, or anything else constantly running in the background? How does it behave after installing the operating system from scratch?
Click to expand...

I've still got mine more or less on side tasks, and they did start to get cranky as they aged. Even with an OS reinstall I found I needed to reset the SMC every 3-4 months to get the battery to behave right.


Good machines, but they're also seven years old hardware wise, and yeah Tahoe's been a bit harder on them. One of my iMessage chats has an 'active' background and viewing it on that machine causes the dGPU to engage because Apple couldn't/wouldn't optimize it to run on integrated graphics.

I ended up going with a 15" Air for its replacement (a few years ago now) as the main concern I'd always had was screen size over hardware grunt anyway.
 
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4sallypat said:
She runs multiple design craft apps for cutting devices, YT, streaming TV, etc....

The OS that really brought it down was Tahoe.

Fans won't stop spinning even when the lid is closed, CPU throttling, battery life is about half an hour, and apps take forever to open.

She also complained that it got so hot that her knees were on fire.

It was overdue to change her over and now she is in heaven with all day battery life, very cool - never warms up, lighter & thinner which doubles as now her travel laptop.
View attachment 2629116
Click to expand...
That's not fair. lol Why are you beating up the poor 16" Intel MBP? 😉 None of what your wife complained about was display size, it was all the failings of the Intel MBP (and I sold my 16" Intel MBP back in February when I upgraded). I bet if you bought her a 15" MBA or 16" MBP she'd be just as happy to have a machine that doesn't sound like a hair dryer and doesn't burn her legs. But all that said, I'm sure she's happy with the Neo as it resolves all the Intel MBP failings.
 
I tried out the 14" M5 Pro and eventually went with the 16" M5 Pro. It's not just screen size, it's bigger battery and thermal headroom. Bigger fans, bigger chassis, better for sustained workloads and gaming if you're into that. I LOVED the form-factor of the 14" - I think all things being equal it's the preferred size with a surprisingly small footprint and much less weight. Very nice using on lap or dining table. BUT... I've been using a 16" Intel MBP since 2019 and can't go back to a smaller screen. I had the 14" and 16" side-by-side and it is a very noticeable difference not just in physical size but also the amount of content on the screen. Plus with my older eyes - and this might be important for some - I can bring the resolution down from macOS "Default" (1728x1117) to integer/Retina scaling at 1496x967 which is easier to read, perfectly sharp, and still provides more content on screen than the 14" MBP. And even though the keyboards are identical in size, it just feels cramped after using a 16" all these years. Lastly, I like the extra space for my wrists to rest on and the TrackPad is bigger.

So the way I see it (I can hear The Rock yelling "It doesn't matter how you see it!" but I digress), the 16" is the preferred form-factor if you are looking for a DESKTOP REPLACEMENT. What I mean by this is if you want the most power without compromise AND portability, I think 16" is the way to go. Again, this all comes down to the apps/workflow someone uses. I use my 16" M5 Pro mostly in a Brydge vertical dock with an Apple Studio Display. In this configuration, obviously the built-in display doesn't matter. But I get that thermal headroom benefit for times when I'm running multiple virtual machines, compiling in the background, running LLMs, etc. And when I'm on the go, I have a bigger battery and I don't feel as display constrained as I did with the 14".
 
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FWIW, back in the M1 Pro era I had both a 14" and 16" (14" was personal, 16" was work, but corporate allowed me to setup the 14" for work as well).

I could never settle on one or the other. I'd use the 14" for a few days and prefer it, then toggle back the 16" and prefer that. And I would regularly be out and about, working cafes and whatnot. And I don't mean weeks.... like a solid 1.5 years of this.

When I left that job a couple years later got a 16" M3 Max and think I'll just be 16" from here-on out, simply because I'm more likely to be sitting at a desk (sans extra monitor) for a few hours than using it on my lap, and the extra 1.2 lbs. when walking a kilometer or two daily isn't really all that big of a difference when your overall pack weight is already 9-10 lbs. But if I were regularly using it on planes and cramped areas? Probably move back to a 14".
 
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