Apple M1 MacBook Air vs. M1 MacBook Pro Buyer's Guide

[Syk]

I would suggest the Intel at this point. There are enough things to worry about when going to college, incompatible apps with the M1 shouldn't be one of them. Apps we take for granted today may not run as well, or at all. Better compatibility than cutting edge in this case. Coming from a HP Win machine, he will be thrilled. My 2 cents.

Thanks...I don't think apps are an issue for him unless Zoom doesn't work but if it uses iPad apps I don't think it'll be a problem. He's doing online and uses O365 via web instead of apps...
Maybe I'll think about the Intel and debate on the i3 or i5. He's not a power user. I guess the question is how long before Apple stops upgrading the OS on the intel chip.

 

[Kcetech1]

With the right hardware Rosetta might run faster than old hardware. Would that be a problem?

Honestly im not holding my breath, SOME software may work good, but Ive had too many burns with emulation with Apple ( OS9 to OS-X and PPC to intel ) that I will not risk it one bit. and I've seen the work on emulation for gaming consoles, arcade games and larger applications and in 90% of the cases the performance hit is about 10:1 and and im not going to deal with a 20% speed hit in my workflow let alone something approaching or exceeding 50%.

I will watch and see what real usage in emulation is, if/when they get it working good. but for anyone needing actual workflows and business and productivity needs. marketing gibberish, and it might andoh it should is NOT good enough.

 

[Doug314]

I’m in the same situation as you. Ordered the new MacBook Pro M1, upgrading from the MBP from early 2015. I must say, that I don‘t hope that the new MBP 14” will be just around the corner. That would make me feel less happy with my new purchase.
What is your thoughts about that?

I'm guessing the 14" MBP is coming second half of next year. In the meantime, I'm loving my new 13" M1 MBP! A 14" screen would nice but there are really only a couple features other than the bigger screen that would make me really want an upgrade. If it's just the same as the current top end MBP but just with a micro LED 14" screen, I won't be disappointed the I got my M1 now and will have been using it for 6 months.