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Buying advice MBA vs MBP

Rhisk

Rhisk

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 18, 2022
5
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I’m trying to decide between two options and I’m unsure which is the better value. I’m a light user so either one of these is powerful enough. They’re both basically the same price and I want to choose the better deal for a user like me.

New MacBook Air M4 15” 16/512 or New MacBook Pro M1 Pro 16” 32/1tb
 
Also M4. As mentioned, longer support.
You'll lose out on additional ports, speakers, display brightness. But it'll also be lighter.
 
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Ports / Screens / Speakers / Weight are the biggest distinguishing factors between them. 15" M4 MBA is pretty sweet, but so was the 16" M1 MBP... I like the points above about getting a few years of additional OS support (presumably) from M4. If you're gonna own it for a decade that might be a big deal.
 
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I guess it depends what you value most:

Option 1:
  • Fanless/silent
  • Faster CPU
  • Much lighter and nicer to carry around
  • Likely to get updates to MacOS for at least a few years longer
Option 2:
  • Significantly better screen - brighter, higher resolution, higher contrast, smoother (120hz) display
  • Better speakers
  • More ports (HDMI, SD card, an extra USB port)
  • More RAM/storage
I’d say the biggest difference is the size/weight and also the display. If you have other devices that are 120hz then I personally find it hard going back to a 60hz display. If you’re not too fussed about that and don’t value the extra ports, I’d say the air is probably the better buy :)
 
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One more thing is the massive increase in NPE on the M4. But real world, we don't really know what that's going to mean for Apple Intelligence, if anything.
 
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I would get the M4 Macbook Air. It should serve you well for many years to come.
 
I'd pick the Air easy. Not only is M1 - M4 a pretty decent jump, but the 16 MBP is a heavy machine, the Air is much more travel friendly.
 
The only reason I can think of for choosing the MacBook Air M4 is portability. In all other aspects (screen quality + 120hz, speakers, connectivity, trackpad, etc.), the MacBook Pro 16 outshines it by far. Additionally, the Pro comes with double the memory, a much better SSD (>5000 MB/s), and a much better cooling system compared to the passive cooling of the Air.
 
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Agree with the others, you have to decide what is more important, portability in which case the Air wins or, display quality and connectivity (ports). The 16 inch is a big laptop, so if you are going be lugging it around a lot, I would think about that, the Air is lighter for sure.
 
Panos_GR said:
The only reason I can think of for choosing the MacBook Air M4 is portability. In all other aspects (screen quality + 120hz, speakers, connectivity, trackpad, etc.), the MacBook Pro 16 outshines it by far. Additionally, the Pro comes with double the memory, a much better SSD (>5000 MB/s), and a much better cooling system compared to the passive cooling of the Air.
Click to expand...
The 15" Air also has more screen real estate and a better typing experience. Having had both, I don't consider the screen on the Air a downgrade from the 14" MBP.
 
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russell_314 said:
I would go with M4 over M1 just because it’s going to receive longer support. The only advantage of the M1 Pro is the larger SSD but that doesn’t help you if you’re not using it.
Click to expand...

As a MacBook Pro die-hard who personally can't give up the display...

Having owned and still owning both m4 (Max) and m1 generation cores (both Pro and base) - m4 generation every time, even if you need to drop to base m4.

Why? Single threaded performance is really, really much faster and it makes everything more responsive.

M1 isn't bad, but m4 is insane.

The Pro screen is nicer, speakers are nicer, etc. but the performance of the m4 generation cores vs. m1 is just night and day. If it was M3 Pro vs. M4 or M2 Pro vs. M4 it would be closer, but m1 is getting old now and the single thread performance jump is HUGE, and it makes an instantly noticeable difference to the responsiveness of apps on the machine.

The gap is big enough now that M4 base probably outperforms M1 Pro in multi core as well, and GPU would be on par but with RT support, etc. Plus the support time-frame, warranty, etc.
 
I went for the M4 MBP 14 inch, 16GB 1 TB HDD, there was a great deal on it. I have had Air's in the past, and love their portability, this time i wanted the Pro display, the speaker quality, the use of the ports in my set up. I am very happy with it as had a great deal on the price. Its a noticeable upgrade from my Air.
 
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throAU said:
As a MacBook Pro die-hard who personally can't give up the display...

Having owned and still owning both m4 (Max) and m1 generation cores (both Pro and base) - m4 generation every time, even if you need to drop to base m4.

Why? Single threaded performance is really, really much faster and it makes everything more responsive.

M1 isn't bad, but m4 is insane.

The Pro screen is nicer, speakers are nicer, etc. but the performance of the m4 generation cores vs. m1 is just night and day. If it was M3 Pro vs. M4 or M2 Pro vs. M4 it would be closer, but m1 is getting old now and the single thread performance jump is HUGE, and it makes an instantly noticeable difference to the responsiveness of apps on the machine.

The gap is big enough now that M4 base probably outperforms M1 Pro in multi core as well, and GPU would be on par but with RT support, etc. Plus the support time-frame, warranty, etc.
Click to expand...
Is m4 base insane, or M4 pro?
 
Update: I just ordered a 14" M4 16/512 MBP. Will have it Friday. Like the OP, I heavily considered the 15" M4 MBA, but decided the better screen, ports, better cooling, and slightly smaller footprint met my needs better at this time.
 
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TechRunner said:
Update: I just ordered a 14" M4 16/512 MBP. Will have it Friday. Like the OP, I heavily considered the 15" M4 MBA, but decided the better screen, ports, better cooling, and slightly smaller footprint met my needs better at this time.
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I'm still working with the return window for the 15" MBA with the M4 MBP on order. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. The cooling doesn't matter to be nor do the ports but the real issues are speakers vs. portability & form factor.
 
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dizmonk said:
I'm still working with the return window for the 15" MBA with the M4 MBP on order. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. The cooling doesn't matter to be nor do the ports but the real issues are speakers vs. portability & form factor.
Click to expand...
I received it yesterday. While it has a smaller footprint than the 15" MBA, it weighs about the same. The speakers are surprisingly good for such a small laptop, though I didn't compare them to the Air so I can't comment on that. The screen is beautiful, but it will spend about 75% of its life hooked to an external monitor, mostly in clamshell mode.

I assume you'll have both for a few days, then return one? If so, that's great for you, as you'll have a chance to put both through their paces and pick the best fit for your needs.
 
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