Does anyone else feel like the M1 MBA is now an even better deal?

[yitwail]

It’s confession time. I ordered a 14in MBP with 8cpu cores, 32gb/1TB that would have arrived end of the month, but came across YouTube video by a developer who ran a bunch of JavaScript benchmarks on M1 MBA and M1 Pro 14in, and basically the 2 machines performed identically. That was a lightbulb moment and I canceled the order and instead ordered M1 MBA with 16gb/1TB, which arrived this afternoon, and I must say it’s plenty fast for my purposes as a web developer. It’s interesting also that most of the time it’s just efficiency cores that are running. Only time that changed was when I started iOS simulator, but once that initialized, cpu usage went back down. Earlier, memory usage was in the yellow, but I believe that was spotlight indexing and now there’s no swapping to speak of. Finally, icing on the cake was it has OS Big Sur, not Monterey, so I can wait until Apple fixes memory leakage and tap to click before updating to Monterey. ?

 

[dizmonk]

Just my opinion but unless you love the Touch Bar, I think MBA is the better choice.

100% agree

 

[throAU]

It’s confession time. I ordered a 14in MBP with 8cpu cores, 32gb/1TB

My 10 core, 1TB, 16 GB model arrives today supposedly.

I agonised over getting an MBA or 13" MBP instead for less money but to get 16 GB and 1TB of storage is a custom build (so if I ever need a return, its not on the shelf as a replacement), not THAT much cheaper in terms of total BOM and I'd be giving up half the CPU power and that screen, and the 6 speakers. And fast charge. And an SD slot, and MagSafe, and an extra USB-C (effectively 2 extra USB-Cs as I can use MagSafe for charge rather than consuming a USB-C port).

However, the entry MBA and MBP are a still a steal for what you get. They just aren't ideal for my use case.

If Apple had a pre-build 13" machine with M1 MBA CPU/GPU but with a 1TB SSD and 16 GB of RAM, they probably would have sold me one.

Which is probably why they don't ?

 

[pinheadlarry93]

I’ve had mine for a little under a month now and I can honestly say this feels like the best value i’ve ever gotten out of a personal computer.

The speed and power blow me away for what I use it for. I thought I was going to have regrets not getting an MBP, but this thing feels like a steal for what i’m getting. It honestly puts my work PC to shame.

This was my first Mac purchase since the 2011 MBP when I entered college which i paid 1300 for. I paid 899 for this and my first impressions far exceed my impressions of that machine, which were good.

 

[keating]

Anyone think there's a chance of a spec bump soon?

 

[JPack]

Anyone think there's a chance of a spec bump soon?

Before the next gen Air in mid- or late-2022? No chance.

 

[yitwail]

Anyone think there's a chance of a spec bump soon?

Depends on how soon but Mac Pro is next model to get makeover because it’s still intel based, so summer seems likely.

 

[jdb8167]

If Apple had a pre-build 13" machine with M1 MBA CPU/GPU but with a 1TB SSD and 16 GB of RAM, they probably would have sold me one.

In the US at least, Apple does indeed have that model pre-built. That is precisely why I have a 1 TB MBA instead of a 16GB/512 GB. I was able to pick it up in an Apple store on day 1.

 

[lambertjohn]

Just this week I picked up the M1 MBA 256GB/16GB for a killer price of £799 in the UK. Awesome deal. People say it's old and the end of the cycle. I say, yes it is the end of the cycle but it's the best available and battle-tested. Your start of cycle MBP M1 Pro/Max? I will wait and see what the complaints are

How is it at the end of its cycle? And exactly what cycle are you talking about? The M1 CPU is cutting edge and will be for a long time to come. Enjoy your Air; it's a great computer!

 

[jdb8167]

How is it at the end of its cycle? And exactly what cycle are you talking about? The M1 CPU is cutting edge and will be for a long time to come. Enjoy your Air; it's a great computer!

I would say the 2020 M1 MacBook Air is mid-cycle. Exactly 1 year old in a week. The M2 replacement isn’t likely to be released until summer 2022 at the earliest.

There are likely to be more M1 SoCs released next year for the remaining Intel Macs still in the lineup. All rumors point to the iMac and Mac Pro using multi-chip M1 Max SoCs.

The fanless MBA isn’t likely to have any competition soon or possibly ever.

 

[jabbr]

I have both an M1 Air 16GB and a 10-core 14". As sweet as the MBP is, the air is definitely the value king! I've loved using it for the past 11 months. It's kinda hard to justify the ~$800+ for the MBP, but I told myself the MBA was meant to be a holdover for the mythical 14".

I guess the ports and better speakers could be valued at about $100 to me, the sustained performance increase maybe $300, The screen maybe $200-300.... so definitely an early adopter tax rolled in there lol.

I'm not sure I'm going to get rid of the MBA any time soon. It's just such an incredible little computer.

 

[rgarjr]

I have both an M1 Air 16GB and a 10-core 14". As sweet as the MBP is, the air is definitely the value king! I've loved using it for the past 11 months. It's kinda hard to justify the ~$800+ for the MBP, but I told myself the MBA was meant to be a holdover for the mythical 14".

I guess the ports and better speakers could be valued at about $100 to me, the sustained performance increase maybe $300, The screen maybe $200-300.... so definitely an early adopter tax rolled in there lol.

I'm not sure I'm going to get rid of the MBA any time soon. It's just such an incredible little computer.

Also have the base M1 space gray MBA and the 16” M1 Max. Great little machine, you can’t beat the price on these MBA’s.

 

[thadoggfather]

How is it at the end of its cycle? And exactly what cycle are you talking about? The M1 CPU is cutting edge and will be for a long time to come. Enjoy your Air; it's a great computer!

I’m not even sure the supposed 2022 air will be worth instantly tossing your m1 air for

Could just be a beefed up m1 or something or m2 with nominal gains and a cooler name

 

[throAU]

My 10 core, 1TB, 16 GB model arrives today supposedly.

It arrived today.

All I can say is this is the best machine I have ever used. The display, the speakers with spatial audio, the keyboard, the battery life, the silence.

And it's so damn fast.

Outside of PC gaming, this is a genuine desktop replacement. I haven't been blown away with a portable's performance to this degree.... ever.

 

[thadoggfather]

It arrived today.

All I can say is this is the best machine I have ever used. The display, the speakers with spatial audio, the keyboard, the battery life, the silence.

And it's so damn fast.

Outside of PC gaming, this is a genuine desktop replacement. I haven't been blown away with a portable's performance to this degree.... ever.

They really could’ve nerfed air if they wanted to with like an older A-series chip rebranded but I’m glad they didn’t

I feel like not enough of a big deal was made out of it when they launched late last year

 

[throAU]

They really could’ve nerfed air if they wanted to with like an older A-series chip rebranded but I’m glad they didn’t

I feel like not enough of a big deal was made out of it when they launched late last year

I think if they made a big deal about it too much people would think that was all they had.

Apple are pacing the release of the next things. The way m1 is scaling by linking blocks together you just know now that the pro desktops are going to be totally nuts.

And they’re surely going to be focused on AR/VR/3d development. Or extreme high end software compilation, etc. Because I’m just not sure that the high end non 3d workloads exist to require them otherwise.

 

[jeff127]

I have both an M1 Air 16GB and a 10-core 14". As sweet as the MBP is, the air is definitely the value king! I've loved using it for the past 11 months. It's kinda hard to justify the ~$800+ for the MBP, but I told myself the MBA was meant to be a holdover for the mythical 14".

I guess the ports and better speakers could be valued at about $100 to me, the sustained performance increase maybe $300, The screen maybe $200-300.... so definitely an early adopter tax rolled in there lol.

I'm not sure I'm going to get rid of the MBA any time soon. It's just such an incredible little computer.

I'm struggling to decide between a specced up MBA (16GB/1TB) or equivalent 14" so it is really interesting hearing this.

Once speccing up the MBA the price difference for the two with educational discount is "only" just over £400 for me. I've been to the store a few times to compare them and noticed fewer differences (either good or bad) between them than I expected. At the moment I've got a late 2011 13" MBP so both would be a big upgrade but also even the 14" MBP is smaller and lighter compared to what I'm used to.

I'm in a fortunate position where the cost isn't a big factor, I'm just trying to figure out if there are many actual benefits for going with the MBA instead of splurging on the MBP. At the moment I've got:

• 300 g lighter
• No risk of the computer sounding like an aircraft, though from what I've read the fans on the new MBPs don't come on during normal use like previous generations
• No nasty surprises that may crop up with stuff breaking on the MBP over the coming months
• Slightly less expensive so I don't have to be quite so precious with it

Is there anything else I'm missing?

 

[eriksatie]

I'm struggling to decide between a specced up MBA (16GB/1TB) or equivalent 14" so it is really interesting hearing this.

Once speccing up the MBA the price difference for the two with educational discount is "only" just over £400 for me. I've been to the store a few times to compare them and noticed fewer differences (either good or bad) between them than I expected. At the moment I've got a late 2011 13" MBP so both would be a big upgrade but also even the 14" MBP is smaller and lighter compared to what I'm used to.

I'm in a fortunate position where the cost isn't a big factor, I'm just trying to figure out if there are many actual benefits for going with the MBA instead of splurging on the MBP. At the moment I've got:

• 300 g lighter
• No risk of the computer sounding like an aircraft, though from what I've read the fans on the new MBPs don't come on during normal use like previous generations
• No nasty surprises that may crop up with stuff breaking on the MBP over the coming months
• Slightly less expensive so I don't have to be quite so precious with it

Is there anything else I'm missing?

same exactly boat as you, and after some thoughts I've bought a MBA 512mb 8gb. In this case the price difference was huge because the MBA was 200€ discounted on Amazon, it was 1200€ against 2.340,94€ for MBP 14. Almost the double!

yes, I would have preferred to buy a 16gb machine, but it would have cost 400€ more (no discount + upgrade). I'm using it since a week, both stressing it and using as normal and the memory pressure has never went red, usually green or sometimes yellow, and swap file always under 2gb (and usually around 200mb).

I saw the spinning wheel only once, while loading a 100mb spreadsheet in Numbers, that is never been very good with very large files. it take some times, but at the end it loaded it. in the meanwhile, the other apps were perfectly useable as before.

maybe I will upgrade in 2-3 years, when the transition to M1 will be totally over. I'm also starting to think that it doesn't mean much to buy a "future proof" machine. It is better to spend less (in this case MUCH less) and change machine more frequently

 

[throAU]

Is there anything else I'm missing?

Check out a pro with some proper HDR content.

It’s amazing. For me that screen is worth 30% of the entire purchase price. The spatial audio is great too. As is fast charge.

I haven’t managed to hear the fans on my 14 yet at all. Fairly certain they haven’t spun at all in the two days I’ve owned it. Including during time machine data transfer, backup, application installs, spotlight index, etc.

I got through a full 8 hr work day with 50 percent battery remaining with my workload. Which is mostly network admin stuff (multiple browsers, many tabs, Java apps, remote sessions etc.).

 

[jeff127]

Check out a pro with some proper HDR content.

It’s amazing. For me that screen is worth 30% of the entire purchase price. The spatial audio is great too. As is fast charge.

I haven’t managed to hear the fans on my 14 yet at all. Fairly certain they haven’t spun at all in the two days I’ve owned it. Including during time machine data transfer, backup, application installs, spotlight index, etc.

I got through a full 8 hr work day with 50 percent battery remaining with my workload. Which is mostly network admin stuff (multiple browsers, many tabs, Java apps, remote sessions etc.).

Oh I have seen HDR content on the pro and agree that it is incredible. I've basically been looking for any potential non-monetary reasons to buy the air instead but can't think of many. It'd be a BTO pro so might as well get my order in now, I'll still have plenty of time to change my mind before it ships.
Thanks for your help and enjoy your new laptop!

 

[dizmonk]

Check out a pro with some proper HDR content.

It’s amazing. For me that screen is worth 30% of the entire purchase price. The spatial audio is great too. As is fast charge.

I haven’t managed to hear the fans on my 14 yet at all. Fairly certain they haven’t spun at all in the two days I’ve owned it. Including during time machine data transfer, backup, application installs, spotlight index, etc.

I got through a full 8 hr work day with 50 percent battery remaining with my workload. Which is mostly network admin stuff (multiple browsers, many tabs, Java apps, remote sessions etc.).

Can you say a little more about the battery? According to Apple's specs the Air gets slightly longer battery life.

 

[throAU]

Can you say a little more about the battery? According to Apple's specs the Air gets slightly longer battery life.

I haven’t had an m1 air to compare but my 2020 intel air would get me around 5-6 hours in total doing the same things while screaming it’s fan off.

I suspect it depends on what you’re doing but in my experience unless you’re pushing video all day you could go all day on battery.

And if not? Fast charge can do 50% in half an hour. Take a break for lunch.

 

[KindJamz]

I’m happy with my 8/256 M1 air. Not a heavy user. Expect to have it for 6-7 years for my use.

Great laptop for a first time Mac user.

 

[TopToffee]

So I have a bit of a convoluted history with my Apple Silicon Macs

I had a 2016 fully specced 15” MBP until about June. My then fiancée’s (now wife’s) 2015 11” MBA was showing her age, so we picked her up a base model M1 Air. I was hanging on for the “proper” AS MBP’s to be released - which at that point I think we all thought would be only a month or so.

I’m a Salesforce developer and “borrowed” my wife’s new MBA for an afternoon to test with my workflow and I was just blown away…. to the extent that I went out that very evening and got one for myself… with the thinking that I’d sell it on when the Pros came out.

I loved it. So fast. So quiet. So cool. So light. The ONLY thing was that on occasion I struggled for RAM, and storage was a bit tight - but since it was a temporary purchase, the latter wasn’t such a problem.

Anyway, the Pros were FINALLY released and I picked up an M1Pro 32GB/1TB. Used it in my workflow for a few days, and a surprising thing happened… I definitely noticed the RAM improvement, but the processor side… it was minimal…

And I missed my Air. I missed the form factor, the silent running, and most of all THE BATTERY LIFE.

So I ended up returning the MBP and picking up a 16GB/1TB Air. So happy with my choice.

The M1 Air is comfortably the greatest tech purchase I’ve ever made. It’s a truly incredible machine.

 

[StoneJack]

So I have a bit of a convoluted history with my Apple Silicon Macs

I had a 2016 fully specced 15” MBP until about June. My then fiancée’s (now wife’s) 2015 11” MBA was showing her age, so we picked her up a base model M1 Air. I was hanging on for the “proper” AS MBP’s to be released - which at that point I think we all thought would be only a month or so.

I’m a Salesforce developer and “borrowed” my wife’s new MBA for an afternoon to test with my workflow and I was just blown away…. to the extent that I went out that very evening and got one for myself… with the thinking that I’d sell it ok when the Pros came out.

I loved it. So fast. So quiet. So cool. So light. The ONLY thing was that on occasion I struggled for RAM, and storage was a bit tight - but since it was a temporary purchase, the latter wasn’t such a problem.

Anyway, the Pros were FINALLY released and I picked up an M1Pro 32GB/1TB. Used it in my workflow for a few days, and a surprising thing happened… I definitely noticed the RAM improvement, but the processor side… it was minimal…

And I missed my Air. I missed the form factor, the silent running, and most of all THE BATTERY LIFE.

So I ended up returning the MBP and picking up a 16GB/1TB Air. So happy with my choice.

The M1 Air is comfortably the greatest tech purchase I’ve ever made. It’s a truly incredible machine.

Good to know that a pro developer values MBA that much thanks for sharing info. On processor side, I truly believe that 8 cores/8/7 cores should be enough as I come from quad core Intel i5. My MBA still has not arrived (global logistics ) but other than that, I very curious also to test iOS apps and also see effects of AS on Apple's apps. I already bought a new USBC hub for the notebook (HDMI, SDcards, USB A and USB C)