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If you can hold off until the new MBA, then sure, you'll get a better upgrade. But there IS quite a difference in performance, heat, and battery life between Intel and Apple Silicon, so whether you go for an MBA now or in 2022, I think you will be very pleased with the experience.

I got a new 14" Pro.

I'm much, much happier, this is the machine I've been waiting for. :)
 
I got a new 14" Pro.

I'm much, much happier, this is the machine I've been waiting for. :)
I have both an M1 Air and the new 14" MBP, and after using the Pro for a few weeks now, it's just hard to go back to the Air. The Air is great, don't get me wrong, and my plan was to return the Pro and just stick with the Air. But dang, the 14" MBP is just so nice. It's got a great keyboard, a beautiful screen, and blazing fast CPU. Plus, the battery seems to last forever. Then there's the port situation on the MBP...there's tons of them! And an SD card slot and MagSafe. But if I was to list just one thing that I love most about the new Pro, it would have to be the screen. I don't know what Apple did to this thing, but blacks are black and reds are red and every other color in the spectrum just pops!! It's like you're looking at real life. No faded anything. No washed out anything. No dim and unreadable anything. It's absolutely perfect. The Air is a wonderful little computer, but the new MBP is something you just have to use to appreciate. If you can stomach the price, it's a great replacement for the Air that should easily last you for the next five years.
 
I don't know what Apple did to this thing, but blacks are black and reds are red and every other color in the spectrum just pops!!
That's the XDR Stuff.

Large number of individual dimming zones (to get the properly black blacks), high dynamic range.

yeah, the screen is amazing. I didn't "get" HDR until this screen now it has ruined me for normal displays and normal content.

Unfortunately its not something you can demonstrate over the internet, all I can suggest to anyone on the fence is go to the apple store, and ask them to play you some HDR content on it next to a non-HDR screen to compare.

A work colleague, when I showed him a HDR video on my 14" said "looks better than real life"

:D
 
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Im sure the new display is stunning in the right contexts, its the price that I have a problem with.

When these machines hit lower to max mid 1k it may be more compelling.

But to me, at MSRP of 2k and even open box being nearing that, I dunno. It's hard for me to justify a machine that costs twice what mine did new, open box, just for a screen.

M1 for me has been capable enough and I still prefer the slim form factor and less weight.
 
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Im sure the new display is stunning in the right contexts, its the price that I have a problem with.

When these machines hit lower to max mid 1k it may be more compelling.

But to me, at MSRP of 2k and even open box being nearing that, I dunno. It's hard for me to justify a machine that costs twice what mine did new, open box, just for a screen.

M1 for me has been capable enough and I still prefer the slim form factor and less weight.

Yeah, the screen is I suspect a large part of the total cost of the pro. The Pro Display XDR is ~3x the cost of an entry level M1 Pro where I live and the MacBook Pro display uses very similar tech, so reckon it must be about 30-40% of Apple's cost to build the machine.
 
Is everyone buying a 7 Core or 8 Core GPU model? Is there really much of a difference for a general user?

Most of those I know went with the base MBA and it has been fine. All fairly light users. Really don't think that extra GPU core will change your life unless you have a specific requirement for it.
 
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I didn't "get" HDR until this screen now it has ruined me for normal displays and normal content.
This is, of course, exactly Apple's plan.

Worked for me with Retina displays, but so far I've been able to withstand this sirens song.

In fact, I just got a lovely 23" Ultrafine for the MBA and am now more than happy with a huge beautiful display, a completely silent and very fast computer (attached with just 1 cable) – and all of this for slightly more (about $100) than half the price of the 14" 16GB/1TB MBP (both the MBA and the display were used... no need to shovel even more $$$ in Apple's direction).
 
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Is everyone buying a 7 Core or 8 Core GPU model? Is there really much of a difference for a general user?
I went with the 8-core since the price difference on the 16 GB models is $50 as long as you are getting at least a 512 GB SSD.
 
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For probably the first time in my life, I feel I got a killer deal from Apple. I got my base model M1 MBA for $899, and it's been an incredible computer, probably the best I've ever purchased when all things are considered (including value).

Let's be honest here, a vast majority of people who purchase MacBook's do not nor will ever need the power contained in the newly launched Pro/Max models, not to mention I'm not spending over $2K for one.

The MBA is an incredible computer and value, and if you aren't a big time photo editor or video editor, the MBA is the way to go IMHO.
Thanks for the info. I've currently got a 2017 12" Retina MacBook (not pro) and am debating the new MBA. I'm wondering if it's worth it? I have hated the keyboard on this current machine since the day I got it. And just played around with the MBA and it felt so good typing. I'm a normal user: Outlook, Word, Web, iTunes, PPTX, etc. so I don't need a powerhouse. I have the new Mac mini for my main machine with dual screens, so the MBA would be my daily carry around for work. Just wondering if it is worth it, just because of the keyboard?
 
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It’s good to buy now especially the black Friday/cyber Monday sales. I bought my first Macbook Air and I really love it. It is faster than my Lenovo Yoga I7 processor 16 GB ram.
 
Thanks for the info. I've currently got a 2017 12" Retina MacBook (not pro) and am debating the new MBA. I'm wondering if it's worth it? I have hated the keyboard on this current machine since the day I got it. And just played around with the MBA and it felt so good typing. I'm a normal user: Outlook, Word, Web, iTunes, PPTX, etc. so I don't need a powerhouse. I have the new Mac mini for my main machine with dual screens, so the MBA would be my daily carry around for work. Just wondering if it is worth it, just because of the keyboard?
It will be a big step up going from your macbook to a m1 macbook air. Not just the keyboard, but the screen, battery life, speakers, and performance.
 
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I just managed to get a brand new 8/256 for £715 :)

Replacing my 4 year old Dell ‘gaming’ laptop which sounded a great idea except trying to play any games sounded like I was sat on the runway at an airport! I have a gaming PC for playing games anyway

Hopefully will get £350 - £400 from selling that anyway so all in all a very cheap upgrade!
 
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I’m on the fence here…I have a perfectly fine M1 Mac mini, but thinking of trading it in for a MBA.

From what I’ve been able to research, there really isn’t any difference between the two…in fact the mini may be a hair faster and has quite a few more ports.

Τhe thinking is to get the larger iMac next year as my desktop. My current mini setup has a crappy 24” 2K display and there’s not very many 5K displays available.

Would I love to have both a new 2022 MBA and a 30” iMac? Absolutely, but not sure I can afford both.
 
From what I’ve been able to research, there really isn’t any difference between the two…in fact the mini may be a hair faster and has quite a few more ports.
The Mini does have the best connectivity for sure with HDMI and USB-A. And it comes stock with 8 GPU cores which may or may not make a difference for your workflow. Likely the biggest difference may be in the cooling, the fans in the Mini will allow it to sustain longer periods of heavy load if you are doing something that really puts a stress on the system.
 
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I’m on the fence here…I have a perfectly fine M1 Mac mini, but thinking of trading it in for a MBA.

From what I’ve been able to research, there really isn’t any difference between the two…in fact the mini may be a hair faster and has quite a few more ports.

Τhe thinking is to get the larger iMac next year as my desktop. My current mini setup has a crappy 24” 2K display and there’s not very many 5K displays available.

Would I love to have both a new 2022 MBA and a 30” iMac? Absolutely, but not sure I can afford both.
I have my Macbook Air hooked up to a 4K 27" LG IPS monitor scaled to 2560x1440 and it looks gorgeous.
 
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I looked at the 16" and tht 14" in a store.

I don't know why but the 14" screen didn't impress me but the 16" is amazing!

It's like the 14" doesn't really show the greatness of the new miniled display.
 
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Would you say it’s comparable to the 27” 5K iMac? I was using that at work and got spoiled on that display.
Yes. If you look super close you can start to see it has a little less pixel density than the 5k Apple 27" iMac. But coming from anything from a 1080p 24" monitor @ 91ppi vs 27" 4K @ 163ppi which is 180% more ppi, you will be impressed. ??
 
Looks like a lot of folks voted "Yes" for the M1 MBA over the weekend. My local Micro Center had them on sale for $780 for the base 8/256 model. On Friday they showed 25+ in stock for all the colors. This morning the space gray is sold out, 6 silver left but still 25+ in gold.
 
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I really like the air I got in replacement of the jet plane 16" intel back in July, i regret not getting more than 8/256 but also that's where it's value really shines. I originally had plans to trade it in for credit after I got my 16" m1 pro or max, but I think I might keep it. If it allowed for a second monitor I might have never picked up the 16". Here's to a 15/16" inch air.
 
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