Fully Loaded Air <----- Over Pro

[FrozenDarkness]

i had both a pro and an air in front of me (13" vs 14") and the size and weight is definitely noticeable, especially when you are using it on your lap. It really comes down to do you need the power.

 

[nigelbb]

One of the few legitimate use cases.

Airs were always crippled in input department back in the day when m1-3 couldn’t drive 2 screens.

Right now air can drive 2 externals but then you lose all your ports (luckily still can charge it). But need dongles and swapping usb ports to connect sd cards, wired mouse and etc.

All of that can be solved with thunderbolt hub. Which costs exactly the difference between air and pro.

All of that can be solved with a USB-C hub. Which costs under $25.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07X1VZRT1?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

 

[Krakenmare]

we have one of each here,
while the 15 inch Air has a bigger screen the 14 inch MacBook Pro has a better quality screen at a higher refresh rate, and noticeably better speakers

if i had to chose between those two, it would be hard, probably the Pro, but it would be a hard choice to make

 

[Mega ST]

I'd go for the pro. Better display, robust. Typing this on a MBP 14.

 

[Steve Adams]

I need ports and more memory bandwidth for what I do. So for me, MBP wins.

Same here. But as mentioned here and I have mentioned before, we as consumers are spoiled with choices of great systems regardless of platform now.

 

[Steve Adams]

One of the few legitimate use cases.

Airs were always crippled in input department back in the day when m1-3 couldn’t drive 2 screens.

Right now air can drive 2 externals but then you lose all your ports (luckily still can charge it). But need dongles and swapping usb ports to connect sd cards, wired mouse and etc.

All of that can be solved with thunderbolt hub. Which costs exactly the difference between air and pro.

If I was only worried about at my desk, I would buy the air, thermal pad it and get the active cooling vertical dock and USB C Hub. I am more worried about on the move. We do alot of content while travelling and right now, my current Dell laptop has all the ports that I need. 2 USB C TB4, 2 USB A, an HDMI, and full Sized SD card reader. Not to mention this is a 14 inch 2 in 1 lightweight laptop.

This laptop I am on now is the reason I can't do an air. I would have to go Pro by default of ports.

 

[veroguru]

Showing respect to Steve. No fan. Ever. Therefore the only choice is Air.

 

[throAU]

I hemmed at hawed at this. Not even sure if this was the correct choice as if I'm holding the Air and Stack a 14 Pro ontop, they both feel fairly similar in -heft- although I know the air is going to be lighter.

I'll find out how how it behaves on a dock, connected to a single display. I ordered a fully maxed out Air 13 , max ram, etc.
I wanted a lightweight laptop. I have hated my 16 since I got it. I came from a MBP 14, figured I wanted larger display, hated it, downgrading back in size.

As someone who has done it before - don't do it.

Go for the 14" pro, its a much better machine and not really that much heavier.

 

[throAU]

Showing respect to Steve. No fan. Ever. Therefore the only choice is Air.

Put a pro on low power mode and it will outperform an Air in sustained heavy work while being virtually silent. If you have something you need done yesterday, put it on high performance and it will rip through it. Plus better everything else.

Add a USB hub/card reader/cooling pad/dock/whatever and you're basically at the price of an M5 base pro (and probably heavier, carrying all the crap around) and worse everything. The Pro comes with a bigger charger that will charge faster, too.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

As someone who has done it before - don't do it.

Go for the 14" pro, its a much better machine and not really that much heavier.

I disagree; I had a M4 pro and moved to the M5 Air. I never did like the weight of the Pro, and the vents on the side were weirdly sharp and was uncomfortable every time I picked it up. The weight IS noticeable, if you carry it all the time. Yes, it's not much, and it's not a big deal, but I still didn't like it.

Much happier now that I'm back with the Air.

 

[kevcube]

As someone who has done it before - don't do it.

Go for the 14" pro, its a much better machine and not really that much heavier.

also disagree! I have a 14" M4 pro for work, which I really don't like. practically unusable without a second display.

Meanwhile my 15" M2 air is still my primary personal device, with a great screen size, incredible battery life, and perfectly-good-enough performance (I've even used it for some local inference/imageGen projects, and while I'd love an M5 pro for that, it at least worked).

 

[Timpetus]

I love my 14" MBP, for my use case it makes the most sense. I'm a power user who wants the most power I can afford in as small a form factor as possible, so when a deal on the M1Max 14" MBP with 64GB/2TB came up I jumped on it. It's perfect for what I need, and I could have tried to make do with an Air but it wouldn't be as powerful and would have cost basically the same for the specs.

 

[AppleTO]

There is a user / use case out there for a 17" Air honestly.

I know, it sounds crazy perhaps, but these modern ASi chips have way more than enough power for most all users and sometimes folks just want a big easy to read screen attached to it "Air level" power.

I would be on that immediately. I want as much portable screen real estate as possible, but I don't need much power.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I would be on that immediately. I want as much portable screen real estate as possible, but I don't need much power.

Same .. I run MBA 15" at 1440x932 for perfect 2x Retina panel scaling, and for the physical size of objects on screen at that setting.

I'd love to run that, but with more real estate on a 16-17" MBA.

 

[throAU]

I would be on that immediately. I want as much portable screen real estate as possible, but I don't need much power.

If you can deal with multiple displays, ipads are great for this.

 

[Merkie]

I have 32GB/1TB M5 Air. Doubted between the Pro and the Air, but I use my Air a lot on the couch so the weight is important. And in the end I don't need the Pro features. I really like the fact that the Air is so capable and yet it is very thin and light. You don't even notice the weight in a backpack. I would consider upgrading for a premium thin next-gen Air with 120Hz OLED though. Shame that the best displays are only for the Pro.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I have 32GB/1TB M5 Air. Doubted between the Pro and the Air, but I use my Air a lot on the couch so the weight is important. And in the end I don't need the Pro features. I really like the fact that the Air is so capable and yet it is very thin and light. You don't even notice the weight in a backpack. I would consider upgrading for a premium thin next-gen Air with 120Hz OLED though. Shame that the best displays are only for the Pro.

You've described me perfectly.
I'm exactly the same.

 

[mac-jam]

Do you feel you’re missing out on the 120 display from the pro when using the air?

 

[Technerd108]

Do you feel you’re missing out on the 120 display from the pro when using the air?

You only notice the difference in two situations. When you have a 120hz laptop screen right next to the air you can see the difference. When scrolling text very fast. That is it.

Basically unless you have a 120hz screen to compare side by side you really don't notice any difference. Text does blur but the same thing happens on 120hz screen just not as quickly.

The biggest difference between the two are black levels. You have better blacks on mini led.

 

[ctjack]

You only notice the difference in two situations. When you have a 120hz laptop screen right next to the air you can see the difference. When scrolling text very fast. That is it.

Basically unless you have a 120hz screen to compare side by side you really don't notice any difference. Text does blur but the same thing happens on 120hz screen just not as quickly.

The biggest difference between the two are black levels. You have better blacks on mini led.

On top of that because pro display is so slow at 50 ms and 120 hz is fake in its variability and ramp up time, the difference is almost null.

As opposed to 144 hz true 3-5ms windows gaming laptop screens: after those either macs are noticeably slow even going by memory without side by sides.

 

[Technerd108]

On top of that because pro display is so slow at 50 ms and 120 hz is fake in its variability and ramp up time, the difference is almost null.

As opposed to 144 hz true 3-5ms windows gaming laptop screens: after those either macs are noticeably slow even going by memory without side by sides.

I wasn't going to mention response times since gaming isn't a huge focus on Mac platforms but you are exactly right.

It is exactly this reason the air feels very similar to the mini led screen. The slow response times in mini led might be one reason why Apple is dropping the tech in favor of OLED?

 

[Arctic Moose]

Not even sure if this was the correct choice as if I'm holding the Air and Stack a 14 Pro ontop, they both feel fairly similar in -heft- although I know the air is going to be lighter.

I had an M1 MacBook Pro 14”, which I ”sidegraded” to a maxed-out M2 MacBook Air 13”.

I loved everything about it, except the 24 GB RAM and 2 TB SSD limits.

I ”upgraded” to an M3 MacBook Pro 14”, which of course is a much more capable computer, but I hate lugging it around.

I’m hoping the M6 MacBook Air will allow me to go back. (By adding a >32 GB RAM option.)

Also, maybe, just maybe, the introduction of the Neo will allow Apple to let the MacBook Air be what the name promises, and what it was when it was first introduced, instead of an entry-level brick.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I wasn't going to mention response times since gaming isn't a huge focus on Mac platforms but you are exactly right.

It is exactly this reason the air feels very similar to the mini led screen. The slow response times in mini led might be one reason why Apple is dropping the tech in favor of OLED?

Interesting I wonder if that’s part of why I don’t like the MacBook mini LED screens.

I had a 14 inch M4 pro briefly and I just don’t like something about the screen and I can’t quite figure it out

 

[ctjack]

I wasn't going to mention response times since gaming isn't a huge focus on Mac platforms but you are exactly right.

It is exactly this reason the air feels very similar to the mini led screen. The slow response times in mini led might be one reason why Apple is dropping the tech in favor of OLED?

I thought milliseconds are for gaming, but that blur when scrolling on pro was quite noticeable to the point of not being able to skim text while i scroll (i scroll docs a lot for work).

On windows gaming laptop i didn’t have much time or energy to play, but i sure appreciated the fact i could read through text faster skimming while scrolling.

Ms show how fast screen changes the picture (or one color to another) so text refreshes faster and one can actually read while scrolling.

Air has 25-30ish ms screen which is faster than pro, so it makes up for it thus makes the gap smaller (not so noticeable).

I would guess oled is their solution to this problem.

 

[1rottenapple]

I bought a 16" M1 Pro months before the 15" Airs were originally released. If the 15" Air had been released earlier I would have got that. I wanted a largish screen.

The 16" pro is a real brick though. I don't take it out often due to the weight and Im honestly thinking of now getting a 15" Air M5 or M4 and trading the 16" in despite it being worth little now. I use a Studio display with it and don't notice the 60hz for my use cases when I look up from the macbook pro screen (software development) .

I considered the 14" pro but that's hardly slim either.

I would consider dropping to a 13" Air too since I have the studio display as well.. maybe.

you don't miss the size? I kinda want the 16 for the big screen for my work and side gig. I have 15 MBA.