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M2 MacBook Air or M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14” dilemma
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How so? Most of the 5k2k displays I've looked at seem to suggest they should work with the M2 MBA based on the specs? is it an issue with being limited with the refresh rate or the display scaling in MacOS?The only problem I have with m1 is that it won't work nicely with 5k2k screen
Ah, is it specifically an issue with the 34" panel as I presume with a 40" 5k2k display you could happily use that at native resolution (5120 x 2160)?
Is the scaling problem a macOS issue? Does the M1 Pro 14” MacBook have the same problem?
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I thought on this for a bit. I was at best Buy today and had one ready to buy. After tax was 1900 ish. I had the MBA m2 in my bag on apple.com. I got to play with both units side by side.
I ended up going with the MBA m2 16gb 512 for a couple of reasons.
First, size. Light, beautiful and what a nice form factor. The pro isn't bad at all size wise but it is a bit larger.
Second, price. I got 150 gift card from apple edu store so the price on the MBA m2 for me was 1420. Works out to a 500 difference between the pro m1 and the air m2. I'm going to buy a mini anyways so I'll just subtract my savings on that for the MBA.
Third, max tech video on the power sipping battery saving mode totally made my decision for me. Seeing the amazing performance with the battery saving on while this m2 just sips power was unbelievable.
I know the m1 pro is more powerful. I know the screen is better. I know I'm missing out on pro motion. I sat them all side by side and I could notice the difference. Then I walked around for a bit and came back and just played with the air. Couldn't really notice the difference. I was happy with the screen, performance etc. and I know that I'll get an extra year or two of updates.
So **** it, its on order today. Should be here in a week to ten days which seems like a short time period since these just came out. Seems demand is a little low for a new MBA release.
I ended up going with the MBA m2 16gb 512 for a couple of reasons.
First, size. Light, beautiful and what a nice form factor. The pro isn't bad at all size wise but it is a bit larger.
Second, price. I got 150 gift card from apple edu store so the price on the MBA m2 for me was 1420. Works out to a 500 difference between the pro m1 and the air m2. I'm going to buy a mini anyways so I'll just subtract my savings on that for the MBA.
Third, max tech video on the power sipping battery saving mode totally made my decision for me. Seeing the amazing performance with the battery saving on while this m2 just sips power was unbelievable.
I know the m1 pro is more powerful. I know the screen is better. I know I'm missing out on pro motion. I sat them all side by side and I could notice the difference. Then I walked around for a bit and came back and just played with the air. Couldn't really notice the difference. I was happy with the screen, performance etc. and I know that I'll get an extra year or two of updates.
So **** it, its on order today. Should be here in a week to ten days which seems like a short time period since these just came out. Seems demand is a little low for a new MBA release.
The M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14" has been an amazing computer. One word sums up the experience: refined.
It seems noticeably more thin and light than my previous 15" MacBook Pro to the extent that when I hold it it feels ridiculously portable, which is mind-blowing considering its performance and capability. I wouldn't know the difference that a MacBook Air would provide without having used one, as this already feels unbelievably thin and light.
It's improved in meaningful ways over my 2012 Retina MacBook Pro, yet at the same time it seems incredibly familiar even after a decade like there have just been a thousand little refinements.
Impressive speakers and Apple Music either via the high-impedance headphone jack or USB-C have been an audiophile's dream. Bluetooth is quite good, and seems improved as well.
The keyboard is solid, requiring perhaps a lighter touch even. Meanwhile the trackpad is surprisingly the size of an iPhone 13 Pro Max or larger, making it a joy to use.
Of course the display looks incredible with HDR content. There is a slight difference with the higher pixel density, and the additional color coverage of the P3 color gamut is immediately noticeable. It's easily one of the best displays available on the market. Bright highlights are brought to their potential, even beyond what OLED is typically capable of producing. I should preface that OLED does look more natural, but Apple did an excellent job avoiding blooming and other issues that could arise with Mini LED, even if it can be slightly apparent at higher brightness levels.
Unfortunately I'm having a similar issue with the display that I have with flickering OLED iPhones: tension headaches and migraines seem to be onset by the PWM flickering, even at a 15Hz rate. It's not quite as bad as on iPhone, but it may end up being a dealbreaker that I wasn't able to notice at an Apple Store. A bit of a shame since I was even considering moving to the 16" model since that's the size I'm most used to on the MacBook Pro. I'm going to continue testing and giving it a fair chance.
I should also add that I went into it not expecting to have migraines or headaches, as I usually do with new iPhones.
On the bright side, despite appearing to have a flickering display in some videos Notebookcheck did measure the new MacBook Air as being free of PWM.
This MacBook Pro feels incredibly powerful otherwise and oddly incremental like it could nonetheless last another decade, then I'll upgrade to another MacBook Pro that provides more of the same incredibly well-built, polished experience. Apple still needs to work on providing an Accessibility option for PWM flickering, or eliminating it even if it may be more necessitated by these higher-contract displays with 10,000+ Mini LED's.
I am optimistic that Apple is waiting for the next-generation flicker-free OLED display's before adding them to a MacBook Pro, and that we will see PWM improvements on iPhone each time a new OLED technology is introduced.
It seems noticeably more thin and light than my previous 15" MacBook Pro to the extent that when I hold it it feels ridiculously portable, which is mind-blowing considering its performance and capability. I wouldn't know the difference that a MacBook Air would provide without having used one, as this already feels unbelievably thin and light.
It's improved in meaningful ways over my 2012 Retina MacBook Pro, yet at the same time it seems incredibly familiar even after a decade like there have just been a thousand little refinements.
Impressive speakers and Apple Music either via the high-impedance headphone jack or USB-C have been an audiophile's dream. Bluetooth is quite good, and seems improved as well.
The keyboard is solid, requiring perhaps a lighter touch even. Meanwhile the trackpad is surprisingly the size of an iPhone 13 Pro Max or larger, making it a joy to use.
Of course the display looks incredible with HDR content. There is a slight difference with the higher pixel density, and the additional color coverage of the P3 color gamut is immediately noticeable. It's easily one of the best displays available on the market. Bright highlights are brought to their potential, even beyond what OLED is typically capable of producing. I should preface that OLED does look more natural, but Apple did an excellent job avoiding blooming and other issues that could arise with Mini LED, even if it can be slightly apparent at higher brightness levels.
Unfortunately I'm having a similar issue with the display that I have with flickering OLED iPhones: tension headaches and migraines seem to be onset by the PWM flickering, even at a 15Hz rate. It's not quite as bad as on iPhone, but it may end up being a dealbreaker that I wasn't able to notice at an Apple Store. A bit of a shame since I was even considering moving to the 16" model since that's the size I'm most used to on the MacBook Pro. I'm going to continue testing and giving it a fair chance.
I should also add that I went into it not expecting to have migraines or headaches, as I usually do with new iPhones.
On the bright side, despite appearing to have a flickering display in some videos Notebookcheck did measure the new MacBook Air as being free of PWM.
This MacBook Pro feels incredibly powerful otherwise and oddly incremental like it could nonetheless last another decade, then I'll upgrade to another MacBook Pro that provides more of the same incredibly well-built, polished experience. Apple still needs to work on providing an Accessibility option for PWM flickering, or eliminating it even if it may be more necessitated by these higher-contract displays with 10,000+ Mini LED's.
I am optimistic that Apple is waiting for the next-generation flicker-free OLED display's before adding them to a MacBook Pro, and that we will see PWM improvements on iPhone each time a new OLED technology is introduced.
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Here's what I did. I went to the Apple refurbished store and was able to find the basic 14 MBP with 1TB drive (16GB/1TB) for $1,781 which was discounted using my veterans discount. I purchased AppleCare and my total including tax was less the $2,200. Im coming from a Mid-2012 15" MBP with the Matte screen (Love the Screen). Quite the upgrade for me. BTW, the screen on the 14 MBP is leaps abounds better than the Matte screen on my 15 MBP.I was looking at the MBA M2 because I don't really need the power of the M1 Pro, but I might regret it in the long run (about one and a half years down the line).
I currently have a 2017 iMac, 27 inch, i5, Radeon graphics and a 2015 Macbook Pro, 15 inch, i7, Radeon graphics, both of which I use for graphics design, mostly Indesign and Illustrator, some occasional Photoshop but no heavy stuff, and some video editing in iMovie (but I have dabbled in Premiere Pro since I have the Adobe CC subscription after all), but still, no heavy stuff. Privately and as a hobby, I have set up a small home music studio, where I have a digital piano connected to a DAW on the iMac, Cubase in my case. Again, nothing too advanced.
I can't sell either of my current machines since I still need them to run High Sierra from an external SSD I use to run some legacy 32-bit software on for a company I do most of my work for. They're in the process of upgrading their whole database system but that won't be operational until late 2023, at which point I'll be able to access everything through the browser instead of using a 32-bit client. I do work for other companies, though, where I'm not constrained to working with legacy software and there are times, more frequent than not, that I really would like to have some more performance ; my current computers aren't slow, but they're not exactly screaming, either.
The idea is to replace both my iMac and i7 MB Pro with a new laptop, come September 2023, and then get an external 27 inch display to work on when I'm at my home office. I don't need to be able to connect 2 displays so the MBA 2 would be enough.
I love my MB Pro but it's heavy to carry around (4.49 pounds - 2.04 kg) when I visit a client, and the MB Pro M1 is lighter (3.5 pounds - 1.6 kg), but still quite a bit heavier (2.7 pounds - 1.24 kg).
So, as with everybody, it comes down to what is more important, weight or performance ; come September 2023, the new laptop will be plugged in most of the time, driving a 27 inch 4K display (or maybe even a bit bigger). As I've said, I don't do stuff that needs the power of the M1 Pro, but the Macbook Air M2 might show its limits sooner rather than later ; what if I do feel the need to add another display in the future, or someone asks me to do some more heavy lifting, either with Photoshop or Premiere/Final Cut ?
I think the MB Pro M1 would be the best compromise for me : I save quite a bit on weight (one whole pound) versus my current Macbook Pro, and although it won't as portable as the MBA2, it's still a win in my opinion. Plus, it gives me more options down the road, whether it's connecting an additional display, or support a sustained heavier workload.
The only question that remains is (with that future proofing in mind) whether I shouldn't just upgrade the RAM and SSD right away ; I was going to get the baseline (16Gb RAM, 512GB SSD) model but while I'm thinking about the future, wouldn't it be better to go that extra mile (or kilometer in my case) ?
And so, I'm right back where I started
Very good price. Buy this over the MBA M2 if you have no concern with the weight.
it is if you are constantly travelling around and carrying it. walking for hours.
I'm a little late to this thread but find myself facing the same dilemma as you.I'm still on the fence trying to select between MBA M2 and MBP 14" Base model. I just realized I overlooked one crucial thing with MBP 14" Base performance, it has only 8 core CPU which I knew but when I was checking reviews, most of them were actually testing 10 core version where multicore performance is much better than in 8 core version, even most reviews still talk about "base" model...!!
Thing is that MBA M2 multicore performance is only within few percent lower than MBP 14" 8 core (it is like GeekBench result M2 around 9000 and M1 Pro 8 core chip 9800 or so) and single core speed is already better in M2!! So in every case I would need to order custom mode as I will want minimum 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD because this time I plan to keep this for several years but even this would be still about 300 Euros cheaper than MBP 14" base, and more than 500 Euros cheaper if I upgrade MBP 14" to 10 core CPU which would be pretty must thing to do so that it would be considerably faster than MBA M2. Since I don't do video editing, only productivity like MS Office and web browsing speeds are relevant.
Anyone else facing the same dilemma?
I agree, it's disappointing how much you have to look into the detail of these benchmarks to realise that the review units aren't the base model. You'd think the reviewers would be fully cognisant of this and make it more obvious than they do.
So yeah, the M1 Pro chip with 8/14 cores is only 10% faster than the M2 chip with 8/8 cores in benchmarks like Geekbench 5. But the MBP 14" will shine under intensive loads that are sustained in duration (eg more than 5 minutes), which doesn't sound like your productivity and browsing requirements.
Students at college or university. Scientists doing field work. Backpackers on holiday. Digital Nomads. Professionals being messed around by airline cancellations having to run through the airport.
Any business traveler. One lbs makes a huge difference.
Yeah, it was a tough choice to make but I will order MBP 14" base after all. It may not be the fastest machine in simple daily tasks like browser or office programs but overall it is just so much more quality machine. IMHO MBA M2 is way overpriced against MBP 14". Since I'll be using mine as a desktop (docked) all the time, I think better active cooling system pays off in the end. Also like always when I buy new Apple gear, I swear to myself I will be using it for many years but then I get "upgraditis" very soon and end up selling it and get a new one - and I'm pretty sure MBP 14" will be much better in resale value than MBA M2 with additional upgrades in RAM and SSD (also I think MBA M2 resale value takes a big hit with potential buyers considering risk of getting heat pad modified unit even I will not do such for my gear).
They dont literally walk for hours on and on on their feet while carrying all their belongings in their bags.
Yeah, waiting in long lines in airports at the moment is big problem, but on normal days, not so much of a problem.
Sure, some people like to minimalise their load, which is understandable.
Or people just have better priorities in a computer. Hell, I never take my 14 M1 from the couch and would prefer the m2 Air for weight. Stop being condescending and thinking everybody needs the 14 just because it’s better for YOU.
Exactly. I live in a four-story house. I routinely haul 40-lb bags of cat litter from the basement garage to the top floor, no problem. Not wanting to haul around extra weight in a laptop has nothing to do with one's strength or lack thereof, or one's physical condition. It's just a question of priorities - if I don't need the features of the 14" MBP, why would I choose to carry around its extra weight? I have a gym membership for exercise and lifting weights. I don't use a computer as exercise equipment.
Moreover, when traveling, if I can shed nearly a pound of weight by carrying a lighter computer, I can instead carry additional items that I do want or need. Several years ago, I chose to have a completely custom briefcase built out of bridle leather. It's beautiful, but heavy. If I can carry a lighter, thinner computer to counteract some of that weight and squeeze a little something extra into the bag at the same time, that's a win for me.
Everybody has different needs and wants.
Personally I consider the Air as not portable enough. It is a minor difference compared to the 14 Pro. If there was a choice between the new M2 12 Macbook (0.9kg / 2 pounds) or 14 Pro (1.6kg / 3.5 pounds), this would be an easy choice.
"Problem" is that such a computer would replace iPads.
However if somebody wants to go as light as possible on macOS, M2 Air is a valid choice.
I’ve traveled to business related fairs around Europe. The fairs I’ve been to are HUGE. Walking around them is easily 20 kilometres a day (and you cannot drive a cab inside them). Carrying around my 15” MBP in my back pack starts feeling heavy just a few hours into the day.
And I need my laptop in order to draw up business deals, create illustrations there on the spot, etc. Therefore I am now seeking to replace my MBP with an MBA.
