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M2 MacBook Air vs M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14”


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speedometer 2.0 the air scores about 150 or more points higher than the m1 pro, also scores better in Geekbench single core as well. This isn't new news
Ok, you are right, but honestly, this doesn't say anything. Real world usage is important and I am sure that all Apple laptops are fast enough for web browsing. I have more than 30 tabs and 5 tab groups on my MacBook Pro and I never ever experience a slowdown. Also, my MacBook Pro doesn't get as warm as the MacBook Air, especially when doing a lot of cpu intensive tasks. The fans do help..(which I never hear, unless I pay extra attention to).
Both laptops are great and have their advantages and disadvantages. The Pro is more powerful, has better display and speakers, but is heavier than the Air.
 
Ok, you are right, but honestly, this doesn't say anything. Real world usage is important and I am sure that all Apple laptops are fast enough for web browsing. I have more than 30 tabs and 5 tab groups on my MacBook Pro and I never ever experience a slowdown. Also, my MacBook Pro doesn't get as warm as the MacBook Air, especially when doing a lot of cpu intensive tasks. The fans do help..(which I never hear, unless I pay extra attention to).
Both laptops are great and have their advantages and disadvantages. The Pro is more powerful, has better display and speakers, but is heavier than the Air.
I haven't gotten my MacBook air warm at all. And others that own both have already commented in the air feeling snappier, and it should, its faster for day to day usage. Again, its just a fact and I dont see why you pro owners get so bent out of shape by it. When the m2 pro comes out, it will happily take that title back, for now, this is the newest and higher clocked chip and its apples fastest for single core speeds which is what day to day tasks use.

If you're happy with your pro, go and enjoy it. Its not slow, its just not the fastest out there for where browsing now.
 
I haven't gotten my MacBook air warm at all. And others that own both have already commented in the air feeling snappier, and it should, its faster for day to day usage. Again, its just a fact and I dont see why you pro owners get so bent out of shape by it. When the m2 pro comes out, it will happily take that title back, for now, this is the newest and higher clocked chip and its apples fastest for single core speeds which is what day to day tasks use.

If you're happy with your pro, go and enjoy it. Its not slow, its just not the fastest out there for where browsing now.
I have the M2 MacBook Air at home and I have used it. I don't see how it's faster in anything. My wife likes her laptop, and that's good, but the MBA is just the low end of Apple's laptops. I wished it had a better display though.
 
Where does that speed actually show other than that one benchmark test? Can you see it side by side?
Yes, try both in an Apple store next to each other loading web pages and you can tell that the MBA M2 is noticeably snappier than the MBP M1 Pro. Both are quick but the difference is there particularly in single threaded apps.
 
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I have the M2 MacBook Air at home and I have used it. I don't see how it's faster in anything. My wife likes her laptop, and that's good, but the MBA is just the low end of Apple's laptops. I wished it had a better display though.
yea, I have a 16 inch mbp m1 and am debating on an m2 air. just concerned I will be disappointed by the screen
 
I'm getting more used to this M2 Air now and wow, it really is snappy. Website pages load quicker than anything I've ever seen before.

I also use a CPU heavy website editor for work. My last MBP struggled with it but this Air just flies. Absolute game changer.

A friend of mine has the 14 Pro and M2 Air. He says he can't see the difference in display quality. Laughed, said they both look the same to him. Although what I do know is that he doesn't watch any TV/movies on them. It's just web design.

I noticed the black bars are not true black when watching a show, but that's all. The display otherwise looks excellent to me.
 
I have the M2 MacBook Air at home and I have used it. I don't see how it's faster in anything. My wife likes her laptop, and that's good, but the MBA is just the low end of Apple's laptops. I wished it had a better display though.
Well like others have said, I’ve tried them both side by side multiple times, it’s pretty easy to notice the air opens apps and webpages quicker. As it should

And Apple doesn’t make a low end laptop, they just make different laptops for different use cases. Anyways, you got your mind made up, good for you. Have a good one
 
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Yes, try both in an Apple store next to each other loading web pages and you can tell that the MBA M2 is noticeably snappier than the MBP M1 Pro. Both are quick but the difference is there particularly in single threaded apps.
There can be various reasons for that other than just CPU speed, if there was really noticeable difference between the two.
 
Actually it is hardly about 50 points in reality https://www.macworld.com/article/827677/m2-chip-macbook-safari-speedometer.html
And that is with Safari optimized for latest CPU gimmicks. In Chrome M2 is under 10% faster than M1 Pro.

Anyway, I don’t read that fast, this type of loading test is pretty meaningless….
Gimmicks? You mean faster lol. Cute argument though, the article proves exactly what I was saying, besides chrome which I will never in my right mind go and use but you go right ahead.

Even with that unoptimized app, the m2 still won just from pure power alone. But thank you for the extra assurance for others looking
 
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No wonder since this is the MacBook Air forum. Make the same poll in the MacBook Pro forum. ;)
well actually, no, the point is that the vote started higher for MBP but has significantly decreased - so in reality, it doesn't matter which forum it was posted in as this would show up in "tending" 😆🤣
 
I have both the 14” M1 MBP and a maxed out M2 MBA. Hands down the MBA is what I like the most. It’s a beast in a tiny package. Best laptop Apple has ever made.
I'm really on the fence - My 14" is my favorite laptop from Apple, but I really do miss the days when I used my 12" Macbook (And going back further, the 11" Air.) The tiny form factor was just so nice to carry around and open up everywhere. The 14" is just slightly too clunky to get that same feeling.

I also had an M1 Air and the battery life was incredible for me. The 14" was a step back (Still incredible compared to intel) because of the fewer efficiency cores. Doing iOS dev it is a majority of low-power work web browsing + text editing followed by a few minutes of build time...so it really fits the Air's lack of fan well since the CPU has time to cool in the off periods.

The screen is really the one holdout for me, the miniLED looks incredible on the 14", I need to see/feel the air in person before I can really decide.
 
I'm really on the fence - My 14" is my favorite laptop from Apple, but I really do miss the days when I used my 12" Macbook (And going back further, the 11" Air.) The tiny form factor was just so nice to carry around and open up everywhere. The 14" is just slightly too clunky to get that same feeling.

I also had an M1 Air and the battery life was incredible for me. The 14" was a step back (Still incredible compared to intel) because of the fewer efficiency cores. Doing iOS dev it is a majority of low-power work web browsing + text editing followed by a few minutes of build time...so it really fits the Air's lack of fan well since the CPU has time to cool in the off periods.

The screen is really the one holdout for me, the miniLED looks incredible on the 14", I need to see/feel the air in person before I can really decide.
Just a thought. I use my 11” M1 iPad + magic keyboard just like mini laptop. Probably Apple positioned this product to replace 12” & 11” MacBook.
 
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Gimmicks? You mean faster lol.
No, I mean that test like these test something that is not used in all or at all in normal web pages. As can be seen M2 perform better in app which is optimized to use all its new "gimmicks" where other app that just rely on CPU raw "torque" is much less difference and mostly comes from the higher clock rate.

Cute argument though, the article proves exactly what I was saying, besides chrome which I will never in my right mind go and use but you go right ahead.
Point was there is no 150 points difference, it is like M1 Pro 350 points vs M2 400 points in Safari optimized for all "gimmicks". ;)
Just try it yourself, go to this page and hit start: https://browserbench.org/Speedometer2.0/

I would not touch Chrome even with a ten foot pole, it was just example of normal app...

As far as actual difference in app loading times or how fast they run, there are many variables and I haven't seen actual examples where it shows in real life other than some test like Speedometer that is irrelevant in real life since no one reads hundreds of web pages at once. You need to realize that app loading speed vary a lot if Mac is just restarted and app is not loaded for the first time. After that it is in cache loading much faster on the seconds time opening it.
 
well actually, no, the point is that the vote started higher for MBP but has significantly decreased - so in reality, it doesn't matter which forum it was posted in as this would show up in "tending" 😆🤣
Again this is MBA forum! You should do this type of poll in neutral ground. ;)
 
also I remember from the past several years you were a HUGE MBA fan so don't understand why you are so against them now?
Yeah, that was in a time where MBA actually was much wiser investment than MBP. Between of those M1's MBP did not really have nothing but fan and slightly brighter display better. Build quality and chassis rigidity was nearly the same.

I was all in for MBA M2 until I got to play with one myself. No way I'm gonna buy flimsy toy for myself. First one I touched I thought it was broken but I went to test it in other shops and they were the same. However MBP 14" is much better and solid chassis. Still even that is behind rigidity of MBP 13" and MBA 13".
After I got MBP 14" I also realized how bad standard edge lit IPS monitors are, MBP 14" is par with my 77" LG OLED.
I decided to use my MBP 14" also as desktop in clamshell so I could get rid of my Mini M1 too and this also replace my MBA M1, much less janitorial work for keeping apps updated.
 
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Yeah, that was in a time where MBA actually was much wiser investment than MBP. Between of those M1's MBP did not really have nothing but fan and slightly brighter display better. Build quality and chassis rigidity was nearly the same.

I was all in for MBA M2 until I got to play with one myself. No way I'm gonna buy flimsy toy for myself. First one I touched I thought it was broken but I went to test it in other shops and they were the same. However MBP 14" is much better and solid chassis. Still even that is behind rigidity of MBP 13" and MBA 13".
After I got MBP 14" I also realized how bad standard edge lit IPS monitors are, MBP 14" is pa. Rr with my 77" LG OLED.
I decided to use my MBP 14" also as desktop in clamshell so I could get rid of my Mini M1 too and this also replace my MBA M1, much less janitorial work for keeping apps updated.
Not to be disrespectful but in those times that is exactly when the MBP was a better investment NOW the Air is close and good investment. Rather than play with one which has been touched hundreds of time in the store, buy one a try it!
They look and act very differently in home environment. Both area great machines in my ideal world I'd have a 16 and an MBA m2 😁
 
Not to be disrespectful but in those times that is exactly when the MBP was a better investment NOW the Air is close and good investment.
If it even had the same speed SSD as M1 MBA in base model, it would be somewhat better investment if not care about chassis rigidity. It is nearly the same price as MBP 14" with RAM and SSD upgrade.
Honestly 8GB is too little these days where even iPad Air has 8GB in base model!

Rather than play with one which has been touched hundreds of time in the store, buy one a try it!
It was when they first came to shops, not touched by hundreds people yet.

They look and act very differently in home environment.
I know, demo units are usually much better build than ones I get. ;)

Both area great machines in my ideal world I'd have a 16 and an MBA m2 😁
In my ideal world MBP 14" is my main desktop now and I can use it as notebook when I need but most of the times for sofa surfing I use my new iPad Air M1 + Logitech Combo Touch, much nicer to use occasionally than any notebook and it is even much lighter than MBA M2 (1036 grams vs 1240 grams).
 
If it even had the same speed SSD as M1 MBA in base model, it would be somewhat better investment if not care about chassis rigidity. It is nearly the same price as MBP 14" with RAM and SSD upgrade.
Honestly 8GB is too little these days where even iPad Air has 8GB in base model!


It was when they first came to shops, not touched by hundreds people yet.


I know, demo units are usually much better build than ones I get. ;)


In my ideal world MBP 14" is my main desktop now and I can use it as notebook when I need but most of the times for sofa surfing I use my new iPad Air M1 + Logitech Combo Touch, much nicer to use occasionally than any notebook and it is even much lighter than MBA M2 (1036 grams vs 1240 grams).
when I had my 16 before I used that for the sofa! lol... sure 14 is just fine... I just consolidated into the m2 16GB air.. no need to all all those devices for me...
 
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