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M2 MacBook Air vs M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14”


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I absolutely know that and have repeatably stated it in various comments. The blacks are true black on the Pro.

I have an LG OLED, I'm obsessive over it, so I know about this stuff as much as anyone.

What I'm saying is; generally day to day you don't need true blacks unless you're watching movies in a dark room. So, there's barely any difference between the displays.

It's this use of phrases like 'XDR' and 'Liquid Retina' which is cringeworthy. It's just marketing jargon. Means nothing.

Lastly — and this is going to sound crazy — but I'm preferring not having 'true blacks' on this laptop whilst I'm shopping for clothes. That specific activity on an OLED iPhone was very frustrating when looking at black clothing. The blacks all roll into each other, there's little variation in shading.

On this Air, I can finally see the different shades of blacks. It's not one big block of black like on the iPhone. This is. something that I feel is actually really holding OLED and Mini LED back... with clothes shopping.

You are stating an opinion and I am stating a fact. Just because you can’t or don’t want to see it does not mean there is zero difference. You can‘t get actual blacks on IPS LCD screens with regular led backlighting. This is not only for HDR content either. It’s the same with SDR content. Half the people on here probably don’t know that LCD screens can’t light their own pixels like an OLED can. Many probably think these are LED screens because manufacturers mostly fail to emphasize that the LED is the backlight technology for LCD screens because they don't have self lighting pixels. There are no consumer LED pixel televisions until Micro-LED sets are released in the future. The MBA 2 has larger LED’s backlighting the LCD panel which causes more light bleed and gives you gray blacks. The 14” Pro has much smaller LED’s backlighting the LCD panel which cause way less light bleed thus giving you blacker blacks. This is not Apple marketing “Liquid Retina” is Apple marketing. I’m just explaining the technology behind the screens and why the Pro has a better screen.

James
 
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Lastly — and this is going to sound crazy — but I'm preferring not having 'true blacks' on this laptop whilst I'm shopping for clothes. That specific activity on an OLED iPhone was very frustrating when looking at black clothing. The blacks all roll into each other, there's little variation in shading.

Not the case on my MBP. 🤷‍♂️
 
Why is this conversation going on for 34 pages and counting!? It's simple:

Base M2 Air:
  • Smaller, lighter, more portable
  • Silent
  • Better battery life
  • Faster single core operations (majority of daily tasks - browsing, opening apps, etc.)
  • Cheaper
Base M1 Pro 14"
  • Better display
  • Twice the RAM and SSD capacity and faster SSD
  • Better speakers
  • Faster for sustained multi-threaded work (due to M1 Pro and active cooling)
  • More ports
I don't get the argument that when spec'd up to 16/512 the Air is almost the same price as the Pro so you may as well get the Pro. The Air is much smaller and it's quite expensive to design and build such a small powerful laptop so that's a large part of where the money gets spent.
 
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I don't get the argument that when spec'd up to 16/512 the Air is almost the same price as the Pro so you may as well get the Pro. The Air is much smaller and it's quite expensive to design and build such a small powerful laptop so that's a large part of where the money gets spent.
Not 'much smaller'. Yes MBA is the less-massive one--it's the lighter one--but it's not much smaller than MBP. I wish it were!
 
The MBA 2 has larger LED’s backlighting the LCD panel which causes more light bleed and gives you gray blacks. The 14” Pro has much smaller LED’s backlighting the LCD panel which cause way less light bleed thus giving you blacker blacks. This is not Apple marketing “Liquid Retina” is Apple marketing. I’m just explaining the technology behind the screens and why the Pro has a better screen.
Exactly. Also I'd like to mention that MBA screens are basic edge led panels, where as the name says, backlighting is only on the sides, while in Pro backlight is scattered evenly and directly behind the LCD panel and there is a huge amount of individual less (was it 10000 or so, I can't remember exactly). Anyway, there is a huge difference between edge led and direct led LCD panels.
 
Both displays look exactly the same on every website, every application and all day-to-day work 😂

(EXCEPT HDR MOVIES AND VIDEO).
is this true? seems to contradict prior post from 0906742. How does edge lit vs direct led impact the screens if any? I couldn't tell a difference between screens at the apple store looked the same to me.
 
Not 'much smaller'. Yes MBA is the less-massive one--it's the lighter one--but it's not much smaller than MBP. I wish it were!
It feels much smaller and lighter than my 14" MBP - much smaller than the figures say.

Of course its not a 12" MacBook, but there's a massive difference in how it feels even just moving it from room to room compared to a MBP.
 
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is this true? seems to contradict prior post from 0906742. How does edge lit vs direct led impact the screens if any? I couldn't tell a difference between screens at the apple store looked the same to me.
Side by side I can see the difference, but using one for a few hours, you forget about it because its not like the display in the Air is garbage.

There's also a clear difference when viewing HDR material and you can grade HDR with it. The other big difference is the brightness levels of the MBP which are insane. I really noticed the difference when using the laptops outside in direct sunlight.
 
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Exactly. Also I'd like to mention that MBA screens are basic edge led panels, where as the name says, backlighting is only on the sides, while in Pro backlight is scattered evenly and directly behind the LCD panel and there is a huge amount of individual less (was it 10000 or so, I can't remember exactly). Anyway, there is a huge difference between edge led and direct led LCD panels.
yes will agree a huge difference on screens (and speakers) between the two !
 
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It feels much smaller and lighter than my 14" MBP - much smaller than the figures say.

Of course its not a 12" MacBook, but there's a massive difference in how it feels even just moving it from room to room compared to a MBP.
I went to Apple Store recently, placed MBA and MBP side by side. MBA display too big for my liking. I'm coming from 11.6-in device. Really wish Apple would make a small-screen version.
 
I went to Apple Store recently, placed MBA and MBP side by side. MBA display too big for my liking. I'm coming from 11.6-in device. Really wish Apple would make a small-screen version.
Unfortunately Apple only have the iPad for this sort of scenario as things stand.
 
OK --- anyone else have the M2 base air AND the MBP 14? Yes I know, total nut here.. lol, but I use the Air like an iPad essentially.
 
Yep, it is.

Separately, I was also just thinking about the only design choice I prefer on the MBP, and that is the keyboard black background tray. It makes the Pro 'look' pro. Really cool.

In comparison, I feel my Air looks a bit cheaper around the keyboard area. But apart from that, everything is better; shape, form factor, weight....
totally agree with you on this! my observation out of the box, the MBA m2 keyboard seems cheap to me... compared to my 14 MBP which is a total joy to type on not to mention looks much better, many say "its the same" but its not...
 
Base with 16gb ram.
I thought when the Air came out, you too were also on the "Get the 14" over the M2. M2 Air not worth it"
Now you seem more complimentary of the Air.
I have both... Air is fine, just speakers suck, its too think for me - I use in place of my ipad
 
I'm charging my M2 air once a week.
It absolutely has bonkers battery life.
Yeah, it's unbelievable that you can use the MBA M2 for a couple of hours a day over a week and literally get away with charging it once a week!

The idea that a 1kg laptop could have a usable battery life north of 12+ hours would have been laughable just a couple of years ago.
 
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LOL NO!!! I have both and they do not, not even close
Yes, they really do look very similar.

I’m talking about browsing websites or doing work. Not HDR movies.

I literally have a 14” Pro in front of me now (my brothers) with my M2 Air.

He even laughs and said ‘there’s barely any difference whatsoever’.

If you watch HDR video yes of course there’s a difference.

I’d also add; the Air is definitely loading websites QUICKER than the Pro. Which quite frankly is embarrassing for the Pro. THE most common use on a laptop and it’s slower.
 
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