M3 Air vs M4 Air for $150 more?

[Honey_crisp]

Looking at buying a 15" Air, and the difference between the best price on a brand new M3 (clearance) and M4 (currently on sale) is $150 USD for the same RAM and SSD configuration.

Which one would you choose, assuming there is no must have feature for my use case with the M4 besides maybe the nicer webcam?

 

[kitKAC]

Can you afford the extra $150?

 

[EdwardC]

An additional year of updates.

 

[wonderings]

What are you doing with the computer? What tasks are you performing?

 

[Honey_crisp]

Can you afford the extra $150?

Yes. But my thinking is just because I can doesn’t mean I should, if the features aren’t compelling.

However if the M3 will depreciate more when I trade it in 3-4 years then I would have owned an older laptop and not saved any money really ya know?

 

[Honey_crisp]

What are you doing with the computer? What tasks are you performing?

Primarily Office work - lots of excel, power point, google docs, multiple Safari browser tabs open, slack etc.

I do sometimes run a Windows VM but I’m not convinced that the 2 extra CPU cores in the M4 will make that experience noticeably faster.

 

[bzgnyc2]

Primarily Office work - lots of excel, power point, google docs, multiple Safari browser tabs open, slack etc.

I do sometimes run a Windows VM but I’m not convinced that the 2 extra CPU cores in the M4 will make that experience noticeably faster.

It probably won't be noticeably faster for that kind of work. The M4's cores are faster than the M3 though we're talking about a lot power either way for office work. Assuming I haven't run out of RAM, macOS isn't acting up, nor there is some runaway process, my MacBook Air i3 is fast enough for that work.

Then as I looked at the same issue for a family member who just killed her M1 MacBook Air, the MacBook Air M3 (refurb, used, etc) versus the MacBook Air M4 is a 6-of-one or half-dozen-of-the-other situation. If you look at these things on a per-month basis assuming a 6-8 year life, you get ~ $10-20/month depending on your discounts, RAM/SSD choice, etc. Assuming the M4 lasts you one more year over the M3, ~ $150 for that extra year is right in line with that. As such either can be justified.

Accepting no wrong decision between the two, my bias is for the M4 that lasts one more year and will perform slightly better during those years. Others may say 'hey get the M3 now and replace it with an M9 a year sooner'. However, I like my things to last and prefer the extra year of life. And who knows the 2x faster neural engine may come in handy a few years from now...

 

[Honey_crisp]

Thank you for the thoughtful reply and advice @bzgnyc2 ! I think I'll go with the M4 (already have the M4 13") for all the reasons you described, especially the neural engine with Apple Intelligence capabilities hopefully getting better and therefore more resource hungry in the coming years.

 

[3SQ Machine]

I just went through the same dilemma on a 13" M3 v. M4. I had a strict $1K budget and went with the M3 24/512 which costco was/is selling for $999. It's hard to get more ram on an Apple laptop without stretching into pro prices (that's not an accident), so I compromised on CPU power and some other niceties.

After test driving both a 16gb M4 and a 24gb M3, the M4 is hands down better. The keyboard is nicer, they allowed the hinge to move back more, and, of course, noticeably better performance. I would spend the extra if I had it.

 

[Honey_crisp]

I just went through the same dilemma on a 13" M3 v. M4. I had a strict $1K budget and went with the M3 24/512 which costco was/is selling for $999. It's hard to get more ram on an Apple laptop without stretching into pro prices (that's not an accident), so I compromised on CPU power and some other niceties.

After test driving both a 16gb M4 and a 24gb M3, the M4 is hands down better. The keyboard is nicer, they allowed the hinge to move back more, and, of course, noticeably better performance. I would spend the extra if I had it.

That's a fantastic deal! Costco had the 15" M3 16gb/256gb for $900, and the 15" M4 at Microcenter/Best Buy was $1020. For $120 it made sense (for me) to go with the M4.

 

[raythompsontn]

An additional year of updates.

We don't know that. The M series of processors will be supported for a significant length of time. Probably much longer than the Intel versions. Apple has committed significant resources to developing, and support the M series of chips and probably will for a long time. I think, guess, that the M series will be supported for longer than any Apple devices in the past. And by the time such a device is no longer supported, it is long past time to get a new device.