M4 Air vs Pro for my needs?

[fdos]

Hi all,

I am looking to decide between a 13" Air 24GB and 14" MBP. If I get the MBP, I will likely get RAM somewhere between 32-48GB. The price difference is more than $1000 atleast. Other than the day-to-day stuff, my needs are to run local LLMs, Docker Containers, 3D Printing, Music Production/Recording.

I love the portability and lightness of the MBA. The MBP feels bulkier. For my needs, can I get by with the MBA with 24GB or should I be looking at the MBP?

Thanks.

 

[!!!]

Other than the day-to-day stuff, my needs are to run local LLMs, Docker Containers, 3D Printing, Music Production/Recording.

This makes it sound like you need the Pro.

I love the portability and lightness of the MBA. The MBP feels bulkier.

Are you open to the idea of getting a desktop (mini or Studio) and an MBA (could even be M1)? This is what I do, for simple stuff when I'm not in my office I just use my M1 MBA. For heavyweight stuff I use my mini. It solves the issue of a bulky laptop, so long as you don't need the performance while on-the-go. So it depends on your use case.

You can get a M1 Air for less than $1k, and a mini/Studio will be cheaper than the equivalent laptop, depending on how much you spend on a display.

For my needs, can I get by with the MBA with 24GB or should I be looking at the MBP?

I mean you could, it really depends on what you're doing. Are you just using LLMs to play around, are you fine with smaller(worse) models that can fit into the RAM limit? How many docker containers do you use, do they need a lot of RAM, and do they use a lot of CPU? I don't know a ton about 3D or Music, but again for those questions, are these simple projects you can get by with smaller RAM, or more complex where you need the performance? And where do you need to work at? If you're always going to be working in your office, then buy a desktop and leave the laptop to lightweight answering emails/browsing on the couch.

 

[fdos]

This makes it sound like you need the Pro.

Are you open to the idea of getting a desktop (mini or Studio) and an MBA (could even be M1)? This is what I do, for simple stuff when I'm not in my office I just use my M1 MBA. For heavyweight stuff I use my mini. It solves the issue of a bulky laptop, so long as you don't need the performance while on-the-go. So it depends on your use case.

You can get a M1 Air for less than $1k, and a mini/Studio will be cheaper than the equivalent laptop, depending on how much you spend on a display.

I mean you could, it really depends on what you're doing. Are you just using LLMs to play around, are you fine with smaller(worse) models that can fit into the RAM limit? How many docker containers do you use, do they need a lot of RAM, and do they use a lot of CPU? I don't know a ton about 3D or Music, but again for those questions, are these simple projects you can get by with smaller RAM, or more complex where you need the performance? And where do you need to work at? If you're always going to be working in your office, then buy a desktop and leave the laptop to lightweight answering emails/browsing on the couch.

Thank you. I currently have an old mac M1 mini (that i only use for audio production) and an M1 MBA but they both are 8gb and that doesn't really cut it anymore. So I was thinking of getting one device (laptop) that I can use as an all-in device. To answer your other questions about LLMs, right now I am just downloading and trying out different models and also connecting them in n8n (self-hosted) for creating AI workflows and agents. In Docker I am only using 1-2 containers for now. I honestly don't know if/what that will grow into. I tried OpenWebUI but decided to go down the LM Studio route instead.